Eugene's Absences and Guest Teachers

• May 18 -- Anushka Fernandopulle has practiced intensively in the Theravada Buddhist tradition for 17 years in the US, India, and Sri Lanka. Currently training as a dharma teacher at Spirit Rock, she has been engaged in social justice work in such areas as youth development, HIV prevention, LGBT organizing, immigrant/refugee rights and grassroots community development.


• August 3 -- Martina Schneider has been a student of the Dharma since 1996. She has practiced in India and was ordained as a nun in Burma. In recent years, Martina has worked in a soup kitchen and served with the Zen Hospice Project. At the present time, she is studying psychology, teaching mindfulness to children, and undergoing teacher training with Jack Kornfield.


• August 24 -- Jacques Verduin is the executive director of the Insight Prison Project. At San Quentin, he is pioneering innovative approaches to in-prison rehabilitation, running 18 weekly programs for the prisoners. Previously, he served 12 years on the faculty of the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.


• August 31 -- Andrea Fella has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1996. Under Gil Fronsdal’s guidance, she began teaching meditation classes in 2003. She was ordained as a nun in Burma with Sayadaw U Janeka. Andrea teaches residential retreats for IMC, and is in the Spirit Rock teacher training program with Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein.


• September 28 -- Martina Schneider has been a student of the Dharma since 1996. She has practiced in India and was ordained as a nun in Burma. In recent years, Martina has worked in a soup kitchen and served with the Zen Hospice Project. At the present time, she is studying psychology, teaching mindfulness to children, and undergoing teacher training with Jack Kornfield.


• October 12 -- Andrea Fella has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1996. Under Gil Fronsdal’s guidance, she began teaching meditation classes in 2003. She was ordained as a nun in Burma with Sayadaw U Janeka. Andrea teaches residential retreats for IMC, and is in the Spirit Rock teacher training program with Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein.


• October 19 -- Will Kabat-Zinn has practiced Vipassana meditation both in the US and Asia and currently lives and teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has taught meditation in a variety of contexts, including extensive work with incarcerated populations. Will also leads a weekly sitting group at the California Institute of Integral Studies.


• October 26 -- Wes Nisker has practiced Vipassana meditation for 30 years. He is founder and co-editor of the Inquiring Mind; a well-known Bay Area journalist; and the author of the best-selling Crazy Wisdom; Buddha’s Nature; and The Big Bang, The Buddha, and the Baby Boom. Wes teaches in many venues around the country.


• November 16 -- Richard Shankman has been meditating since 1970 and teaches regularly at dharma centers and groups throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. He is active in bringing meditation and dharma to prisons and schools, and is a co-founder of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. He is the author of a forthcoming book on samadhi (concentration).


• November 23 -- Andrew Getz has been practicing insight meditation for 30 years, including four years when he was ordained as a monk in Thailand and Burma. He is a nurse and was trained as a mindfulness-based stress reduction instructor by Jon Kabat-Zinn. He is also a student of the Diamond Approach. He has a special interest in integrating Dharma practice into contemporary daily life.