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

Thomas Davis IV, is a Contemplative Artist based in Los Angeles who explores the connections between the principles of the Dharma, Christian Mysticism, Jazz Ethics, Poetry, Art, Storytelling and Science for a multi-disciplinary exploration of who we are and what is possible for Us. Thomas self-identifies as a Contemplative Artist which allows for a consistent and fluid commitment to personal authenticity; and for the exploration of voicing one’s emerging ideas, concepts and individual expressions of personal and collective Liberation.

Thomas’s immersion into the Dharma began 10 years ago at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA, and was proceeded by over 10 years of service as a Lay Minister and Teacher at the Olivet Missionary Baptist Church, Oakland, CA. 

He is currently a Mentor in the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, and was the Core Teacher for the InsightLA BIPOC Sangha for the past 3 years 2018-2021.

Thomas is the Founder of Avant-Dharma which is the present expression of his cumulative years of practice and service. ( www.avant-dharma.com )

Thomas offers personal mentoring sessions and also offers workshops and residential retreats for a further immersion into one’s own practice. 

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 tools with students of all ages in the Los Angeles area and now, on Zoom, around the world. 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, administrators, and families through Insight In Schools, as well as directly through public and private schools, camps, community organizations, and on an individual basis.

Angelike is a Certified Mindful Self Compassion (MSC) teacher (trained in and teaching MSC since 2015) and a graduate of the inaugural MSC for teens, “Making Friends With Yourself (MFY),” teacher training in 2016, and regularly teaches series of or skills from both courses, including at USC (through Mindful USC), through the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion’s Circles of Practice, and through Insight LA, where she is also the co-facilitator of the Mindful Parent Sitting Group, teaches a weekly sitting group focused on training in compassion and resilience, is a member of the Teacher Development Group, and is a graduate of Insight LA’s Third Facilitators Training in 2018.  Additionally, 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.

A long-time secular mindfulness meditator, Angelike’s personal practice has more recently focused on the Tibetan Lojong practices (since 2016) and with the teacher and teachings of Dza Kilung Rinpoche, a Tibetan teacher and master in the Nyingma lineage and author of “The Relaxed Mind,” since 2017.  A former attorney, Angelike continually delights in her current life as a mindfulness and compassion teacher!

Dina is an educator and mindfulness teacher with a doctorate degree in education and teaches methods and social emotional learning professionally at the college level and to elementary school faculties throughout Los Angeles, CA. She is a founding teacher with the Insight in Schools program and has a passion for supporting teachers with mindfulness and self-compassion. She received certification as a Mindful Self-Compassion teacher from UC San Diego’s Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute and the Center for Mindful Self Compassion.

She is also a graduate of InsightLA’s Facilitator Training Program and received training in mindfulness facilitation from the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. She has been a team leader in the work of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging and Justice (DEIBJ) at the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion and at InsightLA, where she is co-chair of the Ethics and Reconciliation Council. She teaches mindfulness and compassion courses at universities, public schools, insight and wellness centers internationally, spaces for the unhoused, NGOs supporting refugees, and for other organizations as well as individuals privately. You can contact her at dinaaish@gmail.com. 

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 meditated for over 30 years, beginning in 1987 with James Baraz. He graduated from InsightLA’s Facilitator Training Program and  Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (Inaugural Class). James is also a  Trained Teacher for the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion.

James leads secular and Buddhist- based mindfulness training, sits, and affinity groups (LGBTQI, Mental Health Professionals, Anti-Racism Practices for White People).  His interests are community building for the LGBTQI/LGBTQI senior mindfulness community and consciousness-raising around racism and heterosexism. He co-chairs InsightLA’s DEI Committee and sits on the Teacher’s Council.  He is a student in Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner Program. His primary teacher is Tempel Smith.

As a psychotherapist, James is the Director of Outpatient Programs for the UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital. He intensively trained in Dialectic Behavioral Therapy, Mentalization-based Therapy. 

JD Lloyd is a long-time member of the InsightLA Meditation Community, where he completed four years of dedicated Dharma study programs and received training to facilitate mindfulness classes. He completed additional training to conduct courses in Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), and he has also received specialized education in chaplaincy support, contemplative caregiving, and trauma-sensitive mindfulness.

JD facilitates mindfulness courses and meditation groups at InsightLA, Mindful USC, and the Cancer Support Community. He also serves corporate and private clients and volunteers to provide mindfulness instruction to deserving populations in the Los Angeles area.

JD is particularly drawn to Lovingkindness and Mindful Self-Compassion meditation practices as paths toward self-acceptance and open-hearted connection with others. He appreciates the outdoors and the arts – especially film, photography, and poetry. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing and enjoys weaving poetry and storytelling into his teaching.

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.

Rosamaría leads the Insight in Action program, bringing a life commitment to social justice and meditation, and experience in managing non-profit programs.

Her dedication to meditation has inspired her to mitigate suffering using insights from mindfulness-based practices. She is passionate about sharing meditation practices with groups dedicated to changing injustices in environmental, socio-economic, and political arenas and in communities that have limited exposure to the benefits of meditation.

She facilitates meditation groups in Spanish for refugees in shelters in Tijuana, Mexico, in Spanish and English in East Los Angeles and East Hollywood.

Rosamaría is a graduate of the mindfulness meditation teacher program with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, and a graduate of InsightLA’s Facilitator Training Program with Maureen Shannon-Chapple and Trudy Goodman. She continues studying under the guidance of Jokai Blackwell Sensei. She has also practiced with various teachers in different institutions, including Spirit Rock, InsightLA, Long Beach Meditation, Deer Park Monastery, and Yokoji Zen Mountain Center.

Before becoming dedicated to mindfulness teaching, her career was dedicated to working for just health care access, immigrant rights, grassroots and labor organizing. Rosamaría holds a Master’s in Geography, Bachelor’s in Cultural Geography and Urban Analysis, and an AA Degree in Human Services.