About
Elena Antonova is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Brunel University London and Visiting Researcher at King's College London. She studies the neurobiological effects of long-term mindfulness practice using neuroimaging and psychophysiology methods, with applications to mental health prevention and treatment. A practitioner of meditation for over 20 years, her practice is grounded in Dzogchen teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. She has been affiliated with the Mind and Life Institute since 2011 and was elected a Mind & Life Research Fellow in 2017. Her research interests include philosophy of mind, cognitive neuroscience, and AI ethics from a contemplative perspective.
Teaching focus
Antonova appears at Upaya as part of the wider faculty Roshi Joan Halifax has gathered to teach alongside the Soto Zen core. Upaya's programs regularly bring in scholars, clinicians, scientists, poets, and knowledge holders from beyond the Zen sangha to teach in dialogue with the practice. Antonova's sessions live inside that container. The work tends to ask how a particular field of expertise meets contemplative practice and what each can learn from the other. Sessions are usually held alongside zazen and the Soto Zen forms that structure the days at Upaya, so students can expect a rhythm of formal sittings, talks or seminars from Antonova, group conversation, and silence. The framing is open enough for non-Buddhist participants to take part fully. The depth comes from Antonova's own field rather than from technical Zen instruction. For students with a steady practice, the value is in seeing how practice meets a specific discipline, and how that discipline reads when held inside the container Upaya provides. For people newer to Zen, Antonova's sessions are a low-friction way into that container.
Background
Dr. Elena Antonova appears in Upaya Zen Center's teacher and faculty roster as part of the wider contemplative community Roshi Joan Halifax has gathered in Santa Fe, New Mexico, over the past four decades. The biographical material on file is drawn directly from Upaya's own teacher page and reflects what Antonova has chosen to share there. Elena is a Senior Lecture (Associate Professor) in Psychology at Brunel University London, which she joined in June 2019. Prior to that she was a lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London (KCL), where she remains a Visiting Researcher. Her research focuses on the effects of long-term mindfulness practice using neuroimaging and psychophysiology methods, with the application to the prevention and management of psychopathologies. She has been actively involved with the Mind and Life Institute since 2011 and Mind and Life Europe since 2013. In 2017, she was elected a Mind & Life Research Fellow for her contribution to contemplative science. Elena has a keen interest in the philosophy of mind and ontological issues in cognitive neuroscience. She has also been engaging with the issues concerning the AI ethics and risk mitigation from the perspective of contemplative neuroscience. Elena has been a practitioner of meditation for over 20 years, with her practice being mainly informed by Dzogchen teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. That body of work places Antonova inside a center known for blending Soto Zen practice with contemplative care for the dying, climate work, neuroscience dialogues, and a long-running program for clinicians and chaplains called GRACE. Upaya's roster mixes resident priests with visiting scholars, doctors, scientists, poets, and indigenous knowledge holders, and the programs reflect that blend. Antonova's appearances at Upaya situate this work inside that wider conversation between zazen and the world it sits inside. For practitioners who arrive at Upaya through a sesshin or a Being with Dying training, the common thread is a posture of upright, alert presence under whatever conditions show up. The forms are recognizably Soto Zen: zazen, kinhin, oryoki, the Bodhisattva precepts, dharma talks, and dokusan with senior teachers. The framing is wider than any single discipline, which is part of what has made Upaya a meeting ground for working clinicians, scientists, artists, and long-time Buddhist practitioners. Antonova contributes to that container in the role Upaya's website assigns. People interested in the specific arc of Antonova's career outside Upaya can follow the linked website and external publications listed on the Upaya page itself, which is where any deeper biographical detail belongs.
Lineage
Antonova's teaching home for the work documented here is Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, founded by Roshi Joan Halifax in the 1980s and rooted in the Soto Zen lineage. Upaya's broader faculty includes resident priests, visiting senior teachers, scientists, clinicians, poets, and indigenous knowledge holders. Antonova contributes as part of Upaya's wider faculty rather than as a Zen priest. Information about specific dharma transmission lines, ordination, or external lineage roots belongs on Antonova's own site rather than fabricated here.
What to expect
In a program with Antonova at Upaya, expect zazen and Soto Zen forms paired with teaching in Antonova's own area of focus. Days follow Upaya's rhythm of sittings, walking meditation, meals, talks, and time for questions. Silence is taken seriously, but so are the conversations that come out of it. The framing is wide enough for people from outside Buddhist practice to take part fully. Long-time Zen students will recognize the forms; newcomers will be supported through them. Expect to leave with a clearer sense of how practice meets the specific subject Antonova is teaching.
