Hugh Byrne
CML Guiding Teacher
As a teacher and social activist, Hugh is committed to sharing Buddhist and other wisdom teachings to help people find happiness and freedom amidst the joys and sorrows of life.
A primary focus of his work is bringing the wisdom and compassion of Buddhist teachings to the social, political, economic, and environmental challenges of our time.
Hugh has practiced Buddhist meditation since 1990 and taught meditation since 2000. He has led trainings for refugee aid workers in the Middle East, Africa, and the United States and taught meditation in the U.S. Congress, non-profit organizations, and workplace and community settings.
Hugh graduated from the four-year meditation teacher training program led by Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, and other senior teachers in 2011.
He is the author of two books on mindfulness and habit change, The Here-and-Now Habit (2016) and Habit Swap (2020), and teaches classes, retreats, and workshops in the U.S. and internationally. He has a law degree from London University and a Ph.D. in political science from UCLA.
Websites: www.hugh-byrne.com, www.mindfulnesstraining.org, https://insighttimer.com/hughbyrne, www.imcw.org
Regina Flanigan
CML Guiding Teacher
Regina has deeply explored human healing and awakening for more than 25 years.
After graduating from John Hopkins University in 2001 with a master's in counseling, she began integrating Western psychological approaches with Eastern contemplative traditions. She took her first mindfulness class in the late 1990s, then studied and practiced the awakening traditions of Buddhist Insight Meditation and the direct or nondual path.
Regina graduated from the first Mindfulness Teacher Training program (MMTCP) offered by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach in 2017, Her mentor was IMCW teacher Hugh Byrne, and they have been teaching, learning, and collaborating at the Center for Mindful Living ever since.
In 2022, she completed a six-month Dhamma teacher training course titled “Approach to Nibanna” with Dhammadipa. She is inspired by many teachers, including students of Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Dhammadipa, Gil Fronsdal, Joe Goldstein and nondual teachers Rupert Spira and Adyashanti.
Regina has been leading meditation classes weekly for the last 6 years, and her life’s work continues to be the alleviation of mental, emotional, and relational suffering.
To contact Regina, visit reginaflanigan.com.
Caroline Altmann
Twenty-five years ago, Caroline began practicing lovingkindness meditation, and a lifelong exploration ensued in silent retreats and multi-month Buddhist studies. In 2016, she was invited to teach meditation at a local church and subsequently trained with Tara Brach’s and Jack Kornfield’s 2-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program.
Caroline was raised in Brazil, Europe, and Japan and is rusty in several languages, including Spanish. As the daughter of a holocaust survivor, a sister of a brother with schizophrenia, and another who committed suicide, Caroline is particularly interested in addressing trauma.
Indoors, she loves to dance or cook. While outdoors, she photographs (www.altmann.us), bikes, and hikes with her two grown sons and husband. She has a BA in Fine Arts from Tufts, an MBA from Columbia University, and international investment experience. She also trained as an Adlerian (progressive) parenting teacher. Caroline is a co-host of a non-profit NVC summer camp (https://onebigcircle.us/ohioana).
Her true passion is teaching and coaching. All are heartfully welcome at her weekly lovingkindness, mindfulness, and somatic sessions at noon on Tuesdays.
Michele Bledsoe
Michele Bledsoe is a Certified Mindfulness Teacher (2021) and Awakening Joy Teacher (2021) trained by Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield and James Baraz. She has also completed Kristy Arbon's Somatic Self Compassion Teacher's Training Collective and David Trevelan's Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness program.
She founded Within Everyone, a mindfulness practice group in Culpeper, VA in 2012 which continues today. She has taught at hospitals, yoga studios, schools and online.
She has volunteered at Insight On the Inside and Mindful Leader.
She is the author of The Doggy Bone Cookbook and The Kitty Treats Cookbook. She lives with a sweet gray/white cat named Pause.
Michele guides Midday Meditation on Thursdays with a focus on RAIN practice.
Learn more about Michele on her website.
Marina Colby “Seisui”
Marina has been practicing meditation for over 20 years and is a 2021 graduate of the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. Marina also practices with the Upaya Zen Center sangha with founding abbot Roshi Joan Halifax where she received jukai and the dharma name, Seisui (“clear water”).
She also engaged in a two year course on socially-engaged Buddhism at Upaya where her project focused on socially and environmentally conscious policymaking which aligns with her professional work in international development as a senior labor rights advisor.
Marina finds inspiration in investigating, practicing, and sharing Buddhist teachings with others to help cultivate more kindness and compassion in the world, for ourselves and all beings, without exception. She guides meditation class most Saturday mornings and some Sundays at the Center for Mindful Living.
Karolynn Coleman
Karolynn Coleman became interested in Buddhist psychology and meditation practices in the mid 90’s as a result of extensive travel throughout the Himalayan mountain regions. Having trained in Western psychology and psychotherapy since the mid 60’s, she was struck with the rich understanding of the human experience and the science of the mind which Buddhist psychology offers. She has done a two-year meditation group for psychotherapists at the Massachusetts Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy; completed the Professional Training for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction offered by Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli; participated in The Year of Living Mindfully Program with Jonathan Foust; and graduated from The Meditation Teacher Training Institute’s two-year program with teachers Tara Brach, Jonathan Foust, Hugh Byrne and Pat Coffey in 2013. She has benefitted from numerous other trainings and Vipassana retreats.
Karolynn guides Monday morning meditation at the Center for Mindful Living. She has a private psychotherapy practice in Bethesda, MD. As both a meditation teacher and psychotherapist she integrates knowledge and practices from Western psychology and Buddhist psychology to help promote positive growth and development.
Ashleigh Enriquez
Ashleigh is a Mindfulness Teacher who has taught meditation to individuals, families, kids, and young adults for over 10 years. She was introduced to the practice by her best friend at the age of 6. Through college, she used mindfulness as stress management but shortly after college, it became not only a practice but a lifestyle.
She’s participated in retreats, sanghas, spiritual friends groups, and a Yearlong Bringing Mindfulness to Life class and is a graduate of the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield.
Ashleigh is a Certified Health Education Specialist and RYT 200 Yoga Teacher with a Masters in Health Promotion Management from American University. This combined with her certifications as an autism specialist, and science and special education k-12 teacher brings a unique wellness and practical life focus to her teaching.
In addition to the Tuesday Midday class for CML, she leads IMCW's Young Adult Sangha and offers retreats, classes, and private mindfulness-based wellness coaching.
Catherine Flanagan
Catherine Flanagan graduated from the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program taught by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. She offers classes and training to individuals and organizations. Working with the nonprofit Insight on the Inside, she teaches mindfulness meditation to incarcerated individuals, returning citizens, and others in marginalized communities. Her teaching explores letting go of attachments, moods, unhelpful motivations, and tensions to arrive at presence. From there self-compassion, compassion, and other root conditions of happiness can be cultivated.
Sangha (spiritual community) is an abiding joy and support for Catherine. She serves on IMCW’s mentorship committee, facilitates discussion following Tara Brach’s Wednesday Night Meditation classes, offers a weekly Tuesday evening meditation class, and teaches periodically on Thursday and Saturday mornings.
A public interest attorney, Catherine’s career has included protecting the rights of domestic violence survivors and enforcing federal voting and environmental laws. She engages in political activism to promote civil rights, economic justice and a sustainable planet.
Bettina Kanitz
Bettina has been practicing meditation for over 15 years and is a 2021 Graduate of the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Program with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield.
Bettina is a long-standing licensed clinical psychologist and has a private psychotherapy practice in Alexandria, VA. She effectively and compassionately serves diverse people from all walks of life. She is passionate about integrating mindfulness, Buddhism, Buddhist Psychology, as well as other philosophies and schools of spiritual thought into her work and life.
Bettina guides meditation classes on select Wednesday mornings and some Sangha-led Sunday morning classes. She also facilitates a monthly evening Sangha called “My Favorite Things,” wherein she guides meditation practice and offers a talk on various topics drawn from Mindfulness, Buddhism, Spirituality, and Psychology, as well as the intersection of any of the above.
Gene Kijowski
In 2003, after a 40-year career as a hard-charging business executive, Gene began the practice of meditation and mindfulness, and a path slowly opened leading him to be in the world with a newfound sense of freedom, joy, and well-being. Having experienced the benefits of the practice for himself, he is committed to being of service to promote healing for others, by breaking the cycle of suffering wherever possible.
Since joining the IMCW community, he has participated in the Insight on the Inside (IOI) prison Dharma program, teaching meditation/mindfulness practices to the incarcerated; served on the Board of Directors; and in 2012, along with Hugh Byrne, and started the Center for Mindful Living in Tenleytown, where he guides Tuesday morning meditation.
He has completed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training with Jon Kabat-Zinn, the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute SE Professional Training, the hospice/bereavement training at Hospice Caring in Gaithersburg, MD, and graduated from The Meditation Teacher Training Institute’s two-year program with teachers Tara Brach, Jonathan Foust, Hugh Byrne and Pat Coffey in 2013.
Vince Lampone
Vince finds joy in helping others develop a meditation practice that helps them feel awake, grounded, and purposeful. Over the years, he's completed many silent retreats and mindfulness courses and studied under Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield via the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program.
Vince is particularly fond of metta (loving-kindness) meditation. He's also passionate about relational mindfulness practices like Insight Dialogue, which help people bring greater presence and depth to how they show up with others.
He enjoys dinner parties and karaoke and is the proud husband of a cheeky Australian.
Mark McKay
Mark has been practicing meditation in various traditions for over 30 years and is a current student with Vine of Obstacles Zen for householders under the guidance of teachers Dōshō Rōshi and Tetsugan Sensei. He is fascinated by the integration of meditative experience into daily living through the dharma lenses of creativity and intersectional spirituality.
Mark studied religion and literature at Colgate University and Chicago Theological Seminary and graduated from Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) in 2023.
Mark teaches Mindfulness of Sound on Thursdays at noon and some weekends online and in person.
Peggy O’Kane
Peggy O’Kane has been meditating for seventeen years. She began using meditation as a stress management tool, and quickly came to understand its profound usefulness for self-knowledge, awareness and cultivating peace and contentment. She is eager to share the techniques of meditation and the teachings of the dharma with all who are interested.
In 2013 Peggy graduated from The Meditation Teacher Training Institute’s two-year program with teachers Tara Brach, Jonathan Foust, Hugh Byrne and Pat Coffey. She guides Thursday morning meditation at CML.
Silvia Garcia Pereira
Since moving to DC, Silvia became a follower of Tara Brach’s teachings and has been formally practicing Vipassana, Insight Meditation for over 10 years. In 2009 she graduated from the Year of Living Mindfully program guided by Jonathan Foust.
Silvia also graduated from The Meditation Teacher Training Institute’s two-year program with teachers Tara Brach, Jonathan Foust, Hugh Byrne and Pat Coffey in 2013. That year, she also received a .b mindfulness in schools, teacher certification.
She attends 7 - 10 day residential retreats once or twice a year with IMCW, the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, helping her to grow in living the dharma.
She currently guides Friday morning meditation at the Center for Mindful Living. As a video producer, Silvia is happy to work on multiple video projects to spread her love for the dharma. She has contributed as video producer to several of IMCW’s videos.
As a mother of two young adults, her practice is an integral part of daily life.
Niel Rosen
Niel Rosen is a philosopher by disposition and training. As is true for many people, a personal crisis led him to meditation, and he has been practicing at CML ever since.
Niel took the yearlong Foundations course at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, where he was part of the 2018-2019 cohort. In October 2021, he completed the Year of Living Mindfully with Jonathan Foust. He has also completed a 10-week Practicum for teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction at the Myrna Brind Mindfulness Center of Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia. Niel is currently enrolled in the Socially Engaged Buddhist Training program with Roshi Joan Halifax at Upaya Zen Center. He is a volunteer teacher with Insight on the Inside, and a member of the Buddhist Affinity Group within the DC Chapter of Extinction Rebellion. A common thread runs through each of these endeavors: the treasure of sangha (community).
Niel teaches a weekly meditation class on Monday evenings and invites you to join him. He usually leads a body scan.
Bob Stout
Bob was awakened to the wonders of mindfulness in middle age when he attended his first silent meditation retreat with Hugh Byrne in 2018. He is a graduate of the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. After recently retiring from a 28-year corporate career as a lawyer and policy advocate, he is savoring time with his family and beloved granddaughter while grappling with the question posed by Mary Oliver in her poem "The Summer Day:" "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
He leads a monthly Poetry Sangha on the first Friday and teaches morning class on the 3rd Tuesday of the month.
Kate Symes
Kate is a 2021 graduate of the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Program, where she had the pleasure of studying with Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield, and her mentors, Sean Feit Oakes and La Sarmiento. She’s immensely grateful for the opportunity to share those teachings with the CML sangha.
Kate is also a 500-hour Registered Yoga Teacher and has taught vinyasa and restorative yoga classes since 2013. She's a big believer in sharing the powerful lineage of yoga and meditation with everyone and has taught in gyms, yoga studios, offices, and prisons.
She teaches and performs improv comedy in DC as well and sees a deep connection between mindfulness and improv. Both improv and meditation have taught her how to meet each moment with curiosity, kindness, and humor. Kate explores the mindfulness-improv connection in her Contemplative Improv workshops with CML and also just in regular old life.
You can find her classes and workshops listed on her website which she promises she is trying to keep up-to-date— www.katesymes.com.
Corina Urdaneta
Corina Is a Venezuelan-born Certified Mindfulness Teacher (2021) and Awakening Joy Teacher (2021) trained by Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield and James Baraz. She also participated in the Year of Living Mindfully (YLM10) led by Jonathan Foust. Corina's love for the Dharma grew and deepened when she began to attend Tara Brach´s classes. Her deepest desire is to help spread the Dharma among Spanish speakers.
Also, she is an Experienced Certified Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 500) trained at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, and at Dharamsala, India. Corina has been teaching yoga for 20 years and has taught in Ithaca, NY, Mexico and Venezuela. Since moving back to the United States in 2008, she’s been teaching yoga in Spanish in the DC metro area. She has two adult children and lives in Bethesda with her husband and a dog.
Corina teaches Spanish-infused Midday Mindfulness on Thursdays.
Jason Waterman
Jason is a long-time practitioner who aims to incorporate the Dharma into all aspects of his life, particularly his career as a social worker and psychotherapist.
After first trying meditation in college to deal with intense anxiety, Jason lived in Southeast Asia and attended meditation retreats throughout the region, including a four-month stay serving at a center in Cambodia and silent Vipassana retreats lasting up to six weeks at a time.
Since completing the two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, Jason has taught meditation in settings ranging from the DC Central Detention Facility, schools, Fortune 500 companies, activist organizations, Montgomery County Hospice, and a DC women’s shelter.
He has promoted Buddhist meditation through his work with the non-profit A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment, the Calm app, and his own organization, Seeds We Water. He has been influenced and inspired by teachers such as Buddhadasa Bikkhu, S.N. Goenka, Joseph Goldstein, Ajahn Chah, Bhante G, and more recently, Ayya Dhammadipa. Jason is a former NCAA Division One athlete, Fulbright Grant recipient, and proud cat-dad.
Karin Wilkinson
Karin, a Mindfulness and Self-Empowerment Coach is recognized by the International Mindfulness Teachers Association (IMTA) as a Certified Mindfulness Teacher, Professional (CMT-P). She is a graduate of the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior Training in Mindfulness Facilitation program.
Karin coaches both individuals and groups. She teaches mindfulness at Inner Visions Institute for Spiritual Development and has extensive experience presenting at, and facilitating interactive workshops for educational institutions and corporations and for retreats and medical conferences. Through her teachings she focuses on grounding, presence, connection and attitude.
At CML, Karin leads the online Thursday evening Coming Together in Community, where she provides a safe space for people of various races, backgrounds, and beliefs to practice, acknowledge, and “be with,” both similarities and differences.
Karin’s classes, workshops and retreats are birthed through the intertwining of her studies, creativity, spirituality, and her personal healing journey. She welcomes all to join her.