Tara Brach
Encyclopedia
Tara Brach is a American psychologist and expert on Buddhist meditation
. She is also the founder and senior teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, a spiritual community that teaches and practices Vipassana meditation. This group's Wednesday night meeting in Bethesda, Maryland
, which is taught by Dr. Brach, regularly attracts hundreds of people per week. She has worked with Jack Kornfield
and other Vipassana
meditation experts. Brach also teaches Buddhist meditation at many meditation and yoga centers in the United States and Canada including Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, the Kripalu Center
, and the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies
.
A clinical psychologist, she has taught on the application of Buddhist teachings to emotional healing. In 2003, Brach authored Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha, which encapsulated Brach's application of Buddhist teachings such as mindfulness to the psychological process of accepting and healing trauma. Brach is a peace activist
, and an engaged Buddhist. She founded the Washington, DC Buddhist Peace Fellowship. which is a subsidiary of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship
.
Brach presently resides in Virginia with her husband, Jonathan Foust, who is also a yoga and meditation teacher.
from the Fielding Graduate University
in Santa Barbara, California. She wrote a dissertation analyzing how individuals with eating disorders can utilize meditation as a healing technique.
She helped evolve the Community Dharma Leader 4 Program, that provides aspiring meditation teachers with a 2-year training regime that includes retreats and mentoring, at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She now holds conferences at conference centers such as Omega Institute for Holistic Studies
in conjunction with Kornfield.
Buddhist meditation
Buddhist meditation refers to the meditative practices associated with the religion and philosophy of Buddhism.Core meditation techniques have been preserved in ancient Buddhist texts and have proliferated and diversified through teacher-student transmissions. Buddhists pursue meditation as part of...
. She is also the founder and senior teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, a spiritual community that teaches and practices Vipassana meditation. This group's Wednesday night meeting in Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...
, which is taught by Dr. Brach, regularly attracts hundreds of people per week. She has worked with Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield is a teacher in the vipassana movement of American Theravada Buddhism. He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, including as a student of the Thai monk Ajahn Chah...
and other Vipassana
Vipassana
Vipassanā or vipaśyanā in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi . Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha...
meditation experts. Brach also teaches Buddhist meditation at many meditation and yoga centers in the United States and Canada including Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, the Kripalu Center
Kripalu Center
The Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health is a non-profit organization that operates a health and yoga retreat in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Its facility is a former Jesuit novitiate and juniorate seminary built in 1957. The center has described itself as North America's largest residential facility...
, and the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies
Omega Institute for Holistic Studies
Omega Institute for Holistic Studies is a non-profit educational retreat center located in Rhinebeck, New York. Founded in 1977 by Elizabeth Lesser and Stephan Rechtschaffen, inspired by Sufi mystic, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan and his ecumenical spirituality, today it offers classes to over 25,000...
.
A clinical psychologist, she has taught on the application of Buddhist teachings to emotional healing. In 2003, Brach authored Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha, which encapsulated Brach's application of Buddhist teachings such as mindfulness to the psychological process of accepting and healing trauma. Brach is a peace activist
Peace activist
This list of peace activists includes people who proactively advocate diplomatic, non-military resolution of political disputes, usually through nonviolent means.A peace activist is an activist of the peace movement.*Jane Addams*Martti Ahtisaari...
, and an engaged Buddhist. She founded the Washington, DC Buddhist Peace Fellowship. which is a subsidiary of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Buddhist Peace Fellowship
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship is a nonsectarian international network of engaged Buddhists participating in various forms of nonviolent social activism and environmentalism with chapters all over the world...
.
Brach presently resides in Virginia with her husband, Jonathan Foust, who is also a yoga and meditation teacher.
Educational and professional background
Brach received a doctorate in clinical psychologyClinical psychology
Clinical psychology is an integration of science, theory and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development...
from the Fielding Graduate University
Fielding Graduate University
Fielding Graduate University, previously Fielding Graduate Institute, and The Fielding Institute, is an accredited, nonprofit post-graduate institution of higher learning based in Santa Barbara, California, USA....
in Santa Barbara, California. She wrote a dissertation analyzing how individuals with eating disorders can utilize meditation as a healing technique.
She helped evolve the Community Dharma Leader 4 Program, that provides aspiring meditation teachers with a 2-year training regime that includes retreats and mentoring, at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She now holds conferences at conference centers such as Omega Institute for Holistic Studies
Omega Institute for Holistic Studies
Omega Institute for Holistic Studies is a non-profit educational retreat center located in Rhinebeck, New York. Founded in 1977 by Elizabeth Lesser and Stephan Rechtschaffen, inspired by Sufi mystic, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan and his ecumenical spirituality, today it offers classes to over 25,000...
in conjunction with Kornfield.