Bio

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I began meditating around the age of 18. After a rough childhood living in an abusive household, I was arrested several times as a teenager and dropped out of high school. I then joined a punk-rock band, started working full-time, and moved into a cabin in the woods. I longed for a deeper and happier way of life, and was inspired to seek out such teachings, including Buddhism, yoga, and many other wisdom traditions, and my life was forever changed. 

A decade later, I had traveled the country and put myself through college. After graduating from UC Berkeley (Anthropology and Music), it was clear that meditation practice was the most precious thing I had learned. Without a fixed plan, I decided to take a deeper dive into practice and purchased a one-way ticket to India. That fateful decision led to five years of living out of a backpack, mostly in South and Southeast Asia, and largely devoting my time to the practice and study of meditation. I also spent a short period of time working in the U.S. and a longer period in Australia to support myself and sustain the exploration of the teachings.   

I studied and practiced in several traditions in India, Nepal, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and Sri Lanka. I was primarily rooted in Theravada Buddhism, but also engaged with Tibetan Buddhism, as well as yoga, Advaita Vedanta, and other Hindu-based teachings. After this time in Asia, I spent two years living at Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, MA, working, practicing, and rooting more deeply into the Insight Meditation tradition. I currently live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

In roughly 20 years of study and practice, I have sat many silent retreats, including several prolonged retreats (up to 5 months). In total about two years of my life have been devoted to intensive meditation retreat. 

My teachers (somewhat in order of appearance) include Sayadaw U Pandita, Sayadaw U Vivekananda, Christopher Titmuss, Guy Armstrong, Chas DiCapua, Catherine McGee, Joseph Goldstein, Caroline Jones, Thanissara, and Kittisaro. There has also been deep influence from many others, whom I have not worked with directly, most notably Rob Burbea and Jack Kornfield. This list could truly go on and on...

In addition to having a background in Buddhist and other classical wisdom traditions, I have also studied and practiced in modern Western psychological systems, including Somatic Experiencing, Internal Family Systems, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Attachment Theory, and Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy. I also have familiarity with a traditional shamanic and ceremonial approach to plant medicine. These practices inform how I understand and teach meditation, and in particular support awareness of a trauma-sensitive approach to mindfulness meditation. 

Finally, I am also very much aware of the broader systemic issues that are in need of healing. The harms of capitalism, patriarchy, racism, heteronormativity, and more, have informed the way I understand my own personal experience as well as my social location and impact. On top of my academic training and ongoing self-study, I have worked with these conditions in the forms of affinity groups as well as various forms of political activism and community organizing. 

I first taught meditation to students at UC Berkeley in 2011. Christopher Titmuss mentored me as his assistant teacher when I began teaching on retreat in Sarnath, India in 2018. Additional settings include yoga studios, prison, grade schools, local sitting groups, and more. I am currently teaching under the mentorship of Chas DiCapua. 

I am also a 200hr-certified Yoga Teacher. I have taught movement in various settings over the years, including one year as the resident mindful movement instructor at the IMS Forest Refuge Meditation Center.

Rather than focusing on a specific meditation technique in teaching, I like to emphasize different attitudes and understandings that can inform our perceptions in practice. Increasingly, I am interested in balancing insight with well-being, and cultivating flexibility and playfulness. I try to approach offering the dharma from a balance of clarity and directness with warmth and empathy.