Bart van Melik

From a young age, Bart van Melik was interested in how the mind works. He studied the psychology of culture and religion in graduate school, but it wasn’t until he encountered insight meditation in Thailand that it totally clicked for him. Soon after, Insight Meditation Society co-founder Joseph Goldstein and teacher Carol Wilson visited the Netherlands, his home country, and offered a 10-day retreat. After moving to the U.S. and completing a six-week retreat at IMS, Bart wanted to share the practice with youth. He started volunteering at the Lineage Project, a nonprofit that delivers mindfulness training to young people navigating incarceration, homelessness, school suspension and academic challenges. “These early experiences gave me the opportunity to reflect on power, privilege, race and social location, even my own immigrant status,” he says. “I’ve been shaped by that work.” Today, Bart teaches regular classes and offers daylong courses and retreats. He also brings meditation to a wide variety of populations, from incarcerated youth and veterans with PTSD to corporate employees. He is a co-author of “Still, in the City: Creating Peace of Mind in the Midst of Urban Chaos."