Tony Bernhard first encountered the dharma in 1965 and became one of Spirit Rock’s first community dharma leaders in 1999. He currently sits on the board of the Sati Center, trains inmates and staff at Folsom Prison in mindfulness and dharma, leads sitting groups in Davis, and regularly teaches in a handful of venues in and around Sacramento and the Bay Area. He primarily focuses his practice on study of the dharma teachings in the earliest texts.
Trudy Goodman has practiced in the Zen and Theravada traditions since 1974. She founded InsightLA and Growing Spirit (a family program) in Los Angeles. She is the guiding teacher of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy in Cambridge, MA.
Lama Tsultrim Allione is the bestselling author of Women of Wisdom (1984), Feeding Your Demons (2008), and Wisdom Rising Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine (2018). Lama Tsultrim is the founder of Tara Mandala, a 700-acre retreat center with the three-story temple and library dedicated to the divine feminine in the Buddhist tradition near Pagosa Springs, in southwest Colorado. She leads a vibrant international community with over forty groups around the world.
Born in New England, she traveled to Asia in her late teens and in 1970 at the age of 22 in Bodhgaya, India she became the first American to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun. She later disrobed, married and became the mother of three and now is grandmother of six. In 2007 she was recognized in Tibet and Nepal as the emanation of the renowned 11th-century Tibetan yogini, Machig Labdrön, and she is one of the few women Lamas in the world today. In 2012 she received the Machig Labdron Empowerment from His Holiness the 17th Karmapa. She was awarded international recognition as an “Outstanding Woman in Buddhism” in 2009 by a panel of distinguished scholars and practitioners in Bangkok, Thailand.
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. She is a strong advocate for practitioners living with high stress, past trauma and difficulties sitting still. Tuere has been teaching since 2010 and has a long history of assisting others in establishing and maintaining a daily practice. Tuere can be contacted at tueresala.org and at https://www.dharmaground.org.
Valerie Mason-John is a playwright and author of eight books. She works as a consultant in conflict transformation, restorative justice, leadership, and anti-bullying. She lives in British Columbia, and is chairperson of Vancouver Buddhist Centre, where she leads a weekly meditation class for people in recovery from addiction.
Victoria Cary has been practicing insight meditation and studying the Dharma since 2006. She is currently in Retreat Teacher Training at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, where she previously graduated from the Community Dharma Leaders program. Victoria is the co-founder and one of the core teachers of San Francisco People of Color Insight Sangha. Victoria has worked as a volunteer at Zen Hospice and is particularly interested in the integration of the Dharma in everyday life.
Vinny Ferraro has been practicing meditation since 1993. He has studied with several renowned spiritual teachers including Ajahn Sumedho and the Dalai Lama. In 1998, he spent a year sitting bedside with the dying through the San Francisco Zen Center Hospice Program, as well as experiencing "A Year to Live" practice (based on the book by Stephen Levine). He has taught meditation to incarcerated youth and adults and is currently the head trainer for MBA, The Mind Body Awareness Project. Vinny also leads workshops for youth in schools internationally for a non-profit organization called Challenge Day. He is a Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader and has been teaching the weekly Friday night insight meditation group Urban Dharma in San Francisco since 2004.
