Adjunct Faculty
Ron Ames
Ron Ames is a meditation practitioner who has studied with both Trudy Goodman and Noah Levine. He is currently a member of Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner’s Program. Ron serves as a member on InsightLA’s Executive Council. He is a teacher in training with Trudy Goodman in InsightLA’s first teacher training cohort. Ron has a deep interest in the Twelve Steps particularly as they relate to meditation practice. He works in the film industry as a Producer and 1st Assistant Director on feature films.
Beverly Berg
Beverly Berg, PhD, has worked with adults and children, both individuals and couples, in a full psychotherapy practice for the last 30 years, and for over 25 years in the field of chemical dependency as a marriage, family and child therapist. She has worked in hospitals and institutions for drug and alcohol recovery as a consultant/trainer in the areas of alcoholism treatment, hypnosis and meditation. Beverly has studied Vispassana meditation with teacher Trudy Goodman, the founder of InsightLA. Presently she studies the neurobiology of the brain in couples therapy with Dr. Stan Tatkin.
Kusala Bhikshu
Kusala Bhikshu came to Buddhism in 1980 after reading a book by Houston Smith on world religions. He was given the name Kusala (skillful) when he took refuge and the five precepts in 1981. He continued to practice and study early Buddhism with his main Dharma teacher Ven. H. Ratanasara a Theravada monk from Sri Lanka. In 1993 he received 8 precepts and in 1994 the 10 precepts of a novice monk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center in Los Angeles. In 1996 he received full ordination in the Vietnamese Zen tradition and given the name Thich Tam-Thien. That same year in graduated from the College of Buddhist Studies with a B.A. in Buddhist studies.
Jane Davis
Jane Davis has practiced in both the Vipassana and Zen traditions. She is currently enrolled in Spirit Rock's Dedicated Practioner's Program, an intensive 2-year course studying the Buddhist Suttas. She also volunteers as the Insight LA CFO. Jane has had a twenty-five year career, first practicing as a CPA and later specializing in financial management for small businesses. She is currently working in the non-profit and entertainment industries. Jane has been practicing since 1996 and lives in Santa Monica with her two beagles.
Polli Glatleider
Polli Glatleider, CNM, MN has practiced mindfulness meditation in both the Vipassana and Mahayana traditions since 1997. Polli is a certified nurse-midwife working in the UCLA nurse-midwifery practice. She has over 30 years experience caring for pregnant women, partners, and babies both in Los Angeles and internationally. She is currently in the training process for Healing Touch and is enrolled in the graduate program at Yo San University in Los Angles for Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture. Polli trained in Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP) with Nancy Bardacke, CNM, MSN, who created the program. Polli offers the Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting program as adjunct faculty for InsightLA.
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.
Beth Sternlieb
Beth Sternlieb is a long time yoga and meditation practitioner. She teaches Iyengar Yoga to children with chronic pain and health problems as a member of the UCLA Pediatric Pain Program team. Beth has taught therapeutic Iyengar Yoga in research studies at UCLA for breast cancer survivors with persistent fatigue, young adults with depressive symptoms and young adults with Rheumatoid arthritis. She is a member of the Dedicated Practitioners Program at Spirit Rock.
Allen Weiss
Allen Weiss is currently in Spirit Rock's Dedicated Practioner's Program and a member of InsightLA's Executive Council and architect of the InsightLA web site. He is also a professor at USC and founder/CEO of an online media company (Marketing Profs, LLC). Previously, he was a professional musician, business consultant, technology columnist and worked at other unrelated jobs.
Visiting Spirit Rock Teachers
Lila Kate Wheeler
Lila Kate Wheeler has practiced Buddhist meditation since 1977, in Asia and the West. She began teaching meditation in the mid-80's. Lila edited Sayadaw U Pandita's books, including "The State of Mind Called Beautiful". A prize-winning writer of fiction and journalism, she is currently working on her second novel, about Buddhist in the USA