About Us

Andrew Taggart is a Ph.D.-trained practical philosopher and teacher. Over the past 15 years, he’s explored the things that matter most (philosophy) as well as the deep peace that’s at the heart of our experience (meditation). He says more about philosophy and meditation on his personal website.

Alexandra Taggart is a meditation teacher who crafts customized energy visualizations for her clients depending on the areas—physical, emotional, and mental—that need energetic purification. She’s currently writing a book on inner purification. She became a certified yoga teacher in 2018. Her spiritual path has passed through Christian mysticism and Zen Buddhism, and, in recent years, she’s been engaged in energy practices like prana vidya, kundalini tantra, and kriya yoga. You can learn more about her on her Substack, Happiness Dawns.

Our Story

A number of formative experiences led us to create the Inward Turn Institute. Two in particular stand out. In 2010, while Alexandra was seeing a therapist, she discovered that she wanted a much broader and deeper perspective. Her therapist’s reply: “That’s not what I offer.” And that was the end of her time in therapy—as well as the beginning of her spiritual quest. Then in 2018, in the midst a particular dokusan ("one-on-one") during a weeklong Zen retreat, I had performed the appropriate rituals, only to hear my Zen teacher saying, “What are you, a philosopher, thinking again?” The denigration of philosophy as nothing but “conceptual thinking” struck me as being unnecessarily dismissive.

Over the years, we found that something or other was missing as we explored, variously, Christian mysticism, Zen Buddhism, raja yoga, and contemporary nonduality. Either the essence of the metaphysical doctrine wasn't laid out very clearly (let's say: “the theoretical part of the teaching”), or the emphasis on rigorous, systematic practice was left wanting (“the practical part”). We wanted both—and this in a harmonious way.

It seemed to us, then, that what we were looking for didn't exist—at least not in the West and at least not in a way that was suitable for rigorous Western spiritual seekers—and so we set about creating it. All along, we’ve been searching for a philosophical approach that's aimed at ultimate truth, one that welcomes deep philosophical questions concerned with ultimate matters. If, like us, you’re eager to ask, “How does all of reality ‘fit together’? Why is there suffering? How did the world come into being? What is the ascent to truth? And how can I live this experiential understanding of the truth?,” then you've come to the right place. 

We see what we’re up to as consisting of two interlocking parts. First, we want to take the metaphysics of the nondual teaching very seriously—so seriously that we willingly take up ultimate matters of concern on a regular basis. Second, we’re keen to live the experiential understanding through rigorous practices we undertake together. The first point brings out the use of the intellect to understand the basic aspects of the teaching. The second point is crucial because while deep questioning is a seminal feature of what we're offering, we also—following the lead of the greatest Eastern teachings—wish to ensure that “the rubber hits the road.” The teaching, sinking deeply into your heart, must be genuinely transformative.