Teachers for VIMS retreats this year

Margo McLoughlin  Feb 22, 2025
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  April 12/13, 2025
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 serves 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 Baré  May 10/11, 2025
Kristina Baré 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.
Kristina’s talks at the Sunday Night Sit will focus on the 10 Paramis. They will be based on
Ajahn Sucitto’s online book, Parami – Ways to Cross Life’s Floods.

Tuare Sala  Sept 20/21, 2025

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

 

Howard Cohn  Oct 18/19, 2025

Howard Cohn has practiced meditation since 1972 and had 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.