Teachers
Learn more about teachers that have led retreats at Big Bear Retreat Center.
Amrita Ahuja
The creator of the Groundwork™ productivity framework, Amrita Ahuja has introduced ease and flow across industries – startups, enterprise, technology, health and wellness, music, social justice, creative agencies and more since 2010. Through workshops and coaching she helps expand the way we think about work, life and balance. As a serial entrepreneur, Amrita created Groundwork to get her dreams off the ground while reimagining what it means to be productive. She was recognized by Chatelaine and Profit Guide as a Rising Star in the Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs in Canada in 2015. She is also the past Chair of the…
Amy Love
Amy Love has been a dedicated mindfulness practitioner for over 10 years. She has completed Community Meditation Facilitator Training through Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society and is a certified Mindfulness Teacher and Trainer through Mindful Schools where she is on staff as a guiding teacher. Amy has extensive experience facilitating mindfulness meditation practices with youth and adults in a variety of settings including; public schools, prisons, youth outreach programs, and yoga communities. Amy currently co- facilitates Meditation Coalition’s weekly People of Color Sit and monthly Women of Color Mindfulness Circle. Amy is a mentor with iBme (Inward Bound Mindfulness…
Anushka Fernandopulle
I teach meditation, work as an organizational consultant, and do leadership coaching with individuals and teams. I teach workshops and retreats around the globe in organizations, conferences and leadership programs. My work brings Eastern practices to Western modern life, making them accessible for individuals and organizations. I am interested in the synthesis of leadership, creativity and awareness, helping leaders to develop courage, clarity and compassion to make their vision come to life. My strategy consulting and coaching work is informed by a BA from Harvard, an MBA from Yale focused on leadership and organizational behavior, and certification in coaching from…
Beth Sternlieb
Beth has been involved with InsightLA from the start and seeing our community grow from an idea into a reality has awakened in her a deeper appreciation for what an unexpected transformation mindfulness and commitment can bring into our lives. As a member of InsightLA’s teacher council, she explores ways of bringing mindfulness and metta practice to our community in creative and innovative ways. While as director of the Buddhist studies program, she shares her interest in how ancient wisdom can support us through our everyday life struggles. She also teaches MBSR, where she is excited to observe how each…
Celeste Young
Celeste began formal meditation practice in 2002. She was invited to join the very first teacher development cohort at InsightLA under the guidance of founder Trudy Goodman in 2011 and has since taught thousands of students the essentials of mindfulness over the years. Celeste offers several classes a week as a core teacher at ILA, in both the mindfulness and Dharma programs, and sits on the InsightLA teacher’s council. In addition, she teaches mindfulness for companies and non-profit organizations, works with individuals privately, and leads workshops, daylongs, and residential retreats both locally and internationally. Her background includes many years as…
Cheryl Slean
Cheryl Slean has been practicing Insight meditation intensively since 1995 including hundreds of days of silent retreat. She has taught classes and retreats worldwide for 15 years in both spiritual and secular settings such as Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center, Insight Community of the Desert, Seattle Insight, Mindful Schools, Michael’s House, Joshua Tree Retreat Center, Insight LA and many more. Cheryl is also a writer, filmmaker and climate advocate, and works on Sustainability and Storytelling at Netflix.
Christiane Wolf
Christiane loves teaching mindfulness with a good dose of humor, compassion, and science. She first encountered Insight and Loving-Kindness meditation in 1988. Before moving to Los Angeles in 2003, she worked as an Ob/Gyn at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. Christiane is a certified MBSR and MSC (Mindful Self-Compassion) teacher and co-founded InsightLA’s MBSR program with Trudy in 2005. Trudy gave her teacher authorization in 2011 and she is a graduate of the 4 year IMS/Spirit Rock teacher training, and is authorized to teach in the Thai Forest Monastery tradition. She is the program director for mindfulness programs at…
Dave Smith
For nearly 30 years, Dave Smith has held a practice rooted in the Insight Meditation (Vipassana) tradition. He was empowered to teach through the Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. Dave teaches residential meditation retreats, weekly live dharma classes, online courses, and workshops. He has developed educational tools and resources, including mindfulness and emotional skills trainings, in both secular and Buddhist contexts. Dave also works with students 1:1 through his dharma mentoring program. In 2016 he founded the Secular Dharma Foundation to foster the advancement of emotional and psychological well-being through the education and integration of mindfulness, psychology, and various therapeutic modalities.…
Dawn Scott
Dawn Scott has been practicing insight meditation since 2008, is a Diamond Heart practitioner, and currently serves as the Family Program Coordinator at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She teaches teen retreats at Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme) and is a Teacher-in-Training in the 2017-2021 IMS Teacher Training Program.
Devon Hase
Devon Hase began intensive meditation training in 2000. After spending a decade teaching English and social studies in high school and college classrooms, she entered a two-year period of retreat. She has studied at monasteries in Nepal and India, and practices in the Insight and Vajrayana traditions. Currently, Devon teaches at the Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock, and throughout North America and Europe. Along with her life partner nico, she co-authored their first book, How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Survival Guide for Modern Life, which offers six really good pieces of semi-Buddhist advice to keep you anchored…
Diana Winston
Diana Winston, Director of Mindfulness Education Email: diwinston@mednet.ucla.edu Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education at MARC, the author of The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering your Natural Awareness, and the co-author, with Susan Smalley PhD, of Fully Present, the Science, Art and Practice of Mindfulness. She has taught mindfulness for health and well-being since 1993 in a variety of settings including the medical and mental health field, and in universities, businesses, non-profits, and schools. At UCLA she has developed the evidence-based Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPs) curriculum and the Training in Mindfulness Facilitation (TMF), which trains mindfulness teachers worldwide. She is also a…
Donald Rothberg
Donald Rothberg, PhD, has practiced Insight Meditation since 1976, and has also received training in Tibetan Dzogchen, Mahamudra practice, the Hakomi approach to body-based psychotherapy, and the Somatic Experiencing approach to working with trauma. Formerly on the faculties of the University of Kentucky, Kenyon College, and Saybrook Graduate School, he currently writes and teaches classes, groups and retreats on insight and lovingkindness meditation, daily life practice, transforming the judgmental mind, wise speech, and socially engaged Buddhism. Donald has helped to guide six-month to two-year training programs in socially engaged spirituality through Buddhist Peace Fellowship (the BASE Program), Saybrook Graduate School…
Eugene Cash
Eugene is the founding teacher of the San Francisco Insight. He is a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, where he co-leads the Community Dharma Leaders Program. He teaches intensive meditation retreats internationally. Eugene’s teaching is influenced by many streams of Buddhism– Theravada, Zen, and Tibetan. He is also a Diamond Heart teacher. He’s passionate about practicing 24/7, weaving awareness, investigation and realization in daily life. For more information, visit www.sfinsight.org.
Greg Scharf
Greg Scharf began meditating in 1992 & has been teaching residential meditation retreats since 2007, including the annual 3 month retreat at the Insight Meditation Society where he serves as a guiding 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 to practice. Greg has a long-standing relationship with the country & people of Burma (Myanmar) where he trained as a Buddhist monk and where he works with a small humanitarian aid…
Greg Serpa
J. Greg Serpa, PhD, is a clinical psychologist for the US Department of Veterans Affairs. He is honored to teach mindfulness to America’s veterans and is the first full-time mindfulness teacher and trainer in the federal system. He is developing a national mindfulness certification program for VA clinicians based upon his book, co-authored with Christiane Wolf, The Clinician’s Guide to Teaching Mindfulness. Greg is a Clinical Professor in the psychology department at UCLA and a visiting clinical scientist at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. His published research on Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) includes improvements in anxiety,…
Heidi Bourne
Heidi Bourne is a meditation teacher in the Insight Meditation tradition and is the founder and guiding teacher of Pacific Mindfulness. She has been teaching since 2005 in both public and private settings, offering classes, series courses, nature retreats, and resiliency-focused professional programs. In addition, she teaches regularly at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Heidi is especially interested in the integration of the common sense, accessible and timeless teachings of awareness, ethics, and compassion into the complexity of our everyday lives. She is known for her grounded, down-to-earth humor and presence. Heidi has a background in nursing, has been a small business…
Howard Cohn
Howard Cohn has practiced meditation since 1972, and has led vipassana retreats since 1985. He leads a weekly ongoing class in San Francisco. Howard has studied with many Asian and western teachers of several traditions, including Theravada, Zen, Dzogchen and Advaita Vedanta, and has been strongly influenced by contact with the Indian master H.W.L. Poonja. He has done postgraduate work in East/West Psychology and has a private counseling practice. Visit Howard’s Mission Dharma website
InsightLA Meditation Center
InsightLA is a non-profit meditation community that uniquely offers both secular and Buddhist-based mindfulness and compassion practices in the Greater Los Angeles area – and now ONLINE – with more of 20 years of experience serving meditators of all levels.
Jake Dartington
Jake loves to draw on classical and contemporary approaches to teaching mindfulness and compassion. He began to practice meditation in 1995 and trained as a dharma teacher with Christina Feldman, the co-founder of Gaia House retreat centre, before beginning to teach in 2007. Jake completed a Masters in Mindfulness at Bangor University and is certified to teach MBSR and MBCT. A former college teacher, he also has a background in Philosophy and Buddhist Studies. Jake teaches retreats and courses for organizations including Bodhi College, Gaia House, London Insight, Oxford Mindfulness Centre, and Brussels Mindfulness. He also trains mindfulness teachers and…
Kaira Jewel Lingo
Kaira Jewel Lingo began practicing mindfulness in 1997 and teaches Buddhist meditation, secular mindfulness, and compassion internationally. After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, Kaira Jewel now teaches in the Zen lineage and the Vipassana or Insight tradition. She teaches at the intersection of racial, climate and social justice with a focus on activists, Black/Indigenous/People of Color, artists, educators, families, and youth. Now based in New York, she offers spiritual mentoring to individuals and groups. Read her recent article, In Times of Crisis Call Upon the Strength of Peace, published in Lion’s Roar magazine.
Karen Cryer
RYT500, IAYT Yoga Instructor Karen’s interest in adding yoga & qigong to mindful movement sprang from personally not being able to find a yoga class that she found to be safe and workable for a body that was changing and getting older. That lead Karen to complete a Yoga for Seniors program at Duke University Integrative Medicine with an emphasis on certain medical conditions. She also completed a certification program in Yoga for Osteoporosis with Dr. Loren Fishman (Manhattan Physical Medicine) and Ellen Saltonstall; and a Somatic Yoga Application training with Tias Little. These programs offer practices that are beneficial to body,…
Karen Redding
Karen facilitates a monthly sitting-group as an ‘outpost’ of InsightLA at the OM Studio in Laguna Beach twice monthly, and teaches a variety of Mindfulness based classes. She has over a decade of experience as a dedicated practitioner at InsightLA Meditation with residential retreat experience under the guidance of Trudy Goodman, the founding teacher at InsightLA. and Jack Kornfield. Karen completed the Dedicated Practitioner’s Program at Spirit Rock as well as the Facilitator’s Training Program at InsightLA. For over 25 years, Karen has been in private practice as a clinical social worker and psychoanalyst. She brings an integrated approach as…
Kiki Christensen
Council facilitator, plant medicine student, yoga Qigong mentee, completed yoga for trauma recovery teacher training.
Kim Allen
Kim Allen has been practicing Insight meditation since 2003, and has trained intensively in the U.S. and Asia with Western teachers, Theravādan monastics, and masters of other Buddhist traditions. Trained by Gil Fronsdal at the Insight Meditation Center and Insight Retreat Center, she offers Dharma programs, sutta study, and retreats in the U.S., internationally, and online, weaving classical Dharma into a contemporary context.
KT Cryer
KT Cryer is an Ecopsychologist and transformational coach. Her greatest passion is bringing people back to themselves, each other, and nature. She is a world traveler with her surfboard and camera in hand and hosts Back to Nature retreats around the world.
LC Tran
Lien-Chi (who prefers to be called simply “LC”) was born into a Mahayana Buddhist family. She began to practice mindfulness in 1986 with Thay Thich Nhat Hanh. In 1994, Lienchi met Venerable Khippapanno. His kindness and wisdom swayed her to convert to the Theravada tradition. Since then she has been going on retreats regularly in Burma, Thailand, California, and Massachusetts (IMS). Lienchi has ordained 3 times and attended many retreats, ranging from 10 days to 1 year with Venerable Khippapanno, Luang Por Sumedho, Sayadaw U Pandita, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, and other IMS Teachers. In 2015, Lienchi left her career as…
Leslie Booker
Booker brings her heart to the intersection of Dharma, Embodied Wisdom, and Liberation; using this framework to support folks in creating a culture of belonging. She shares her offerings as a university lecturer, public speaker, and Buddhist philosophy and meditation teacher. Booker began training at Spirit Rock through the Mindful Yoga and Meditation training (2012), and supported by her teacher Gina Sharpe, continued her formal Dharma teacher training in the Community Dharma Leaders Training (2017), and the 4 year Retreat Teacher training (2020). Throughout these years, she worked as the Director of Teacher Trainings for Lineage Project where she shared…
Lisa Ernst
Lisa Ernst is a meditation teacher, artist, and founder of One Dharma Nashville. In her teaching, Lisa emphasizes both transformational insight and everyday awakening as an invitation to embrace all of the path’s possibilities. She offers meditation training, classes and workshops, and she teaches daylong and residential retreats nationally. Lisa is a visiting teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre California. She has been meditating for 30 years in the Zen and Vipassana traditions. She received dharma teacher transmission from Trudy Goodman in 2010. As a practicing visual artist, Lisa also incorporates Dharma into contemplative photography and painting. To learn more…
Lissa Edmond (movement)
Lissa (they/she) is a certified meditation and mindful movement teacher as well as a board-certified mental health nurse practitioner. Lissa began a dedicated practice in yoga and the dharma in 2008 as well as in qigong in 2018. Lissa studies in the Insight and Zen Buddhist traditions. Lissa identifies practice as a deep form of love and care and is particularly interested in the intersections of dharma, justice, and embodied radical care. Lissa shares practices that are compassionate, accessible, and trauma-responsive for the wellness and liberation of all beings. For more information, please visit https://embodiedheartmind.com
Martha Link
Martha Link has been practicing and teaching Hatha yoga since 1984. She has been influenced by many teachers in both the Iyengar and Kripalu traditions. In 1999, she began Vipassana practices at Spirit Rock and her yoga classes gradually shifted to a more concentrated, mindful style of teaching. She invites curiosity to awaken in the asanas (postures) as she gently reminds you to soften around your rough edges. Her classes are like a breath of fresh air on a crisp morning in the mountains. She is currently living in Portland, Oregon close to her two awesome grandchildren.
Marvin G. Belzer
Marvin G. Belzer, Ph.D, Associate Director, MARC Email: mbelzer@mednet.ucla.edu Marvin G. Belzer, PhD, has taught mindfulness meditation for twenty years. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. For many years he taught a semester-long meditation course in the Department of Philosophy at Bowling Green St. University, where he was an Associate Professor of Philosophy. He teaches an undergraduate course at UCLA (Psychiatry 175: Mindfulness Practice and Theory) and teaches mindfulness in many different venues in Los Angeles.
Matthew Brensilver
Matthew Brensilver, PhD, offers retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the Insight Retreat Center. For more than a decade, he taught for Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. He continues to teach at UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center about the intersections between mindfulness and mental health. He spent years doing research on addiction treatment at the UCLA Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine and continues to be interested in the unfolding dialogue between dharma and science.
Melissa McKay
Melissa began her path of meditation in 1998 with a small group of dedicated practitioners in Oakland, CA with her beloved, though not known, teacher named Barbara Janus who introduced her to the teachings of Sayadaw U Pandita of Burma. Her first retreat was with Sayadaw U Pandita and the profound changes she saw in herself gave her a strong faith and dedication to the practice. She practiced with Sayadaw and his monks at centers in the U.S. and Burma. She met Bhante Khippa Pano of Vietnam in 2000 and he became her main teacher. She continues to attend intensive…
Moira Smiley
Moira Smiley, singer / composer / teacher travels the world creating new works for voices and accompanying her performances with her banjo, accordion, piano, and percussive movement. Her recordings feature spare, vocally-driven collections of warped traditional songs and original polyphony. Moira and her music have been featured in TED conferences, on BBC Radio and TV, NPR, ABC Australia, NPR’s Tiny Desk and on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and KEXP At Home with Tune-Yards. Moira has taught extensively in North America, Europe, and England. Her subject is the singing voice and its ability to encompass an astounding range of…
Pascal Auclair
Pascal Auclair has been immersed in Buddhist practice and study since 1997, sitting retreats in Asia and America with revered monastics and lay teachers. He has been mentored by Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield at the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California, where he is now enjoying teaching retreats. Pascal teaches in North America and in Europe. He is a co-founder of True North Insight and one of TNI’s Guiding Teachers. “Pascal Auclair is a wonderful teacher. His depth of insight, classical training, and creative expression all combine in a wise and compassionate…
Phillip Moffitt
Phillip Moffitt occupies a unique position in the world of mindful living and leadership. With the astute business acumen honed during his years as a media entrepreneur combined with the deep wisdom about inner development cultivated over the past 30 years as a vipassana meditation practitioner and teacher. Phillip brings unparalleled insights and strategic vision to those seeking to lead authentic, purposeful lives. Phillip was Editor-in-Chief and CEO of Esquire and led the successful turnaround of the magazine in the 1980s. After he left his publishing enterprise, he devoted himself to studying and practicing Theravada Buddhism and is now a…
Prentis Hemphill
Prentis Hemphill (They/Them) is unearthing the connections between healing, community accountability and our most inspired visions for social transformation. Prentis is a therapist, somatics teacher and facilitator, political organizer, writer and the founder of The Embodiment Institute. For over 10 years, Prentis has been working with individuals and organizations during their most challenging moments of change; navigating leadership transitions, conflict, and realigning practice with values. All of this Prentis does through an embodied approach, ensuring that our intentions and ideas can be lived out and practiced in our lives and through our bodies. Before founding The Embodiment Institute, Prentis was…
Rosamaría Segura
Rosamaría is both a teacher and the Director of Insight in Action. She is passionate about sharing mindfulness practices in communities with limited exposure to meditation practices. Rosamaría teaches in both Spanish and English in non-profit organizations, public schools, and people dedicated to socio-economic and environmental justice in Los Angeles, East Hollywood, Long Beach, and refugee shelters in Tijuana, Mexico. Her meditation practices are Vipassa and Soto Zen . She is a graduate of the Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher Program with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach and of InsightLA’s Facilitator Training Program with Maureen Shannon-Chapple and Trudy Goodman. Rosamaría continues studying…
Shaila Catherine
Shaila Catherine is the founder of Insight Meditation South Bay, a meditation group in Silicon Valley, and also Bodhi Courses, an online Buddhist classroom. She has been practicing meditation since 1980, with more than nine years of accumulated silent retreat experience. She has taught since 1996 in the USA, and internationally. Shaila studied with several Asian masters in India, Thailand, and Nepal, including H. W. L. Poonja, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, in addition to the founders of several western meditation centers including Christopher Titmuss and Joseph Goldstein. She completed a one-year intensive meditation retreat with the focus on concentration…
Shelly Graf
Shelly Graf has been practicing in the Insight Meditation tradition since 2003. They are a graduate of Insight Meditation Society’s four-year teacher training program and currently serve as one of the Guiding Teachers at Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis, MN. Shelly has an interest in integrating the teachings of the Buddha as deeply as possible into the fabric of our lives and as such, they have a special interest in waking up to whiteness as part of this total and fully integrated path of awakening. Whatever Shelly’s role may be, they will always be a grateful student of Buddhist…
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
Set among 411 acres of serene oak woodlands in the secluded hills of West Marin County, California, Spirit Rock Meditation Center is a refuge from everyday life where it’s truly possible to quiet the mind, soften the heart and see life in a new way.
Spring Washam
Considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based meditation practices to diverse communities; Spring Washam is a well-known teacher, healer, and visionary leader based in Oakland, California. She is the author of A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage and Wisdom in Any Moment and The Spirit of Harriet Tubman: Awakening from the Underground. Spring is one of the founding teachers at the East Bay Meditation Center, an organization that offers Buddhist teachings with attention to social action and multiculturalism. She is a member of the teacher’s council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, offering teachings on Buddhist philosophy, Insight meditation and loving-kindness practices. Spring is also…
Susie Harrington
Susie Harrington teaches meditation nationwide and is the guiding teacher for Desert Dharma, which serves many communities in the Southwest near her home in Moab, Utah. She has trained in the Insight tradition since 1989, practicing primarily with Guy Armstrong, Jack Kornfield, and Joseph Goldstein. Susie has also received teachings from many others, including Tory Capron, Adyashanti, and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. She was invited to begin teaching in 2005, and often offers retreats outside, believing nature to be a profound teacher, and a gateway to our true nature. Her teaching is deeply grounded in the body and often emphasizes the expression…
Tere Abdala
Tere is second generation Mexican, with a Lebanese family background. She was born and lived in Mexico City almost all her life. There she became fascinated by Tibetan Buddhism. She moved to Los Angeles in 2002 with her now late husband and three young daughters. Once in LA, she met Trudy Goodman at InsightLA and decided to leave behind her Business career and interest in Geography to devote herself to her family, her personal growth, and the study and practice of Buddhism to enhance her life and the lives of others around her. In LA, Tere became a passionate painter.…
Thomas Davis
Thomas is a Mindful Awareness practitioner who emerged from the Contemplative Faith Community, where he served as a Lay Minister for over 10 years. His orientation to the Mindful Awareness practice began at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA, where he was introduced to the Theravadan tradition of Vipassana in 2012. Thomas began his journey into Dharma Leadership in 2013. In 2017, Thomas graduated from the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader Training Program, The Sati Center Buddhist Chaplaincy Training, and was enlisted as one of the Spirit Rock Community Welcome Teachers for the Monday Night Dharma program; which…
Tuere Sala
Tuere Sala is a guiding teacher of Seattle Insight Meditation Society and Capitol Hill Meditation Group. She has over 25 years of Buddhist meditation experience and is currently a participant in IMS’s 2017-2021 Teacher Training Program. Her teaching focus is on strengthening the value of everyday urban practice.
UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC)
The mission of the Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) is to foster mindful awareness across the lifespan through education and research to promote well-being and a more compassionate society. Mindful awareness (mindfulness) can be defined as paying attention to present-moment experiences with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to be with what is. Mindfulness can be trained systematically, and it can be implemented more fully in daily life by people of any age, profession, or background. MARC offers classes, programs, trainings, and events to UCLA, the Los Angeles community, and to a wider global community through virtual and in-person learning, web…
Winnie Nazarko
Winnie Nazarko has been a student and practitioner of Buddhism since 1981. She has a background in community organizing and human services leadership, and has a special interest in how meditative practices can strengthen human capacity to address social, political, and environmental issues. She was the project director for IMS’ development of the Forest Refuge, a retreat center for experienced meditators doing extended self-retreat.