Welcoming New Voices to the CMP Team
There is something quietly radical about showing up — for yourself, for others, for the moment as it actually is. In a world that often rewards speed, productivity, and self-optimization, pausing to simply be can feel almost countercultural. And yet that pause, practiced with intention and in community, is exactly what can change lives.
At Community Mindfulness Project, we believe that mindfulness is not a luxury. It is a basic human need that everyone deserves access to — regardless of ZIP code, income, history, or circumstance. As we deepen our work across Bridgeport, Stamford, and Norwalk, we are growing the circle of people who make that possible. Today, we are proud to welcome two new facilitators, one board director and three new advisory members to the CMP team — each bringing extraordinary depth, lived wisdom, and commitment to this mission.
New Facilitators: Natalie Cowley and Jasmine Middleton
CMP's programs are only as impactful as the caring trained individuals who hold the space. We are thrilled to introduce two new facilitators that are helping us expand our footprint and whose paths to this work are as compelling as the practices they facilitate.
Natalie Cowley is a Licensed Professional Counselor with a Master's in Rehabilitation and Substance Abuse Counseling and over twenty years of Dzogchen meditation practice. (She also plays bass in a rock cover band.) For Natalie, the work is about something fundamental: "Mindful presence belongs to everybody. No self-improvement is required to experience our own aliveness."
Jasmine Middleton is a certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, trained through the two-year program with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. She is also a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher, Certified Restorative Yoga Teacher, and teaches restorative yoga and meditation at Sala Tree Yoga House in Stamford, CT. Her teaching centers on creating brave, inclusive, and compassionate spaces, especially for Black, Brown, and marginalized communities, rooted in the belief that rest, mindfulness, and self-preservation are birthrights.
New Board and Advisory Members
We are equally thrilled to welcome four remarkable individuals to CMP's governing and advisory boards, each drawn to this work through their own lived relationship with mindfulness and their commitment to community.
Andrew Ferguson joined the Board of Directors as Treasurer earlier this year. Founder & CEO of Redwood Endeavors and former Co-CEO of Dalio Education, Andrew brings deep experience advancing educational equity across Connecticut and deep personal conviction about what this work makes possible: "When someone develops a mindfulness practice, it doesn't just change their life, it changes how they show up for their family, their workplace, and their community. CMP is planting seeds that will bear fruit for years to come."
Mary Valdovinos joins the Advisory Board as a reentry professional, social justice advocate, and Top 100 Women of Color honoree who has witnessed CMP's impact firsthand — first through her clients, and then through her own practice. "CMP meets people where they are and offers something practical that can be applied in real time," she says. "That kind of accessibility makes the work both impactful and sustainable."
Brian Thompson joins the Advisory Board as a mindfulness educator with a Master's in Mindfulness Studies from Lesley University and Director of Community Impact at Middlesex United Way. Brian brings a philosophy rooted in Ubuntu — "I am because we are" — and a conviction that mindfulness, practiced in community, becomes something larger than individual well-being: "In understanding ourselves, we learn to see ourselves in each other. In that way, mindfulness becomes a practice of societal change."
Ana ("Anny") Cardenas joins the Advisory Board as Operations Manager at IRIS (Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services) and board member of Community Soup Kitchen in New Haven. Originally from Venezuela, Anny spent twenty years as a teacher before bringing her organizational psychology expertise to the work of food access and immigrant services in Connecticut. A daily yet self-proclaimed “imperfect” meditator, she found her way to CMP through a deep alignment with its mission of bringing practice into the communities that need it most.
Honoring a Founding Voice: Michelle Seaver
This moment of growth also calls for deep gratitude.
After eleven years as a Governing Board member and co-founder of Community Mindfulness Project, Michelle Seaver has transitioned to the Advisory Board — and we cannot let that milestone pass without honoring what she has meant to this organization.
Michelle came to mindfulness through her work in organizational psychology, drawn by its power to cultivate healthy habits of mind and deepen human connection. In 2007, she and her husband participated in The Shamatha Project, a landmark longitudinal study on the effects of sustained meditation practice led by B. Alan Wallace, and continued in full-time retreat for eighteen months afterward. She later served as Director of Mindfulness and Social and Emotional Learning at United World College Thailand, and today practices as a Marriage and Family Therapist with mindfulness and compassion at the center of her clinical approach.
Michelle helped build CMP from the ground up with CMP Co-Founders Erika, Will and Nick. Her presence and voice is woven into everything we do.
A line she carries with her, from the poet W.H. Auden, says something true about who she is: "Let the more loving one be me."
We are so grateful — and glad she's not going anywhere.
Finally, we also want to take a moment to thank David Smith, who served as Board Director and Vice Chair from 2021 to 2024, for five years of steady dedication, generous service, and compassionate guidance. David brought real care to this work, and we are grateful for every year he gave to CMP.
These newest members join our remarkable and passionate community of dedicated staff, trained facilitators, and board and advisory members who have built CMP alongside us for over a decade.
Each of these wonderful people allows us to deepen our capacity to show up, program after program, week after week, in the communities that need consistency and support most.
We are so grateful to each of these individuals for bringing their full selves, their expertise, their lived experience, their heart, to this work. CMP is a community, and communities grow stronger when the circle widens.
We are also actively seeking fluent Spanish-speaking Facilitators to join our team this year. If you or someone you know is interested, we'd love to hear from you, please reach out for more info to me at ella.crivello@communitymindfulnessproject.org.
If you'd like to practice with us, And if you know someone who could benefit we are grateful to you for sharing this blog. The door is open.
Wishing you a spacious, restful long weekend. We are so glad you're here with us.
Warmly,
Ella Crivello
Executive Director,
Community Mindfulness Project
P.S. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we set a goal to welcome 40 newCircle members: monthly supporters whose steady subscription for good makes our free programming online and across the most underserved areas of Bridgeport, Norwalk, and Stamford possible. Not with a one-time burst, but with the same consistency and intentional practice that allows mindfulness to transform lives.
We only need 16 more of you to raise your hand to meet our goal🎉. Join The Circle today →
Every new Circle member is a neighbor I get to say with honesty and a big-ole smile: someone out there is holding a seat for you. For over 12 years, we’ve shown up across over 5000 programs with your support. The Circle is how we make the next 12 years possible. Thank you for being a big part of this!