Teachers — Off-Grid Retreats

Susie teaches meditation nationwide and is the guiding teacher for Desert Dharma, which serves many communities in the Southwest near her home in Moab, Utah. She has trained in the Insight tradition since 1989, and in 2005 was invited into teaching by Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, and Guy Armstrong. She has also received teachings from many others, including Tory Capron, Adyashanti, and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. She often offers retreats outside, believing nature to be a profound teacher, and a gateway to our true self. Her teaching is deeply grounded in the body and often emphasizes the expression of mindfulness in speech and daily life. Susie brings the skills of inquiry, relational dharma, and the psychological/spiritual interface to her teaching, informed by her ongoing study of the Diamond Approach by A.H.Almaas and as a graduate of Hakomi Therapy (a somatic psychotherapy modality). She offers a two-year intensive program, Dharma in Daily Life, where she delights in mentoring the innate qualities of heart and wisdom in everyday practice. Her practice is rooted in periods of long retreat both indoors and outdoors, which offer nourishment and inspiration for her teaching. She was an outdoor professional for over 30 years, including years as a river guide, mountaineering guide, and backcountry ranger, and now finds her greatest delight in sharing her love of the dharma and the natural world.

Kirsten works as an environmental educator, wilderness guide, and meditation teacher. She has been practicing Buddhist meditation since 2001 and teaching contemplative practices since 2006. She is trained as a vision fast guide through the School of Lost Borders and a facilitator in Joanna Macy’s “Work that Reconnects.” Kirsten also has a PhD in Environmental Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz where she studied water policy and management, feminist political ecology and environmental justice. Strongly committed to experiential practice as a mode of radical environmental pedagogy, she has fifteen years of experience teaching courses in Environmental Sociology and Environmental Justice at colleges and universities. She offers individual mentoring and programs in meditation, deep nature connection, ceremony, and radical resilience.

Rochelle, PhD, CMT, SEP, licensed clinical psychologist, certified mindfulness teacher, somatic experiencing practitioner has a devoted love to share the power and healing potential of mindfulness, somatic awareness and nature. She has studied and taught mindfulness for the past 20 years and knows personally the transformational potential. To share the love of these healing practices she has published a book Healing with Nature: Mindfulness and Somatic Practices to Heal from Trauma.
Dr. Calvert leads courses and retreats in mindfulness, somatic experiencing and Awake in the Wild, nature-based mindfulness. She also facilitates professional trainings in mindfulness for clinicians. She is the director of the Ecotherapy Program at SouthWestern College and New Earth Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is a certified mindfulness teacher with the Mindfulness Teaching Institute, the International Mindfulness Teachers Association and Awake In The Wild organization.
Rochelle is the founder and clinical director of New Mindful Life, which offers mindfulness, nature-based, and somatic experiencing therapies. She teaches individual meditations with nature that assist in healing from trauma. She supports her clients and takes them into nature with the aid of Bertha Grace, a Sprinter van that serves as a mobile therapy office.
Rochelle now lives in Taos, New Mexico and has a private practice in both Taos New Mexico and San Diego, California.

Anushka Fernandopulle teaches Buddhist meditation in the Insight meditation tradition in the Bay Area and beyond and is on the Teachers Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.

Carl is graduate of the Awake in the Wild teacher training with Mark Coleman. Carl is also an artist and leads group nature art practices as well as meditation. And over the years, he has worked as a youth mentor in various ways.
- Summary & testimonials from the Overnight Campout with Old Skool Cafe led by Carl

Dawn is Guiding Teacher of Insight Santa Cruz, and serves as a faculty member for the Sati Center Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program. She has an MA from the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Theravada Buddhist studies and spiritual care. She is a published scholar and has worked as a professional interfaith chaplain for Stanford Medicine. She has also devoted several years to silent meditation retreats. Her intensive practice in Asia includes temporarily ordaining in Burma in 2009.

Marjolein (pronunciation “Mar-yo-line”) began practicing insight meditation intensively in 2011, in Europe, the US, as well as Myanmar, where she was ordained as a Buddhist nun. She brings both formal practice and practice in daily life to her teachings. Her deep love for the natural world and the Dhamma form the foundations for her teachings.   Her teachers are Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Andrea Fella and Susie Harrington. Currently she is training as a Retreat Dharma Teacher with Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella. And as a Nature Dharma Retreat Teacher with Susie Harrington, Mark Coleman, and Gil Fronsdal. Marjolein is the Guiding Teacher at the Insight Meditation Community of Richmond, VA. She also guides online meditation at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA. And offers (outdoor nature) retreats in the US and Europe.