Is a long-time practitioner of insight meditation, lived in a Buddhist monastery for over eight years. He has a PhD in Philosophy and Religion with a specialization in Buddhist Studies, and now directs Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs in six Bay Area medical centers. Bob studied with the renowned Burmese masters Taungpulu Kaba-Aye Sayadaw, Hlaing Tet Sayadaw, Dr. Rina Sircar and Pokokhu Sayadaw, and has experience with 32 parts of the body, 4 elements and charnel ground meditations.
Bob has completed training with Jon Kabat-Zinn and is a certified mindfulness-based stress reduction teacher having been certified by UMass Medical Center.
Carla Brennan is an Insight Meditation retreat teacher in the Santa Cruz area and offers drop-in meditation groups, classes, retreats and other programs with Bloom of the Present Insight Meditation. She is also a visiting teacher with the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. Carla began meditation practice in 1975 in the Zen tradition and was a student of Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn in Cambridge, MA. A few years later she began attending the newly formed Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA. Later she added the Tibetan Buddhist practice of Dzogchen and is now an authorized teacher of Natural Wisdom and Compassion with the Foundation for Active Compassion. In the early ’90’s, Carla began attending wilderness retreats with Sacred Passage, completing 2 one-month solo retreats near Crestone, CO, and training to be a Sacred Passage Guide. As part of her regular teaching, Carla offers meditation in nature and encourages her students to open to the wisdom of the natural world.
Cathy Small if a Professor of Anthropology and author, who has been practicing vipassana meditation since 1999. She has participated in more than a dozen extended meditation retreats in Nepal and the U.S., focusing on awareness and concentration. Cathy co-teaches a six-week course in mindfulness every semester for faculty and staff at Northern Arizona University, and offers a mindfulness course for prisoners at the Coconino County jail.
David Cohn began practice at Zen Center in 1969 with Suzuki Roshi, later becoming a disciple of Baker Roshi. A residential student at Tassajara, Green Gulch Farm, and City Center until 1984, he was ordained as a priest in 1977. David worked for Stewart Brand at Whole Earth for a year, before opening his first restaurant in 1985, another in 1988 and retiring in January 2009. David has been a Zen Hospice Project volunteer since 1998 and Board Member. He maintains connections with Zen Center as a Board member for Everyday Zen and management consultant for Greens Restaurant.
Dawn is a Buddhist teacher in the Insight Meditation tradition. She serves as the Guiding Teacher for Insight Santa Cruz, and also teaches regularly for Insight Meditation Center. She teaches and assists residential meditation retreats in North America.
Dawn has accumulated several years of silent meditation retreat practice since beginning Buddhist practice. She began teaching in 2010.
She holds an MA from the Institute of Buddhist Studies and Graduate Theological Union, specializing in Buddhism and Pastoral Care and Counseling. After her degree, she worked as a professional Interfaith Spiritual Care professional (Chaplain) at Stanford Medicine. She currently serves core faculty for the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies Online Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program.
