Adjunct Faculty
Marvin Belzer
Marvin Belzer has practiced vipassana meditation and dzogchen for many years, influenced in his practice by the Burmese monk Sayadaw U Pandita, the Tibetan teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche, and others. He is a professor at Bowling Green St. University, where he teaches logic and other philosophy courses including a vipassana meditation course as part of the philosophy program. He has taught meditation for fifteen years and worked with Michele McDonald, Diana Winston, and others to develop the youth retreats at the Insight Meditation Society beginning in the early '90s. He likes to focus on practical ways to get traction in our attempts to meditate. He also has developed relational (interpersonal) forms of mindful awareness practice and is always on the lookout for people who might want to play with them.
Daniel Davis
Daniel Davis has studied and practiced Vipassana and Zen meditation since 1986. His interest in meditation began while Activities Coordinator with the Jan Berry Center For The Brain Injured. Inspired by the neuroplastic qualities of the brain, he began developing mindfulness, drumming and other creative practices for people with serious brain trauma. Daniel has taught mindfulness at Promises, Bridges to Recovery and both Sylmar and LA Central Juvenile Halls.
In 2007, Daniel completed Spirit Rock's Dedicated Practitioners Program, a rigorous 2 year training in fundamental Buddhist teachings and practice. A frequent teacher of our Growing Spirit Children's Program, Daniel is an active member of the InsightLA Executive Council and currently teaches mindfulness meditation for InsightLA, the InnerKids Foundation and REVIVE Studios. Graduating from the prestigious Berklee College of Music with honors, he is also a trained musician and composer.
Noah Levine
Noah Levine, author of Dharma Punx and Against The Stream, is a Buddhist teacher, author and counselor. He is trained to teach by Jack Kornfield of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. He teaches meditation classes, workshops and retreats nationally as well as leading groups in juvenile halls and prisons. Noah holds a masters degree in counseling psychology from CIIS. He has studied with many prominent teachers in both the Theravadan and Mahayanan Buddhist traditions. Levine lives in Los Angeles.
Gene Lushtak
Gene Lushtak began Dharma practice with Jack Kornfield in the spring of 1997. He has done extensive retreats including 18 months of spiritual traveling that took him to a variety of retreat centers and monasteries all over the world, including a nine-month stay at Wat Pah Nanachat in Thailand, a Theravadan forest monastery in the Ajahn Chah tradition. He is currently part of the Community Dharma Leader program at Spirit Rock and teaches beginning Vipassana meditation and mindfulness training as part of Insight LA.
Diana Winston
Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center. She is a member of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center's Teacher's Council, and has been teaching meditation classes and retreats to youth since 1993, and to adults since 2000. She is the founder of the Buddhist Alliance for Social Engagement, written and taught extensively on socially engaged Buddhism, and served as Associate Director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship until 2002. She is the author of "Wide Awake: A Buddhist Guide for Teens". Diana has practiced insight meditation since 1989, including a year as a Buddhist nun in Burma. She has recently moved to Los Angeles from the San Francisco Bay Area.