Gil Fronsdal is the founding and co-guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City and the Insight Retreat Center in Santa Cruz. A practitioner of both Zen and Vipassana traditions since 1975, he has been teaching mindfulness and Buddhist practice since 1990. Gil holds a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Stanford University and is widely respected for his integration of scholarship and contemplative practice.
Diana Clark, PhD, is a Dharma teacher whose extensive meditation experience includes years of silent retreat practice. A former adjunct professor at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, she brings to her teaching both experiential understanding and academic depth.Inspired by the Buddha’s teachings on peace and freedom, Diana’s approach weaves together the profound and the practical. In addition to her graduate studies in Buddhist Studies, she holds a PhD in biochemistry and previously worked as a cancer researcher. For more information, please visit DianaClarkDharma.org.
Kim Allen has practiced in the Insight Meditation Center community for more than twenty years, with additional long retreat experience in Asia and the United States. She helped develop the Lay Contemplative practice form, supporting the integration of Dharma into daily life. Her teaching emphasizes sutta study, inquiry, and a grounded approach to bringing the Buddha’s teachings into contemporary practice.
Ying Chen first encountered Buddhism in 1990 and spent over a decade practicing within Mandarin-speaking communities before discovering the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) in 2005. As a lay practitioner, she now teaches Dharma at IMC, Insight Retreat Center, and Dharma Ground. Her teaching emphasizes the potential for freedom, clarity, and well-being that can be realized in every aspect of life—individual, family, community, and the wider world.
Vanessa Able is a member of the Karuna Council at the Insight Meditation Center, where she offers pastoral Dharma support to individuals navigating major life transitions. Her work integrates Buddhist practice with compassionate presence, and she contributes to courses and electives that weave together poetry, creativity, and Dharma practice.
Kirsten Rudestam is an environmental educator, wilderness guide, and meditation teacher. She holds a PhD in Environmental Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where her research focused on water policy, political ecology, and environmental justice. Kirsten has been practicing meditation since 1997 and teaching contemplative practices since 2002. She co-directs the Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy Training Program at the Sati Center and serves as core faculty there. Her teaching draws on nature-based practice, ecologically engaged Dharma, and connecting spiritual care with the more-than-human world.
Madrone Love, PsyD, is an assistant professor of integral counseling psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). She earned a doctorate in clinical psychology from the Wright Institute and a master’s degree in Afro-Diasporic Studies from UC Berkeley. She owns a small private psychotherapy practice where she works with neurodivergent clients. She is also an IRC and IMC volunteer.
