Richard Doyle is an Edwin Erle Sparks professor of English at Penn State. He’s also one of the most interesting people you’ll find on campus, given his academic interests and an assortment of life experiences.

He studied at Georgetown University where he received his bachelors in English, UC Berkeley where he received a Ph.D., and MIT where he received a postdoctoral fellowship. He has studied Buddhism and religious texts as a side interest for more than 30 years and practiced the art of meditation for more than 20 years.

Thanks to a profound experience while studying in the jungles of Peru, Doyle experienced a changed state of mind and outlook on society. His experience and successive studies and investigation of meditation and the mind have helped heal him of severe asthma and full-body eczema. They have also brought him an overall more peaceful mind. Now, he commits his time to teach students at Penn State as well as thousands through his online lectures.

He talked to us about mindfulness and how even simple meditation can promote this self-healing and lead to a more fulfilling and peaceful life.