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.
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 page to listen to one of her talks at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.
Cornelia “Kip” Lee
Cornelia “Kip” Lee began practicing Buddhist Insight meditation in 1995. Her early teachers included Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Narayan Liebenson and Michelle McDonald, who she sat with on retreats in Barre, MA and in NC. She’s grateful for her current teachers Brian Lesage, Mark Nunberg and others, as well as TIMC teachers and her TI Sutta Study KM group. Kip is committed to understanding her mind and opening her heart, and loves to share the Dharma through teaching and coaching. 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 a former Buddhist Chaplain for Duke University. 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 discovered meditation and mindfulness when in early recovery from alcoholism in 1997, and has been studying and practicing ever since, beginning with Transcendental Meditation (TM) and now Vipassana for over 15 years. She completed the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) and is a member of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. Sharon received transmission of the Three Jewels and the Five Mindfulness Trainings in 2013 from her teacher, the late Cheri Maples. Sharon has also completed studies at the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in New York City receiving ordination as an interfaith Minister in 2008, then serving as assistant dean. Sharon is a Founding Advisor and Mentor at Banyan, and a Mentor in the MMTCP program. She is also on the boards of the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion with Kristin Neff and Chris Germer, and Peace at Any Pace with Noliwe Alexander, and has been published in both Spirituality & Health and Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Mindfulness Bell Magazines.
Kathy Shipp
Kathy began meditating in the 1980’s exploring the teachings of Thich Nhat Hahn and the Tibetan traditions. She began mindfulness meditation with Ron Vereen, Jeanne Van Gemert, and Jeff and Mary Brantley in the MBSR program at Duke Integrative Medicine. Triangle Insight has been her spiritual home since 2015. She is a 2023 graduate of the Mindfulness Meditation Teachers Certification Program led by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. She is trained by Eric Garland in Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement designed for people suffering from chronic pain and addiction. Through Bodhi College and her TI Sutta Study KM group, she is studying the suttas of the Pali Canon. She is grateful to her many teachers including those already mentioned and Christina Feldman, Ruth King, Christoph Köch, Yuka Nakamura, Lama Rod Owens, and Sharon Salzberg.
Jason Troiano
Jason Troiano began daily practice of mindfulness meditation in 2007, inspired by the teachings of Jon Kabat-Zinn and the mindfulness teachers at Duke Integrative Medicine. He has participated in overnight retreats, book studies, and sutta studies with teachers of Triangle Insight since 2010, and is honored to have joined the Teaching Council in 2024. Jason completed the two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach in 2023. Since 2018, he has been leading the Cary Mindfulness Group, a small mindfulness community that meets monthly in Cary, NC. Jason feels particular gratitude to teachers Ron Vereen, Zoe Zohs, Alison Cohen and Dawn Mauricio.
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 for Buddhist Studies. 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.
