Margo McLoughlin has been practicing in the Insight tradition of Theravada Buddhism since 1986. Margo is known for her telling of Jataka tales and in leading meditation retreats and courses on Vancouver Island, the US and Ireland. A former staff member at Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and a graduate of the Harvard Divinity School, Margo has also completed her training to be a Community Dharma Leader through Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. Her teachers include Joseph Goldstein, Carol Wilson, Thanissara, and Eugene Cash. For more information about Margo, please visit her website at www.margostoryteller.net
Tempel Smith teaches Mindfulness, Insight and Metta meditation with an emphasis on Buddhist psychology and mind-body awareness. He spent a year as a monk in Burma with Sayadaw U Pandita and Pa Auk Sayadaw. Tempel services on the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, organizes the Dedicated Practitioners Program (DPP) and Concentration retreats for Spirit Rock, and teaches three-month study/practice programs online.
Kristina Bare is an insight meditation teacher, therapist and Somatic Experiencing practitioner. She has trained primarily in the Burmese lineages of Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw and Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw. She enjoys supporting students in deepening samadhi and insight opening the door to an expansion of the heart and to liberating wisdom. In support of the Buddha’s teachings, Kristina also draws on knowledge from Western psychology and Somatic Experiencing. She invites a kind, patient, and embodied approach as a base for samadhi and insight meditation practices.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff) has been a Theravada Buddhist monk since 1976. After studying in Thailand with Ajaan Fuang Jotiko, he returned to the US in 1991 to help found the Metta Forest Monastery (Wat Metta) in the mountains north of San Diego. In 1993, Ajaan Geoff was asked to be the abbot and has continued to train monastics and offer teachings to lay people in North America, South America, Asia, and Europe. Ajaan Geoff is a highly respected scholar and practitioner of the Buddha’s teachings. His many recorded talks and writing can be found at www.dhammatalks.org
Howard Cohn has practiced meditation since 1972 and has led vipassana retreats since 1985. He leads a weekly ongoing class in San Francisco. Howard has studied with many Asian and western teachers of several traditions, including Theravada, Zen, Dzogchen and Advaita Vedanta and has been strongly influenced by contact with the Indian master H.W.L. Poonja. He has done postgraduate work in East/West Psychology and has a private counseling practice.
Jeanne Corrigal is the guiding teacher for the Saskatoon Insight Meditation Community. A graduate of the 2017-2021 Insight Meditation Society teacher training program, she was trained by Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and other international teachers. She has been practicing since 1999 and is a graduate of Spirt Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner and Community Dharma Leader Programs. Jeanne is certified with Indigenous Focusing Oriented Trauma Therapy (IFOT) taught by Shirley Turquotte. She is a certified MBSR teacher through the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.
Jeanne trained with Mindful Schools and Somatic Experiencing and is a certified Life Skills Coach Trainer with twenty-three years experience facilitating adult programs. She deeply appreciates metta and nature-based practices as doorways to ease and peace. She is Metis, and one of her first teachers in loving presence was Cree Elder Jim Settee.