Alexandra MacKay Shenpen, Ph.D., Buddhist practitioner since 1978, has taught at Naropa University since 1987.  She began maitri space awareness practice in 1981, and after completing 5 10-week retreats as a meditation instructor, led many month-long retreats for Naropa, and shorter intensives in North America and Austria.   A Shambhala/dharma art teacher, immersed in the contemplative arts of brush and flowers, she has been an ikebana/kado instructor for 15 years.  A mindfulness-based psychotherapist in private practice since 1985, she is devoted to the transformation of confusion into wisdom through understanding, befriending and developing ourselves.