Shaila Catherine
Founder and Principal Teacher
For more information about Shaila’s work visit the Principal Teacher page.
Guest Teachers:
Dawn Scott
Dawn Scott has been practicing insight meditation since 2008. She is a Diamond Heart practitioner, and a trainee in the 2017-2021 Insight Meditation Society Teacher Training Program.
Ying Chen
Ying Chen was born in China and came to US when she was in college. She was exposed to Mahayana Buddhism and took refuge with Venerable Ji Ru in 1995. Since 2001, she has been [...]
Ted Gutfeldt
Ted was born in Germany after the war, and grew up in Vienna, Austria. He has pursued his interests in Spirituality, Psychology and Philosophy, along with a career in Electrical Engineering that supports the other [...]
Phil Goodwin
Phil has been practicing Buddhism since 2012. He's a regular on Sunday mornings at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City where he helps with recording talks and uploading them to Audio Dharma. He has [...]
Ross Buttner
Ross Buttner has a Ph.D. from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. His dissertation research which was based on 70 in-depth interviews, revealed psychological, social, practical, and culturally related difficulties that occur on the meditative path, and [...]
Stephen Fulder
Dr. Stephen Fulder was born in London in 1946, has a doctorate in molecular biology and has published 14 books on outer and inner health. He has been practicing largely within the Theravada Buddhist framework [...]
Bhante U Jagara
Venerable U Jagara is Canadian-born and has been a Theravadin monk for 35 years, primarily in Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Burma). He has trained and taught in the U Ba Khin as well as the [...]
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Ajahn Thanissaro (Geoffrey DeGraff) is an American monk of the Thai forest tradition. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1971 with a degree in European Intellectual History, he studied meditation under Ajaan Fuang Jotiko in [...]
Lisa Dale Miller
Lisa Dale Miller, LMFT, LPCC, SEP is a psychotherapist with a private practice in Los Gatos, CA. She specializes in mindfulness psychotherapy and Somatic Experiencing therapy for the treatment of depression, anxiety, addiction, trauma, emotion [...]
Bill Kostura
Bill Kostura has been sitting since 2001, and has studied primarily with Gil Fronsdal in Redwood City. At present he explores the teachings primarily through perspectives on suffering and non-attachment. He feels fortunate to teach [...]
Diana Clark
Diana Clark is a Buddhist practitioner, scholar, teacher, and general supporter of the dharma. She has cumulatively spent more than a year in silent meditation retreats and when not stealing away to go on retreat, [...]
Jill Shepherd
Jill Shepherd began practicing insight meditation in Thailand in 1999, and since that time has lived and worked at several meditation centers and monasteries in the US, Australia, England, and Thailand. She recently spent seven [...]
James Coleman
James William Coleman was born and raised in Southern California, and has a PhD from from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a specialization in the sociology of religion. Among other books, he [...]
Sean Feit Oakes
Sean Feit Oakes, PhD teaches Buddhism, Haṭha Yoga, and Organic Intelligence® with a focus on the integration of meditation, philosophy, and self-inquiry with trauma resolution and social justice. He has studied in Zen, Tibetan, and Theravāda Buddhist lineages, [...]
Rex Naden
My mother was an artist; grandfather and Dad were enthusiastic photographers. I read Ansel Adam’s books. I fell in love with Georgia O’Keefe’s work, and that of Eliot Porter—both are major influences. During my high-tech [...]
Aishin Leonard
Aishin Leonard is a passionate Buddhist practitioner, mindfulness facilitator and consultant. Her doorway to practice opened in 2009 when she developed a chronic pain condition that left her bedridden and wheelchair bound. After many years [...]
Sukhacitto Bhikkhu
Bhikkhu Sukhacitto is an Insight Dialogue Teacher. He was born in Germany in 1963 and first came into contact with Buddhism in 1986 in Thailand by attending a meditation retreat, offered through Wat Suan Mokkh. [...]
Oren Jay Sofer
Oren Jay Sofer teaches meditation and communication retreats and workshops nationally. A member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, he is a Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication, a Course Trainer at Mindful Schools, and a Somatic [...]
Anna Douglas
Anna Douglas is one of the founding teachers of Spirit Rock Meditation Center where she has taught retreats and classes for almost 30 years. Now her focus is on exploring the issues and practice opportunities [...]
Nikki Mirghafori
Nikki Mirghafori, PhD, studied jhanas & analytical vipassana with Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw. She is a Stanford-trained compassion cultivation instructor, a UCLA trained mindfulness facilitator, and a Spirit Rock authorized retreat teacher and Board Member. [...]
Philip Jones
Philip Jones has practiced meditation since 1987 and has been teaching Insight Meditation since 1996. He has studied with teachers from Spirit Rock and the Insight Meditation Society and graduated from the first Community Dharma Leader [...]
Chade-Meng Tan
Chade-Meng Tan (Meng) is a Google pioneer, awardwinning engineer, international bestselling author, thought leader and philanthropist. At Google, he brought the practice of mindfulness into the workplace with his mindfulness-based emotional intelligence course, Search Inside Yourself. Search [...]
Fa Jun Shakya
Reverend Fa Jun Shakya is an ordained priest in the Cha'n Buddhist lineage of Xu Yun. Fa Jun has been actively studying Buddhism, meditation, yoga, and world spiritual traditions since 1993, and was ordained in 2008. [...]
Bhikkhuni Sobhana
Ayya Sobhana Theri is the Prioress of Aranya Bodhi, a new community for monastic women located on the Sonoma Coast of California. Together with Ayya Tathaaloka Theri, Ayya Sobhana has been deeply involved in the [...]
Richard Shankman
Richard Shankman teaches at dharma centers and groups throughout North America. He has been a meditator since 1970 and is the guiding teacher of the Metta Dharma Foundation. He is the co-founder of the Sati Center for [...]
Erik Swanson
Reverend Erik Swanson is a spiritual director, speaker and retreat leader who teaches at several prominent seminaries on spiritual formation and the art of bringing an awareness of the Holy to all parts of life. [...]
Daniel Bowling
Daniel Bowling is a staff attorney, mediator, and trainer for the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, US District Court for Northern California. He practiced law and was Public Defender in Charleston, SC following his graduation from [...]
Dawn Neal
Dawn Neal began contemplative practice in 1997. She started practicing Insight Meditation and Sōto Zen after being exposed to biofeedback in 2004. She is currently earning an MA from the Institute of Buddhist Studies and [...]
Laura Lin
Laura Lin's vocation was corporate law, but her heart continues to lie in her Buddhist study and practice. She has trained as a Buddhist chaplain, volunteered at the Zen Hospice Project, and translated commentaries on [...]
Bob Stahl
Bob Stahl lived in a Theravada Burmese Buddhist monastery for over eight years and studied extensively with Taungpulu Kaba-Aye Sayadaw, Hlaing Tet Sayadaw, Dr. Rina Sircar, and Pokokhu Sayadaw. Bob is the Guiding teacher at [...]
Renée Burgard
Renée Burgard is a psychotherapist, consultant, and educator in private practice at Mindfulness & Health in Los Altos. She teaches Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programs for the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Google, Inc., Apple Computer, [...]
Chris Clifford
Chris Clifford has practiced insight meditation since 1995. She appreciates the integration of intensive meditation retreats with daily life Dharma practice and service. Chris is an instructor, mentor and coordinator for Insight Meditation Center’s Eightfold Path Program [...]
Bhikkhu Bodhi
Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American Buddhist monk, originally from New York City. In late 1972, he traveled to Sri Lanka, where he received monastic ordination. He lived for altogether twenty-four years in Asia, primarily in [...]
Angie Boissevain
Angie Boissevain has practiced Zen in the tradition of Kobun Chino Roshi for more than 30 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, and for a long time, taught in many Sanghas farther afield. Now [...]
Jennifer Dungan
Jennifer Dungan began her meditation practice in 2003 with a mindfulness based stress reduction course (MBSR). The discipline of meditation opened a new world of personal discovery and her desire to continue learning propelled her [...]
Ajahn Brahm
Ajahn Brahmavamso Mahathera (known to most as Ajahn Brahm), born Peter Betts in London in 1951, is a Theravada Buddhist monk. Ajahn Brahm grew up in London and earned a degree in Theoretical Physics from Cambridge [...]
James (Jahmes) Scibetta
James (Jahmes) Scibetta has been practicing yoga and meditation since 1999 while taking steps on the Buddhist path. Freshly promoted to "mindful movement guru" for local yoga studios and spiritual centers, Jahmes is a perpetual [...]
Tom Leichardt
Tom Leichardt graduated with a Doctorate of Medical Qigong (DMQ) from the International Institute of Medical Qigong, the overseas college of Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He practices Taoist meditation and the healing arts. [...]
Deborah Dutton
Deborah Dutton is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner and has been teaching the Feldenkrais Method for ten years. Deborah was introduced to the Method® as a result of a shoulder injury. She found the technique so [...]
Toni Bernhard
Toni Bernhard is the author of How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and their Caregivers and How to Wake Up: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide to Navigating Joy and Sorrow (Wisdom, Fall 2013). How to Be Sick was [...]
Tony Bernhard
Tony Bernhard is a Buddhist chaplain and teacher. He maintains an active practice with inmates in Folsom Prison and hosts sitting groups in Davis. He sits on the board of the Sati Center for Buddhist [...]
Ayya Santussika
Ayya Santussika was a computer engineer and mother of two before becoming a Theravada Buddhist nun. She began teaching meditation in 1999 and entered monastic life in 2005, training primarily in the Ajahn Chah tradition. She [...]
Sharon Allen
Sharon Allen is a long time practitioner and teacher of mindfulness meditation and different forms of movement. She taught Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for many years, and now directs IMSB's Thursday Evening Program in Saratoga. [...]
Ronald Purser
Ronald Purser, Ph.D. is a professor of management at San Francisco State University where he has taught the last sixteen years in both the MBA and undergraduate business programs. He received his doctorate in organizational behavior [...]
Robert Cusick
Robert Cusick trained at Stanford University in the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) and has studied extensively in a number of different contemplative traditions. He is a Certified Stanford CCT (Compassion Cultivation [...]
Dr. Rick Hanson
Dr. Rick Hanson is a neuropsychologist and author of Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence (from Random House in October, 2013; in 4 languages), Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and [...]
Misha Shungen Merrill
Misha Shungen Merrill is the primary teacher for Zen Heart Sangha in Menlo Park and Woodside, California, as well as the guiding teacher for the Twining Vines Sangha of New York. She has been practicing Zen [...]
Matthew Brensilver
Matthew Brensilver, PhD began practice in the Tibetan tradition, and since 2003 has studied with Shinzen Young. He served as a Buddhist chaplain at USC for four years and taught in the intersection of mindfulness [...]
Margaret Gainer
Margaret Gainer began Buddhist meditation practice in 1995 and teaches at several Bay area meditation groups and churches. Margaret completed Sati Center Buddhist Chaplaincy Training, and since 2005 has taught a weekly meditation class for [...]
Lisa Tromovitch
LISA TROMOVITCH has almost 30 years experience as a theater director and professor of theatre arts. She is Founding Artistic Director of Livermore Shakespeare Festival and on the faculty of University of the Pacific where she is the [...]
Lama Surya Das
Lama Surya Das is one of the most learned and highly trained American-born lamas in the Tibetan Dzogchen tradition. Surya is the founder of the Dzogchen Center in Cambridge, MA and Austin, TX, and the [...]
Kim Allen
Kim Allen practiced with Gil Fronsdal for a dozen years, and now serves on the Teacher’s Council at Insight Santa Cruz. She has spent cumulative two years in silent retreat, and lived for another two [...]
Janetti Marotta
Janetti Marotta, PhD is a psychologist and coordinator of the Mind-Body Program at Fertility Physicians of Northern California where she founded the mindfulness-based Fertility Stress Reduction Program. She has served on the medical staff of Stanford [...]
Ed Haertel
Ed Haertel has maintained a daily meditation practice for over 20 years, and attends retreats with Shaila whenever he can. He has been active in IMSB since its beginning in 2006, and has served as [...]
Drew Oman
Drew Oman’s involvement with Buddhism began in the early 70s when he took a course in Buddhist Scriptures from Walpola Rahula (What the Buddha Taught) at Northwestern University, where Drew obtained a BA in psychology. His [...]
David Cohn
David Cohn began practice at Zen Center in 1969 with Suzuki Roshi, later becoming a disciple of Baker Roshi. A residential student at Tassajara, Green Gulch Farm, and City Center until 1984, he was ordained as [...]
Berget Jelane
Berget Jelane has been practicing meditation since 1986 with Gil Fronsdal as her primary teacher. She coordinates SJ Insight Meditation, teaches at various groups in the Bay Area, and has a small sitting group in Morgan [...]
Ann Dillon
Ann Dillon began meditating in 2003. As her meditation practice developed and evolved over the years, she discovered a natural inclination to the jhanas. In 2008 Ann began practicing and studying under the guidance of [...]
Andrea Fella
Andrea Fella has been practicing insight meditation since 1996 and was quickly drawn to intensive retreat practice. She has done a number of long retreats, both in the United States and in Burma. During one [...]
Lila Kate Wheeler
Lila Kate Wheeler attended her first meditation retreat in 1977. She was a Buddhist nun in Rangoon, Burma and has practiced in a variety of traditions and contexts. She is empowered to teach in the [...]