The Santa Fe Vipassana Sangha invites a variety of teachers to generously share the Dhamma with our large and diverse community. Teachers give Dhamma talks, lead retreats, offer personal interviews and more on behalf of the Sangha. We are fortunate to have ongoing relationships with a few exceptional teachers that join us again and again for residencies and retreats. We also regularly invite new teachers to offer talks and residencies, as well as having a number of teachers in the region who offer their teachings to us regularly. The vipassana Sanghas in Albuquerque, Taos, Las Vegas and Santa Fe often work together to give visiting teachers many opportunities to share Buddhist teachings in the region.

Teachers 2007-2008

Grove Burnett

Grove is co-director of the Vallecitos Mountain Refuge. He has practiced environmental law since 1972 and is co-founder of the Western Environmental Law Center, a public interest firm dedicated to protecting the natural resources and environment of the West. Grove has devoted the last 20 years to intensive training and practice in the Buddhist meditation tradition, training with Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein.

Shaila Catherine

Shaila has been practicing meditation and studying Buddhism for over 20 years. She studied at Sharpham College for Buddhist Studies in England, and holds an MFA degree from California Institute of the Arts. She spent seven years studying with Masters in India, Nepal and Thailand. Visit her website for more.

Matthew Flickstein

Matthew, a former psychotherapist, has been practicing and teaching vipassana meditation for over 29 years. At one time he was ordained as a monk in the Theravadan Buddhist tradition, and he co-founded the Bhavana Society Meditation Center in West Virginia with Bhante Henepola Gunaratana in 1982. He is the founder of The Forest Way, an organization that offers mentoring programs for those who aspire to teach insight meditation, and has published two books through Wisdom Publications, Journey to the Center: A Meditation Workbook and Swallowing the River Ganges: A Comprehensive Practice Guide to the Path of Purification. Matthew travels internationally leading meditation retreats, workshops and spiritual pilgrimages and currently resides in Ruckersville, VA.

Trudy Goodman

Trudy is the Founder of InsightLA, a non-profit organization that offers mindfulness meditation courses, sitting groups and retreats. She has trained extensively in meditation, psychotherapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. She teaches with Jack Kornfield and others worldwide, co-founded the first Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy in Cambridge, MA in 1995, and the Center for Mindfulness and Psychotherapy in Los Angeles.

Eric Kolvig

Eric has been teaching Vipassana since 1985. He served as the resident teacher of Vipassana communities in Santa Fe and Albuquerque and leads meditation retreats around the U.S. Eric studied and practiced for years with prominent teachers at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, and he has also trained in the Zen tradition. He earned a Ph.D. from Yale University and has edited a number of books in the Theravada Buddhist tradition. Holding an inclusive understanding of liberation, Eric also works for wholesome change in our community through compassionate action, and lives in Corrales, NM.

DaeJa Napier

DaeJa teaches Vipassana with a particular emphasis on the Brahma-Viharas. She has studied and practiced Zen and Vipassana since 1972 and has been teaching since 1986. Her teaching is committed to a balance of formal practice with the study of the classical teachings. Her heartfelt understanding of the dharma combines with an intuitive precision that mirrors the awakening process of each student. DaeJa is the mother of five. To learn more visit brahmaviharas.org.

Wes Nisker

Wes is a Buddhist meditation teacher, journalist and author. He is founder and co-editor of the Buddhist journal Inquiring Mind and the author of two books: Crazy Wisdom and Buddha's Nature. He is an affiliate of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California, has a weekly sitting group in Berkeley, and teaches in many venues around the country.

Jason Siff

Jason has been teaching meditation for over fifteen years, first as a Theravada monk in Sri Lanka and then as a layman in Southern California. He teaches a form of awareness meditation grounded in the teachings of Early Buddhism, which has subsequently been developed through his in-depth work with students over the years. He has written four "Dharma" novels, as well as articles on meditation, translations of Pali Suttas, and one non-fiction book, Unlearning Meditation. His website is www.meditationproject.org.