Michael A. Rodriguez is a full-time non-dual coach who works with people in private sessions, offers satsangs here and abroad, and leads retreats. He has a bachelor's degree in English literature from Saint Leo University, a master's degree in Irish literature from Trinity College, Dublin, a master's degree in comparative religion from Harvard University, and a PhD in English literature from Florida State University. Rodriguez taught at the university level for sixteen years. He has published scholarly articles on Samuel Beckett and has given many talks at national and international academic conferences on topics such as modern literature, aesthetics, and psychology.

Foreword writer Joan Tollifson is author of Nothing to Grasp, Painting the Sidewalk with Water, and Awake in the Heartland. Her first book, Bare-Bones Meditation, was published by Bell Tower in 1996. Tollifson writes and talks with people about the living reality here and now. She has an affinity with both Buddhism and Advaita, but belongs to no formal tradition. Her approach is simple and down-to-earth, pointing beyond concepts and beliefs to the immediacy of direct knowing and being. Tollifson has lived in Northern California, rural New York, Chicago, and Southern Oregon. Her main teacher was Toni Packer, but she spent time with many other teachers as well.