Raphael Cushnir

Raphael Cushnir is a teacher and author in the field of emotional connection and present moment awareness. His writing has reached readers in O, The Oprah Magazine, Beliefnet, Spirituality and Health, Psychology Today and The Huffington Post. He has written six books, lectures worldwide, and is a faculty member of the Esalen Institute, the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, and the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies. He also coaches individuals and teams at Fortune 100 companies, governments, religious organizations and non-profits.

His path to this work was not a straight one. Cushnir grew up in Northridge, in California's San Fernando Valley, entered college at sixteen and graduated from UCLA at nineteen. He worked as an activist for the environment and human rights, then spent a decade in Hollywood, where he wrote, directed and produced the Showtime movie Sexual Healing. He also co-designed the multimedia game Obsidian. In 1996 his career and his marriage fell apart, an experience of profound grief that he describes as a classic dark night of the soul, and that opened his heart.

His books include Unconditional Bliss, Setting Your Heart on Fire, How Now, The One Thing Holding You Back, Surfing Your Inner Sea and Back to Us. At the center of his teaching is emotional surfing: turning toward difficult feelings in the body, one moment at a time, with compassionate, non-interfering attention. He describes himself as an Emotional Connection Facilitator and the creator of the Emotional Connection Process.