David Bornstein (he/him) began a dedicated Buddhist meditation practice in 1997. He has practiced mostly in the Theravada tradition at Spirit Rock Meditation Center (SRMC) and Insight Meditation Society (IMS), and also attended several Zen sesshins at the San Diego Zen Center. He has sat dozens of silent retreats, ranging in length from several days to two months. David became a certified Mindfulness Meditation teacher when he completed the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (2019) led by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. He also completed Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner’s Program (2016), and is currently enrolled in their Community Dharma Leader (CDL) Program. For over 20 years, CDL has trained the next generation of dharma leaders with the capacity, resilience and needed skills to carry the dharma forward. CDL7 runs from January 2025-January 2027.

David has an easy, welcoming teaching style, and students appreciate the way he shares from his own life to illustrate Buddhist teachings. David lives in Tucson with his wife and daughter.

Terry Magee has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1995, studying with Shinzen Young, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Anna Douglas, Carol Wilson, and other Insight Meditation teachers. Since 2006, she has been teaching as a Dharma Leader under the mentorship of Anna Douglas. She has been especially interested in trauma sensitive mindfulness as well as using mindfulness meditation for the management of physical pain for herself and others.

Pamela Weiss is a dual-lineage Buddhist teacher in both Theravada and Soto Zen. She has been practicing since 1987, including several years as a Zen monastic and retreat teacher training through Spirit Rock. Pamela is the author of “A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism,” and is passionate about weaving the stories of voices of Buddhist women into the fabric of Buddhist practice. She is also a pioneer in bringing mindfulness and Dharma principles to human development and organizational transformation.

Linda Alley-Sarnack has been studying Buddhism since 1995 and in 2000, set the aspiration to sit silent retreat, just once in her life!  In 2002, she sat her first retreat and has been a dedicated practitioner of Insight Meditation since then.  She sits deep retreat every year and has dedicated herself to weaving the wisdom and liberation found while on retreat into her everyday life.    

 Linda completed training in mindful yoga in 2009, Community Dharma Leadership in 2012, and Yoga Therapy in 2017.  Starting in 2006, she taught mindfulness, lovingkindness, and yoga for teens in Tucson area high schools.  She has also taught community classes combining the practices of yoga and insight meditation, and guided individuals in yoga therapy.

 Linda is passionate about embodied practice, expressed in a variety of ways.  She is an accomplished gardener, yogini, cook, and friend and considers gardening, cooking, relationship, creativity, appreciation of beauty, and most other forms of ‘real’ life to be paths to waking up to our true nature.  Her current aspiration is to embody (as fully as possible) the qualities of patience, self-compassion, generosity, and love in each moment of life. 

Juliana Sloane first encountered the Dharma as a teenager, along with many of the beauties and challenges of practice. This led her to academic study of religion and gender, and ultimately, to pursue deeper practice and training in the Dharma. Over the years, Juliana has participated in Buddhist Chaplaincy training with the Sati Center, spent many years teaching with Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Family Program, and co-founded a weekly sitting group for those who identify as women that has been active for the last 8 years. Juliana participated in the sixth iteration of Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leader Program in 2019 and completed this training through a Dharma Mentoring Program with Erin Treat and Pamela Weiss. Today, Juliana works one-on-one with individuals as a hypnotherapist and spiritual counselor, and teaches with communities including San Francisco Insight, Spirit Rock,  Santa Fe Vipassana Sangha, and the Durango Dharma Center. Juliana lives in Santa Fe, NM and is delighted to be spending time with the Insight Meditation Tucson community!

Howard Cohn, has practiced meditation since 1972, has led vipassana retreats in the US and internationally since 1985, and is a senior teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He has led the Mission Dharma dharma group in San Francisco for over 35 years. Howie is known by his students for his kindheartedness and warm sense of humor.

Howie has studied with many Asian and western teachers of several traditions, including Theravada, Zen, Dzogchen and Advaita Vedanta, and has been strongly influenced by contact with the Indian master H.W.L. Poonja. He has a MA in Counseling Psychology and has a private counseling/mentoring practice.

Anna Douglas, PhD., is the founder of Insight Meditation Tucson, and one of the founding teachers of Spirit Rock Meditation Center.  In 1986 she was one of five Dharma students invited to train in Jack Kornfield's groundbreaking program of practice and study for new teachers.  Although Anna's background is in psychology and the arts, she has had the good fortune as well as the deep aspiration to be able to do many long retreats in the vipassana/insight tradition.  For many years her focus in teaching was to guide people in long retreats.  She also created and taught mindfulness retreats for yoga practitioners and teachers,  and for 15 years taught an annual creativity retreat using painting and writing as the mediums of exploration.   In more recent years Anna's teaching has included classes and retreats on aging and dying. She is grateful for the many wonderful opportunities for practice and for teaching she continues to enjoy.  This includes offering spiritual guidance to those for whom the Dharma is an ongoing wellspring of spiritual nourishment and inspiration.  Anna is available for individual mentoring/guidance in the practice of insight meditation.    Even as old age and various forms of decrepitude advance, her deepest wish is that the blessings of Dharma continue to be felt and shared for the benefit of all!