Peter Grossenbacher

Peter Grossenbacher, Ph.D., teaches at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, where he serves as Professor and Department Chair of Contemplative Psychology. A Mind & Life Fellow, he offers integrative scientific perspectives on meditation and contemplative education. Peter started meditating in 1980, and teaches meditation in a variety of secular and spiritual settings.

After graduating with honors from U.C. Berkeley, he worked at Stanford Medical School in brain imaging research. He trained in cognitive neuroscience and earned his doctorate in experimental psychology at the University of Oregon. His book, Finding Consciousness in the Brain, offers insights into the brain’s involvement in conscious experience. After researching attention and synesthesia at the University of Cambridge and the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Grossenbacher joined the Naropa faculty in 2000. Since founding the Consciousness Laboratory, he directs research on meditative development, worldview transformation, and the teaching of meditation. His work has been covered by the New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Discover Magazine, as well as numerous radio interviews and newspaper articles.