Speakers

Past speakers

Jennifer B. (Step 1),  is a longtime practitioner who has been in recovery for 18+ years.  She is also a Buddhist chaplain at Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco.  As a native of New Jersey (think Sopranos country), Jennifer is a lively speaker who loves to engage groups by wrestling with growthful questions.

Jason M. (Step 2) has been practicing Vipassana (Insight) meditation for 15 years. He is a teacher and a certified addictions counselor who has been working with youth and families for the past 15 years. Jason has taught mindful awareness in a variety of settings with hopes of spreading the dharma. He now leads a weekly Vipassana groups for young adults in Santa Cruz.

Renshin B. (Step 3) is a Zen Buddhist priest.  She has been clean and sober for 30 years.  She’s currently living in Oakland CA and works as a chaplain.

Paul H. (Step 4) has been involved with the recovery community since 1988, and has been leading workshops and holding talks for 18 years.

Jeffrey S. (Step 5) has practiced at the San Francisco Zen Center since 1978. He began the Meditation in Recovery group there in 2000 and has most recently initiated a yearlong group combining Buddhist practice and recovery work.

Darren L. (Step 6) is the author of The 12-Step Buddhist. With advanced education in psychology, he has been a member of the recovery community for more than twenty years. A practitioner of Zen and several systems of Tibetan Buddhism, including Vajrayana (Tantra), Darren conducts groups in and out of institutions.

Nancy W. (Step 7) is co-founder of 12 Weeks. She’s been in recovery since 2001, has been meditating on and off for almost as long, and has recently completed a facilitator training program with Noah Levine, author of Dharma Punx and Against the Stream.

Tim W. (Step 8 ) was born in the U.S. and  raised in London, and has been practicing Buddhism since working his first 11th step in 2000. During his first four years of practice, he studied Vipassana with Eugene Cash of the SF Insight Community. For the past six years he has been a student of Michael Wenger’s at the San Francisco Zen Center. Having received lay ordination in 2006, Tim teaches at the Monday night meditation for people in recovery. He is currently studying to become a priest.

Nancy W. (Step 9) See Step 7.

Laura B. (Step 10) is a lay teacher in the Soto Zen tradition who lectures and leads retreats at different practice centers in Northern California.  Her monthly column “Is That So?” appears on the San Francisco Zen Center website.

Daigan G. (Step 11) has been clean and sober since April 16th 1988. Daigan began to practice in 1995 with Howie Cohen on Dolores Street, and switched to a  Zen practice with Paul Haller in 2003. He is known as one of the infamous Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and he is also a longtime volunteer with Zen Hospice Project. A full-time student, Daigan has lived at San Francisco Zen Center since 2008.

Kevin G. (Step 12) is the author of  One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps and the forthcoming  God, Buddha, and the Path of Recovery (Hay House 2009). A longtime Buddhist practitioner and 12-Step participant, he is a leader in the mindful recovery movement and one of the founders of the Buddhist Recovery Network.