Learn more about the IMS/Spirit Rock Teacher Training Programhere.
Isabel Adon is an Afro-Latinx licensed clinical social worker who has been meditating for more than 25 years and has been a member of the New York Insight Meditation Center for 20 of those years. She leads BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ groups throughout the Tristate area, has served on the IMS Board, and is presently the Board President of Peace at Any Pace. Isabel is a Level 1 MBSR teacher and completed Somatic Abolitionist Training with Resmaa Menakem. She is trained in a variety of therapeutic modalities, including family systems therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, focusing-oriented therapy, solution-focused therapy, and aboriginal/indigenous/cultural-centered therapy.
Ronya Fakhoury Banks is founding teacher of Asheville Insight Meditation group in Asheville, North Carolina, has been a practicing meditator for 38 years, and also spent time as a Theravada Buddhist nun. She is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader program, with Jack Kornfield and Chanmyay Sayadaw as her primary teachers, and serves as a mentor for Jack’s Mindfulness Teacher training program with Tara Brach. Ronya works as a trauma-healing therapist, and has 25 years’ experience as a business consultant and entrepreneur. Born in Kuwait, she is Palestinian-American and comes from an Islamic faith background.as 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 an IMS guiding teacher and author of Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators.
Brett Bethke has been practicing insight meditation since 2010, when he attended his first retreat at IMS. He has a love of long retreat practice and deep trust in the potential for each of us to transform our suffering and realize greater peace, clarity, and compassion in our lives. Brett’s interest in teaching stems from his desire to explore this possibility with others, with the goal of supporting practitioners to use the unique conditions of their own lives as opportunities for growth and understanding.
Mario Castillo has been a dedicated Buddhist practitioner in the Theravada and Vipassana traditions for more than 15 years. He began attending the East Bay Meditation Center’s Alphabet and People of Color Sanghas in 2009, and co-founded the Deep Refuge group Alphabet Brothers of Color in 2010. Mario is a graduate of EBMC’s Commit to Dharma program and inaugural Spiritual Teacher and Leadership Training, and practiced as a Buddhist monk in Thailand with Venerable Acharn Tippakorn Sukhito. He received his PhD in sociology from UC Berkeley in 2023, focusing on organizational diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
Melanie Huitse Cherng（程慧慈）was raised in a Taiwanese family that practices Pure Land Buddhism. Communal and spiritual life are deeply intertwined for her—she remembers coloring outside the altar room door as a young child, while listening to her father chant at dawn. Mel has been offering meditation instruction to the BIPOC community at Cambridge Insight for the last decade, and loves learning different ways to hold spacious, non-hierarchical practice spaces that support rest and healing. She is a licensed acupuncturist, herbalist, and dancer, and she and her partner are currently rewilding their backyard with native plants. Mel identifies as a baby queer.
Lissa Edmond began a dedicated dharma practice in 2008, and studies Vipassana and the Brahmaviharas as their primary path, with influences from Zen. Lissa is a teacher of meditation and mindful movement (qigong, yoga, etc.), somatic/trauma psychotherapist, and nurse practitioner (DNP, PMHNP-BC). Lissa identifies practice as a deep form of love and care, and shares compassionate, embodied, and trauma-responsive practices for the wellness and liberation of all beings.
Wynn Fricke co-founded Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis in 1993 with Mark Nunberg. She served on Common Ground’s board for nine years and continues her work there as a leader and teacher. She has practiced in the Thai Forest and Mahasi Sayadaw traditions and taught with Marcia Rose in her Self-No Self and the Creative Process retreats. Wynn served on the board of the Buddhist Insight Network for five years. A professional choreographer, Wynn is on the faculty of the Department of Theater and Dance at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
nico hase lived in a monastery for six years before earning a PhD in counseling psychology and becoming a full-time Insight Meditation teacher. He currently mentors mindfulness teachers, teaches online and in-person retreats, and speaks with students in one-on-one sessions. He and his life partner, Devon, are the authors of How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Buddhist Survival Guide for Modern Life.
Rae Houseman is a meditation teacher and mentor who has been practicing for more than 20 years and has a depth of practice in both the Insight Meditation and Vajrayana traditions. Rae brings to their teachings a trauma-informed lens that includes cultural and ancestral levels of trauma. They believe that the practice is a powerful support for opening to our essential nature and living a more attuned and authentic life.
Namu Kang is an explorer of consciousness in this brief interval between birth and death. His curiosity about how much freedom and beauty is possible has taken him to monasteries and meditation centers across Myanmar, Thailand, India, and the United States. In the past, Namu has managed products at Google, traveled the world making videos, and built software tools to help people be more mindful online. He loves long retreats and emphasizes the importance of enjoyment, play, and experimentation in practice.
Gina LaRoche started her meditation practice in 2000, and was introduced to Insight Meditation while attending her first residential retreat in 2010. Deeply transformed by the Dharma, Gina integrates its teachings into her daily life and work. A 2017 graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader Program; founding teacher of Elm Community Insight in New Haven, Connecticut; and former IMS Board member, she co-holds the monthly POC sit at Cambridge Insight Meditation Center. Coauthor of The 7 Laws of Enough: Cultivating a Life of Sustainable Abundance, Gina is known for her compassionate teaching style and dedication to making mindfulness accessible to all.
Jean Leonard, PhD, is a licensed psychologist, teacher, and mentor. She has been meditating since 2003, and her practice has been nourished by the core teachings of the Theravada and Chan Buddhist lineages, particularly the brahma viharas and Kuan Yin dharmas. Jean is a board member of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center and a trained Buddhist Eco-Chaplain, supporting individuals and communities impacted by the ecological crises of our times. She delights in pottery, poetry, and soaking in the wisdom of elder trees, and has a passion for nature practice, women’s sangha building, and practice related to aging, illness, and dying.
Anthony “T” Maes has held Dhamma as his heart’s compass since 2000. With deep connection to his Nuevomexicano lineage and multiracial working-class background, T intentionally supports practitioners of diverse backgrounds, exploring what it means to practice decolonized relational mindfulness. T studied Theravāda Buddhism at Spirit Rock and East Bay Meditation Center, and with Thai Forest monastics in Ajahn Chah’s lineage in Thailand, and also trained in Organic Intelligence with Steve Hoskinson. His primary Dhamma teachers are JoAnna Hardy and Tempel Smith. He teaches at Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society, EBMC, Freedom-Together, Inward Bound, and as founding teacher of Dharma Homies Collective.
Justin Michelson has practiced Buddhist meditation since 2000, including experience in the Theravada, Zen, and Tibetan traditions. Asked to teach by his root teacher, Rodney Smith, he began offering classes and retreats in 2016. He is trained as a Community Dharma Leader through Spirit Rock, a teacher of Awake In The Wild nature meditation through Mark Coleman, and is the guiding teacher for Eugene Insight in Oregon. Justin is the author of the forthcoming book The Dharma of Healing: The Path of Liberation from Stress, Pain, and Trauma (Shambhala, June 2025).
Since falling in love with practice two decades ago, Eleni Monos has spent multiple years in intensive silent retreat. In 2023, she completed over a year of continuous retreat. Eleni is gratefully mentored by Guy Armstrong, Kamala Masters, and Susie Harrington. A graduate of Spirit Rock’s Advanced Practitioner Program, she is currently part of an international leadership cohort funded by the Bess Foundation, centered on expanding Buddhist teaching in nature. Eleni is trained as a nurse and served for a decade in the ICU. She loves poetry, backpacking, and bringing the practice out of doors.
Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith, MBA, has 25+ years of cumulative meditation and Dharma practice in the Theravada tradition. A dedicated practitioner who has taken contemporary vows and lives as a lay renunciate, Ramona Lisa is a graduate of East Bay Meditation Center’s Commit to Dharma program, Spiritual Teacher and Leadership training, and Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioners Program. A certified mindfulness teacher and mentor and Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy (IFOT) practitioner, she was recognized as a Dharma Relief 2 Fellow in 2023. Ramona Lisa weaves life experiences into her Dharma offerings with authenticity, kindness, humor and joy.
Margrit Pittman-Polletta has been a practitioner in the insight meditation tradition since 2012. A qualified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction teacher through the Mindfulness Center at Brown, and a certified Vinyasa Yoga teacher, she loves teaching and sharing the Dharma. Margrit is deeply committed to the integration of awareness and wisdom in daily life, as well as building inclusive community. In her free time, she enjoys biking around Brooklyn, where she was born and currently lives.
Driven by her curiosity and desire to understand the universe, and strengthened by the resilience forged by becoming a teenage mother, Fernmarie Rodriguez earned degrees in physics, mechanical engineering, and human-centered design engineering. After 15 years of corporate experience at companies including Microsoft, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and NASA, she felt compelled to shift focus towards the “inner universe,” leaving a successful career to embark on a global pilgrimage exploring ancient healing practices from diverse cultures. Today, she’s grateful for her background and for the insights she’s gained from Vipassana meditation practices, and is inspired to support others on their journey inward.
Kate Siber is a friend, sister, daughter, aunt, wife, listener, avid reader, watcher of clouds, meanderer through the forests, appreciator of art and beauty, and lover of wild things. She lives in Durango, Colorado, where she serves as a community dharma leader for the Durango Dharma Center, offering talks and classes, co-stewarding the spiritual programming for the sangha, and constantly learning. She also works as a freelance journalist, correspondent for Outside magazine and children’s book author. Her work can be found in publications such as National Parks, various National Geographic titles and the New York Times Magazine.
Aishah Shahidah Simmons is a Black feminist lesbian survivor-healer, Theravadin Buddhist, and trauma-informed mindfulness meditation teacher. She has been studying and practicing vipassana meditation since 2002, and has more than one year of cumulative silent retreat practice in the United States and India. Her primary dharma teachers are Tuere Sala and DaRa Williams. Aishah is also an internationally acclaimed filmmaker, author, and lecturer whose award-winning works, NO! The Rape Documentary and Love WITH Accountability: Digging Up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse, break silences, offer healing paths for trauma, and explore ways to disrupt the inhumane sexual violence epidemic humanely.
Adam Stonebraker, a dedicated practitioner of meditation since 1999, serves as the Guiding Teacher for Mountain Stream Meditation in Nevada City, California, and as a core teacher with Sacred Mountain Sangha. He has been sharing the dharma and somatic movement practices locally and internationally since 2012. Adam’s approach is particularly inspired by the Thai Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah, through his primary teachers, Kittisaro & Thanissara, the bodhisattva path, and the natural world. His teachings emphasize natural mindfulness, compassion, and a deep connection to the environment.
Peace Twesigye is the Director of Buddhist Studies and the Thích Nhất Hạnh Program for Engaged Buddhism at Union Theological Seminary. Peace has taught meditation and Buddhadharma in the northeastern United States and in France. As a recognized Insight Dialogue teacher, Peace brings together meditative awareness, Buddhist wisdom, and our relational nature as a path to awakening. Additionally, Peace serves on the board of Lion’s Roar Foundation.
Brett Wheeler has practiced insight meditation for 15 years, and has taught meditation in prisons and free communities for the past 10. Mindfulness is for him an innate awakening to the present as a refuge from fear and self-centeredness. Given the many teachers who have supported his faith in the here and now of experience, he is excited to engage with others who are open to this same self-discovery and ethical care and intimacy with the world. He lives in Berkeley, California, works as a psychotherapist, plays the organ, and was previously an attorney and professor of German literature.
Visit the IMS/Spirit Rock Teacher Training Programlanding page.
