Gaylon Jules Ferguson, PhD, graduated from Exeter, Yale, and Stanford University where he was a Fulbright Fellow to Nigeria. Based on ethnographic fieldwork among contemporary Yorùbá religious practitioners, he taught cultural anthropology at the University of Washington and was core faculty in Interdisciplinary Studies at Naropa University for 15 years. He has led mindfulness-awareness group retreats (based on meditation teachings transmitted by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche) since 1976. His articles have appeared in Buddhadharma, Lion's Roar, and Tricycle. He contributed the foreword to Black and Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us about Race, Resilience, Transformation, and Freedom. He is the author of three books: Natural Wakefulness (on the four foundations of mindfulness), Natural Bravery (on fear and fearlessness), and Welcoming Beginner's Mind: Zen and Tibetan Buddhist Wisdom.