Wendy Block, LCSW

Wendy N. Block began practicing meditation at age 18, studying different traditions, including Buddhist, Hindu, and Advaita paths. She has been practicing Vipassana meditation for 20 years, and has helped teach and organize meditation programs in Long B... Read more

Karen Cryer

Karen Cryer is an independent yoga teacher with an extensive background and certifications in various disciplines. These include insight meditation, yoga therapy, functional yoga, Taoist qigong, yoga for osteoporosis, yoga for seniors, and most recently... Read more

Tere Abdala

Tere is second generation Mexican, with a Lebanese family background. She was born and lived in Mexico City almost all her life. There she became fascinated by Tibetan Buddhism. She moved to Los Angeles in 2002 with her now late husband and three young ... Read more

Karen David

Karen has been meditating since 1991, and practicing in the Theravada tradition since 2005. She really appreciates the benefits of a regular meditation practice which for her has included becoming less reactive, less afraid, more open minded, gentler, a... Read more

Karen Redding, LCSW, PhD

Karen facilitates a community sitting-group in Laguna Beach as an ‘outpost’ of InsightLA in Laguna Beach, and presently serves on the InsightLA Teacher’s Council. She has several decades of experience as a dedicated practitioner at InsightLA with reside... Read more

Kate Savage, MFA

Kate’s formal meditation study began in 1993 at Ordinary Dharma in the Zen lineage of Thich Nhat Hanh, and shes been a student and practitioner at InsightLA since 2014. As a graduate of Mindful School’s yearlong Mindful Teacher Certification Program (20... Read more

Lara Plutte, MA

With more than twenty-five years of formal and informal meditation practice, Lara Plutte now leads parents in the practice of Mindfulness. It was when Lara became a mom, 13 years ago, that mindfulness meditation became her poignant practice. Lara has st... Read more

Michael Karakashian, PhD

Michael joined the InsightLA community in 2014 and has been practicing insight meditation and a commitment to inner self-development since 1998. His initial/primary teacher at that time was a student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, among others. He has a d... Read more

Mark Miller, PsyD, MPH

Mark Miller, PsyD, MPH has been a meditator for over 25 years with experience in the Vipassana and Tibetan traditions. Mark has a compassion-based approach to teaching that is trauma-informed and student directed. He is as trained teacher of Mindful Sel... Read more

Michael Stroud

Memorial written by Michaels dear friend Neal Koch: Michael searched throughout his adult life for a spiritual home, finally settling in the InsightLA community. Here, he strove to grow, availing himself of its teachings, and cherishing his teachers. ... Read more