Teachers and Facilitators

• Bob Stahl Teacher
  

  Bob Stahl

  Teacher

  Bob Stahl, PhD, formerly lived in a Buddhist monastery for eight and a half years and later founded eight Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programs in medical centers in the SF Bay Area. He is on faculty at the Brown University Mindfulness Center and formerly at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Bob teaches MBSR Teacher Trainings and Insight Meditation retreats worldwide and is the former guiding teacher at Insight Santa Cruz and a visiting teacher at Spirit Rock and Insight Meditation Society. He is co-author of five books: A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook (1st & 2nd editions), Living With Your Heart Wide Open, Calming the Rush of Panic, A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook for Anxiety, and MBSR Everyday.

• JD Doyle Guiding Teacher
  

  JD Doyle

  Guiding Teacher

  JD Doyle is the Guiding Teacher at Insight Santa Cruz and a graduate of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s 4-year Teacher Training, the Community Dharma Leader training, and the Dedicated Practitioner Program. In 1995, JD began studying and practicing Buddhism at the Insight Meditation Society and at Spirit Rock and continued with extensive retreat practice in Thailand and Burma in the Theravadan lineage. JD was a Core Teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA for five years, and teaches at meditation centers across the US. For over twenty-three years, they worked as a public-school teacher. JD holds a BS in Environmental Studies from Cornell University, a bilingual multicultural teaching certificate from UC Santa Cruz, and a Masters in Language and Literacy and Sociocultural Studies from the University of New Mexico. JD identifies as gender non-conforming. They are committed to celebrating diversity, addressing racial injustice, expanding concepts of gender, and honoring the sacredness of the Earth.

• Mary Grace Orr Emeritus Founding Teacher
  

  Mary Grace Orr

  Emeritus Founding Teacher

  Mary Grace Orr is the Founding Teacher of Insight Santa Cruz, which began with a small sitting group in 1989. She is also a teacher emeritus at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She stepped down from her role at ISC late in 2011 and shortly after moved to Volcano, Hawaiʻi. She teaches two regular groups there, as well as a few retreats on the mainland. In addition to her Buddhist practice, she is deeply interested in Christian mystical traditions and recently completed the two year Living School program with Richard Rohr. Email Mary Grace if you would like to join her weekly meditation and discussion group on Zoom.