Who We Are
Vision
Awaken humanity’s dormant evolutionary potential to transform ourselves and the world.
Mission
Through our research initiatives, we challenge the scientific and cultural status quo related to transcendent experiences. Our research, outreach, and training programs inspire others to share knowledge of and achieve higher states of consciousness in a healthy way. Our content raises awareness of the broader implications of transcendent experiences and the biological mechanisms behind them.
2025 Board of Directors
Founded in 2009, the Emerging Sciences Foundation is a U.S. 501(c)3 California non-profit.
Michael Molina - Founder and Executive Director
Michael Molina brings over 20 years of leadership experience and a strong technical background, directing large-scale programs and projects for Fortune 500 companies across a variety of industries. The founder of both the Emerging Sciences Foundation and the creator of the Brilliano app, Michael believes in empowering people with means to improve themselves and the world we live in. He has served as an ESF board member since 2009. He is married with two boys.
Linda Molina - Co-Founder, Director, Treasurer
Linda is a Mesoamerican dancer, researcher, fire carrier, activist, women ceremony leader, facilitator, wife and homeschooling mother of two amazing boys. Linda is a visionary who works hard at creating the change we wish to see in the world, both in the inner world and outer. With years of working with spiritually awakened individuals, and with an understanding of the process of awakening through her own experience and as a researcher, Linda believes that the investigation of the evolutionary process holds the keys to a better world.
Diane Martin - Secretary
Diane Martin has been eagerly engaged with spiritual research, study and practice since 1998. To deepen her understanding, she took extensive month-long practice retreats within the Tibetan Buddhist Palyul Nyingma lineage with whom she studied for 7 years. She also traveled to Tibet for study and practice in 2007. She experienced Kundalini rising in 2000, and since then, has been researching to better integrate and understand the phenomenon. Having developed a keen interest in astrophysics and quantum physics and their relation to the nature of reality and fabric of consciousness, she now believes the essential next step for humanity is for science and spirituality to communicate and work together empirically with an open mind. A long-time broadcast journalist and current affairs radio and TV host, she is often called upon as a panel moderator, conference host and group facilitator. Diane is also a hospice volunteer, skydiving aficionado, polyphonic singer and happy washboard player.
Mauro Zappaterra - Director
Mauro Zappaterra obtained his MD and PhD degrees from Harvard Medical School. He completed his PhD doing work with neuronal stem cells and the effects of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in brain development and in the adult. He is published in numerous scientific articles on the CSF and his work was chosen as the cover image for the prestigious Neuron Journal. He was also featured in the New England Journal of Medicine in teaching medical students about living with life threatening diseases and in Psychology Today on an article titled “Joy: The art of loving life.” His work with the CSF is included in the beautifully arranged collection of essays and insights titled “On the Mystery of Being: Contemporary Insights on the Convergence of Science and Spirituality.” He completed his Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) residency at the UCLA VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, where he also served as Chief Resident. He is board certified in PM&R with a particular focus on optimizing human performance and decreasing suffering. He is the Director of Multidisciplinary Care at Synovation Medical Group and is a staff physician at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. As a PM&R physician he combines his training in various complementary medicine modalities such as Polarity Therapy, Reiki, Craniosacral Therapy, and Mindfulness and attempts to treat each individual holistically, integrating body, mind and spirit. He researches and designs new interdisciplinary programs and techniques to help alleviate pain, improve function, and increase quality of life. Visit Mauro’s website.
Michael Bradford - Director
Michael Bradford has been involved in research on Kundalini and consciousness for more than 45 years. In 1977 he traveled to India where he spent six years serving as a volunteer worker for the Central Institute for Kundalini Research, founded and directed by the late Pandit Gopi Krishna, the noted authority on Kundalini.
Michael has been a board member of the Institute for Consciousness Research (I.C.R.) since it was founded in the 1990’s, and has been Director of Publications during this time. In 2015, he also became a board member of the Emerging Sciences Foundation (E.S.F.). He was also a founding member of the Kundalini Research Network (K.R.N.) and served as joint coordinator for the organization from 1993 to 1995.
In 2017, Michael published the book ”Consciousness: The New Paradigm”, which illustrates how the consideration of consciousness, as having a reality independent of physical matter, can provide answers to many questions that continue to defy explanation by science.
In 2014, Michael retired from a career in the IT consulting field, and since then, he has been working to make Gopi Krishna’s theories more widely known, and to encourage research into Kundalini and consciousness.
Myrna Filman - Director
Myrna Filman, BS, MSN, APRN has been active in Kundalini research for more than 40 years. A dramatic Kundalini experiences at age 21 lead her to a life-long quest to understand the neurological and physiological basis of Kundalini. Her past work in neurology, neuropsychiatric research and as an advanced practice psychiatric nurse has given her a unique perspective and understanding of the Kundalini system and it’s process. She is a past board member of the Kundalini Research Network and current board member of the Emerging Science Foundation and the Institute for Consciousness Research.