The Power of Awareness

Jack Kornfield, PhD, trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma, and India and has taught worldwide since 1974. He is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practices to the West. He is the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and of Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. He is a husband, grandfather, and activist and holds a PhD in clinical psychology. He has written more than fifteen books including The Wise Heart; A Path With Heart; After the Ecstasy, the Laundry; and more. For more, visit jackkornfield.com.

Tara Brach has been practicing and teaching meditation since 1975, as well as leading workshops and meditation retreats at centers throughout North America and Europe. She has a PhD in clinical psychology, is the founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW), and is the author of Radical Acceptance, True Refuge, Radical Compassion, and Trusting the Gold. Tara’s weekly podcasts of talks and meditations are downloaded more than three million times each month. For more, visit tarabrach.com.

Devin Berry began practicing in 1999. His teaching is rooted in the Buddhadharma and mindfulness daily life practices. His training includes Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher training, the East Bay Meditation Center Commit to Dharma Program, Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioners Program, and Insight Meditation Society’s four-year Residential Retreat Teachers Program. Devin also cofounded both the Teen Sangha and Men of Color Deep Refuge Group at East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland. Twenty years ago, Devin began some of the first mindfulness programs in San Francisco Bay Area schools, including weekly mindfulness groups for youth, and worked as a frontline advocate for marginalized youth living on the streets. Over the years, Devin’s work has included leading wilderness camps for teens, rites-of-passage programs for tweens, and a summer camp for boys. Devin co-created Deep Time Liberation, an ancestral healing journey that explores the impact of ancestral legacy and intergenerational trauma on Black Americans. He is passionate about the power of witnessing and storytelling as a liberation tool. Devin is a father and teaches nationally.

Konda Mason is a mindfulness teacher, social entrepreneur, and climate and social justice activist. She was introduced to Tibetan Buddhism in 1982 and became a student of Lama Zopa. Her love for vipassana began in 1996, working with Jack Kornfield at the Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center. Konda has taught at Spirit Rock Meditation Center since 1997, starting out teaching Kripalu yoga. She has been on the Mentor Leadership Team of The Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program and co-created its Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility curriculum. Konda’s dharma training includes the East Bay Meditation Center Commit to Dharma program, the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders program, and the Spirit Rock Teacher Training program. In addition to her spiritual pursuits, Konda is the founder and president of Jubilee Justice, a nonprofit committed to ending rural racism. Currently living in Louisiana, she has turned her efforts toward bringing justice to Black farming communities. Konda sits on the Board of Directors of Krista Tippett’s On Being Studios, RSF Social Finance, Lion’s Roar magazine, and the Historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis, Tennessee.