dave smith

Dave Smith

For nearly 30 years, Dave Smith has held a practice rooted in the Insight Meditation (Vipassana) tradition. He was empowered to teach through the Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, is a certified teacher for Cultivating Emotional Balance (C... Read more

Elisha Goldstein, PhD

Dr. Elisha Goldstein, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, author, and founder of multiple emotional health programs integrating mindfulness, neuroscience, and practical psychology. He has a long history with InsightLA. For over 20 years, he has helped thou... Read more

Vance Pryor

Vance Pryor, PsyD, began practicing insight meditation in 1998. He has been deeply influenced by the teachings of Mahasi Sayadaw and Sayadaw U Tejaniya. His training to become a teacher has been supported by the mentorship of Steve Armstrong and Kamala ... Read more

Natalie Bell

PT, Certified MSC Teacher Natalie Bell is a Certified Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) Teacher, longtime mindfulness practitioner, and faculty advisor with the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. She co-developed CMSC’s programs Self-Compassion for Health... Read more

Michelle Latvala

Michelle Latvala is an experienced leader, facilitator, and author with a deep commitment to humanity, nature, and authenticity. She led Spirit Rock Meditation Center as Executive Director from 2011-2022, was Vice President of Leadership Development at ... Read more

Harry Um

Harry (he/they) has practiced meditation since 2009 and trained as a facilitator at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center in 2012 and under JoAnna Hardy in 2013. He has led groups for Meditation Coalition and Dhamma Dena Meditation Center, and has ta... Read more

Mary Stancavage

Mary Stancavage has practiced meditation, yoga, and cultivated a spiritual practice for over 35 years and in 2009 was empowered to teach Buddhadharma. Mary is based in the Los Angeles area and teaches classes, retreats and does individual mentoring both... Read more

Dan Harris

Some people teach from the mountaintop.  I teach from the fetal position.  I’m not an unimpeachable guru or perfected being. I still have real challenges—as the aforementioned split with my co-founders amply illustrates.  In fact, my whole career as ... Read more

Chris Germer

Short Bio Chris Germer, PhD is a clinical psychologist and lecturer on psychiatry (part-time) at Harvard Medical School. He co-developed the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program with Kristin Neff in 2010 and MSC has since been taught to over 250,000 p... Read more

Nikki Mirghafori

Dr. Nikki Mirghafori is an Artificial Intelligence scientist and an internationally recognized Buddhist teacher. She serves as a Stewarding Teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, where she is also on the Board of Directors, and a Dharma Teacher at th... Read more