Suzanne Buchko began meditating during college and has sustained a practice for most of her adult life. While she was a LEND fellow at the Waisman Center (UW-Madison), she heard Professor Richard Davidson speak about early findings from his then-current meditation research and she was inspired to begin a sitting practice with her 10 year old daughter who is on the autism spectrum. A rocky start to the practice moved her to become a serious student of meditation. She took the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) class at UW Health and two classes with mindfulschools.org. She has studied with local teacher, Jan Shephard, and visiting teachers, Sharon Salzberg and James Baraz. She sits with the Madison Insight Meditation Group, takes Hatha Yoga at Main Street Yoga, and practices Crane Style Qi Gong. Currently, She is a facilitator for First Unitarian Society's (Madison, WI) Quest program.

Mindful Circle was born out of her interactions with other parents who have children who are on the autism spectrum and the discovery that very few parents had the tools to reduce their chronic stress, anxiety and depression.  Expanding the scope of Mindful Circle to include all caregivers was inspired by her older daughter’s work with families who have been touched by Alzheimer's disease and by a belief that all caregivers share many of the same chronic stressors no matter who they care for and support.

"Just suppose you are now doing and have been doing for quite a while exactly what it is you are supposed to be doing."

~David R. Schanker

* Header photo by Susan Podebradsky.  ** Farey-Ford tessellation and circle packing by Francis Bonahon.