The following teachers offer their dharma knowledge, insight and wisdom to the Benicia Sangha on a regular basis. We feel fortunate that we benefit from the gifts of many other wise and dedicated teachers.
Jon Aaron Jon has been a teacher of New York Insight Meditation since 2006. His principle dharma teachers have been Mathew Flickstein of the Forest Way and Kitassaro and Thanissara of The Sacred Mountain Sangha. He is a Certified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Teacher and Teacher Trainer and has taught over 100 cycles of the seminal curriculum. He is the co-guiding teacher of the Makom Meditation Havurah program at the Jewish Community Center. He is a certified Somatic Experience Practitioner® and an Accredited teacher of Mindfulness for Heath from Breathworks in the UK. Jon is a co-founder of the MBSR Teachers Collaborative of Greater New York, and a founding member of the Global Mindfulness Collaborative. Recently with his partner Upayadhi, he established Space2Meditate.com, an online community for meditators which started in the context of the pandemic and has been thriving ever since. JonAaron.net
Tony Bernhard Tony is an ordained chaplain and teacher who hosts sitting groups in Davis and teaches regularly around the Bay Area and Central Valley. His practice is non traditional, principally guided by his study of the early Pali scriptures.
Matthew Brensilver, PhD Matthew Brensilver sits on the Teachers Council of Spirit Rock. He was the Buddhist chaplain at USC for four years and teaches about the intersection of mindfulness and mental health at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center. He previously served as Program Director at Mindful Schools. Matthew has worked as a clinical social worker, supporting severely and persistently mentally ill adults and adolescents. He subsequently earned a PhD from the Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at USC, completing a dissertation on the mechanisms of risk and resilience in maltreated adolescents. He spent years doing research on addiction treatment at the UCLA Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine and continues to be interested in the unfolding dialogue between dharma and science. Talks on Dharmaseed.org
Laura Burges Ryuko Laura Burges is a lay entrusted dharma teacher in the Soto Zen tradition, lectures and leads retreats at different practice places in Northern California. A teacher of children for over 30 years, she brings mindfulness practice into the elementary classroom. Laura co-founded the Sangha in Recovery Program at the San Francisco Zen Center and is the abiding teacher at Lenox House Meditation Group in Oakland.
Bruni Davila Bruni Davila has practiced Vipassana and Zen since 1995. A student of Andrea Fella and Gil Fronsdal, she practices and teaches at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA, and also teaches Dharma in Spanish in the wider Bay Area
Kevin Griffin Kevin Griffin is the author of a series of books on Dharma and recovery, including "One Breath at a Time" and his most recent, "Buddhism and the Twelve Steps Daily Reflections." A longtime Buddhist practitioner and Twelve-Step participant, he is a leader in the mindful recovery movement and one of the founders of the Buddhist Recovery Network. Kevin has trained with the leading Western Vipassana teachers, among them Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, and Ajahn Amaro. His teacher training was as a Community Dharma Leader at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Marin County, CA. He teaches internationally in Buddhist centers, treatment centers, professional conferences, and academic settings. Talks at Dharmaseed.org
Kate Munding Kate is a graduate of the 2016 Spirit Rock/IMS/IRC teacher training, a guiding teacher for the Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley (IMCB), and teaches residential retreats and day longs. She is the founder of The Heart-Mind Education Project, providing mindfulness-based education programs, trainings, and resources to students and the adults in their lives. Kate lives in the San Francisco east bay with her husband and young son. For Kate's Dharma talks go to dharmaseed.org/teacher/305/
Vance Pryor Vance began insight Meditation in 1998. He has been deeply influenced by the teachings of Sayadaw U Pandita and Sayadaw U Tejaniya. His training to become a teacher has been supported by the Mentorship of Steve Armstrong and Kamala Masters. He is a graduate of the Insight Meditation Society’s 2017-2021 Teacher Training Program.
Ron Nestor Ron Nestor began practice with the Berkeley Zen Center (BZC), led by Sojun Mel Weitsman, in the early 70's. He chose Zen as his meditation path because he liked the emphasis on an everyday schedule of meditation as a part of one's daily activities, rather than special retreats, progression through different practices, or accumulation of conceptual learning. He was a resident of BZC for about ten years and held most of the possible practice positions including head cook, president, treasurer, coordinator, work leader, etc.
Donald Rothberg, Ph.D. Donald Rothberg, PhD. has practiced Insight Meditation since 1976, and has also received training in Tibetan Dzogchen and Mahamudra practice and the Hakomi approach to body-based psychotherapy. He currently writes and teaches classes, groups and retreats on meditation, daily life practice, spirituality, psychology and socially engaged Buddhism. He is an organizer, teacher and former board member of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. Donald has helped to guide three six-month to two-year training programs in socially engaged spirituality through the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (the BASE Program), Saybrook (the Socially Engaged Spirituality Program) and the Spirit Rock (the Path of Engagement Program). He is author of The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World and the co-editor of Ken Wilder in Dialogue: Conversations with Leading Transpersonal Thinkers. To listen to some of Donald's dharma talks, visit Dharmaseed.org
Jill Satterfield Jill is a founding faculty member of Spirit Rock Meditation Center's Mindful Yoga and Meditation Teacher Training, and teaches there on a regular basis. She also created and leads advanced Applied Embodied Mindfulness Trainings at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center. For more about Jill, go to her website, jillsatterfield.org/
Dawn Scott Dawn Scott has been practicing Insight Meditation since 2008 and served as the Family Program Coordinator for eight years at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She is a graduate of Insight Meditation Society’s teacher training program, a co-principal teacher of Marin Sangha, and is a core teacher of Spirit Rock’s Advanced Practitioner Program and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and Insight Meditation's joint year-long program, Love & Liberation. Dawn has a deep love of long retreat practice and the Buddha's liberative teachings.
Heather Sundberg Heather Sundberg has taught Insight Meditation since 1999, completed the Spirit Rock/IMS Senior Teacher Training and is a member of the Spirit Rock Teacher’s Council. Since 2011, she has been a Teacher for Mountain Stream Meditation Center in Nevada City, CA. She has 3 accumulated years of retreat time in her own practice. Her teaching emphasizes Embodied Awakening, Heart Practices, and Wisdom Awareness Practices out of the Thai forest tradition. For more information about Heather, visit www.heathersundberg.com. To listen to some of Heather's dharma talks, visit www.dharmaseed.org.
Dennis Warren Dennis Warren is an instructor of meditation and of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). This program focuses on integrating mindfulness into everyday life. Dennis is an Associate Professor at the UC Davis School of Medicine Pain Division. He is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center's training program for the development of community-based meditation instructors. He had led meditation retreats in Asia, specifically Thailand, Northern India and Nepal. He is the founder and an instructor at Sacramento Insight Meditation. You can listen to some of Dennis' talks at the SIM website. And learn more about him at his website www.denniswarren.net/
Other teachers have contributed to the richness of the Benicia Sangha in the past. We wish to acknowledge them and thank them for leading our Sangha and so list them here: Meghan Collins, Charlie Johnson, Enrico Martignoni, Mary Mocine, Walt Opie, Patrick Thornton, Ph.D., Tara Mulay.