Celeste Young

Celeste Young is a Theravada Buddhist mindfulness and Dharma teacher whose practice began with her first meditation retreat in 2002. Among the first small group of teachers to be empowered to teach at InsightLA, she has guided thousands of students through classes, silent retreats, and individual sessions, sharing the Dharma both in the U.S. and internationally since 2011.

She teaches at various retreat centers in the US and abroad and has also brought mindfulness into organizations, offering trainings and retreats for groups including Netflix and the University of Southern California, and served as a mentor to new mindfulness teachers worldwide through Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach’s Mindfulness Meditation Training Program.

At InsightLA, she has taught for over 15 years, developing more than 40 original class series on Buddhist topics, known as the Living Dharma series. She was also the core teacher for the Essentials of Mindfulness program for nearly a decade, introducing meditation to those who were brand new to practice, and in 2016 founded the Young-ish Adult Sangha for practitioners in their 20s–40s, where she was the guiding teacher for several years. Her contributions have also included serving on the Teachers Council, teaching in the ILA Mindfulness Facilitator Training program, and mentoring new facilitators. She currently teaches dedicated students in InsightLA’s multi-month and yearlong Buddhist study programs.

Celeste’s personal practice is rooted in a deep love for extended silent retreat and for these timeless teachings, which have changed her life. Since 2009, she has spent cumulatively nearly four years in residential silent Insight Meditation retreats, including over two and a half years of intensive silent practice, as well as time in retreat-based teaching and leadership roles. She has dedicated herself to sitting extended silent retreats of one to three months annually for over 16 years. In 2017, she received formal teacher authorization in the Theravada lineage from Trudy Goodman and Jack Kornfield. She trained as a teacher at InsightLA over the course of 10 years.

In addition to her Dharma teaching, Celeste is a certified Life Balance Strategist and has also trained others in this approach alongside Phillip Moffitt. She is passionate about this work, which empowers people to make mindful change in their lives. She sees life balance and Dharma teaching as pragmatic ways of supporting people in living their deepest values and navigating their lives with greater clarity and well-being. Sharing the Dharma with others brings her immense joy.