Guided Meditation | Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center

Anne Cushman

As a teacher and writer, Anne Cushman explores the intersection between spiritual practice, creative expression, and the down-to-earth details of embodied human life. A practitioner of both dharma and yoga since 1982, she is a retreat teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, core faculty for Spirit Rock’s Dharma Yoga Mindfulness Training, and the director of mentoring for the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. She is the author of the memoir The Mama Sutra: A Story of Love, Loss, and the Path of Motherhood; the novel Enlightenment for Idiots; the spiritual India travel guide From Here to Nirvana; and Moving Into…

Anushka Fernandopulle

Anushka Fernandopulle has trained for over 30 years in the Theravada Buddhist tradition in the U.S., India, and Sri Lanka. Anushka is on the Teacher’s Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, lives in San Francisco and teaches retreats and workshops around the world. She also serves as a leadership coach and consultant, influenced by a BA in anthropology and religion from Harvard and an MBA from Yale. Her teaching is informed by nature, creative arts, political engagement and modern urban life.

Bill Morgan, PsyD

Bill Morgan, PsyD is a clinical psychologist who has been practicing meditation for over 35 years in both Zen and Vipassana traditions. He has participated in more than 6 years of silent retreats, and once lived in a Trappist monastery for 6 months. He has a private practice in two Boston locations. Bill is a board member of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy, a non-profit organization in Boston, which offers seminars, courses, retreats and a certificate program for mental health professionals. He is a contributing author to Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, a best selling text in its second edition. billandsusan.org

Bonnie Duran

Bonnie Duran, PhD met the Dharma in 1982 when she sat a month in Nepal and learned Vipassana in Bodh Gaya India. Since then, she has taken teachings from many western teachers as well as Thai, Burmese, and Tibetan Monastic teachers. Bonnie attended the very first People of Color Mediation Retreat at Vallecitos decades ago and we are proud to have her sit on our Teachers’ Council today. Bonnie is a core-teacher of the IMS Teacher Training Program, the SRMC Dedicated Practitioners Program and is on the SRMC Guiding Teachers Council. Bonnie teaches long and short retreats at IMS, Spirit…

Brian Lesage

Brian has practiced Buddhist meditation since 1988 and has taught since 2000. He has studied in the Zen, Theravada, and Tibetan schools and was ordained in the Rinzai Zen tradition in 1996. His training in Vipassana Meditation includes doing extended meditation retreats in Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, and India as well as numerous retreats in the U.S. He leads retreats and teaches meditation courses nationwide. Brian also has a private practice in Somatic Experiencing, which is a naturalistic approach to healing trauma.

bruni dávila

bruni dávila has practiced Insight Meditation and Zen since 1995. She/they has been guided and supported by many wonderful teachers and sanghas, her ancestors of Puerto Rican heritage, the natural world and all her relations. bruni teaches metta and vipassana retreats in English and Spanish. Through the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies, bruni completed the Chaplaincy, the Eco-Chaplaincy, the Dharma Mentoring, and the Local Dharma Leaders Training Programs. She was trained and authorized to teach by the Insight Meditation Society (IMS). bruni is drawn to and inspired by long retreat practice and Dharma in daily life.

Carole Melkonian

Carole Melkonian has been practicing meditation for decades; spending four years in residence at Zen Mountain Monastery and 12 years studying closely with Thich Nhat Hanh, helping start his publishing company, Parallax Press. She has attended many three-month Winter Retreats at monasteries in the Ajahn Chah lineage in the UK and dedicated all of 2015 to practicing meditation at monasteries. She is a graduate of the Spirit Rock/IMS Community Dharma Leader Program. She draws inspiration most deeply from the nuns and monks in the Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah, is especially drawn to the teachings of Ajahn Sucitto and former…

Cheryl Slean

Cheryl Slean has been practicing Insight meditation intensively since 1995 and has taught classes and retreats worldwide for 15 years in both spiritual and secular settings. Cheryl is also a writer, filmmaker and climate advocate, and is manager of Sustainability and Storytelling at Netflix.

Dave Smith

Dave Smith is an internationally recognized Buddhist meditation teacher, addiction treatment specialist, and published author. His background is rooted in the Insight Meditation tradition and he was empowered to teach through the Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. He has extensive experience bringing meditative interventions into jails, prisons, youth detention centers and addiction treatment facilities. Dave teaches residential meditation retreats and classes, provides trainings and consulting in both secular and Buddhist contexts, and works with students through his meditation mentoring program. He recently founded the Secular Dharma Foundation and lives in Paonia, Colorado.

Devin Berry

Devin has been practicing Buddhist meditation and mindfulness since 1999. His practice is primarily informed by the metta and vipassana teachings of the Insight Meditation tradition. This also includes close to four years of combined time in silent, intensive retreat. 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 regularly teaches at Spirit Rock and Insight Meditation Society (IMS) where he serves as a guiding teacher. He also teaches for Sounds True and at various sanghas and centers nationally.

Don Usner

Don J. Usner, a thirteenth-generation New Mexican, grew up in one of North America’s most striking natural and cultural landscapes, where he developed a passion for the natural world and for diverse cultures. He studied Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Usner’s affinity for photography was greatly nurtured there and during his subsequent tenure on an ecological reserve in Big Sur, where he lived and co-authored his first book, The Natural History of Big Sur. Don returned to New Mexico to earn an M.A. in Cultural Geography and to write Sabino’s Map: Life in…

Dyanna Taylor

Dyanna Taylor has co-led media/film and unplugged retreats for twelve years and for the last eight co-led the Wisdom of No Technology retreats at Vallecitos. A film director and veteran cinematographer for 39 years, she brings a uniquely personal angle for guiding this retreat. The combination of her career in the film business with its personal and creative demands, her twenty nine year Buddhist practice, a year alone in an off-the-grid cabin on California’s coast and varied powerful wilderness experiences becomes the inspiration for this retreat. Dyanna’s accomplishments on hundreds of films for clients in features, documentaries, and television garnered…

Elvina Charley (Diné)

Elvina Charley, Ed.S. is Diné (Navajo) school psychologist practitioner and integrates mindfulness as a part of serving children and youth. Charley has been practicing mindfulness since 2013, introduced to her by Bonnie Duran, Ph.D. as a way to heal from historical trauma. She found parallels between her Diné philosophy of life – Sa’ah naaghái bik’eh hózhóón and Buddhism. Charley continues to cultivate her practice through people of color retreat programs through the Insight Meditation Society and Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center. Charley received training through Mindful Schools to bring back mindfulness to reservation schools.

Erin Treat

Erin’s love for wild nature, her passionate commitment to serving collective liberation, and decades of working as a bodyworker are all palpable in her Dharma. Erin is Guiding Teacher at both Vallecitos and the Durango Dharma Center, and is a Core Teacher at Spirit Rock. She served as core faculty of the sixth Community Dharma Leaders (CDL) Program, and is a graduate of Thanissara and Kitissaro’s Dhammapala Training, designed to bring forth an embodied bodhisattva ideal within the lineage of Theravada Buddhism. Erin was born and raised in the prairie of Fargo, North Dakota to a family of Irish and British heritage.…

JD Doyle

JD Doyle (they/them) is part of the East Bay Meditation Center, serving as Core Teacher for five years, co-founder of the Alphabet Sangha, board member as well as in other capacities. They graduated from Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Teacher Training, the Community Dharma Leader training, and the Dedicated Practitioner Program. JD began studying and practicing Buddhism in 1995 in New Mexico, and continued at Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock as well as in Thailand and Burma. They are committed to celebrating the diversity of our human sangha, addressing the impact of racism on our communities, expanding concepts of gender, and…

Jennifer Berezan

Jennifer Berezan is a unique blend of singer/songwriter, producer, and activist. Over the course of ten albums, she has developed and explored recurring themes with a rare wisdom. Her lifelong involvement in environmental, women’s, and other justice movements as well as an interest in Buddhism and earth-based spirituality are at the heart of her writing. Her intense and personal approach to music as a transforming experience has brought her strong rapport with audiences from small clubs to large festivals throughout North America and Europe. Her ground breaking work as a recording artist and teacher has established her as a leading…

Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey

Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey’s teaching aims to inspire the skills, determination, and faith necessary to realize the deepest human freedom. He is a student of Michele McDonald and his approach is rooted in the tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. As a teacher of Vipassana (insight) meditation within the broader context of Theravada Buddhism his teaching encourages an exploration of the relationship between ethics, insight, and action. Perpetually intrigued by the dynamics between inner and outer change, Jesse is a writer of numerous essays and author of Insurgent Heart: A Vipassana Manual for the Guerrilla Yogi. Links to his writing can be…

JoAnna Hardy

JoAnna has been exploring and practicing multiple traditions since 1999. In 2005, her focus landed on Buddhism and Vipassana meditation. Helping communities and individuals that don’t typically have access to traditional dharma settings, social/racial justice, and building multicultural community are top on her list of priorities. She currently has weekly drops as a meditation trainer on the Apple Fitness Plus App and is on faculty teaching Mindfulness to undergraduates at USC (University of Southern California). She is an empowered teacher in the Spirit Rock, IMS lineage. For more information, visit www.joannahardy.org.

Kirsten Rudestam

Kirsten Rudestam works as an environmental educator, wilderness guide, and meditation teacher. She holds a Ph.D. in environmental sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she studied water policy and management, feminist political ecology, and environmental justice. Deeply devoted to the intersection of spiritual practice, sacred activism, and nature connection, she began practicing meditation in 1997 and was invited to teach in the Theravadan tradition in 2005. In 2017 she co-founded and remains core faculty of the Sati Center’s Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy training program.

Kuan Luo (Trainee)

Kuan Luo (she/her) is a Chinese-American mindfulness and meditation teacher and outdoor educator. She believes spiritual awakening and psychological maturity need each other to fully support healing and transformation in this time of unprecedented change. She guides and facilitates the development of awareness and interpersonal skills in groups and with individuals. She teaches online as well as out-of-doors, and is an apprentice of nature, dharma, and ancestral living skills.

Leslie Booker

Booker brings her heart and wisdom to the intersection of Dharma, Embodied Wisdom, and Liberation. Using this framework, she supports folks in creating a culture of belonging through her teaching and writing on changing the paradigm of self and community care. She shares her offering widely as a university lecturer, public speaker, and Buddhist philosophy and meditation teacher. Booker worked as the Director of Teacher Trainings for Lineage Project in NYC where she shared the practices of yoga and mindfulness with incarcerated and system-involved youth for over a decade. She also facilitated a Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy intervention with…

Louije Kim

Louije Kim, LMFT, is a San Francisco Bay Area based dharma practitioner, teacher, and licensed psychotherapist. They have completed dharma study programs including Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioners and Community Dharma Leader programs, and graduated from Spirit Rock’s four-year Teacher Training in 2020. Louije has taught in various dharma centers locally and across the US. They were a part of the Asian American Buddhist Working Group, a grant-funded project seeking to promote connections between Asian American sanghas. They have been working in community mental health settings for over a decade, providing therapy to communities that are impacted by collective, political, and…

Mark Coleman

Mark is a life-long nature lover and is passionate about guiding people into the beauty of meditation and nature. He has led wilderness nature retreats for over 20 years worldwide. Through his organization Awake in the Wild Mark leads yearlong nature meditation teacher trainings in the US and Europe. Mark has trained extensively in the Buddhist tradition, both in the Insight Meditation and in the Dzogchen traditions. He is a senior teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has taught insight meditation retreats since 1997. Co-founder of the Mindfulness Training Institute, Mark also leads yearlong professional mindfulness teacher trainings in Europe…

Michele McDonald

Michele McDonald has taught Insight meditation since 1982 and teaches extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Burma, and various locations around the world. Michele has been a quiet pioneer having being the first woman to teach a formal retreat in Burma, side-by-side with a senior monastic figure, Sayadaw U Lakkhana, Abbot of Kyaswa Monastery. Having worked with a wide range of Asian and Western teachers, Michele is most inspired by her practice with Dipa Ma and Sayadaw U Pandita and more recently in Burma with the Mya Taung Sayadaw. She appreciates teaching at many levels of practice and has enjoyed…

Molly McCormick

Molly McCormick is a botanist and restoration ecologist specializing in dryland ecosystems of the Southwest. She has 20 or so years of experience working with people and the land, facilitating reciprocal and meaningful relationships. Some of her job titles have included naturalist guide, native plant farmer, restoration story-teller, citizen science coordinator, rainwater harvester, facilitator, and science communicator. She is also an herbalist, permaculture designer, and dancer. Molly is currently the program manager for the Southwest Fire Science Consortium, supporting land management, communities, fire managers, and the more than human world on an increasingly unpredictable planet. She’s been co-leading mindful ecology…

Pamela Weiss

PAMELA WEISS a Buddhist teacher authorized to teach in two traditions—Zen and Theravada. After living as a monastic at Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery for five years, she completed comprehensive training through Spirit Rock Meditation Center to become an Insight meditation teacher. She is currently a member of the Spirit Rock Teacher Council, a guiding teacher at San Francisco Insight, and a visiting teacher at the Brooklyn Zen Center. Pamela is an executive coach and pioneer in bringing Buddhist principles and practices into the workplace, and is the author of “A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism.” She lives in San Francisco with her…

René Rivera

René Rivera is a meditation teacher, restorative justice facilitator, and leader, working and learning in all the spaces in-between race, gender, and other perceived binaries, as a queer, latinx, trans man. René teaches heart-centered, trauma-informed meditation, at the East Bay Meditation Center and other meditation centers. He has co-led the first residential meditation retreats for transgender, nonbinary and gender expansive people. René is a restorative justice facilitator for the Ahimsa Collective, working to heal sexual and gender based violence.

Robin Craig

Robin brings her understanding of the physiology of resilience to her meditation and counseling practices, and supports a joyful exploration of the deep spirituality and interconnection that is ours by nature. She is a Certified Meditation Teacher in The Mind Illuminated tradition, which is rooted in Theravadan and Tibetan Karma Kagyu traditions with lineage to the Venerable Ananda Bodhi. She is also a Licensed Professional Counselor and on the Faculty of Organic Intelligence®.

Ron Siegel, PsyD

Dr. Ronald D. Siegel is Assistant Professor of Psychology, part time, Harvard Medical School; serves on the Board of Directors and faculty, Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy; is author of The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary: Finding Happiness Right Where You Are; The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems, coauthor of Sitting Together: Essential Skills for Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy and Back Sense; coeditor of Mindfulness and Psychotherapy and Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy: Deepening Mindfulness in Clinical Practice; and professor for The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based Path to Well-Being produced by The Great Courses. He is also a regular…

Shelly Graf

Shelly Graf (they/them) has been practicing in the Insight Meditation tradition since 2003. They are a graduate of Insight Meditation Society’s four-year teacher training program and lead residential retreats nationally. Shelly is immensely grateful for all of the teachers and guides, including Mark Nunberg, Kamala Masters, and Steve Armstrong, who have so generously shared the Buddha’s teachings with them and others over the years. Shelly currently serves alongside Mark Nunberg as a Guiding Teacher for Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis, MN. Shelly has an interest in integrating the teachings of the Buddha as deeply as possible into the fabric…

Solwazi Johnson

Solwazi has been practicing and teaching Buddhism and mindfulness meditation for over 20 years, with a focus on Vipassana since 2003. He has studied/practiced in Thailand, Burma, India, and South Africa. He is certified as a Community Dharma Leader by Jack Kornfield and Spirit Rock Meditation Center and a graduate of the four-year Spirit Rock Teacher Training Program. Solwazi worked for over 20 years as a health educator and national trainer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. He leads mindfulness meditation classes and retreats in the Denver metropolitan area. He…

Susan Morgan, MSN, RN, CS

Susan Morgan is a psychotherapist in private practice in Cambridge, MA. She consults with therapists who are interested in deepening therapeutic presence. Susan completed a 4-year silent mindfulness meditation retreat along with her partner, Bill in 2013. She has co-led retreats for psychotherapists with Bill for the past 15 years and together also lead small on-line study-practice groups or sanghas for psychotherapists. Lovingkindness and mindfulness of the body are integral to her mindfulness teaching. Susan is a board member of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy, a non-profit organization in Boston, which offers seminars, courses, retreats and a certificate program…

Victoria Cary

Victoria Cary has been practicing Insight Meditation and studying the Dharma since 2006. In 2017 she completed Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leader program and went on to become a fully empowered Dharma Teacher. In 2016 she co-founded the San Francisco People of Color Insight Sangha and continues as one of the core teachers. She is a San Francisco Bay Area Native. She left her workplace of 20 years in 2017 to deepen into the Dharma. Since then she has spent time in and out of intensive silent meditation practice, including a 3-month retreat at IMS, 6-week amd 3-month retreats at…

Yong Oh

Yong Oh serves as a teacher on the Dharma Council for the Durango Dharma Center and has sat on the board of directors since 2019. Yong began meditating through the Soto Zen tradition and eventually transitioned to study, practice, and teach in the Insight tradition. He is a visiting teacher for the Chattanooga Insight Meditation group, and teaches retreats at the Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center. Yong is a graduate of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s two-year Community Dharma Leaders program and the Sacred Mountain Sangha two-year Dharmapala training, taught by his primary teachers…

Visiting Teachers

Skilled and Compassionate Guidance