Our Staff & Volunteers
The Advisory Board
Our Advisory Council
More about our program
Our project is run under the careful direction of our advisory board:
LINEAGE PROJECT BOARD AFFLIATIONS
Todd Carter, Co-Chair
M.A., University of Chicago Divinity School, long-time meditation student, music producer, and recording artist. Todd is currently becoming a teacher of the Diamond Approach.
Lou Lopez, Co-Chair
MBA, Cornell University, Marketing Long-time Vipassana meditator. Currently working in the Diversity Practice at Synovate.
Alexandra Hixon-Ballard, Member
Alexandra graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and went to work with Save the Children in Westport, CT for several years. In addition to serving on local community boards and committees, she is on the board of the A&A Fund, a family foundation, and works as a volunteer meditation teacher at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a maximum-security women’s prison in Bedford Hills, NY. She is currently working with a small importing company that creates employment opportunities for low-income artisans in South America. Alexandra lives in Northern Westchester County with her husband and two teenage children.
Stan Grier, Program Representative
A certified yoga therapist, Qigong and meditation teacher for 13 years, and creator of Qi-Yoga. He has worked with a broad spectrum of individuals from the ages of 3 - 60+. He is the Co-Founder of Calming Your World Productions a service organization facilitating wellness retreats for corporations and individuals . Stan is a staff member of the Bent on Learning (yoga and meditation in grades Pre-K – 12 in NYC Public Schools) and Manhattan Plaza Health Club. Currently he is a student of the Dedicated Practice Course with New York Insight Meditation Society and pursing an Advanced degree with the Clayton School of Natural Health .
Tawanna Kane, Member
Registered Yoga Teacher, Former Executive Director of The Lineage Project,
Board of New York Yoga Teacher's Association, Conflict Resolution Trainer
Sarah Kolodny CSW , Member
For twenty-two years, as Director of Social Programs for the city-wide not for profit Settlement Housing Fund, Sarah Kolodny was deeply involved in the design and development of community building and youth development programs throughout New York City. She is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Social Work as well as The Institute For Non-Profit Management at Columbia University. She has had a long term affiliation with the Hunter College School of Social Work where she serves as field instructor for graduate students in social work. She has also served as adjunct field instructor for New York University School of Social Work. Ms. Kolodny is a founding member of the board of directors of The Fort Washington Houses Services To the Elderly. She has practiced Vipassana meditation and ashtanga yoga for many years. Sarah is currently a student in the Advanced Study and Practice Program at the Barre Center For Buddhist Studies.
Elizabeth J. Mueller, Member
Elizabeth holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University. She has studied and practiced yoga, mediation, thai yoga bodywork and energetic healing for many years. She maintains a kundalini yoga practice and she is a practitioner of Soul Attunement, a soul directed energy healing process.
Barnaby Spring, Member
A certified yoga teacher (Cyndi Lee/Om Yoga teacher training) and long time practitioner of the secular, nonsectarian meditation practices of the Shambhala Training, introduced to the West by the Tibetan meditation master Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and currently conveyed through the teachings of his son, Sakong Mipham Rinpoche, Barnaby is also a principal of Humanities Preparatory Academy, a small, progressive high school serving students in grades 9-12 in the New York City Department of Education. As a graduate of Father Flanagan's Girls and Boys Town where he was sent at the age of ten to be "reformed" Barnaby is happy and grateful to have discovered the ways in which yoga and meditation can assist young people from all walks of life, of all races and creeds, to extricate themselves from the oblivion of traumatic and challenging childhoods. As an educator and recently appointed principal he has developed and continues to develop projects and programs to introduce New York City's youth and the professional educators who serve them to the benefits of yoga and meditation. He has led in the development of community based partnerships between such NYC-based organizations as New York City Outward Bound, The Shambhala Meditation Center, Om Yoga, Rikers Island and NYCDOE schools such as Island Academy, Horizons, Pacific High School, East Side Community High School and Humanities Preparatory Academy. This summer he will be collaborating with The Garrison Institute in the development of contemplative educational strategies for teachers in the classroom.
