Awake and At Home

Meet Your Teachers

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  Kate Johnson

  Kate Johnson is a meditation teacher, facilitator, author and mama who leads classes and retreats integrating spirituality, social justice and creativity. A passionate meditator since her early 20’s, Kate is authorized as an independent Buddhist meditation teacher through Spirit Rock’s 4 year teacher training. As an organizational consultant, she has trained hundreds of leaders and change-makers to use embodied, awareness-based approaches to systemic transformation. She holds a BFA in Modern Dance from the Alvin Ailey School and MA in Performance Studies from NYU. Her first book, Radical Friendship, will be published in May 2021.

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  Anne Cushman

  Anne Cushman is MMTCP’s Director of Mentoring and a pioneer in the integration of mindfulness, embodied meditation, and creative writing. A practitioner of dharma and yoga for over 35 years, she is the author of the memoir The Mama Sutra, the novel Enlightenment for Idiots, the mindful yoga manifesto Moving Into Meditation, and the India pilgrimage guide From Here to Nirvana; and her essays on spiritual practice in daily life have been widely published. A member of the Teachers’ Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, she leads regular meditation retreats with a focus on creativity, embodiment, and daily life practice.

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  Janice Gates

  Janice Gates has been teaching the integration of meditation, mindfulness and embodied practice for over 25 years, including at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, UC Berkeley, San Quentin Prison and in businesses and retreat centers around the globe. She began practicing Vipassana meditation and yoga while living in Asia in 1988 and her teaching is influenced by Theravada and Tibetan Buddhism, her studies in somatic practices, the psychospiritual work of Jennifer Welwood and many years of falling down and getting back up! Janice currently works as a teacher, mentor, coach and facilitator and is most interested in how these teachings can support our down-on-the-ground daily lives and relationships.

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  Imee Contreras

  Imee first discovered meditation when she was 16 years old, around the time when she faced one of the most impactful crossroads in her life.  She spent a large part of her younger years growing up in the United States and is now based in her motherland; The Philippines.  After decades of searching, she discovered a true sense of belonging in nature, motherhood, yoga therapy, meditation practice and the BuddhaDharma. She works in Buddhist, secular, and cross-cultural settings that intertwine harmoniously within the mindfulness field.  She believes that everything belongs when exploring one’s own mind and heart.  Hence, it takes courageous and compassionate enthusiasm to meet ourselves fully.  She loves engaging in relaxed, meaningful conversations that build relationships and cultivate connection. She is the founder of Mindfulness Asia and a co-founder of Philippine Insight Meditation Community.  She is a mentor for Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach's MMTCP at Sounds True, an authorized teacher at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center, a Cross-Cultural Mindfulness Teacher and Board Member of Braided Wisdom, and a visiting teacher at East Bay Meditation Center.  She graduated from Spirit Rock's Community Dharma Leadership Program and is an IMTA-Certified Mindfulness Teacher. She develops and facilitates mindfulness programs for companies, schools, and events; both locally and internationally.  She volunteers to teach incarcerated women serving life imprisonment and also supports abused women and children in the Philippines.

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