AudioDharma - AudioDharma Speakers

AudioDharma Speakers

	Adrianne Ross	Adrianne, a retired family physician, has been involved in meditation and healing since 1976. She has been practicing Buddhist meditation since 1984. Her spiritual journey has also included contemplative inquiry practices and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. Trained by Jack Kornfield, Adrianne is influenced by both Thai and Burmese streams of the Theravadan tradition as well as Tibetan (Dzogchen) practice. She teaches classes and...
	Ajahn Amaro	Born in England in 1956, Ven. Amaro Bhikkhu received his BSc. in Psychology and Physiology from the University of London. Spiritual searching led him to Thailand, where he went to Wat Pah Nanachat, a Forest Tradition monastery established for Western disciples of Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah, who ordained him as a bhikkhu in 1979. He returned to England and joined Ajahn Sumedho at the newly established Chithurst Monastery. He resided for...
	Ajahn Pasanno	Ajahn Pasanno took ordination in Thailand in 1974 with Venerable Phra Khru Ñāṇasirivatana as preceptor. During his first year as a monk he was taken by his teacher to meet Ajahn Chah, with whom he asked to be allowed to stay and train. One of the early residents of Wat Pah Nanachat, Ajahn Pasanno became its abbot in his ninth year. During his incumbency Wat Pah Nanachat developed considerably, both in physical size and in reputation. Ajahn...
	Ajahn Sucitto
	Alex Haley	Alex is an assistant professor of mindfulness programs at the University of Minnesota. He was trained as a Community Dharma Leader by Spirit Rock Meditation Center (SRMC) and is currently going through the 2013-16 Spirit Rock/IMS/IMC Teacher Training program. His mentors are Joseph Goldstein and Guy Armstrong. Alex was also trained through the Center for Spirituality & Healing, the Center for Mindfulness, and the Somatic Experiencing Trauma...
	Alexis Santos	Alexis has practiced Insight Meditation in India, Burma and the US since 2001. He met Sayadaw U Tejaniya in Burma in 2003 and has been his long-time student, including several years of training as a Buddhist Monk under his guidance. Alexis’ teaching emphasizes knowing the mind through a natural and relaxed continuity. He brings a practical, intuitive and compassionate approach to the development of wisdom. He is a graduate of the Spirit...
	Amana Brembry Johnson	Amana Brembry Johnson is a Core Teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA and a Guiding Teacher for the center’s Spiritual Teacher and Leadership (STL) training. Four decades of contemplative practice in multiple traditions contribute to a form of teaching, meditation guidance and mentoring, that offers a broad range of access to practice from diverse communities that warmly includes but is not exclusive to BIPOC, Black Women,...
	Andrea Castillo	Andrea Castillo has practiced Insight Meditation since 1998 under the guidance of Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella. She has taught Dharma at the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) since 2011; she has specialized, although not exclusively, in teaching in Spanish for the Hispanic community. Andrea was trained as a teacher at IMC by Gil Fronsdal, and graduated from the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) teacher training, led by Joseph Goldstein. She...
	Andrea Fella	Andrea Fella is a co-guiding teacher at the Insight Meditation Center and the Insight Retreat Center. She has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1996, and teaching Insight Meditation since 2003. She is particularly drawn to intensive retreat practice, and has done a number of long retreats, both in the United States and in Burma. During one long practice period in Burma, she ordained as a nun with Sayadaw U Janaka. Andrea is especially...
	Angie Boissevain	Angie Boissevain is a transmitted lay priest disciple of Kobun Chino Otogawa and completed transmission with Vanja Palmers. She has been teaching in the San Francisco Bay Area for 40 years, with emphasis on zazen, and informal studies of Buddhist, especially Soto Zen, teachings. She was one of the founders, with Kobun roshi, of Jikoji, a Zen temple and retreat center in the Santa Cruz mountains, and is teacher for Floating Zendo meditation...
	Annie Nugent	Annie has practiced in the Theravada and Tibetan traditions since 1979 under the guidance of a range of teachers including Sayadaw U Pandita, Tulku Akong Rinpoche and various western teachers. She was the resident teacher at the Insight Meditation Society from 1999-2003 and has since been teaching elsewhere in America, including the annual IMS 3 month retreat and The Forest Refuge. Her teaching style aims to reveal how our all aspects of our...
	Anushka Fernandopulle	Anushka Fernandopulle teaches Insight meditation in the San Francisco Bay Area and other parts of the world. Anushka is a member of the Spirit Rock Teacher's Council and has trained in the Theravada Buddhist tradition for 30 years in monasteries in Sri Lanka & India as well as urban US settings. Anushka has an MBA from Yale and works with organizations as a consultant and with individuals as a leadership coach. She leads a weekly meditation...
	Ari Crellin-Quick	Ari Crellin-Quick has been a student of the Dharma since 2004. His primary practice lineage and orientation is based in the teachings of Sayadaw U Tejaniya, which emphasize a simple, natural, easeful knowing of experience for the cultivation of wisdom. Ari's primary Dharma mentor is Andrea Fella, and he has participated in Spirit Rock's Dedicated Practitioners Program, Insight Meditation Center's Local Dharma Leaders training, and is a...
	Bob Stahl	Bob Stahl, PhD, has founded eight Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programs in medical centers in the SF Bay Area and is currently offering programs at El Camino Hospital in Mt. View, Ca. He serves as an Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences in the School of Public Health at Brown University Mindfulness Center and formerly at the Oasis Institute for Mindfulness-Based Professional...
	Brian Lesage	Brian Lesage has practiced Buddhist meditation since 1988 and has taught meditation since 2000. He has studied in the Zen, Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism. He was ordained in the Rinzai Zen tradition in 1996. His training in Vipassana Meditation includes doing extended meditation retreats in Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, and India as well as numerous retreats in the U.S. He leads retreats and teaches meditation courses nationwide. Brian...
	Bruce Hyman	Bruce was first introduced to Buddhism as a doctor during the Vietnam war in 1970 by his dear friend and interpreter, Trug. When he returned to the U.S. he found a balanced Yoga practice consisting of postures and meditation. He continues to practice Hatha Yoga to this day. He practiced other forms of meditation on and off until about 15 years ago when he found Buddhist practice and have engaged fully with persistence and enthusiasm since...
	bruni dávila	Bruni Dávila (she/they) is an Insight meditation Dharma teacher in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism. She teaches at the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) and Insight Retreat Center (IRC) in CA. Bruni has been practicing Vipassana and Zen since 1995, and completed the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies Chaplaincy and the Eco-Chaplaincy Trainings. Her previous work in the environmental field, and their ancestry of Puerto Rican heritage, have...
	Carrie Tamburo	Carrie Tamburo, Ph.D., was born in New Orleans and met the dharma in Los Angeles in 1982 while completing her doctorate at UCLA. She travelled to India and then practiced with renowned teachers in the Tibetan tradition for 10 years. Since 1992, Carrie has practiced and studied in the Theravadan tradition, and since 2015 she has taught dharma in both Spanish and English on the West Coast and via Zoom to Latin America. She lives in San Diego,...
	Chris Clifford	Chris Clifford has practiced meditation at Insight Meditation Center and other Insight centers since 1995. She appreciates the integration of intensive meditation retreats with daily life Dharma practice and service. Chris is a graduate of IMC's Dharma Mentoring program and Local Dharma Leadership program. She has taught IMC's various introductory classes and co-leads the Eightfold Path Program. She also manages retreats for The Mountain...
	Dan Landry	Dan Landry has had a lifelong interest in contemplative practice. He has been a student of the dhamma since 1999 and is a grateful member of Insight Santa Cruz where he continues to practice and teach.
	David Lorey	David Lorey began meditating as a teenager in the 1970s, in college began an intensive training in transcendental meditation, and then came to practice in the Buddhadharma in the early 2000s. Integrating tranquility and insight practice forms the core of his current path; in addition, he explores the early teachings embedded in the textual tradition of the Pali canon for insights into practicing and living in accord with the Dharma. In sharing...
	Dawn Neal	Dawn Neal started Buddhist practice in 2004, and has cumulatively devoted several years to silent retreat. She completed Dharma teacher training with Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella in 2025. She serves as the Guiding Teacher for Insight Santa Cruz, and faculty for the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies Online Buddhist Chaplaincy Training. Dawn is a core teacher for IMC’s Tuesday morning group. Before teaching full time, she was a professional...
	Dawn Scott	Dawn Scott has been practicing insight meditation since 2008. She has taught teen retreats and led Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s family program for eight years. She is currently completing the Insight Meditation Society’s four year teacher training program. Dawn has a deep love of long retreat practice and enjoys sharing teachings that lead to awakening.
	Devon Hase	devon hase loves long retreats. Cumulatively, she’s spent four years in silent practice in the Insight and Vajrayana traditions. Since discovering meditation in 2000, she has put dharma and community at the center of her life: she spent a decade bringing mindfulness to high school and college classrooms and now teaches at the Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock, and other centers around the world. She enjoys supporting practitioners with...
	Dhammaruwan	Dhammaruwan, born in a traditional Buddhist village in Sri Lanka, became known for spontaneously chanting suttas as a young boy. He began meditation practice in early childhood with the teachings of Anagarika Munindra. He trained for many years with Bhante Gunaratana and is a graduate of Insight Meditation Society's Teacher Training Program USA (2005). He teaches worldwide, bringing his students complex teaching in simple and easy to...
	Diana Clark	Diana Clark, PhD, is a dedicated meditation teacher based in the San Francisco Bay Area, teaching primarily at the Insight Meditation Center and Insight Retreat Center. Her extensive meditation experience includes years of silent retreats at Spirit Rock, IMS, and the Insight Retreat Center, where she received training from esteemed teachers Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella. Inspired by the Buddha's teachings on peace and freedom, Diana's teaching...
	Donald Rothberg	Donald Rothberg, Ph.D., a member of the Teachers Council at Spirit Rock and a teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, has practiced Insight Meditation since 1976, and has also received training in Tibetan Dzogchen and Mahamudra practice and the Hakomi approach to body-based psychotherapy. Formerly on the faculties of the University of Kentucky, Kenyon College, and Saybrook Graduate School, he currently writes and teaches classes,...
	Eugene Cash	Eugene Cash has practiced meditation since 1981. He leads weekly sitting groups in San Francisco and meditation retreats nationwide. Many streams of the vipassana tradition and the Zen school of Buddhism influence his teaching. Eugene is also a teacher in the Ridhwan School. As a psychotherapist he has worked extensively with those who are ill, the dying and the bereaved.
	Francisco Morillo Gable	Francisco started to meditate in 2003, following a life-changing accident. Meditation has helped him realize unexpected recovery and adapt to being disabled. He was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, immigrating to the United States at the age of ten. Prior to his injury, he worked in the technology sector in San Francisco as a senior director. Francisco is a classically trained Dharma Teacher, authorized by the Insight...
	Gil Fronsdal	Gil Fronsdal is the senior guiding co-teacher at the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) in Redwood City, California and the Insight Retreat Center in Santa Cruz, California. He started Buddhist practice in 1975, and has been teaching for IMC since 1990. Gil is an authorized teacher in two traditions: the Insight Meditation lineage of Theravada Buddhism of Southeast Asia, and Japanese Soto Zen. He holds a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Stanford....
	Gregory Kramer	Gregory Kramer has been teaching meditation since 1980. He developed the practice of Insight Dialogue and is the Founder and Guiding Teacher of Metta Programs, offering retreats worldwide and authoring books including Insight Dialogue: The Interpersonal Path to Freedom and Dharma Contemplation: Meditating Together with Wisdom Texts.
	Greg Scharf	Greg Scharf began meditating in 1992 and has been teaching residential meditation retreats since 2007, including the annual 3 month retreat at the Insight Meditation Society where he is a core teacher. In his teaching Greg emphasizes the understanding that meditation is fundamentally an exploration of nature and natural processes. He also stresses the critical importance of bringing the qualities of kindness, compassion, and a sense of humor...
	Gulwinder (Gullu) Singh	Gulwinder “Gullu” Singh is a corporate attorney and dedicated Dharma practitioner. He teaches regularly at InsightLA and Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has taught meditation at USC, as a guest lecturer at UCLA Law School, in law firms, at legal conferences and in corporate settings. Gullu is trained to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and is currently in the 4-year Spirit Rock Meditation Center Teacher Training Program....
	Guy Armstrong
	Ines Freedman	Ines first became interested in meditation through her yoga practice in 1970. She has been practicing Buddhist meditation since 1985, with Gil Fronsdal being her primary teacher. She is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader Program. She is a member of the IMC Karuna Council and is past Managing Director of both the Insight Meditation Center and the Insight Retreat Center. She developed and taught IMC’s Online Meditation...
	Jason Murphy	Jason Murphy has been practicing Vipassana (Insight) meditation since 1994. He is a teacher and counselor who has been working with youth and families for the past 17 years. Jason has taught mindful awareness in a variety of settings and now leads a weekly Mindfulness group for young adults in Santa Cruz. He has assisted at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and with the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF) on a number of retreats. Jason has sat...
	JD Doyle	JD Doyle(they/them) served as Core Teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center, where they co-founded the Alphabet(LGBTQIA+) Sangha, and as Guiding Teacher at Insight Santa Cruz. They graduated from Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Retreat Teacher Training in 2020. JD began studying and practicing Buddhism in 1995, at Insight Meditation Society and at Spirit Rock and continued with extensive retreat practice in Thailand and Burma in the...
	Jennifer Block	Jennifer Block’s life work is providing spiritual care to people in crisis, mentoring caregivers, and teaching people how to access their innate capacity for caring and healing. Based in San Francisco, Jennifer is a longtime dharma practitioner and Buddhist chaplain. She provides care to individuals facing the spiritual and emotional issues related to aging, sickness, dying and grief. Jennifer teaches the Buddhist Chaplaincy Training program...
	Jesse Maceo Vega Frey	Jesse Maceo Vega Frey’s teaching aims to inspire the skills, determination, and faith necessary to realize the deepest human freedom. He is a student of Michele McDonald and his approach is rooted in the tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. As a teacher of Vipassana (insight) meditation within the broader context of Theravadan Buddhism his teaching encourages an exploration of the relationship between ethics, insight, and action. Perpetually...
	Jill Hyman	Jill Hyman has practiced yoga since 1974, Vipassana meditation with ISC since 2000. Her practice is influenced by the Thai Forest tradition (Ajahns Sumedho, Succito, & Amaro), Dzogchen (Tsoknyi Rinpoche & Anam Thubten), the many teachers of Spirit Rock & IMS, and especially Shinzen Young (Vipassana Support Institute). She has served as a volunteer chaplain at Salinas Valley State Prison since 2001, heading the program with Bruce since 2003....
	Jill Shepherd	Jill Shepherd has been practicing since 1999 living and working in meditation centers and monasteries in the USA, England and Thailand. She is a graduate of the IMS/Spirit Rokc teacher training program, under the guidance of Joseph Goldstein and Gil Fronsdal. She divides her time teaching in the USA, Australia and New Zealand.
	JoAnna Hardy
	Johnathan Woodside	Johnathan Woodside is an Insight Meditation teacher offering Dharma instruction rooted in the Theravada tradition of ethics, concentration, and wisdom. Johnathan has been teaching since 2011 and is the guiding teacher of Mindfulness Outreach Initiative (MOI) in Omaha Nebraska and Dallas Insight Sangha (DIS) in Dallas Texas. Visit johnathanwoodside.com for his online and in-person engagements and retreat schedule.
	John Martin	John Martin teaches Vipassana, Metta, and LGBTQI themed meditation retreats. He leads an on-going weekly meditation group in San Francisco and is the guiding teacher for the LGBTQueer Sangha at IMC. He has had a dedicated practice while being engaged in the working world and emphasizes practice for daily life. He also completed the SRMC/IMS/IRC 4-year teacher training in 2016.
	John O'Connor
	John Travis	JOHN TRAVIS has been a student of Vipassana since 1970. In the eight years he lived in Asia, he studied intensively with senior teachers of the Vipassana and Tibetan traditions. John Is the founder of the Mountain Stream Meditation Center in the Sacramento/Auburn area, where he leads classes and retreats. He is a member of the Spirit Rock Teacher's Council.
	Joseph Goldstein	Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, where he is one of the resident guiding teachers. Since 1967 he has been studying and practicing different forms of Buddhist meditation under eminent teachers from India, Burma, and Tibet. He has been leading meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. He is a co-founder of the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and more recently, the Forest Refuge, a...
	Kamala Masters	Kamala is one of the founders of the Vipassana Metta Foundation on Maui, where she is developing a sanctuary-hermitage for long term practice. She teaches retreats in the worldwide, including being a Core Teacher at the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, MA. Practicing since 1975, her teachers have been the late Anagarika Munindra of India and Sayadaw U Pandita of Burma with whom she continues to practice. She lives on Maui where she...
	Karen Zelin
	Kate Munding	Kate Munding has been practicing meditation in the Theravada lineage since 2004. She is a graduate of the 2016 Spirit Rock/Insight Meditation Society/Insight Retreat Center teacher training. Kate is a guiding teacher for the Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley (IMCB) and teaches residential retreats and daylongs. Kate is the founder of The Heart-Mind Education Project, providing mindfulness based education programs, trainings, and...
	Kim Allen	Kim Allen began meditating in 2003, seeking both a path out of suffering and the deeper truths of life. She trains mainly under the guidance of Gil Fronsdal at the Insight Meditation Center, and has also practiced in Sri Lanka and, more recently, with a few Mahāyāna teachers. Kim was drawn early on to long retreat practice and has sat cumulative three years of retreat. Engagement with the Pāli Canon, and also texts from other Buddhist...
	Kirsten Rudestam	Kirsten Rudestam has been practicing vipassana meditation in the Theravadan tradition since 2001 and teaching since 2005. She has a PhD in Environmental Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz where she studied climate resilience and environmental justice. She has twenty years of experience offering field-based and classroom-based college courses in environmental studies and sociology, and is a facilitator for Joanna Macy’s...
	Kodo Conlin	Kodo Conlin trains in both the Zen and Theravada traditions, ordaining as a Soto Zen priest in 2015. His practice in Vipassana has included extended residential training in the tradition of S.N. Goenka, as well as long retreats at Spirit Rock and Insight Retreat Center. Kodo's teaching emphasizes the joyful, comprehensive freedom of the heart—liberation—available through the Buddhist path. He is currently the Co-Managing Director of Insight...
	Leigh Brasington	Leigh Brasington has been practicing meditation since 1985 and is the senior American student of the late Ven. Ayya Khema. Leigh began assisting Ven. Ayya Khemma in 1994, and began teaching retreats on his on in 1997. He is also authorized to teach by Jack Kornfield. Leigh has taught the jhanas, along with multiple insight practices, at well over one hundred residential retreats throughout the United States and Europe. He is the author of the...
	Lienchi Tran	Lienchi was born into a Buddhist family. She began her path of meditation in 1986 with Thay Thich Nhat Hanh in the Mahayana tradition. In 1994, she met Venerable Khippapanno, and his kindness and wisdom inspired Lienchi to practice in the Theravada tradition. Since 1998, Lienchi has been visiting Asia regularly and has practiced with Luang Por Sumedho, Sayadaw U Pandita, and Sayadaw U Tejaniya. Lienchi has been ordained 3 times and has...
	Liz Powell	Liz Powell has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 2004. Liz takes joy in teaching IMC's Eightfold Path Program online, the weekday Happy Hour brahmavihara practice, and the Thursday night online sitting, as well as classes in Mindfulness and other dharma fundamentals. She loves teaching retreats as well as sitting them. A 2025 graduate of the IMC (Insight Meditation Center) Dharma Teacher Training with Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella, as...
	Lori Wong	Lori Wong is a Stanford-certified Compassion Cultivation Training™ (CCT) teacher, trained through Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and <a href=http://ccare.stanford.edu/>Altruism Research and Education</a>. Lori is also the founding teacher of <a href=http://imcv.org/>Insight Meditation Central Valley</a>, a graduate of <a href=https://www.spiritrock.org/CDL>Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leader program</a>, and has been...
	Marjolein Janssen	Marjolein (pronunciation “Mar-yo-line”) Janssen is originally from the Netherlands. Since 2011 she has been practicing insight meditation intensively in Europe, the US, as well as Myanmar, where she was ordained as a Buddhist nun. Marjolein brings both formal practice and practice in daily life to her teachings. She seeks to offer a practical approach to Buddhist concepts and ideas. Her sharing of the Dharma comes from her wish to contribute...
	Mary Grace Orr	Mary Grace Orr is a teacher emeritus at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Marin County (CA) and the founding teacher of Insight Santa Cruz. She has led retreats at Spirit Rock and throughout the US for 30 years. She is also deeply interested in Christian mystical traditions and is a graduate of the Living School. She lives in Volcano, HI, where she also leads a weekly group. During the time of COVID, meeting on Zoom, this group expanded to...
	Matthew Brensilver	Matthew Brensilver, MSW, PhD teaches retreats at the Insight Retreat Center, Spirit Rock and other Buddhist centers. He was previously program director for Mindful Schools and for more than a decade, was a core teacher at Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. Matthew worked as a clinical social worker, serving severely and persistently mentally ill adults and adolescents. He subsequently earned a PhD from the Dworak-Peck School of...
	Matt McNeil
	Max Erdstein	Max Erdstein teaches at the Insight Meditation Center and the Insight Retreat Center. He is trained as a Dharma teacher by Gil Fronsdal and received Dharma Entrustment as a Zen teacher in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi from Sojun Mel Weitsman and Gil Fronsdal. Max has practiced Buddhist meditation for more than 25 years, training in America, Japan, Thailand, and Burma. He completed the Spirit Rock/IMS Dharma teacher training program and...
	Mei Elliott	Mei Elliott is a Dharma teacher in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, who practices at the intersection between Zen and Vipassana. Mei began training as a Zen monk at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in 2014, and has spent eight years living at Zen temples and monasteries. During this time she served as the director of San Francisco Zen Center and the guiding instructor for Young Urban Zen. Mei was authorized to teach by James Baraz and is...
	Mel Weitsman	Sojun Mel Weitsman Roshi was abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He was ordained by Suzuki Roshi in 1969 as resident priest at the Berkeley Zendo, and was officially installed as abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center in 1985. Sojun lived in North Berkeley with his wife, Liz. (1929 to 2021)
	Nikki Mirghafori	Dr. Nikki Mirghafori is a Buddhist teacher and Artificial Intelligence scientist. She is a lineage holder in the Theravada tradition, empowered by the Burmese meditation master Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, with whom she practiced the jhanas and detailed analytical (Abhidhamma-style) vipassana. She teaches at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City and the Insight Retreat Center in Scotts Valley, CA, and serves as a Stewarding Teacher at...
	Nolitha Tsengiwe	Nolitha is a Dharma teacher and board member at Dharmagiri Sacred Mountain Retreat Center, in SA that was founded by Kittisaro and Thanisara Weinberg. She has practiced since 1997 under Kittisaro and Thanissara, who are of Ajahn Chah ‘s lineage. In her first retreat with these beloved teachers she discovered silence as a refuge and has never looked back. Nolitha completed the Community Dharma leadership program (CDL4) under Spirit Rock in 2014...
	Oren Jay Sofer	Oren Jay Sofer, a CNVC Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer, teaches workshops and retreats on meditation and communication internationally. His teaching emphasizes how awareness practice and communication training deepen one another in a synergistic manner. He holds a degree in Comparative Religion from Columbia University and is certified as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for healing trauma. Oren is a husband, a father, and the...
	Pamela Weiss	Pamela Weiss is the Founder and Chief Wisdom Officer of Appropriate Response, a company dedicated to bringing the principles and practices of mindfulness to the workplace. She has been practicing meditation for over 25 years, including several years of Zen monastic training, and completion of teacher training with Jack Kornfield through Spirit Rock. She lives in San Francisco and teaches internationally.
	Paul Haller	Paul Haller has been teaching the dharma for over 35 years. Initially ordained as a Theravada monk in Thailand, he became a priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1980 and its abbot from 2003 to 2012. He has been leading the Zen Center's outreach program and has extensive experience integrating Buddhist practice with hospice, jail and peace work.
	Rachel Lewis	Rachel Lewis began practicing insight meditation in 2003, while completing her physics PhD at Yale. Since 2011, she has taught dharma and meditation classes and retreats in British Columbia and beyond. She completed the IMS/IRC 4-year teacher training in 2021, and is a guiding teacher of the British Columbia Insight Meditation Society. Her dharma teaching interests include the power of music, humour, and creativity to increase our capacity for...
	Rebecca Bradshaw
	Rev. Liên Shutt	Rev. Keiryū Liên Shutt is a lineage holder in the Shunryu Suzuki tradition. Born to a Buddhist family in Vietnam, she received her meditation training in the Insight and Zen traditions in the US, Thailand, Japan and Vietnam. She was a founding member of the Buddhists of Color in 1998 and currently is the Guiding Teacher of Access to Zen, an anti-racist, inclusive sangha and non-profit in the SF Bay Area. She lives in San Francisco with her...
	Richard Shankman	Richard Shankman has been a meditator since 1970 and teaches at dharma centers and groups nationally, including Spirit Rock Meditation Center and Insight Meditation Society. He is a co-founder of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies and Mindful Schools. He is the author of The Experience of Samadhi: An In-Depth Investigation of Buddhist Meditation.
	Ruth King	Ruth King, is a teacher in the Insight Meditation tradition. She is on the Teacher’s Council at Insight Meditation Community of Washington and Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and is the founder of Mindful Members Insight Meditation Community of Charlotte, NC. She is a life coach and leadership consultant, and offers the Mindful of Race Training program to teams and organizations nationwide. She is the author of several publications, including...
	Sally Clough	Sally Clough was introduced to vipassana through retreats in India in 1981. She co-founded the Sharpham meditation community in Devon, England, and was the Executive Director of Spirit Rock for five years. Trained by Jack Kornfield, Sally has led meditation classes and assisted on retreats since 1994.
	Sandra Sanabria	Sandra Sanabria is a certified Compassion Cultivation Teacher (CCT©), completed the IMC Dharma Mentor Training Programs (in English and Spanish) and is currently pursuing the Dharma Leader Training with Gil Fronsdal and Ines Freedman. She was born and raised in Colombia, where she began her career in Biomedical Sciences. The study of the Buddhist teachings, the meditation practice and the cultivation of compassion have become an essential part...
	Sayadaw U Jagara	Sayadaw U Jagara has 43 years’ experience as a Buddhist monk, living in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, dedicated to the practice, study and teaching of dhamma. He has trained and taught in the U Ba Khin as well as in the Pa Auk traditions of Myanmar.
	Shelley Gault	Shelley has been meditating since her college days in the 60s, and practicing in the Buddhist Insight tradition since 2003. She has spent over three years cumulatively in silent retreat in this tradition. She’s one of the leaders and teachers of the Open Door Sangha in Santa Barbara, where she lives, and offers service teaching and in many other roles for IMC and IRC. A wife, mother, and grandmother, Shelley also volunteers at a large estate...
	Susan Ezequelle	Susan Ezequelle has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1997. She is a past IMC Board President and worked closely with founding teacher Gil Fronsdal and other community members to found in 2001 the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA. She has been teaching at IMC since 2003 and in 2008, in response to a deep desire to engage with the world through her Buddhist practice, she completed the year-long Sati Center Chaplaincy...
	Susie Harrington	Susie Harrington is the guiding teacher for Desert Dharma, teaching both in the Southwest and internationally since 2005. She delights in teaching outdoors, knowing that nature nourishes the heart and inspires wisdom. She encourages through silence and intimate presence, coming home to our embedded natural aliveness and belonging, and the freedom that is our natural state. Her roots are in the Insight tradition, training extensively with Jack...
	Tanya Wiser	Tanya Wiser, LCSW SEP, teaches at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA. She works full-time as a mindfulness-based therapist, integrating her mindfulness, compassion, and somatic therapy training with insights from direct engagement with Buddhist teachings. Tanya draws from the teachings of her Western Theravada teachers, Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella, as well as Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, and the Burmese Monk Sayadaw U Tejaniya....
	Tara Mulay	Tara Mulay has been a practitioner of Insight Meditation since 2003 and has undertaken intensive practice periods in the United States and Myanmar. She is a graduate of the 2017-2021 IMS/IRC teacher training. In 2016 she co-founded the San Francisco People of Color Insight Sangha, and in 2020-2021 she served as the Interim Guiding Teacher for the Insight Meditation Community of Western Massachusetts. Her dharma offerings stem from the...
	Tenzin Chogkyi
	Teresa Abdala-Romano
	Tuere Sala	Tuere Sala is a Guiding Teacher at Seattle Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Retreat Center. She is a retired prosecuting attorney who has practiced Vipassana meditation for over 30 years. Tuere is committed to lay practice and inspired by bringing the Dharma to nontraditional places. She is a strong advocate for practitioners living with high stress, past trauma and difficulties sitting still. Tuere has been teaching since 2010...
	Vanessa Able	Koji Vanessa Able is a Soto Zen priest and practice facilitator. She is the leader of the online Introduction to Buddhist Chaplaincy Program at the Sati Center. Vanessa completed her Chaplaincy training at Stanford Healthcare, where she continues to serve as a member of the hospital’s Professional Advisory Group. Vanessa has also served in hospice and jail and is an active member of the European Buddhist Union Chaplaincy Network. She lives...
	Various
	Vinny Ferraro	Vinny Ferraro has been practicing meditation since 1993. In 1998, he spent a year sitting bedside with the dying through the Zen Center Hospice Program in San Francisco, as well as experiencing 'A Year to Live' practice (based on the book by Stephen Levine). He has studied with several renowned spiritual teachers including the Dalai Lama. In 2001, Vinny trained to lead Challenge Days in schools throughout the U.S. and has become an integral...
	Yasmina Porter	Yasmina Porter has been practicing mindfulness meditation since 2002 at which time she was certified at Dominican Hospital to teach Mindfulness-based Prenatal and Postpartum Yoga. In 2013, after a decade of practice and annual residential retreats with Bob Stahl, Jon Kabot-Zinn, and Mary Grace Orr, Yasmina was authorized to teach Mindfulness-based stress reduction through UMass Memorial Health Care Center for Mindfulness. She has taught MBSR...
	Ying Chen, 陈颖	Ying Chen is a first generation Chinese immigrant. She took refuge to become a buddhist with Venerable Ji Ru in 1995 and was exposed to Chinese Mahayana Buddhism first. She has been practicing in Insight Meditation Center since 2005, and Dharma Ground since 2020. She currently facilitates the Insight Meditation Center support group for people living with health challenges and co-leads Asian Dharma Circle. As a wife, mother, and a lay...