InsightLA's Annual Benefit | Saturday, December 12, 2020What the World Needs Now

Thomas Davis is a Mindful Awareness practitioner who emerged from the Contemplative Faith Community, where he served as a Lay Minister for over 10 years. His orientation to the Mindful Awareness practice began at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA, where he was introduced to the Theravadan tradition of Vipassana in 2012.

Thomas began his journey into Dharma Leadership in 2013. In 2017, Thomas graduated from the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader Training Program, The Sati Center Buddhist Chaplaincy Training, and was enlisted as one of the Spirit Rock Community Welcome Teachers for the Monday Night Dharma program; which offers meditation, and practice support to new practitioners and 1st time visitors to Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Thomas is also a Co- Founder and Teacher of the Insight Richmond Meditation Group (www.insightrichmond.com), which is a growing and diverse meditation community where Insight meditation, Dharma exploration, and Inclusive Community Building are offered and practiced.

Additionally, he is a visiting teacher at The East Bay Meditation Center and Alameda Sangha, and has served as a member of the Kaiser Permanente Spiritual Care team as Chaplain.

Thomas has an authentic passion for the sharing the Traditional and Non- Traditional expressions of Mindfulness and how they integrate into the unique and practical aspects of our lives.

Christiane loves teaching mindfulness with a good dose of humor, compassion, and science. She first encountered Insight and Loving-Kindness meditation in 1988. Before moving to Los Angeles in 2003, she worked as an Ob/Gyn at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. 

Christiane is a certified MBSR and MSC (Mindful Self-Compassion) teacher and co-founded InsightLA’s MBSR program with Trudy in 2005.

Trudy gave her teacher authorization in 2011 and she is a graduate of the 4 year IMS/Spirit Rock teacher training, and is authorized to teach in the Thai Forest Monastery tradition. She is the program director for mindfulness programs at InsightLA as well as the co-chair of the teacher council.

She is also a supervisor and trainer for MBSR teachers at the CFM (Center For Mindfulness) at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the “mothership” of MBSR. She teaches retreats and trains people here in the US and also in Europe.

She is the program director and lead instructor for VA CALM, the national mindfulness facilitator training program for clinicians at the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the co-author of “A Clinician’s Guide to Teaching Mindfulness”, a seminal book that is used as required reading for several mindfulness facilitator trainings around the world.

She is currently writing her next book on how mindfulness helps with dealing with chronic pain.

When not teaching, writing or trying to stay calm while raising her three teenagers with her husband, Christiane can be found training and racing in long distance races and triathlons. 

Angelike Dexter shares mindfulness and Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) tools with students of all ages in the Los Angeles area. Trained by Susan Kaiser Greenland (author of “The Mindful Child” and “Mindful Games”) and a graduate of Susan’s 2013 Inner Kids Facilitator Training. Angelike teaches mindful awareness to children, parents, teachers, and families in a variety of settings, including public and private schools, camps, and community organizations, as well as on an individual basis.

Angelike is also a trained MSC teacher and a graduate of the inaugural MSC for teens, “Making Friends With Yourself (MFY),” teacher training in 2016, and regularly teaches series of and skills from both courses, including at USC (both the undergrad campus and The Keck School of Medicine) and at Insight LA, where she is also the co-facilitator of the Mindful Parent Sitting Group, a member of the Teacher Development Group, and a graduate of Insight LA’s Third Facilitators Training in 2018. She deeply enjoys helping parents create intentional vision around and mindfulness and compassion strategies for their families, both through individual sessions and through her Mindful Parenting classes at USC, The Keck School of Medicine, and Insight LA.

In her personal meditation exploration, she has been particularly working with the Tibetan practices associated with Lojong since 2016 and with the teacher and teachings of Dza Kilung Rinpoche, author of “The Relaxed Mind,” since 2017. A former attorney, Angelike continually delights in her current life as a mindfulness/compassion teacher!

Dina has been practicing meditation for over ten years and credits it with a profound change in the experience of her life. She has completed a number of training courses, conferences, and retreats in mindfulness and Vipassana meditation at InsightLA, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center, to name a few. She has also studied Tibetan Buddhism in the tradition of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Pema Chodron.

Dina is a graduate of the InisghtLA Facilitator Training Program. She has been an elementary school teacher for fifteen years and currently teaches pre-service elementary teachers at the college level, as well as leads professional development for educators within various schools and districts. She holds both Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Education. Dina also enjoys creative endeavors such as writing, painting, and dance. She is deeply grateful to be a part of the InsightLA teaching and practice community.

Heidi is a licensed clinical social worker and has provided psychotherapy to adults, adolescents, and children for 15 years; including a decade of experience as a school therapist. She has been trained in Mindful Self- Compassion (MSC) by the developers of the program, Kristin Neff and Chris Germer, and teaches the course as part of USC’s mindfulness initiative. She also participated in the inaugural training program for MSC for Teens, Making Friends with Yourself. She is excited to offer this class to teens, who often struggle with self-acceptance. Heidi believes that the earlier in life we can learn to love, appreciate and accept ourselves, the more joy, happiness, and love we can experience.

James has been meditating for over 30 years, beginning in 1987 with James Baraz. He is a graduate of InsightLA’s Facilitator Training Program and  Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach’s Mindfulness Mediation Teacher Certification Program (Inaugural Class). Currently, James also is a teacher-in-training for the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion.

James leads both secular and Buddhist- based mindfulness trainings, sits, and affinity groups (LGBTQI, Mental Health Professionals, White Awake).  His areas of interests are community building for the LGBTQI/LGBTQI senior mindfulness community, and consciousness-raising around racism and heterosexism.

As a psychotherapist, James is Director of Outpatient Programs for the UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital. He intensively trained in Dialectic Behavioral Therapy, Mentalization-based Therapy, and Prolonged Exposure Therapy for post- traumatic stress. At UCLA Health he teaches staff  about mindfulness and well-being. He also facilitates for UCLA MARC.

Wendy N. Block started practicing meditation at age 18, studying different traditions, including Buddhist, Hindu, and Advaita paths with various teachers. She has been practicing Vipassana meditation for the past 15 years, and has helped organize meditation programs in Long Beach for the past 10 years. She has trained with cognitive psychologist Zindel Segal to teach Mindfulness- Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).

Wendy teaches MBCT, Mindful Self Compassion, and Buddha’s Path classes. She completed the Dedicated Practitioner’s Program at InsightLA and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She has been teaching MBCT for Kaiser Permanente for the past three years. Wendy co-leads the Long Beach sitting group, as well as the North Orange County Sitting Group. Her teachers are Trudy Goodman, Beth Sternlieb and Victor Bryd.

She currently works as a therapist, integrating mindfulness and psychotherapy.