Ame Wren is the founder and director of Boston Yoga School and a PhD candidate in Religious Studies at UVA. Prior to beginning her doctoral work in 2020, Ame spent fifteen years as a full-time yoga and meditation teacher, and traveled extensively leading yoga teacher trainings, workshops and retreats. Ame is greatly indebted to her long-time teachers Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor, and the late Michael Stone, who taught her how to be in the world more gracefully and with the utmost compassion.

At UVA, Ame studies American religious history with a focus on the rise of the spiritual-but-not-religious and its intersection with therapeutic culture. She holds a BA in Philosophy and Religion and an MA in Gender & Cultural Studies and comes to CSC and the CIRCL lab as a researcher and co-designer of the Contemplative Facilitation Training (CFT). Ame also works as a part-time professor at James Madison University and teaches courses on spirituality and meaning in the modern world. In addition to her academic teaching, Ame offers workshops about stress, resilience, and nervous system science.

Ame has 3 very small children and is passionate about how contemplative practices can interact with parenting and early childhood education. She hopes to one day launch a study on contemplation and parenting.