The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
 
Dharma Teachers of Insight Santa Cruz
Margarita Loinaz
Margarita Loinaz, M.D. has been a Buddhist practitioner since 1977 in the Tibetan and Theravada traditions with an emphasis on Dzogchen practice for the past 10 years. She is a graduate of the first Community Dharma Leader's program at SRMC where she contributed to the initial stages of the diversity program and taught at the first POC retreat. She also trained in MBSR at the UMass Stress Reduction Clinic and is a student of the Diamond Approach. She is originally from Dominican Republic.

Margo McLoughlin

Mary Grace Orr
Lately, my own practice is moving more and more into the monastic world. As I teach out of that nourishment, I find people hungry for the traditional, solid forms of the Dharma. I see people's lives changing when they engage in these forms. Certainly, as I deepen my own Sutta study, I find the traditional ideas so helpful it encourages me to delve further.

Meg Corman

Mirka Knaster
Mirka Knaster has practiced in the Theravada tradition since her first retreat in India in 1981. An independent scholar and freelance writer and editor, she has written "Living This Life Fully: Stories and Teachings of Munindra" (Shambhala), a book about the meditation master who first taught Dipa Ma, Joseph Goldstein, and many of our western dharma leaders. Munindra was a pivotal figure in the transmission of Dharma to the West and the resulting mindfulness movement. Her previous book is "Discovering the Body's Wisdom," which explores the benefits of Eastern and Western body-mind disciplines.

Nicola Amadora

Noah Levine

Richard Shankman
Richard Shankman has been a meditator since 1970, and teaches at Dharma centers and groups internationally. He is guiding teacher of the Metta Dharma Foundation, and cofounder of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies and of Mindful Schools. He practices and teaches meditation that integrates compassion, mindfulness, concentration and insight as one path of practice. Richard is the author of The Art and Skill of Buddhist Meditation and The Experience of Samadhi.

Robert Cusick
Robert Cusick trained at Stanford University in the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) and is a Stanford certified Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) instructor. He studied in the Soto Zen Tradition at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, in the Ridhwan School’s Diamond approach with A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali) and in Spirit Rock’s multi-year Dedicated Practioner’s Program. He ordained in Burma under the world-renowned Burmese Meditation Master, Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, and studied there with him for a number of years. His practice is focused on recognizing and cultivating compassion through the application of mindfulness.

Shane Hill
Shane Hill is a clinical psychologist, mindfulness teacher, and a community facilitator here at ISC. He has been practicing Vipassana/Insight Meditation for many years, has studied and trained in both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, has been trained by Bob Stahl, the guiding teacher at ISC, in MBSR and community facilitation, and is an on-going student of the Suttas, the Dharma, and of Life, the greatest moment to moment teacher of all.

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