Noliwe Alexander has been a student of Vipassana meditation for over 15 years. Throughout this time of deep devotion to the Dharma, Noliwe has become a dedicated practitioner, teacher of various sitting groups around the Bay Area, facilitator of community workshops and Buddhist meditation day longs and class series programs. She is a Life & Business Coach dedicating both her coaching & Dharma practice to the POC, LGBT, At Risk and Elder communities. She is a graduate of Spirit Rock’s CDL4 program and completed EBMC’s Commit 2 Dharma program in 2010. Noliwe is a wisdom keeper and humbled by the presence of her ancestors spirit that lives within and walks beside.
Spring Washam is a well-known meditation teacher, author and visionary leader based in Oakland, California. She is the author of A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage, and Wisdom in Any Moment. Spring is considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based healing practices to diverse communities. She is one of the founders and core teachers at the East Bay Meditation Center, located in downtown Oakland, CA. She is also the co-founder of a new organization called Communities Rizing, which is dedicated to providing yoga and meditation teacher training programs for communities of color. She received extensive training by Jack Kornfield, is a member of the teacher's council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in northern California, and has practiced and studied Buddhist philosophy in both the Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism for the last 20 years. In addition to being a teacher, she is also a shamanic practitioner and has studied indigenous healing practices for over a decade. She is the founder of Lotus Vine Journeys, an organization that blends indigenous healing practices with Buddhist wisdom. Her writing and teachings have appeared in many online journals and publications such as Lions Roar, Tricycle, and Belief.net. She has been a guest on many popular podcasts and radio shows. She currently travels and teaches meditation retreats, workshops and classes worldwide. In addition to being a teacher she also considers herself a healer, burgeoning writer, facilitator and spiritual activist. Spring has studied indigenous healing practices and works with students individually from around the world. She currently teaches workshops, large groups, compassion meditation and loving kindness retreats throughout the country. Her work includes earth based practices, awakening in the body, movement, dance and yoga.
Tuere Sala is a Guiding Teacher at Seattle Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Retreat Center. She is a retired prosecuting attorney who has practiced Vipassana meditation for over 30 years. Tuere is committed to lay practice and inspired by bringing the Dharma to nontraditional places. She is a strong advocate for practitioners living with high stress, past trauma and difficulties sitting still. Tuere has been teaching since 2010 and has a long history of assisting others in establishing and maintaining a daily practice. Tuere can be contacted at tueresala.org and at https://www.dharmaground.org.
Victoria Cary is a Dhamma teacher and leader who co-founded the San Francisco Black Indigenous People of Color Insight Sangha and continues as one of its core teachers. She loves the Dhamma and is interested in supporting people in their practice by focusing on integrating Dhamma into everyday life. Her identity as a queer, bi-racial black woman informs her approach to teaching the Dhamma; she seeks to support a kind internal and external investigation of our complex human experience. She has been practicing and studying Insight meditation since 2006, most recently sitting numerous retreats in the Mahasi/U Pandita lineage with Venerable Sayalay Daw Bhaddamanika, and Venerable Sayadaw U Vivekananda, including 3-month silent retreats at Insight Meditation Society and in Nepal. Her practice has also been informed by volunteering for 3 years with Zen Hospice and exploring how developing a relationship with impermanence and death can bring us more fully alive. She completed Community Dharma Leader training in 2016 and was authorized to teach in 2020 from Spirit Rock and currently teaches retreats, groups and mentor’s students.
Will Kabat-Zinn spent his early practice years at the Insight Meditation Society with Larry Rosenberg, Sharon Salzberg, and Joseph Goldstein and at Panditarama Forest Meditation Center in Burma under the guidance of Sayadaw U Pandita. Will was deeply influenced by his friendship with Dr. Rina Sircar who carried the lineage of Mingon Sayadaw through her teacher Taungpulu Sayadaw, and by the fierce compassion of Chan Master Sheng Yen who he met and practiced with in New York. He lives in the East Bay with his wife and two sons.
