Insight Meditation Institute Directors and Teachers
The lead teachers and founders of the Institute are Subhana Barzaghi and Alan Bassal. They are responsible for the spiritual vision of the organisation, the design of the curriculum and its teacher training programs.
Subhana Barzaghi
Subhana is a Zen roshi and a senior teacher in the Insight Meditation tradition. She is a resident teacher of the Sydney Zen Centre and founding teacher of both the Bluegum Sangha in Sydney and the Kuan Yin Meditation Centre in Lismore. Subhana’s teaching emphasises liberation here and now through the practice of calm abiding and enquiry. She leads Zen and Insight Meditation retreats in Australia, New Zealand and India 
Alan Bassal
Alan has been studying and practicing Buddha’s teachings for over 35 years beginning in the Vipassana meditation tradition and then developing in Eastern and Western Insight. For over 28 years he worked internationally in the field of management and organisational change and for many years has integrated mindfulness and mindfulness based psychotherapy in his leadership development work. Alan’s Insight Meditation teaching is eclectic and practical, he encourages people to awaken to each moment and find the fulfillment they seek. Insight Meditation Institute Teachers
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Sabina Rabold
Sabina is a counselor and psychotherapist with more than 17 years of experience in private practice. She is the founder and director of Well for Life, Center for Counselling, Mindfulness and Holistic Health in Crows Nest, Sydney and is an experienced lecturer, teacher and trainer in the fields of counselling, communication and leadership. A 30 year practice in meditation, with a particular love for the insight tradition, has led Sabina to teach meditation and mindfulness classes and retreats and she deeply appreciates the gifts of these practices in her therapeutic work. |
Senior Insight Meditation Dharma Teachers / Mentors
The Institute’s Dharma Teacher Mentors are an integral part of our faculty. They offer wise counsel to the Institute and mentoring and support to individuals on the path of becoming Insight Meditation Dharma teachers.
The teachers listed here have practiced Insight Meditation for more than 20 years. Some have trained in monasteries in Asia. They have taught dozens of 5 to 10 day retreats, Dharma Gatherings, Mindfulness programs and a range of professional workshops over the years. They have mentored individuals, founded, supported and lead Sanghas. Senior Insight teachers lead classes and retreats both locally, throughout Australia and overseas.
Teachers also continue as students themselves, dedicated to ongoing study and dharma practice to deepen their understanding and embodiment of the Buddha Way.
The teachers listed here have practiced Insight Meditation for more than 20 years. Some have trained in monasteries in Asia. They have taught dozens of 5 to 10 day retreats, Dharma Gatherings, Mindfulness programs and a range of professional workshops over the years. They have mentored individuals, founded, supported and lead Sanghas. Senior Insight teachers lead classes and retreats both locally, throughout Australia and overseas.
Teachers also continue as students themselves, dedicated to ongoing study and dharma practice to deepen their understanding and embodiment of the Buddha Way.
Patrick Kearney
Patrick is an independent dharma teacher in the lineage of Mahasi Sayadaw. He has also trained in the Diamond Sangha lineage of Zen Buddhism, his original teacher was Robert Atkin Roshi.
Patrick has a particular interest in the original teachings of the Buddha - Buddhism as it was before Theravada or Mahayana were ever thought of. He studies Pali and seeks to bring his understanding of the early texts to the practice of dharma in the contemporary world.
Patrick is an independent dharma teacher in the lineage of Mahasi Sayadaw. He has also trained in the Diamond Sangha lineage of Zen Buddhism, his original teacher was Robert Atkin Roshi.
Patrick has a particular interest in the original teachings of the Buddha - Buddhism as it was before Theravada or Mahayana were ever thought of. He studies Pali and seeks to bring his understanding of the early texts to the practice of dharma in the contemporary world.
Carol Perry
Carol has more than forty years meditation experience in the Insight tradition. She is a senior teacher with Melbourne Insight Meditation. In 1972 Carol co-founded a rural community called Dharmananda. She continues to live there with around twenty three people, working together to grow a wide range of organic foods and maintaining the land.
Carol is a long-time social activist on ecological issues and is passionate about supporting cohesive and harmonious community in all its forms. She has a mindfulness-based (Hakomi) psychotherapy practice in Lismore NSW and globally by Skype. She teaches a dharma-based workshop called Communicating Mindfully.
Carol has more than forty years meditation experience in the Insight tradition. She is a senior teacher with Melbourne Insight Meditation. In 1972 Carol co-founded a rural community called Dharmananda. She continues to live there with around twenty three people, working together to grow a wide range of organic foods and maintaining the land.
Carol is a long-time social activist on ecological issues and is passionate about supporting cohesive and harmonious community in all its forms. She has a mindfulness-based (Hakomi) psychotherapy practice in Lismore NSW and globally by Skype. She teaches a dharma-based workshop called Communicating Mindfully.
Victor von der Heyde
Victor von der Heyde has practiced meditation for thirty five years. He studied with a wide range of dharma teachers, he's spent over two years in total in silent retreats and taken dharma teaching roles since the mid 1990s. Victor has an interest helping people understand the varieties of meditation and dharma perspectives so that they're in a position to choose what works for them. He has had a long term interest in environmental ethics, he spent two decades helping manage a small overseas aid organisation and worked for many years as a counselor.
Victor von der Heyde has practiced meditation for thirty five years. He studied with a wide range of dharma teachers, he's spent over two years in total in silent retreats and taken dharma teaching roles since the mid 1990s. Victor has an interest helping people understand the varieties of meditation and dharma perspectives so that they're in a position to choose what works for them. He has had a long term interest in environmental ethics, he spent two decades helping manage a small overseas aid organisation and worked for many years as a counselor.
Will James
Will attended his first Insight Meditation reteat in late 1970s with Christopher Titmus, this meeting kindled a deep interest in meditation and a great love for the Dharma teachings and practices.
Will is the guiding teacher at the Tallowwood Sangha in Bellingen NSW, he regularly leads retreats in Bellingen, Byron Bay and annually in Bali.
Will teaching lays great emphasis on seeing into the ‘dependent arising’ and empty nature of all phenomena. This seeing makes possible for a deep understanding that frees the mins and opens the heart.
Will attended his first Insight Meditation reteat in late 1970s with Christopher Titmus, this meeting kindled a deep interest in meditation and a great love for the Dharma teachings and practices.
Will is the guiding teacher at the Tallowwood Sangha in Bellingen NSW, he regularly leads retreats in Bellingen, Byron Bay and annually in Bali.
Will teaching lays great emphasis on seeing into the ‘dependent arising’ and empty nature of all phenomena. This seeing makes possible for a deep understanding that frees the mins and opens the heart.
Jill Shepherd
Jill began practicing insight meditation in Thailand in 1999, and since that time has lived and worked at several meditation centers and monasteries in the US, Australia, England, and Thailand. She is a graduate of the IMS / Spirit Rock teacher training program in the US, under the guidance of Joseph Goldstein and Gil Fronsdal.
Currently, Jill teaches vipassana and brahma vihara retreats and offers ongoing study and practice groups focused on bringing the dharma into daily life. She also leads courses and non-residential workshops exploring the relational practice of Insight Dialogue, as developed by Gregory Kramer and colleagues
Jill began practicing insight meditation in Thailand in 1999, and since that time has lived and worked at several meditation centers and monasteries in the US, Australia, England, and Thailand. She is a graduate of the IMS / Spirit Rock teacher training program in the US, under the guidance of Joseph Goldstein and Gil Fronsdal.
Currently, Jill teaches vipassana and brahma vihara retreats and offers ongoing study and practice groups focused on bringing the dharma into daily life. She also leads courses and non-residential workshops exploring the relational practice of Insight Dialogue, as developed by Gregory Kramer and colleagues