ITCA-teachers

Members of the Insight Teacher Circle Australia

Bobbi Allan has practiced meditation since 1974 and studied with leading US Buddhist scholar, social activist and deep ecologist, Joanna Macy. Bobbi co-leads Stillness in Action retreats, which emphasise engaged Buddhist practice. These retreats combine a focus on tranquility, insight and compassion with dynamic processes for reconnection and positive engagement with the world. She is also on the board of the Spirit of the Land Foundation, which protects and promotes aboriginal culture.

Subhana Barzaghi is both a Zen roshi and a teacher in the Insight Meditation tradition. She is a resident teacher of the Sydney Zen Centre and founding teacher of both the Bluegum Sangha in Sydney and the Kuan Yin Meditation Centre in Lismore. Subhana's teaching emphasises liberation here and now through the practice of calm abiding and enquiry. She leads Zen and Insight Meditation retreats in Australia, New Zealand and India. For more information click.

Sexton Bourke began practice in the Insight tradition in 1975 and took up Zen practice in the early eighties. He has been teaching in the Insight tradition since 2002 and in 2005 he was appointed as an apprentice Zen teacher in the Diamond Sangha tradition. He is currently the teacher of Tallowwood Sangha and lives with his family on a rural community near Bellingen, NSW.

Michael Dash works as a counsellor and educator and has been a Buddhist meditation practitioner for over 20 years. He has studied in Australia, Thailand and Burma, where he practised satipatthana vipassana in the Mahasi Sayadaw tradition. Michael has taught courses and retreats in Melbourne and Sydney, including courses at the Buddhist Library, Wat Buddha Dhamma and the Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre. He teaches Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), has a private counselling practice in Sydney and works as a bereavement counsellor at Sacred Heart and Calvary Hospices.

Ellen Davison has practised in both the Zen and Vipassana traditions for over 30 years. She is a guiding teacher at the Kuan Yin Meditation Centre in Lismore and at Bay Insight in
Byron Bay. Ellen is an apprentice Zen teacher in the Diamond Sangha Lineage and leads Zen and Vipassana retreats in Darwin, Queensland and Northern NSW. She is also a psychologist and works as a counsellor in tertiary
education.

Sky Dawson sat her first Vipassana retreat with SN Goenka in 1981. Sayadaw U Pandita was her next guiding teacher and in more recent times she has continued to practice under the guidance of Steve Armstrong, Kamala Masters, Joseph Goldstein and Sayadaw U Lakkhana. She is a member of the Perth Insight Meditation Group and shares the dharma with a small community of meditators who are keen to deepen their understanding and practice. Vipassana practice and the application of the Buddha's teachings in daily life have deepened her understanding and compassion in her work with families facing life-threatening illness. She has worked for the last 15 years teaching and researching in the areas of palliative care, loss and grief at two universities in Western Australia as well as working in a community hospice.

Victor von der Heyde has been practicing Buddhist meditation for over 30 years. He studied with a wide range of teachers in India, Nepal, the US and in Australia, and apart from Insight Meditation, these included Zen, Dzogchen and non-aligned teachers.His main influence in recent years has been the independent American teacher Toni Packer. He has taken teaching roles since the early 1990s and led the DharmaCloud meditation group in Brisbane for over 10 years. Victor's particular interest is in helping people understand the different types of meditation so that they're in a position to choose what works for them. The approach he uses doesn't necessarily rely on prescriptive or repetitive practices but still has a focus on developing a revealing quiet open awareness.

Winton Higgins began meditating and practising the Dharma in the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO) in 1987. In 1994 he became an active supporter of Wat Buddha Dhamma, where he began to lead meditation retreats in 1995. Since then he has led retreats for the Wat, the Blue Gum Sangha and Sydney Insight Meditators, and taught many courses for the Buddhist Library in Sydney. He follows the western insight (vipassana) tradition and is particularly interested in the convergence of Dharma practice and progressive western values such as democracy, feminism and critical inquiry. His teaching has an affinity with the work of Stephen Batchelor. He is a writer and a social-science academic; he and his partner, Lena, have two grown-up daughters and a grandson.

Malcolm Huxter began following the teachings of the Buddha in the mid 1970's and has mostly practised within the Theravada traditions. He ordained in Thailand and practised intensively as a monk for 2 years. After disrobing in 1979 he continued his commitment to meditation through daily practice, study with lay and ordained teachers and regular attendance at intensive retreats within the Mahasi tradition. He has also practised within Tibetan Mahayana and Japanese Zen traditions. Malcolm is a clinical psychologist and works in both public mental health and private practice. He has been sharing his understanding about the path of awakening in the form of individual psychotherapy, courses, retreats, and therapist supervision and workshops since 1991. For more information see www.malhuxter.com

Will James attended his first Insight Meditation retreat in the late 1970's with Christopher Titmuss; this meeting kindled a deep interest in meditation and the Dharma. Will has studied in the zen and insight traditions and teaches at the Tallowwood Sangha in Bellingen, as well as retreats on the east coast, at the Dharma Gatherings in Australia and India and assists Radha Nicholson with the Australian Dharma Facilitators Program. Will has been a director of the Bellingen Global Carnival; an annual world music festival for ten years and for many years has been organizing and managing Dharma events.

Patrick Kearney has 30 years experience in Buddhist meditation, in both the Zen and Theravada traditions. Since 1984 he has trained in vipassana (insight) meditation in the tradition of the lineage of Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. His teachers have included Robert Aitken Roshi, Sayadaw U Pandita, Sayadaw U Lakkhana, Sayadaw U Janaka, John Hale and Christopher Titmuss. For three years, Patrick was resident teacher at Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre. Now based in Sydney, he teaches retreats, seminars and classes around Australia. He teaches both the techniques of meditation along with the theory that underlies them. Understanding both, a student can become independent and self-directed. For more information see www.dharmasalon.net

Christopher McLean is a Samatha-Vipassana (calm & insight) teacher in Sydney, with the Bluegum and Tortoise Mountain sanghas. He emphasises the fundamental nature of the practice of mindfulness presented in the Satipatthana sutta. Christopher has been practicing Buddhadharma since the late 1960s and he brings to the teaching role his love of inquiry and of dialogue. He is also a psychotherapist and a trainer of Eugene Gendlin's 'Focusing'. For more information see www.tortoisemountain.org

Anna Markey was introduced to Buddhist practice in 1983 while teaching in a Tibetan village in India. She attended retreats with Christopher Titmuss the same year and has practiced vipassana meditation ever since. Anna also practiced for a number of years with a Zen group in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh and the Mahasi style of practice with Patrick Kearney. Anna leads two groups in South Australia - the Goolwa Dharma Group, and the Ashtree Sangha in Adelaide. She is interested in applying the Buddha's teachings to our daily lives and in exploring the dharma with children.

Lawrence Khantipalo Mills was one of the first pioneering teachers of Buddhism in Australia. He was in the Theravada monastic tradition for over 30 years travelling and teaching extensively in south-east Asia. His knowledge and experience of Buddha Dharma encompasses the facets of Theravada as well as the Mahayana teachings. His teachings focus on the application of Dharma in everyday life. He is resident teacher of the Bodhi Citta Buddhist Centre in Cairns.

Radha Nicholson teaches the cultivation of wisdom and compassion through insight. Her teachings focus on inquiry and the non-dual nature of reality. Radha first met Christopher Titmuss in India in 1975 where she participated in extended retreats. She is a guiding teacher for Bay Insight in Byron Bay. Radha teaches retreats in Australia and regularly teaches with Christopher in Sarnath, India, at the annual Dharma Gathering. She is a Registered Psychologist and member of the Australian Psychological Society with a private practice in Bangalow, in Northern NSW. Radha is the mother of four children and also has grandchildren.

Carol Perry brings 30 years of meditation practise and communal living to her teachings. She is a founding member of Dharmananda community and has lived there since 1972. Carol leads retreats, yatras (mindfulness walks) and interactive dharma workshops. She is a mentor for the web-based Living Dharma Programme. Carol works as a dispute mediator and psychotherapist using the using the Hakomi approach, a Buddhist/Taoist mind body therapy.

Geoff Simpson began to explore meditation in 1979 and continues to do so. He has an affinity with the Thai Forest tradition which reveals the Buddha's liberating teachings through calmness, mindfulness and inquiry. He shares these teachings with the Heart Insight group in Brisbane. Geoff works in mental health.

Jenny Taylor studied with a variety of meditation teachers over the last 30 years - including a long period with teachers using the Mahasi approach. She leads a group in Alice Springs and runs retreats in Central Australia and on the East Coast. Jenny has a long-standing connection with indigenous culture and runs art programs in Aboriginal communities.

Back to www.dharma.org.au

	Bobbi Allan has practiced meditation since 1974 and studied with leading US Buddhist scholar, social activist and deep ecologist, Joanna Macy. Bobbi co-leads Stillness in Action retreats, which emphasise engaged Buddhist practice. These retreats combine a focus on tranquility, insight and compassion with dynamic processes for reconnection and positive engagement with the world. She is also on the board of the Spirit of the Land Foundation, which protects and promotes aboriginal culture.
	Subhana Barzaghi is both a Zen roshi and a teacher in the Insight Meditation tradition. She is a resident teacher of the Sydney Zen Centre and founding teacher of both the Bluegum Sangha in Sydney and the Kuan Yin Meditation Centre in Lismore. Subhana's teaching emphasises liberation here and now through the practice of calm abiding and enquiry. She leads Zen and Insight Meditation retreats in Australia, New Zealand and India. For more information click.
	Sexton Bourke began practice in the Insight tradition in 1975 and took up Zen practice in the early eighties. He has been teaching in the Insight tradition since 2002 and in 2005 he was appointed as an apprentice Zen teacher in the Diamond Sangha tradition. He is currently the teacher of Tallowwood Sangha and lives with his family on a rural community near Bellingen, NSW.
	Michael Dash works as a counsellor and educator and has been a Buddhist meditation practitioner for over 20 years. He has studied in Australia, Thailand and Burma, where he practised satipatthana vipassana in the Mahasi Sayadaw tradition. Michael has taught courses and retreats in Melbourne and Sydney, including courses at the Buddhist Library, Wat Buddha Dhamma and the Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre. He teaches Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), has a private counselling practice in Sydney and works as a bereavement counsellor at Sacred Heart and Calvary Hospices.
	Ellen Davison has practised in both the Zen and Vipassana traditions for over 30 years. She is a guiding teacher at the Kuan Yin Meditation Centre in Lismore and at Bay Insight in Byron Bay. Ellen is an apprentice Zen teacher in the Diamond Sangha Lineage and leads Zen and Vipassana retreats in Darwin, Queensland and Northern NSW. She is also a psychologist and works as a counsellor in tertiary education.
	Sky Dawson sat her first Vipassana retreat with SN Goenka in 1981. Sayadaw U Pandita was her next guiding teacher and in more recent times she has continued to practice under the guidance of Steve Armstrong, Kamala Masters, Joseph Goldstein and Sayadaw U Lakkhana. She is a member of the Perth Insight Meditation Group and shares the dharma with a small community of meditators who are keen to deepen their understanding and practice. Vipassana practice and the application of the Buddha's teachings in daily life have deepened her understanding and compassion in her work with families facing life-threatening illness. She has worked for the last 15 years teaching and researching in the areas of palliative care, loss and grief at two universities in Western Australia as well as working in a community hospice.
	Victor von der Heyde has been practicing Buddhist meditation for over 30 years. He studied with a wide range of teachers in India, Nepal, the US and in Australia, and apart from Insight Meditation, these included Zen, Dzogchen and non-aligned teachers.His main influence in recent years has been the independent American teacher Toni Packer. He has taken teaching roles since the early 1990s and led the DharmaCloud meditation group in Brisbane for over 10 years. Victor's particular interest is in helping people understand the different types of meditation so that they're in a position to choose what works for them. The approach he uses doesn't necessarily rely on prescriptive or repetitive practices but still has a focus on developing a revealing quiet open awareness.
	Winton Higgins began meditating and practising the Dharma in the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO) in 1987. In 1994 he became an active supporter of Wat Buddha Dhamma, where he began to lead meditation retreats in 1995. Since then he has led retreats for the Wat, the Blue Gum Sangha and Sydney Insight Meditators, and taught many courses for the Buddhist Library in Sydney. He follows the western insight (vipassana) tradition and is particularly interested in the convergence of Dharma practice and progressive western values such as democracy, feminism and critical inquiry. His teaching has an affinity with the work of Stephen Batchelor. He is a writer and a social-science academic; he and his partner, Lena, have two grown-up daughters and a grandson.
	Malcolm Huxter began following the teachings of the Buddha in the mid 1970's and has mostly practised within the Theravada traditions. He ordained in Thailand and practised intensively as a monk for 2 years. After disrobing in 1979 he continued his commitment to meditation through daily practice, study with lay and ordained teachers and regular attendance at intensive retreats within the Mahasi tradition. He has also practised within Tibetan Mahayana and Japanese Zen traditions. Malcolm is a clinical psychologist and works in both public mental health and private practice. He has been sharing his understanding about the path of awakening in the form of individual psychotherapy, courses, retreats, and therapist supervision and workshops since 1991. For more information see www.malhuxter.com
	Will James attended his first Insight Meditation retreat in the late 1970's with Christopher Titmuss; this meeting kindled a deep interest in meditation and the Dharma. Will has studied in the zen and insight traditions and teaches at the Tallowwood Sangha in Bellingen, as well as retreats on the east coast, at the Dharma Gatherings in Australia and India and assists Radha Nicholson with the Australian Dharma Facilitators Program. Will has been a director of the Bellingen Global Carnival; an annual world music festival for ten years and for many years has been organizing and managing Dharma events.
	Patrick Kearney has 30 years experience in Buddhist meditation, in both the Zen and Theravada traditions. Since 1984 he has trained in vipassana (insight) meditation in the tradition of the lineage of Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. His teachers have included Robert Aitken Roshi, Sayadaw U Pandita, Sayadaw U Lakkhana, Sayadaw U Janaka, John Hale and Christopher Titmuss. For three years, Patrick was resident teacher at Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre. Now based in Sydney, he teaches retreats, seminars and classes around Australia. He teaches both the techniques of meditation along with the theory that underlies them. Understanding both, a student can become independent and self-directed. For more information see www.dharmasalon.net
	Christopher McLean is a Samatha-Vipassana (calm & insight) teacher in Sydney, with the Bluegum and Tortoise Mountain sanghas. He emphasises the fundamental nature of the practice of mindfulness presented in the Satipatthana sutta. Christopher has been practicing Buddhadharma since the late 1960s and he brings to the teaching role his love of inquiry and of dialogue. He is also a psychotherapist and a trainer of Eugene Gendlin's 'Focusing'. For more information see www.tortoisemountain.org
	Anna Markey was introduced to Buddhist practice in 1983 while teaching in a Tibetan village in India. She attended retreats with Christopher Titmuss the same year and has practiced vipassana meditation ever since. Anna also practiced for a number of years with a Zen group in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh and the Mahasi style of practice with Patrick Kearney. Anna leads two groups in South Australia - the Goolwa Dharma Group, and the Ashtree Sangha in Adelaide. She is interested in applying the Buddha's teachings to our daily lives and in exploring the dharma with children.
	Lawrence Khantipalo Mills was one of the first pioneering teachers of Buddhism in Australia. He was in the Theravada monastic tradition for over 30 years travelling and teaching extensively in south-east Asia. His knowledge and experience of Buddha Dharma encompasses the facets of Theravada as well as the Mahayana teachings. His teachings focus on the application of Dharma in everyday life. He is resident teacher of the Bodhi Citta Buddhist Centre in Cairns.
	Radha Nicholson teaches the cultivation of wisdom and compassion through insight. Her teachings focus on inquiry and the non-dual nature of reality. Radha first met Christopher Titmuss in India in 1975 where she participated in extended retreats. She is a guiding teacher for Bay Insight in Byron Bay. Radha teaches retreats in Australia and regularly teaches with Christopher in Sarnath, India, at the annual Dharma Gathering. She is a Registered Psychologist and member of the Australian Psychological Society with a private practice in Bangalow, in Northern NSW. Radha is the mother of four children and also has grandchildren.
	Carol Perry brings 30 years of meditation practise and communal living to her teachings. She is a founding member of Dharmananda community and has lived there since 1972. Carol leads retreats, yatras (mindfulness walks) and interactive dharma workshops. She is a mentor for the web-based Living Dharma Programme. Carol works as a dispute mediator and psychotherapist using the using the Hakomi approach, a Buddhist/Taoist mind body therapy.
	Geoff Simpson began to explore meditation in 1979 and continues to do so. He has an affinity with the Thai Forest tradition which reveals the Buddha's liberating teachings through calmness, mindfulness and inquiry. He shares these teachings with the Heart Insight group in Brisbane. Geoff works in mental health.
	Jenny Taylor studied with a variety of meditation teachers over the last 30 years - including a long period with teachers using the Mahasi approach. She leads a group in Alice Springs and runs retreats in Central Australia and on the East Coast. Jenny has a long-standing connection with indigenous culture and runs art programs in Aboriginal communities.