The Founders of
The Institute for
Applied Meditation, Inc.
IAM Co-Founder
Susanna Bair
As the President of IAM, Susanna directs the
various seminars and trainings of the Institute. Susanna also has a private practice
in counseling, using Heart
Rhythm Practice. She is an experienced teacher to business groups and
individual professionals and before starting IAM, she was the Director of
Training for a large real estate firm in New York and New Jersey. Susanna
has studied Sufism with a Sufi teacher and taught meditation for 25 years.
Susanna has an accomplished theater
background. She was an actress in four TV films in Vienna and was the
Director of the Kleinen Buehne (Women's Experimental Theater) of The State
Theater, Basel, Switzerland. In New York City, she studied with Lee
Strasberg at the Actor's Studio, and Stella Adler at the Stella Adler
Conservatory.
Susanna received her
education in psychology in the PhD program of the University of
Vienna, and at Antioch University where she earned the M.A. in
Counseling Psychology. She worked at the Children's Psychiatric
Clinic of the General Hospital of Vienna, and later at Health
and Education Services in the Boston Area. She has one child.
IAM Co-Founder
Puran Bair
Puran is an American Sufi Master who has taught meditation to tens
of thousands of people in the United States and Europe over 30
years. Puran's book, "Living From the Heart," published by
Random House, has been hailed as a classic, "one of the most
important texts ever written on meditation."
He has taught his method, Heart Rhythm Practice, to CEO's, teams and
individuals from a broad spectrum of businesses, and has worked with
leading researchers to document the physiological changes that occur
during the different stages of meditation, including metabolism,
heart rhythm, brain waves, light emission and electromagnetism.
Puran represents a long line of
meditation teachers. His methods are typical of the Sufi teachers in
his line, especially Hazrat Inayat Khan.
Puran studied intensively for 25 years with his Sufi teacher,
Pir Vilayat Khan, who charged him with training other students.
Puran's background is in technology
and business, and his teaching often refers to applications of the heart
in business leadership.
Until 2003, he was the president of BAR Systems, Inc.,
the developer and vendor of a portfolio analysis tool for the financial
services industry.
For several years he was a vice-president of a mutual fund company in Boston.
Previously, he worked for IBM, Burroughs, and EG&G and was a consultant to
AT&T and several financial institutions.
His attention to his heart has lead him to develop several environmentally
sound inventions. He holds one patent in wind-energy power,
with a second patent pending in high-speed composting.
Puran holds an MS degree in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
He was born in 1944 and has five children.