INSTITUTE OF
‍ DEVOTIONAL 
ARTS

Swan Dao is a psychotherapist and educator dedicated to transforming lives through creative expression. They hold an MFA from the Ecole Jacques Lecoq, specializing in physical and applied theatre, an MA in comparative religion and environmental ethics from the University of Chicago, and a PhD in personal and social transformation from the University of Cambridge. As the director of the Institute of Devotional Arts, Swan leads a global network of artists, therapists, and educators who use art and imagination as catalysts for collective healing and self-discovery. With over 15 years of experience teaching and guiding groups, Swan’s work integrates psychology, mind-body practices, and the performing arts, inspiring deeper understanding and meaningful engagement with the human experience.

Jessica Bockler, PhD, is a distinguished psychologist and theatre practitioner with over 25 years of experience in expressive arts facilitation, specializing in embodied approaches to accessing creativity and imagination. She is the co-founder and CEO of the Alef Trust, an organization focused on transformative and integrative education, and the founder of Creative Alternatives, an arts-based mental well-being service in the UK recognized for award-winning innovation in public service.

Jessica is a member of the British Psychological Society and the Royal Society for Public Health, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, one of the UK’s oldest organizations supporting social innovation. She serves as an academic advisor to the Inner Development Goals, collaborates with the UN’s Conscious Food Systems Alliance and the Presencing Institute, and is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Presencing Leadership & Coaching. Additionally, she acts as a reviewer for the Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change.

Kythe Maryam Heller is an award-winning poet, interdisciplinary artist, and founder of Vision Lab, a global art and research collective exploring the future of the human spirit. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College as well as an MDiv and a PhD in Literary Studies and Comparative Religion from Harvard University. As the author of Firebird (Arrowsmith), a poetry collection nominated for the Massachusetts Book Award, Kythe’s work explores the intersections of mysticism, spirituality, and social justice. Her writing spans poetry, essays, and critical studies, with recent publications in Cambridge University Press and Akron Series in Contemporary Poetics. Kythe is currently a faculty member at Bard College and Villanova University, where she inspires others to push the boundaries of creative writing and artistic expression and is a faculty member at Bard College. Her art engages contemporary spirituality and social justice, pushing the boundaries of how we experience art and the human condition.

Ewa Zurakowska, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist, performer, singer, and theatre director. Ewa attended the Gardzienice Centre for Theatre Practices and graduated from the University of Warsaw with an MA degree in Cultural Anthropology. She wrote her doctoral thesis on traditional songs and site-specific theatre at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where currently teaches performance and ritual at the Anglo-American University. Since 2010 she has been performing as a singer for Korjen, whose music draws inspiration from her ethnomusicological journeys to the Balkans, the Republic of Tuva,Lapland, Eastern Poland, and Ukraine.

Her artistic work explores the connection between space, sound, and body. She performed for the Czech company Divadlo Continuo and for Teatr Novogo Fronta as well as for several other organizations such as Studio Matejka (PL), Budalasultan (Turkey), and Rose Bruford College (UK). She directed the documentary musical performance based on mining folklore and taught at the Milon Mela Centre for Performing Indian Arts. Ewa also works as a coordinator for Polish-Czech cultural partnerships and supports the Gorzanow Castle Foundation in Lower Silesia Poland.

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Jorge N. Ferrer, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, author, and educator. Jorge was a professor for more than 20 years at the California Institute of Integral Studies, where he served as chair of the Department of East–West Psychology. He is the author many articles and books on transpersonal psychology, integral education, religious studies, and intimate relationships, including Espiritualidad Creativa: Una Vision Participativa de lo Transpersonal (Kairos, 2004), Participation and the Mystery: Transpersonal Essays in Psychology, Education, and Religion (SUNY Press, 2017), and Love and Freedom: Transcending Monogamy and Polyamory (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021). Jorge was a member of the Esalen Institute’s Center for Theory and Research as well as an advisor to the Religions for Peace organization at the United Nation.

Olga Lidia Kozłowska is a licensed psychologist, singer, and voice coach. She is certified in Core Energetics Body Psychotherapist, Process training (A&A Mindell), and holds an MA in education. Drawing inspiration from Alexander Technique and Polyvagal Theory, Olga approaches voice work in a holistic and embodied way. She specializes in traditional Slavic and Georgian singing, choral music, and improvisation. Her teachers include Franke Kane, Natalia Polovynka, Emma Bonnici, Amit Carmeli, Kristin Linklater, and Lane Aryne. She is the founder of Authentic Voice and has been leading workshops since 2011.

Enrique Pardo is a theatre director, performer, writer,and visual artist. Born in Peru in 1946, he went to school in France, studied painting at the Chelsea School of Art, and taught Fine Arts at Goldsmith College, University of London. He joined the Roy Hart Theatre in 1968, a utopian avant-garde company known for its radical voice work, with which he moved to Malerargues, Southern France, in 1875. In 1878, he founded Pantheatre (from Pan, the dancer-singer god), which he co-directs with his partner, Linda Wise. Enrique has collaborated with a wide array of artists, thinkers, and psychotherapists. One of his main intellectual sources of inspiration is the post-Jungian psychologist James Hillman, father of archetypal psychology, with whom he created the Myth and Theatre Festival in 1986. Enrique directs and teaches choreographic theatre and voice performance, weaving together movement and dance, music, voice and singing, with a complex poetical approach to the inclusion of text, which he describes as « Cubist, as in Cuba », that is, closer to voodoo than to formal cubes.

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