Josh Brahinsky is a researcher at UC Berkeley in Psychology in the Berkeley Social Interaction Laboratory, and a Teaching Faculty at UC Santa Cruz. His work links anthropological and neuroscientific methods to explore the ways contemplation invites and shapes sensory capacity and experience. He studies a variety of contemplative practices, including varieties of prayer and meditation, focused especially on the worship practices of charismatic evangelicals. He did his PhD in the History of Consciousness at UCSC and then a postdoctoral fellowship in Anthropology at Stanford University.