Warriors in the World: John Rettger

john_RettgerJohn Rettger, PhD always has a smile. His dedication and generosity propel his work in the world. Holding many seats, Johnfacilitates healing through yoga and mindfulness in a multitude of ways.

John received the PhD in clinical psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology at Sofia University in Palo Alto, CA. John’s diverse training background and practice integrates psychological approaches such as Existential-Humanistic, Transpersonal, Cognitive-Behavioral and Trauma-informed therapies with Mindfulness and Yoga-based practices to promote psychospiritual transformation and healing.

 
John holds academic posts at both Stanford and Sofia University. John is the Director of the Mindfulness Program within the Stanford University School of Medicine’s and the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital’s Early Life Stress and Pediatric Anxiety Program and he is a Research Associate at Sofia University. John’s current research is focused on developing mindfulness and yoga-based wellness programs for youth, teachers and mental health and wellness professionals. The Stanford program provides mindfulness training to youth and school staff in the Ravenswood City School District and other school and agencies in East Palo Alto, CA. John also directs research at RISE Yoga for Youth where he is investigating psychological outcomes of youth participating in RISE at San Francisco High Schools.
 
 
John teaches Vinyasa and Restorative styles of yoga and has studied with many inspiring teachers such as Judith Lasater,PhD, PT, Jason Crandell, Darren Main, Les Leventhal, and Peter Guinosso. John is certified from It’s Yoga Kids in San Francisco to teach yoga to children and has studied teaching mindfulness to teens with Gina Biegal, M.A., LMFT at El Camino Hospital. He has also studied teaching yoga to at-risk youth with Hala Khouri, M.A. and his mindfulness teaching is inspired by the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn at UMASS Medical Center. John has immense gratitude for his many teachers and mentors in psychology at Stanford and Sofia as well as his many yoga teacher colleagues that continue to inspire him everyday.
John’s devotion to this work, his incredibly generous heart and willingness to share his inspiration and training are such a blessing to our community.

“As my practice and teaching of mindfulness and yoga evolves, I have become fully passionate about marrying these sacred practices to clinical psychology and applying scientific method to describe the synergy of these fields in restoring health and thus creating a more loving and compassionate society.”