I have prioritized meditation in my life in a significant way and feel grateful to offer it to others so more can benefit. I teach weekly classes seasonally and lead retreats locally in Waldo County in addition to traveling to teach when invited.
All my meditation teaching is offered freely with donations welcome from participants. Since youth do not have livelihoods I charge schools or organizations for my services or I offer reasonable and/or a sliding scale for parents and guardians.
What do I teach and where it came from:
I found the heart of my practice in 2002 when I started attending retreats at the Insight Meditation Society with teacher Michele McDonald. I continue to attend intensive retreats (including ordination in Burma and a yearly month long retreat) in the Burmese Vipassana Tradition as taught by Mahasi Sayadaw, Sayadaw U Pandita, and Sayadaw U Lakkhana under Michele, Jesse Maceo Vega Frey and Steven Smith. Other important teachers for me in the broader Vipassana tradition are Chas DiCapua, Lila Kate Wheeler, S.N. Goenka, Narayan Helen Liebenson, Rebecca Bradshaw, Jack Kornfield, Sayalay Ma Kamala, and Sayadaw U Pannananda.
Waking up to injustices in every corner of the globe I am so grateful to have begun attending retreats with Lama Rod Owens since 2013. He offers teachings that incorporate the relative truths of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc and how practice and action need to be in alignment. His teachings come from the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism and the new tradition he co-founded called Radical Dharma and school of practice called Bhumisparsha (touching the earth). Other important teachers for me in the Tibetan tradition are Brendan Kennedy, Lama Willa Miller Baker, Lama John Macransky, and Reggie Ray.
I began training and teaching in the Western scientific secular mindfulness tradition full time in 2013 with the aim to bring useful tools to youth who are struggling – and to this point I have taught over 11,000 children and teens. I’ve completed several training certification programs, some yearlong and multi-year long, including Inward Bound Mindfulness Education, Mindfulness in Schools Project .b, Calmer Choice, Mindful Schools, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Center for Adolescent Studies, and Primal Practice.
As my practice deepened and my teaching work expanded it became clear that the body had to be a central focus for any meaningful, safe, and deep work to be conducted as the body expresses both trauma and resiliency. I have been studying The Hakomi Method (Mindfulness Centered Somatic Psychotherapy) since 2015, graduated from the Hakomi Institute’s Comprehensive Training in 2018, and now see clients at my home office and online. This training more than any other has given me insights into how I and others work as humans and how to skillfully support what is needed next.
My teachings harvest and combine the traditional, the radical, the scientific, and the wisdom of the body to create a compelling and powerful approach that uses plain language and is oriented around being accessible to anyone. You don’t have to believe anything or hide any part of yourself to feel welcome. Come and see for yourself.