Teachers
Senior Teachers:
Founding teacher, Tara Brach, Ph.D., has practiced and taught meditation since 1975 and is the founder of IMCW. Tara is a clinical psychologist, teaches meditation classes locally, and leads workshops, trainings and retreats at centers around the country. She is a co-founder of the Washington Buddhist Peace Fellowship. Tara is the author of Radical Acceptance – Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha.
Hugh Byrne has studied and practiced Buddhism in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. He is a co-founder of the Washington Buddhist Peace Fellowship and the Mindfulness Training Institute of Washington. He teaches classes on Buddhism and meditation for the Smithsonian Resident Associate Program and teaches three weekly classes in Washington, DC.
Hugh has trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and in Somatic Experiencing, a mind/body approach to healing trauma. He has a law degree from London University and a Ph.D. in political science from UCLA and has worked extensively on issues of human rights.
Jonathan Foust has practiced meditation since 1972. A senior teacher and former president of Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, he has been teaching yoga and meditation for over twenty years in both residential and corporate settings.
Jonathan leads three weekly meditation classes as well as retreats in the DC area and around the country. He is the creator of the "Year of Living Mindfully" program and offers private sessions in Focusing, a body-oriented therapy that is powerfully synergistic with mindfulness meditation.
Luisa Montero-Diaz
Luisa Montero-Diaz has been practicing meditation since 1987 and teaching meditation since 1993. She completed the first three-year Community Dharma Leadership program offered by the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Luisa has been affiliated with IMCW since its inception and was on the founding Board. She teaches a weekly meditation class in Takoma Park, Maryland, and leads day-long and weekend retreats in the Washington area. Prior to her exploration of Buddhist meditation, she was involved in Gurdjieff's Fourth Way spiritual study.
Teachers:
Adam Asare
Adam Asare has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1996, and has had broad exposure to meditation and contemplative practices found in East Asian and Sufi traditions. He participated in the two-year Dedicated Practioner’s Program sponsored by the Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the teacher training program led by Matthew Flickstein. He has also been a group facilitator for a local Kalyana Mitta group and served as an IMCW board member. He is currently engaged in a two-year training program focusing on non-dual teachings sponsored by The Forest Way). Adam holds a doctorate in computational biology and directs biomarker research for auto-immune and transplantation studies. http://www.yogideb.com/cedarlane/
Klia Bassing, MBA, MPP has been a teacher with IMCW since 2004. She is also the director and principle teacher of Visit Yourself® at Work, which provides secular Mindfulness Meditation instruction for stress reduction to groups and individuals at workplaces (such as the World Bank Group, American Psychological Association, and the IRS).
Klia authors the Twitter channel, @visityourself, which provides free daily meditation tips for thousands worldwide.
Before founding Visit Yourself® at Work, Klia worked at the World Bank in the poverty reduction network. She also lived and worked in Latin America and the Caribbean in the field of economic development. Her Mindfulness Meditation teacher training is from Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California.
Catherine Brousseau
Catherine Brousseau began mindfulness and vipassana meditation in 1998. She has done meditation retreats throughout her life, first as a Catholic and now as a Buddhist. Her teachers include Luisa Montero-Diaz, Deb Ratner, and Lynn Kelly (now in Australia) at IMCW, Bhante Gunaratana and Bhante Rahula of the Bhavana Society, WV. Since 2002, Catherine has been active in sutta study groups, exploring the teachings of the Buddha directly from the scriptures. She took Bhavana Society Teacher Training courses and completed the Advanced Study & Practice Program at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, Massachusetts. Catherine co-teaches the Dhamma at Willow Street Yoga Center with Lusia Montero-Diaz and Trudy mitchell-gilkey. Her training as a life coach informs her meditation practice and service to other yogis. You can reach Catherine at cbrousseau@rcn.com.
Rob Creekmore
Rob has worked with a wide variety of meditative practices over the last 30 years, concentrating for the past 20 on Vipassana meditation and mindful dialogue. He has been part of IMCW since its founding including starting the first Kalyana Mitta group in 1996.
Professionally, Rob has worked in telecommunications engineering and project management, evolving into an organization development consultant, facilitator, and trainer. He studied to be an ordained United Methodist minister in the early 90's and completed the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader program in July 2003. Rob has had extensive experience in introducing meditation, mindful dialogue, rites of passage, and other spiritual practices into many diverse settings, such as businesses, government, schools, and churches.
Vicki J. Goodman, LCSW
Vicki has been meditating with IMCW for over 15 years. She regularly sits long term meditation retreats at Insight Meditation Society. Vicki was invited to train in the three year Community Dharma Leader training program sponsored by the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She completed that program in 2008. She coordinated the Mentor Program for IMCW from 2003 through 2007. Vicki has been teaching at IMCW’s Sunday night class at All Souls Church, Unitarian in Washington, DC. She also teaches various classes and retreats for IMCW and in the DC area. Vicki has pursued a special interest in the interface of Buddhadharma and psychotherapy. She has maintained a psychotherapy practice since 1985 with a emphasis in Dharma-based psychotherapy in Washington, DC and in Maryland. Vicki can be contacted at VJGoodman@gmail.com.
Debbie Ratner Helzer
Deborah Ratner Helzer has been meditating for over 15 years, and has practiced and studied both western and asian traditions. She spent a year as a Theravadan nun in Burma, and her teaching style reflects the influence of the late Burmese master Mahasi Sayadaw and his emphasis on clear, non-judgmental awareness. Deborah has been mentored in her teaching by Joseph Goldstein and other senior Vipassana teachers connected with the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA. She has been teaching locally and assisting at retreats around the country since 2002. yogideb@starpower.net - http://www.yogideb.com/
Trish Magyari, MS, is a long-time student of Eastern and Western forms of contemplative practice and began studying meditation and yoga while in college during in the 70's. She has practiced with IMCW since 2000 and joined the teacher's council in 2005; she is also a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker). Professionally, she is a senior Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher and mindfulness-based psychotherapist, working especially with those in chronic pain or who have had trauma histories. A recovering "striver" and a re-formed "self-critic", Trish has been greatly influenced by Tara's teaching, and she herself teaches a rigorous yet tender approach to being with our inner selves. She leads a weekly class in Baltimore, with retreats and trainings nationwide, often weaving in the creative arts, movement and chanting to her offerings.
John McIliwain
John McIlwain has practiced and studied Vipassana and Tibetan meditation techniques since 2000 with Tara Brach, Rudy Bauer, Rigdzen Dorje Rinpoche, Mingyur Rinpoche and others. He is a Senior Resident Fellow at the Urban Land Institute. He practiced law for many years, worked in government, and ran an investment fund and a foundation. He is active on several non-profit boards and is a past President of IMCW. He was raised in the Episcopal Church. He has a university degree in Philosophy and has studied and practiced a variety of spiritual disciplines over the course of his life. john.k.mcilwain@gmail.com
Trudy ann mitchell-gilkey
Trudy ann mitchell-gilkey is a licensed independent clinical social worker and started her private (mindfulness-based cognitive) psychotherapy practice (in District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia) in 1997 when she completed graduate school at The National Catholic School of Social Work (The Catholic University of America).
Trudy began her formal meditation practice in 1998 and joined the IMCW community in 2001, first attending the Takoma Park (Willow Street Yoga Center) sangha as a student then - seven years later - as a teacher alongside Luisa Montero, her good friend. She has served as a member of IMCW's first formal Diversity Committee, as the founder of Takoma Park's first Kalyana Mitta group in 2004, as coordinator of IMCW's meditation mentoring program and is a solid mindfulness-based mental health practitioner in the DC metropolitan area.
Trudy's meditation practice and teaching style have been most profoundly influenced by Pema Chodron. She completed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training for Mental Health Professionals with Jon Kabat-Zinn in 2007, the Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention training with Alan Marlatt in 2010, and begins Spirit Rock's two-year Community Dharma Leadership Program in September 2010. tamgilkey@aol.com
Stig Regli
Stig Regli has practiced Vipassana meditation since 1984 and facilitated sitting groups and classes since 1997. He was introduced to the practice in Thailand in accordance with the teachings of the Burmese Mahasi Sayadaw tradition. He has been guided by numerous Asian and North American teachers with his primary teacher being Tara Brach. Stig has been a past Board Member and Vice President for IMCW. In 2008 he completed the three-year Community Dharma Leadership program sponsored by the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Stig can be contacted at stigregli@comcast.net.
Carole Rogentine
Carole has been meditating for many years and has attended retreats with Tara Brach, Leigh Brasington, Shinzen Young, Bhantes Gunaratana and Rahula at the Bhavana Society where she is on the Board of Directors. She has co-led Introduction to Meditation classes, teaches fall and spring meditation classes at Cedar Lane UU church and has been visiting teacher at several IMCW meetings. Carole is on the IMCW teacher council. She has taken the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training program (MBSR), Bhavana Society Teacher training and the Advanced Study and Practice Program at Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. Carole traveled to India on a Buddhist pilgrimage in 2002, visiting many significant places in the Buddha's life. crogentine@gmail.com - http://www.yogideb.com/cedarlane/
La Sarmiento
La Sarmiento has been practicing Vipassana meditation and has been a member of IMCW since 1998. La's practice and approach to the Dharma has been influenced greatly by the teachings of Tara Brach, Pema Chodron, Eckhart Tolle, Larry Yang, Eric Kolvig, and Ruth King. Currently on the IMCW Teacher Training Track, La is also the facilitator of the IMCW LGBTQ sangha and co-facilitator of the IMCW People of Color sangha since 2005 and of the multi-cultural sangha "Refuge 3" since 2007. La integrates the Kalyana Mitta process and the concepts of Non-Violent Communication into her gatherings to create a sacred space for group wisdom to arise. La is a senior retreat/event manager committed to bringing diverse teachers to IMCW and to making the Dharma accessible to all. La has been a bodyworker in private practice since 1992 and teaches mindfulness-based Reiki classes in Adams Morgan, DC.
Jon Waterman
Jon Waterman began practicing yoga and meditation while teaching the martial arts in the early seventies, with a concentration, since 1994, on Buddhist insight meditation. His workshops and retreats focus on strengthening continuity of present moment awareness by combining mindful movement, insight dialogue and meditation techniques. Jon has a personal coaching practice and is a founding partner of Mind Body Health Associates, a group dedicated to bringing applied mindfulness, via Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programs, to hospitals, universities and the workplace. He has been leading Stress Management programs within the Maryland Department of Corrections since 2000.
Teachers-In-Training:
Mary Aubry
Mary began meditation in the Vipassana tradition in 1993 while living in Tennessee. Since then, she has attended over 15 silent meditation retreats at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and at the Southern Dharma Retreat Center near Asheville, North Carolina. Presently, she serves on Southern Dharma's board of directors. Since moving to Washington in 2008, Mary's teachers have included Tara Brach, Hugh Byrne, and Jonathan Foust. In 2009, she organized an IMCW off-the-cushion Dharma book club that meets monthly. She recently completed Jonathan Foust's Year-of-Living-Mindfully course and regularly attends and sometimes leads Hugh Byrne's Sunday morning class in Tenleytown. Mary has a daily practice that includes yoga, Vipassana, metta, and jhana meditation. She is also participating in the Community Dharma Leadership IV program, sponsored by Spirit Rock Meditation Center. mary.aubry@gmail.com
Alicia Jimenez Bazan
Alicia Jimenez Bazan was born in Lima, Peru where she lived until leaving to attend college overseas to study Economics and Sociology at the Catholic University of Louvain, a prominent university in Belgium.
Once Alicia moved to D.C., she began to work for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as an economist. In that capacity, she regularly traveled to Africa with her colleagues to analyze economic conditions in some of the world’s poorest countries. Seeing how the inhabitants had to struggle to make it through each day affected Alicia profoundly.
Alicia discovered Vipassana meditation through her study of yoga philosophy. She has been practicing mediation for the past ten years. It has had an enormous influence on her life; for example, she credits the practice with helping her pace her activities and be more mindful of any activity she in which is involved. Alicia is now enrolled in the Dedicated Practitioners Program at Spirit Rock and is also on the teacher track at IMCW.
Rebecca Hines
Rebecca joined IMCW’s community in 2001 and has been an active member, serving in a variety of volunteer roles. Almost a decade later, she combines her work at the Department of Health and Human Services with deepening involvement in IMCW through the teacher training track, as well as work with the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.
Rebecca became a leader in the creation and operation of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Washington Chapter, founded by Tara Brach and Hugh Byrne, taking a key role in developing silent peace walks, and in organizing the 2004 Change Your Mind Day on the Capitol Mall.
Through the New York at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Rebecca became certified as a Holistic Health Counselor. She also trained in Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and entered IMCW’s teacher training track. With her partner Hugh Byrne and in conjunction with Jonathan Foust, she developed the Mindfulness Training Institute of Washington, offering “customized trainings, workshops, retreats, lectures and personal coaching for those who wish to cultivate greater awareness and compassion.”
Ofosu Jones-Quartey
Ofosu Jones-Quartey has been practicing meditation since 2000, with a focus on Vipassana in the Mahasi and Thai traditions, incorporated with Madhyamaka philosophy. He is a part of the Bhavana Society community and a student of Bhante Buddharakkhita, among others. Ofosu is also an accomplished musical artist and founding member of the Buddhist-inspired Hip Hop band, Shambhala. (www.shambhalatrue.com)
Bill Mies
Bill’s search for vitality, serenity, and self-acceptance has led down many paths. This interest in the contemplative experience led him to spend 10 years in a Catholic seminary where he studied and practiced meditation in the Christian tradition. In this reflective environment, he earned a BA in philosophy and completed four years of graduate work in theology, culminating in ordination to the priesthood. After four years in the active ministry, he chose to further his personal and spiritual growth by changing directions. He went on to pursue his interest in psychology and mindfulness practice while establishing a career in the marine industry. During these years in the business world, Bill volunteered by coordinating, facilitating, and training groups in the principles of mindfulness. This included five years as the co-coordinator of the IMCW Kalyana Mitta program and ten years as a KM facilitator. He has over 25 years experience in meditation practice.
In preparation for teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Bill completed all three programs offered by the University of Massachusetts, Center for Mindfulness. He is now devoting his professional life to teaching mindfulness practice, specializing in the classic 8-week MBSR Program that was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Bill believes that the effectiveness of the MBSR program rests on the fact that it calls upon our deepest spiritual resources and ability to transform.
Bill is especially interested in the complementary nature of spirituality as practiced in the Buddhist and Christian traditions. He is a long-term resident, husband, and father, living in the Annapolis, MD area. (Mindfullife.net)
Emily Tibbott
Emily Tibbott has practiced vipassana meditation since 1985. She has been involved in the Spirit Rock Meditation Center since its inception, and her primary teachers have been Christopher Titmuss and Sharda Rogell. She completed the Dedicated Practioners Program in 2005, has led a Kalyana Mitta group and has participated in teacher trainings with Tara Brach. More recently, she began teaching in the DC area. A significant focus of her practice and teaching is the application of the dharma in everyday life -- how to live with skill and wisdom. Professionally, she is focused on nature conservation internationally, which complements her personal passion for the natural world and being in wild places. Her time in nature directly supports her mindfulness and wisdom practices. ebtibbott@yahoo.com
Ken Yamaguchi-Clark
Ken Yamaguchi-Clark has been practicing a wide variety of spiritual, meditative, movement, and body-based practices since 1987. Since its inception in 2004, he has helped to maintain the IMCW Sangha at All Souls Church, Unitarian where he also serves as Dancer-in-Residence; teaches weekly Qi Gong and movement meditation groups; and co-leads the Mindfulness in Daily Life class with Vicki Goodman. He currently maintains a private bodywork practice in Washington, DC and brings a background in community, complimentary and alternative health as a master trainer, curriculum developer, administrator and consultant. He is most passionate about the integration of healing, performing and living arts and is currently enrolled in Sanctuary, a socially-engaged Dharma training program for activists at Manzanita Village.
Mary VanDevanter has practiced meditation since 1980 and has been involved with IMCW since 2001. She is currently leading a weekly sitting group in Falls Church, VA. Mary is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has a psychotherapy practice in Alexandria, VA. She is a consultant, facilitator and trainer for federal and local agencies and provides on-site grief and trauma debriefing to local companies. Mary provides supervision for clinicians seeking to deepen their practice of mindfulness-based psychotherapy.
Laraine Barclay
Larissa Kitenko
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