Core Guiding Teachers
Guy Armstrong has practiced insight meditation for over 40 years, including training as a Buddhist monk in Thailand with Ajahn Buddhadasa. He began teaching in 1984 and has led retreats worldwide. He is the author of Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators.
A meditator since 1999, Devin Berry‘s practice is primarily informed by the metta and vipassana teachings of the Insight Meditation tradition. He has undertaken many periods of silent long-term retreat practice. Devin is committed to the personal and collective liberation of marginalized communities knowing that through the integration of reflection and insight, clarity and wisdom give rise to wise action. Devin is the father of 2 children.
Kamala Masters is a co-founder with Steve Armstrong of Vipassana Metta Foundation. A meditator since 1977, she trained intensively in metta (lovingkindness) and vipassana (insight) in the Mahasi tradition with Sayadaw U Pandita and Anagarika Munindra. Continuing her practice with Sayadaw U Tejaniya, she encourages a balanced relaxed awareness that has the clarity of precision as well as kindness. She is a mother of 4 children and grandmother of 7.
Winnie Nazarko attended her first meditation retreat in 1981, after a co-worker convinced her that it would be interesting. And it was interesting, just not in the way she expected. After that long weekend with Stephen and Andrea Levine, she knew she had touched something deeply truthful, although she couldn’t quite describe it. It did, however, seem to do with transparency of being, equanimity, and lack of fear.
Carol Wilson first began practicing Vipassana or Insight meditation in 1971, with S.N. Goenka, in Bodh Gaya, India. Since then she has studied and practiced with a number of Theravada teachers, both Asian and Western. Carol has been sharing vipassana and metta retreat teachings since 1986, both in the United States and abroad. She feels a strong commitment to supporting the conditions for long intensive retreats to take place, and for many years she has been teaching the three-month retreat at Insight Meditation Society.
Founders Council
Joseph Goldstein has taught Buddhist meditation worldwide since 1974. A co-founder and guiding teacher of IMS, he also helped envision and establish BCBS and IMS’s Forest Refuge center. His books include Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, One Dharma, Insight Meditation and others.
Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author. She is one of the first to bring mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation to mainstream American culture over 45 years ago, inspiring generations of meditation teachers and wellness influencers. Sharon is co-founder of The Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, and the author of twelve books, including the New York Times bestseller, Real Happiness, now in its second edition, and her seminal work, Lovingkindness. Her forthcoming release, Real Life: The Journey from Isolation to Openness and Freedom, is set for release in April of 2023 from Flatiron Books. Her podcast, The Metta Hour, has amassed six million downloads and features interviews with thought leaders from the mindfulness movement and beyond. www.sharonsalzberg.com
Emeritus Guiding Teachers
Rebecca Bradshaw is the guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Center of Pioneer Valley, MA. She leads vipassana retreats, including Spanish language courses, emphasizing embodied clarity and kindness. She holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology.
Christina Feldman is of the generation of dharma teachers that began teaching in the west in 1975 after spending some years in Asia studying and practice in both the Mahayana and Therevadan traditions. She is a co-founder of Gaia House. Christina is the founder of the Women’s retreat and the family retreat at IMS. She is the author of Boundless Heart: The Buddha’s Path of Kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity and other publications.
Narayan Helen Liebenson finds it a joy and a privilege to share the Buddha’s teachings with all who are interested. She has been a guiding teacher of the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center since its inception in 1985. Her training over the past forty years includes study in the United States and in Asia with meditation masters in the Theravada, Zen, and Tibetan traditions. Narayan is the author of The Magnanimous Heart.
Greg Scharfhas practiced with Western and Asian teachers in the Theravada tradition since 1992, and has been teaching residential retreats since 2007, including the annual Three-Month Retreat at IMS. Greg’s love of nature and the outdoors deeply informs both his practice and teaching.
Rodney Smith disrobed as a monk in 1983 and for the next 35 years taught Insight Meditation throughout the U.S. and for many of those years worked in hospice care. In 2017 he retired from most work related obligations, allowing him to explore a life unconstrained by time. He is the author of four books including Touching the Infinite: A New Perspective on The Buddha’s Four Foundation of Mindfulness. His teaching style is direct and undeviating, emphasizing the immediacy of awakening and the embodiment of awakened values.
DaRa Williams has practiced vipassana meditation for 25 years. She is also a certified coordinating trainer for Aboriginal Focusing Oriented Complex Trauma Therapy and maintains a private psychotherapy practice in the New York City area. “It is my experience that meditation and the Dharma are ideal for transforming suffering. Awareness, wisdom and a compassionate heart become the vehicle for transformation, connection and freedom.”
