Cindy Dollar
Cindy Dollar was the owner and senior teacher at One Center Yoga in Asheville, NC for thirteen years. Currently, she teaches classes in the Asheville area at various studios and offers private lessons at her home studio in Weaverville, NC. Since her Iyengar yoga certification in 1990, she has taught workshops throughout the Southeast. Cindy has traveled to Pune, India several times to study with BKS and Geeta Iyengar. She is the co-author of Yoga Your Way. A long time student of Zen Buddhism, Cindy incorporates this mindfulness practice into her yoga teaching.
DaeJa Napier
DaeJa Napier teaches Insight Meditation (Vipassana) with an emphasis on the cultivation of the four Brahma Viharas. She has practiced and studied in the Zen and Vipassana traditions since 1974. Her root teacher was the late Zen Master Seung Sahn. Her practice has continued to be enriched under the guidance of both Asian and Western teachers, including Sayadaw U Pandita, Pa Auk Sayadaw and Joseph Goldstein. DaeJa has dedicated her life to exploring the Buddhist pathways to awakening and their applications in daily life. Her conveyance of the Buddhist teachings and related practices reflect the 40 years she spent raising five…
David Chernikoff
David Chernikoff, M.Div, LCSW. (www.davidchernikoff.com) A student of meditation since 1971, David has completed the Community Dharma Leader training at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has been teaching Insight Meditation since 1988. His teaching has been influenced by senior teachers from the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock, Tibetan teachers he studied with during a 3-year stay in Nepal, and spiritual guides from other contemplative traditions, most notably Ram Dass, Father Thomas Keating, and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. David taught meditation and psychology at Naropa University for many years and currently has a private practice as a spiritual counselor and life…
David Smith
Dave Smith is an internationally recognized Buddhist meditation teacher, addiction treatment specialist, and published author. His background is rooted in the Insight Meditation tradition and he was empowered to teach through the Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. Dave teaches residential meditation retreats and classes, provides trainings and consulting in both secular and Buddhist contexts, and works with students through his meditation mentoring program. He recently founded Rebel Saint Dharma and lives in Paonia, Colorado.
Donald Rothberg
Donald Rothberg, Ph.D., is a member of the Teachers Council at the Spirit Rock Center in California. He has practiced Insight Meditation since 1976 and also received training in Tibetan Dzogchen and Mahamudra practice, in the Hakomi approach to body-based psychotherapy, and in the Somatic Experiencing approach to working with trauma. Formerly on the faculties of the University of Kentucky, Kenyon College, and Saybrook University, he currently teaches and writes on mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation and the application of these and other practices to transforming the judgmental mind, speech and communication, working with conflict, social service, and social action. Donald is the author of The…
Dr. Hun Lye
Dorjé Lopön Dr. Lye grew up in a Buddhist home in Malaysia. From a young age, he studied and practiced Buddhism with teachers of various traditions. He met his first Tibetan teacher in the United States when he was an undergraduate student. After earning a doctorate degree in Buddhist Studies at University of Virginia and teaching for ten years in American academic institutions, Dr. Lye left academia to devote his energy fully to Dharma work. In 2013, he was appointed as a Dorjé Lopön (lit. “vajra-master”) of the Drikung Kagyü Lineage by His Holiness Drikung Kyabgön Chetsang Rinpoché (Head of…
Eve Decker
Eve Decker began Insight Meditation practice in 1991. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley; Spirit Rock’s 2-Year Path of Engagement Program (social justice and spiritual practice training); and Spirit Rock’s 2-Year Community Dharma Leader training. She has trained in the Hakomi Method (a mindfulness-centered somatic healing practice); Awakening Joy, developed by James Baraz, Transforming the Judgmental Mind, developed by Donald Rothberg; and Mindful Self Compassion, developed by Kristen Neff and Christopher Germer. Eve is also an accomplished musician, and has released four CDs of “Dharma Music” (songs inspired by Buddhist teachings) for adults, and one for…
Florence Meleo-Meyer
Florence Meleo-Meyer teaches Insight Dialogue retreats internationally and is co-developer of the Interpersonal Mindfulness Program (IMP). She has studied in India and the US with meditation masters, S.Muktananda and S.Chidvilasananda since 1976 and has practiced insight meditation for over 20 years. She met and began studying with Gregory Kramer in 2003. Florence has taught meditation for over 35 years and has taught and trained Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teachers and teacher trainers worldwide. As director of global relations and professional education at the Mindfulness Center in the School of Public Health at Brown University, she shares the transformational value and practice of relational meditation. She offers a teacher training for the…
Gisela Konrad
Gisela Konrad has completed two, three-month-long retreats at the Insight Meditation Society. She is certified as a yoga teacher by the American Viniyoga Institute, and she has been taking professional yoga nidra training with Richard Miller for the past five years. She teaches yoga and practices as a licensed shiatsu therapist.
Greg Pergament
Greg Pergament, is the author of Chi Kung and Recovery and has been practicing and teaching Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong for over 20 of his 32 years in Recovery. Greg brings a grounded, wise, and playful presence to his teaching. He also leads Desert Dharma a Buddhism and Recovery group and is President of Lotus In The Desert Sangha in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition he is a firetender for Lakota Inipi and Sundance ceremonies, and has helped facilitate many Vision Quests.
Heather Sundberg
Heather Sundberg began meditation practice in her late teens and has taught Insight Meditation since 1999. She has completed the Spirit Rock/IMS Senior Teacher Training under Jack Kornfield & Joseph Goldstein, and is currently a part of the Spirit Rock Teacher’s Council. She has completed 3 accumulated years of silent retreat, and has sat 1-3 months of retreat a year for the last 20+ years, focusing both on the Heart Practices (Brahma Viharas) & and Insight Meditation. Between 2010-2015 she spent a cumulative year in study, retreat & pilgrimage in Asia. Since 2011, she has been a Teacher at Mountain Stream Meditation Center…
Hugh Byrne
Hugh Byrne, PhD, is a senior teacher with the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. Hugh worked for more than two decades in the field of human rights and social justice and has been a lead-teacher in Garrison Institute’s Contemplative-Based Resilience (CBR) program for humanitarian aid workers responding to the refugee crisis in the Middle East and Africa. He is the author of The Here-and-Now Habit (2016) and Habit Swap: Trade in Your Unhealthy Habits for Mindful Ones (2020). For more information about Hugh, check his web site at www.hugh-byrne.com. Assistant: Mary Linda McBride
Jeff Collins
Jeff Collins has worked as a hospice social worker for fifteen years. He has completed three, three-month-long retreats at Insight Meditation Society, and he has been engaged in Diamond Heart work for the past sixteen years.
John Orr
John Orr received Theravada Buddhist ordination after training for a period of eight years while living in Thailand and India as a monk in the 1970’s. He has been teaching meditation and leading retreats around the world since then and has also practiced in the Taoist, Dzogchen, and Hindu Yoga traditions. He is the guiding teacher for the New Hope Sangha in Durham, NC.
Kevin Griffin
Kevin Griffin is a Buddhist teacher and author and recovering addict/alcoholic. He is best known for his ground-breaking work bringing together the Dharma with issues of recovery and the Twelve Steps. A Buddhist practitioner for 35 years and sober for over 30, he brings a wealth of experience and wisdom to his teaching and writing. His books include One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps and Buddhism and the 12 Steps Workbook. In 2015 Sounds True released his latest book, Recovering Joy: A Mindful Life after Addiction. Kevin is also a gifted musician and songwriter with a…
Lama Rod Owens
Considered one of the leaders of the next generation of Dharma teachers, Lama Rod Owens has a blend of formal Buddhist training and life experience that gives him a unique ability to understand, relate and engage with those around him in a way that’s spacious and sincere. His gentle, laid-back demeanor and willingness to bare his heart and soul makes others want to do the same. Even when seated in front of a room, he’s next to you, sharing his stories and struggles with an openness vulnerability and gentle humor that makes you genuinely feel good about who you are, with…
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 Khema in 2004 and began teaching retreats on his own in 1997. He teaches in Europe and North America and is the author of Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhanas. Find more about Leigh’s teaching at http://leighb.com.
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. Lisa has been meditating for nearly 30 years in the Zen and Vipassana traditions. She received dharma teaching authorization in the Thai Forest lineage of Ajahn Chah, Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman. Lisa offers meditation training, classes and workshops and leads retreats nationally. She is a visiting teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre California.
Mark Nunberg
Mark Nunberg began his meditation practice in 1982 and has been teaching meditation since 1990. He co-founded Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis in 1993 with his wife Wynn Fricke and continues to serve as the center’s Guiding Teacher. Mark has studied with both Asian and Western teachers and finds deep inspiration in the teachings of the Buddha. Mark and other leaders at Common Ground Meditation Center have begun the development of a new Retreat Property on 46 acres of rolling fields and woods in Western Wisconsin. He has been leading residential Vipassana retreats in Minnesota and around the country…
Mary Aubry
Mary Aubry began meditating in the Vipassana (insight) tradition and attending insight meditation retreats in 1993. She graduated from the Community Dharma Leadership program co-sponsored by the Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the Insight Meditation Society in 2012. Tara Brach authorized her to teach residential silent meditation retreats in 2012, and Leigh Brasington authorized her to teach jhana retreats in 2016. Other than Tara and Leigh, her primary teachers have included Joseph Goldstein, Bhikkhu Analayo, and Rodney Smith. In 2014-15, Mary co-taught a year-long program in Washington, D.C., on Aging, Illness, and Dying. Mary teaches meditation retreats nationally and internationally…
Mary Linda McBride
Mary Linda McBride is a qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher through the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine. She also completed the 500-hour teacher training through the Engaged Mindfulness Institute – a program focused on bringing mindfulness to under-resourced communities. Mary Linda is a certified yoga instructor with 18 years of teaching experience. Contact her at Mindful Resolution.
Phyllis Hicks
Phyllis Hicks teaches Insight Dialogue retreats internationally and is co-developer of the Interpersonal Mindfulness Program (IMP). She chairs the Insight Dialogue Community Teachers’ Council. She has studied with a variety of Vipassana teachers since 1999, and extensively with Gregory Kramer since 2004. As a psychotherapist for over 30 years, she brings together Eastern and Western understandings of psychology and contemplative practice. She teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction at Duke Integrative Medicine and is a guiding teacher for Triangle Insight. Phyllis lives in Chapel Hill, NC.
Rev. WonGong So
Rev. WonGong (also known as Rev. Wow!Gong) started her training in 1988 and was ordained a KyoMooNym (dharma teacher) in 1994 after seven years of intensive training in Korea. She subsequently served in the Kang-Nam Temple in Seoul and the Rockville Temple in Maryland. As a pioneering Won Buddhist priest in the West, she has established temples in Chapel Hill and Raleigh, North Carolina. Wow!Gong guest lectures at schools and colleges, provides life counseling, and leads retreats, youth dharma camps, and cultural enrichment programs. She has been active within the international interfaith community and teaches meditation and dharma to people…
Ronya Banks
Ronya Banks is the founding teacher of the Asheville Insight Meditation center in Asheville, NC, in the USA. In addition to having lived as a Theravada Buddhist nun, Ronya’s teaching is informed by over 35 years of intensive Vipassana meditation practice, studying with more than 30 different Buddhist teachers, spending more than one year cumulatively on numerous silent meditation retreats, and her participation in the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader training program. Ronya Banks has been teaching for over a decade. She leads residential meditation retreats and has worked in person and online with people from all over the world. …
Walt Opie
Walt Opie has practiced insight meditation with various teachers since 1993. He teaches insight meditation retreats and serves as a volunteer prison facilitator with Buddhist Pathways Prison Project. A graduate of Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders program (mentored by Kevin Griffin), he is a current participant in the 2017-2021 Insight Meditation Society (IMS) Teacher Training Program in Barre, Massachusetts. His most influential teachers include Joseph Goldstein, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Bhikkhu Analayo, and Gil Fronsdal.