JD Doyle serves as a Core Teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center and has held many roles there, including Board member and co-founder of the LGBTQIA2+ meditation group. JD is in the Spirit Rock teacher-training program and has participated in the Dedicated Practitioner Program (DPP2) and the Community Dharma Leader Program (CDL4). JD has practiced Theravada Buddhism since 1995 in the U.S., Thailand, and Burma. For over twenty-five years, they worked as a public school teacher focusing on issues of equity and access. JD has taught a wide variety of groups from children to adults. JD holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Cornell University and a Master’s degree in Language and Literacy and Sociocultural Studies from the University of New Mexico. JD identifies as genderqueer. They are committed to celebrating the diversity of our human sangha, addressing the impact of racism on our communities, expanding concepts of gender, and living in ways that honor the sacredness of the Earth.
Jean Esther, MSW has been practicing meditation since 1975 and teaching in the dharma since the early 90’s. She is one of the Guiding Teachers at True North Insight in Canada and teaches locally in the Northeastern US. Trained in Jungian transpersonal psychology and Somatic Experiencing she has been a practicing psychotherapist in Western MA since 1981 with a specialization in the healing of trauma. Her passion is attuning to and supporting the liberating intersection of body, mind and heart and helping others of all ages do the same.
Jeanne Corrigal is the guiding teacher for the Saskatoon Insight Meditation Community, and a graduate of the 2017-2021 IMS teacher training program. She deeply appreciates metta and nature based practices. She has been practicing since 1999, and is a graduate of Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner and Community Dharma Leader Programs. Jeanne is certified with Indigenous Focusing Oriented Trauma Therapy (IFOT), is a certified MBSR teacher, and she has trained with Mindful Schools and Somatic Experiencing. She is Métis, and one of her first teachers in loving presence was Cree Elder Jim Settee.
Jeff began practicing insight meditation in 1996 at Spirit Rock. He later moved from San Francisco to Oklahoma and in 2003 started a meditation group there, where he continues to teach. He has taught at meditation groups, daylongs, and residential meditation retreats in California, Massachusetts, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Jeff is a Chiricahua/Warm Springs Apache and a former longtime tribal leader. He is currently developing plans to adapt meditation instruction to provide culturally relevant teachings to the Native American community. Visit the website https://collectedmeditation.com
Jenny Wilks has practised Buddhist meditation for many years and has an MA in Indian religions. She has taught on retreats and dharma gatherings since 2005, is a regular teacher at the Barn retreat centre at Sharpham in Devon, and has been teaching at Gaia House since 2008. Jenny trained as a clinical psychologist; she leads mindfulness-based therapy groups in healthcare settings and for the general public and teaches and supervises on the MBCT diploma course at Exeter University.
Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey aims to inspire the skills, determination, and faith necessary to realize the deepest human freedom. He is the resident teacher for Vipassana Hawai’i and when off-island teaches across the US, Canada, and in Burma.
Jessica Morey, MA, is the executive director and lead teacher of Inward Bound Mindfulness Education. She began practicing meditation at age 14 on IMS Teen Retreats. She has undertaken longer-term practice in Asia and the US, and worked in clean energy finance. She is a participant in the 2017-2021 IMS Teacher Training Program.
Wisdom and compassion are two themes that inform my current exploration of the dharma, and I aspire to integrate these as fully as I can in both formal practice and daily life.
JoAnna Hardy has practiced in multiple traditions since 1999, and in 2005 her practice landed on the Theravada insight tradition. Retreat teaching, bringing the Dharma to communities and individuals who don't typically have access to traditional settings, and building multicultural community are her focus. She is a co-founder of the Meditation Coalition: meditationcoalition.org
Joanna Macy, PhD is a scholar of Buddhism, systems theory and deep ecology. A respected voice in the movements for peace, justice and ecology, she gives trainings worldwide for eco-warriors and activists for global justice. As the root teacher of the Work That Reconnects, she has created a ground-breaking theoretical framework for personal and social change. Her books include "World as Lover, World as Self" and "Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World."
