Alexx Temeña

Hi! My name is Alexx Temeña and I am currently a sophomore undergraduate at Brown University concentrating in cognitive neuroscience with the hopes of attending graduate school in clinical psychology. My primary academic interest lies in the intersection between the brain sciences and contemplative studies. Through my battle with anxiety, I was led to seek help from an advisor at my boarding high school who taught me the principles of meditation through the lens of neuroscience. Since then, I have found an interest in the personal and scientific inquiry of meditation and hope that by studying abroad in Bodh Gaya, India, I will gain more insight about the Buddhist history and philosophy that underlies the practice. This fall semester, I will be living in a monastic community and abide by the Buddhist precepts as I learn about Buddhist meditation traditions from Eastern and Western educators. I am most looking forward to the combination of rigorous academic study and first-person meditative practice, a pursuit for both academic knowledge and personal well being.

At my home community at Brown, I serve sixty students in a first-year dormitory as a Woman Peer Counselor and sixty students as an undergraduate teaching assistant for a West African dance class. I am also a performer and choreographer in a dance theater company that explores international dance forms and movement improvisation. As a Boston Area Study Abroad Association (BASAA) scholarship recipient, I am excited to work with BASAA to increase global awareness by encouraging students in the Boston area to study abroad.