Daya Breckenridge
Daya Breckenridge has been meditating since she was in her 20s. Her study and practice has been with vipassana, insight dialogue and other non-dual teachings. She is a nurse by training and currently teaches yoga. Teachers she has studied with include Shinzen Young, Rodney Smith, Greg Kramer and John Prendergast.
Sarah Bryce
Sarah Bryce has been practicing insight meditation for many years. She is a graduate of the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, and is the guiding teacher at Mindful Families of Durham. She has completed many residential retreats at insight retreat centers. She also has experience and deep interest in the Jewish contemplative tradition and the intersection of Jewish and Buddhist meditation. She is a practicing psychiatrist/psychotherapist.
Scott Bryce
Scott Bryce has been a psychotherapist and Buddhist practitioner since the mid-1990s; he continues to explore how these two practices intersect. His principal meditation practices have been Insight Meditation, Insight Dialogue, and Concentration. Scott has also found great value in sutta study, precept practice, and the five daily reflections. He feels particular gratitude to, among others: Ayya Sobhana, DaeJa Napier, Gloria Taraniya Ambrosia, Greg Scharf, Greg Kramer, and Leigh Brasington. He also is grateful for North Carolina’s Southern Dharma Retreat Center, and for the centers in Barre, Massachusetts.
Emily Griffith Burke
Emily Griffith Burke (she or they) has been practicing the dharma for nearly 10 years, including with non-denominational university groups, a mahayana Kadampa lineage, and the Theravadan Insight movement. Her current primary teacher is Eve Decker. Emily serves as yogi relations coordinator at Southern Dharma Retreat Center and as a teacher with Mindful Families of Durham. She is passionate about making western-convert Buddhism more interfaith, trauma-informed, and accessible. She is studying for her M.Div in interfaith literacy and MA in counseling at Wake Forest University.
Phyllis Hicks
Phyllis Hicks has been practicing mindfulness meditation since 1998. She trained intensively with Gregory Kramer, the co-originator of Insight Dialogue. She leads Insight Dialogue retreats internationally. A psychotherapist for 32 years, Phyllis also teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at Duke Integrative Medicine. She is co-author and designer of the Interpersonal Mindfulness Program. Phyllis lives in Chapel Hill, N.C. Visit the Learn [=link] page to listen to one of her talks at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.
Cornelia “Kip” Lee
Cornelia “Kip” Lee began Buddhist Insight meditation practice in 1995. Her early teachers included Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Narayan Liebenson and Michelle McDonald. Currently she’s learning from (and grateful for) Brian Lesage, Mark Nunberg, and Kamala Masters, as well as TIMC teachers and Sangha friends. Kip is committed to understanding and freeing her heart and mind, sharing Dharma practice through teaching, and helping to create a more just and kind society. She received mindfulness teacher mentoring and certification through the UCSD Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute and is qualified to teach the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindful Self-Compassion eight-week programs.
Francesca Morfesis, LPA
Francesca Morfesis, LPA was first exposed to Buddhist practices during her graduate training in Clinical Psychology. Her practice is rooted in modern Theravada and informed by numerous lineages. She is most directly influenced by (and deeply grateful to) Brian Lesage, Sebene Selassie, Kittisaro and Thanissara, Rob Burbea, Lama Rod Owens, and John Makransky. Francesca has completed 2 years of interfaith chaplaincy training and is the outgoing Buddhist Chaplain at Duke. She is also a practicing psychotherapist, rooted in Somatic Experiencing and spirituality. Her heart and offerings are deeply invested in the interwoven nature of healing trauma, undoing systems of oppression, and awakening.
Sharon Shelton
Sharon Shelton is a Founding Advisor and Mindfulness Teacher at Cloud Sangha, working closely with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. She completed the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program in 2019 and is a member of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. Sharon was part of the Community Dharma Leaders Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and received The Three Jewels and the Five Mindfulness Trainings from her teacher, the late Cheri Maples. Sharon studied at One Spirit Interfaith Seminary, receiving ordination and serving as assistant dean. Sharon’s writing has been featured in Spirituality & Health and Mindfulness Bell magazines.
Jeanne van Gemert
Jeanne van Gemert was a founding member and guiding teacher of Triangle Insight. As a psychotherapist and sculptor, she is most interested in the process, across disciplines, of integration and transformation. Jeanne interned with Jon Kabat-Zinn, was an Instructor in Duke’s MBSR Program and completed the Community Dharma Leader Program at Spirit Rock. She was on staff for 10 years as a Mind/Body psychotherapist at Duke Integrative Medicine. Having moved to Virginia, Jeanne is a senior teacher at Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville. She is grateful to her main teachers: Shinzen Young, Tara Brach, and Leigh Brasington.
Ron Vereen
Ron Vereen is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist who has been practicing mindfulness meditation since 1992. He has been teaching mindfulness in Duke’s MBSR program since 1999. Ron is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leader Program at Spirit Rock, and has completed the Integrated Study and Practice Program of the Barre Center. His principal teacher is Rodney Smith. He has also studied with Shinzen Young, Leigh Brasington, Taraniya Ambrosia, Andrew Olendzki, and Narayan Helen Liebenson. Ron’s interests include exploring the interface between Western and Buddhist psychology.
