Inward Bound Mindfulness Education

“The work that this organization does is definitely cutting edge and a most successful program. The adolescents that we have sent to the retreats and workshops have ALL had transformations and have been able to take on self-healing and have had tremendous changes in self-esteem and confidence.” — Candace Coffin, Director of Specialty Services, Mount Rogers Community Services Board
“I am excited about this growing movement and pledge 100% support to this organization, its mission and team. I have been working with youth and individuals dealing with PTSD – utilizing meditation and yoga to open pathways to awareness and mindfulness. It works. It is working, and it needs to keep working.” — Niyati Shah, Tranquil Space, Washington, DC
“As a psychology professor who teaches inner-city college students, I have lost count of the number of students who told me after my lecture on mindfulness and meditation, that they wished they knew how to do that. The iBme program has incredible potential to give students the boost they need to handle some of the challenges they face.” — Orin Davis, Quality of Life Laboratory, New York
“As a psychiatrist I have had the opportunity to see the huge benefit that a basic introduction to mindfulness practices can bring to people suffering from a wide variety of mood and anxiety disorders. What a wonderful plan iBme has to bring education in mindfulness to youths, who so often struggle to manage and tolerate their intense emotions.” — Jennifer Pasternack, MD, PhD, Erie, PA
“What a great endeavor! Our research demonstrates that mindfulness based programs can change brain structure and function, so a program like iBme can make a true, long-lasting impact on these students.” — Sara Lazar, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
“As Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA MARC and as a long-time teacher of mindfulness for youth, on behalf of MARC I wholly endorse iBme’s work. They are on the forefront of a movement to revolutionize inner development for teens and those who serve them, something desperately needed for our youth who are increasingly stressed and lost.” — Diana Winston, UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC)
“I have been teaching mindfulness techniques for almost 38 years, in the US and around the world. I recognize this (iBme) as an exciting program, with integrity, compassion and intelligence.” — Sharon Salzberg, Insight Meditation Society (Barre, Ma)
“Mindfulness has great power to reduce stress and promote a deep sense of wellness. For adolescents today, this is an urgent need. Supporting their inner work through thoughtful and effective mindfulness programs, as they are doing at iBme, can have far-reaching consequences for the good of adolescents at this stage of their development and beyond.” — Trish Broderick, PhD, Penn State Prevention Research Center
"Heartfelt gratitude to you for a wonderful workshop!! Folks really enjoyed and got much out of the morning with you." — Candace Coffin / Director of Specialty Services, Mount Rogers Community Services Board

Advisors

	Linda Lantieri, MA, has been in the field in education for 40 years in a variety of capacities: classroom teacher, assistant principal, director of a middle school in East Harlem, and faculty member at Hunter College in New York City. Currently she serves as the Director of The Inner Resilience Program whose mission is to cultivate the inner lives of students, teachers and schools by integrating social and emotional learning with contemplative practice. Linda is also one of the founding board members of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). She is the coauthor ofWaging Peace in Our Schools (Beacon Press, 1996) editor of Schools with Spirit: Nurturing the Inner Lives of Children and Teachers (Beacon Press, 2001), and author of Building Emotional Intelligence: Techniques to Cultivate Inner Strength in Children (Sounds True, 2008).
	Patricia Broderick, PhD, is a Research Associate with the Prevention Research Center at Penn State University and former director of the Stress Reduction Center at West Chester University of PA. She holds a Master’s degree in Counseling from Villanova and a Ph.D. in School Psychology from Temple University. She is a licensed psychologist, certified school psychologist (K-12), certified school counselor (K-12). and certified teacher. She was trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at the Center for Mindfulness (CFM) at UMASS Medical Center and has taught MBSR since 2003. Her developmental psychology textbook, The life span: Human development for helping professionals is now in its third edition. She is also the creator of Learning to BREATHE, a school-based mindfulness curriculum for adolescents. Visit her website at learning2breathe.org.
	Tara Brach, PhD, is a beloved dharma teacher and the founder and senior teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, and teaches Buddhist meditation at centers in the United States and Canada (such as Kripalu and Omega). A clinical psychologist and author of Radical Acceptance, Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha. She has taught extensively on the application of Buddhist teachings to emotional healing. Visit her website at tarabrach.com.
	Diana Winston is the director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center in Los Angeles. She has been teaching meditation to teens since 1993 and is the author of Wide Awake! A Buddhist Guide for Teens and the recently released, Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness. She is a member of the Teachers Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California and former associate director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. She is currently engaged in bringing mindfulness teachings to K-12 schools, medical education, mental health professionals, and the general public across the life-span.
	Laurie Grossman received a BA in Spanish from the University of California, Berkeley, and spent the next 17 years in social service agencies running programs and fundraising for a variety of organizations serving low-income adults and their children. Laurie joined Park Day School as their Capital Campaign Coordinator in 1992 and launched the Community Outreach Program at that time. Because of Laurie’s leadership, Park Day School now sponsors one of the largest public/private partnership programs in the country. Laurie’s most recent endeavor was launching Mindful Schools, a program to teach mindfulness in schools. Due to the success of the program, Laurie has been asked to speak about the program at a wide variety of educational conferences from coast to coast. Visit her organization at www.mindfulschools.org.
	Gina M. Biegel, MA, LMFT, is a California-based psychotherapist currently in private practice in the Bay Area. She adapted the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program typically for adults for adolescents, and created the Stressed Teens, a program using the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Teens (MBSR-T) program. MBSR-T has proven to be an efficacious and evidence-based program for adolescents as demonstrated through her research published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology in 2009 and in Psychological Assessmentin 2011. Gina conducts trainings, workshops and conferences on MBSR/MBSR-T with a variety of populations including professionals, teachers, parents, and teens in the U.S. and internationally. A more recent area of work is in bringing mindfulness into the California Elementary School system through her role as a member of the Research Advisory Board for Mindful Schools and assessed the effectiveness of such a program. Gina’s first book, a workbook, entitled, The Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens: Mindfulness Skills to Help You Deal With Stress, is currently available as well as her audio CD, Mindfulness for Teens: Meditation Practices to Reduce Stress and Promote Well-Being.  Please visit her website at: www.stressedteens.com.
	Charisse Minerva Spencer, MA, has over 30 years of personal meditation practice and is a performance artist, director and choreographer with extensive experience in events planning, cultural diversity training, arts education administration and fundraising. She formerly directed the Urban Arts Program from 1996-2006 for the Center for Community Development, Inc (CCDI) in Portsmouth, VA. Charisse is certified to teach the Mindful Schools curricuum for elementary, middle and high school populations. Since 2009 she has served as a mindfulness educator and co-director for CCDI in the Portsmouth City Public School system (PPS). Charisse has enriched the iBme teen retreats and outreach programs by integrating mindfulness with drumming, dance and spoken word workshops and performances.
	Michelle MacDonald co-founded Vipassana Hawai’i in 1984 with Steven Smith. She has taught Insight meditation for thirty years. Beyond her commitment to the Vipassana Hawai’i Sangha, she teaches extensively throughout the United States, in Canada, Burma, and various locations around the world. Michele has been a quiet pioneer having being the first woman to teach a formal retreat in Burma, side-by-side with a senior monastic figure, Sayadaw U Lakkhana, Abbot of Kyaswa Monastery. She appreciates teaching at many levels of practice and has enjoyed teaching three-month retreats for experienced students as well as developing meditation retreats for youth.
	Spring Washam has practiced meditation in various traditions since 1997. She is a founding teacher of the East Bay Meditation Center, located in Oakland, CA. She is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leaders program and is in teacher training with Jack Kornfield. Spring is considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based meditation practices to inner city communities. She currently leads retreats and workshops throughout the US and teaches a weekly sitting group in Oakland, CA.
	Pat Coffey began his meditation practice over 30 years ago and has taught meditation since 1996. He studied with numerous Asian and Western teachers in the Theravada, Tibetan and Zen traditions. Pat is founder of IMCC and the co-founder of the Blue Ridge Prison Project. Pat was selected and trained as a meditation teacher in the joint teacher training program of The Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center under the tutelage of Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein. Down-to-earth real world practical dharma is the hallmark of his teaching. The father of two children, owner of several businesses and the holder of several patents, he draws on his varied and rich life experience to articulate the dharma.

Transformative Retreats & Programs for Teens, Parents & Professionals

Advisors

iBme, Inc.