Our Team.
Mission
Our mission is to help people awaken to the deeper dimensions of their lives, and create a more just, compassionate, and spiritually fulfilling world for all.
We are an educational organization dedicated to the transmission of ally work as a contemplative practice — and a collective methodology — for transformation, systems change, futurism, and healing-centered action.
Founder of AllyWork.org
Barnaby Willett is a contemplative educator, mindfulness teacher, and futurist who is passionate about exploring both our unity and uniqueness through contemplative practices and dialogue. He is a Garrison Institute Fellow, which is a prestigious program aimed at nurturing future leaders who will research, develop, and highlight the science and practices that will bring about a more compassionate, interconnected, and healed society. Inspired by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn's work, Barnaby is committed to distilling the essence of wisdom traditions into accessible forms.
Since 1994, Barnaby has studied and practiced with teachers from various traditions, including Vipassana, Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, Nonduality, Jungian psychology, and Sufi Islam. His primary studies were with Toni Packer, Peter Fenner, and Caverly Morgan. He is currently engaged in a line-by-line reading of Ibn ‘Arabi’s Futuhat with Dr. Eric Winkel.
Barnaby was instrumental in creating the first mindfulness class in U.S. public high schools with the nonprofit Peace in Schools in 2014. He taught the semester-long course to over 700 students as a Lead Teacher and served as Director of Innovation and Partnerships. He also led a research partnership with Johns Hopkins University to develop an award-winning study – the first globally to research mindfulness and childhood trauma (ACEs) in youth. Additionally, he was an associate producer on the short film Into Light, which shares the stories of four Peace in Schools students.
Barnaby also serves as a mindfulness teacher with the nonprofit iBme (Inward Bound Mindfulness Education) on their transformative teen mindfulness retreats.
He has presented at numerous institutions, including Johns Hopkins University, University of Oregon, Portland State University, Wisdom 2.0, Bridging Hearts and Minds, Science and Nonduality Conference, the Garrison Institute, and Esalen.
Barnaby is a member of Dr. Dan Siegel’s MWe Council, a group led by the clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, executive director of the Mindsight Institute, and pioneer in the field of interpersonal neurobiology.
As a Garrison Institute Fellow, Barnaby focuses on developing the contemplative practice of ally work as a catalyst for personal and collective transformation. He presented his work on the practice of ally work through The Garrison Institute.
Barnaby also collaborated with the Garrison Fellows to develop the Relational Sensemaking framework, which utilizes a slow work, interconnection, and whole-being-centered approach, grounded in a conscious relational field, as a design model for creating impact in the world.
Advisory Council
Dr. Jeffrey Raff
Dr. Jeffrey Raff developed the contemplative practice of ally work. While not formally affiliated with AllyWork.org, he introduced us to the practice, and has supported our sharing it with others.
Dr. Raff’s book, The Practice of Ally Work, is our recommended foundational text for learning about and developing the practice.
His books Healing the Wounded God and The Wedding of Sophia are helpful for understanding the context of practice. Additionally, his text Jung and the Alchemical Imagination offers fine research and insight on the alchemical tradition.
Dr. Raff studied directly with Marie-Louise von Franz, Carl Jung’s key colleague and collaborator, at the Jung Institute in Zurich in the 1970s. Von Franz educated Jung in the alchemical tradition, and transmitted the spiritual lineage of the alchemical tradition and Jungian psychology to her students.
Read more about Dr. Jeffrey Raff on his website.