Teachers

BHIKKHUNÏ DHAMMADINNĀ was born in Italy in 1980 and went forth as a monastic in the Theravāda Buddhist tradition of SriLanka in 2012. She studied Indology, Indo-Iranian philology and Tibetology at the University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’, at the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University in Tokyo and at the Institute for Research in Humanities at Kyoto University. She is the co-founder (with Bhikkhu Anālayo) and director of the Āgama Research Group (established in 2012) and serves as an associate research professor in the Department of Buddhist Studies of the Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts in Taiwan. She is currently a visiting professor for Buddhist Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. Having lived and worked in the UK, Nepal, Burma/Myanmar, Japan, Taiwan, and Sri Lanka, she has now been based in Italy for a few years. In 2024 Bhikkhunī Dhammadinnā was appointed as a registered Buddhist minister with the Italian government through the Italian Buddhist Union.

Boaz Feldman first practiced meditation as a Buddhist monk in the tradition of Northern Thailand 15 years ago. Heis a Dharma teacher graduate from the Bodhi College with Martine and Stephen Batchelor as his mentors. Boaz has completed over 7 years of silent retreats with teachers such as Sayadaw U Tejaniya (Burma), Joseph Goldstein (USA), Rob Burbea (UK) and Patricia & Charles Genoud (Switzerland). He also trained as a clinical psychologist and founded NeuroSystemics, a Swiss-based charity which trains individuals, groups and communities in clinical somatics and trauma-sensitive approaches globally. Having completed his fellowship at Harvard University, he is currently researching the role of mindful compassion for civic action as a PhD thesis at Cambridge University.

Celeste Young began formally practicing Buddhist meditation in 2002. In 2011, she was invited to join the first teacher development cohort at InsightLA, where she’s served as a core teacher for the past decade. Celeste has maintained a strong interest in and commitment to long retreat practice over the years. She also teaches Insight Meditation retreats, works with individual students, and mentors new teachers globally. 

CHRIS CULLEN has practised and studied the Buddha's teachings since 1994 and has been teaching Insight Meditation retreats since 2010. He is also on the teaching team of the University of Oxford’s Mindfulness Centre, teaching Buddhist Psychology on the Masters course in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and running the mindfulness programme in the UK Parliament. He has a psychotherapy practice in Oxford.

CHRISTIN ILLEBORG is a meditation teacher and owner of Nordic Dharma. She offers mindfulness programmes and teaches insight meditation shaped to our Nordic living conditions. She leads silent retreats in Denmark and Sweden, teaches both individuals and companies. Christin has been practicing meditation since 2000 when her fascination with Buddha’s timeless teachings began. She has been involved in a Japanese tradition, a Tibetan and most recently in the Theravada tradition and Vipassana. In 2017, she completed The Committed Dharma Practitioners Programme at Bodhi College and in 2022 their training as a Dharma Teacher. Christin is also an educated film editor (DDF), yoga teacher and cognitive therapist.

CHRISTINA FELDMAN is a co-founder of Gaia House and a guiding teacher at Insight Meditation Society, Barre, Massachussetts. The author of a number of books, she has been teaching insight meditation retreats internationally since 1976. She is one of the teaching faculty of the CPP programme, dedicated to the study and application of the early teachings of the Buddha and is engaged in teaching the Buddhist psychological foundations of mindfulness to those training to teach mindfulness-based applications in England, Belgium and the Netherlands.

CHRISTOPH KÖCK was born in Vienna, Austria, and spent 17 years of his life as a Buddhist monk in the Theravadin tradition. He lived mainly in monasteries connected with Ajahn Chah in Thailand and the West. Currently he lives in Vienna, working as a psychotherapist in a private practice. He teaches Buddhism and meditation internationally, and is trained to teach MBSR and MBCT. www.christoph-koeck.at

CHRISTOPH KÖCK, geb. 1962 in Wien, lebte 17 Jahre als Mönch, vornehmlich in Klöstern verbunden mit Ajahn Chah in Thailand und Europa. Seit 2001 lebt er wieder in Wien, wo er auch als Psychotherapeut in eigener Praxis tätig ist. Langjährige internationale Lehrtätigkeit in Meditation und Buddhismus.
Webseite: www.christoph-koeck.at

Denis Bićanić Bratski ist Kultursoziologe und Philosoph (Diplom/M.A.) mit langjähriger Tätigkeit im humanitären und sozialen Bereich. Er ist ausgebildeter Lehrer für „Achtsames Selbstmitgefühl“ (MSC). Zwischen 2018 und 2022 absolvierte er das „Committed Practitioners Programme“ sowie das „Teacher Training Programme“ vom Bodhi College.  Zuletzt hat er die Weiterbildung „Palliative Care für pflegende und psychosoziale Berufe“ abgeschlossen (2023-24).

GARY BORN Since retiring as a Director of a multi-national IT software company, Gary hastaught mindfulness, focusing on people with cancer and on health professionals. He also supervises other mindfulness teachers and mentors graduates of mindfulness courses. Gary is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leadership Programme led by Gaia House, and completed the Committed Dharma Practitioners Programme of Bodhi College in 2010. He has been practising Insight Meditation since 2001, and has been a Board member of the Buddhist Insight Network and Sitting Groups Coordinator for London Insight Meditation. Gary is married, with two grown-up sons.