Catherine McGee has practised and studied Buddhist meditation since 1992.  She has been teaching insight meditation at Gaia House and internationally since 1997. She is a member of the Gaia House Teacher Council.

Catherine is particularly interested in the integration and embodiment of insight into our personal lives, and the opening of our personal lives for a depth of insight. Her practice is more recently influenced by the Diamond Approach of A. H. Almaas.

Ven Canda began meditating in 1996 with SN Goenka. She ordained as a Buddhist nun in Burma in 2006 and subsequently took full ‘bhikkhuni’ ordination in Perth, with the encouragement of her Teacher, Ajahn Brahm.

Her approach to meditation focuses on kindness and letting go as a means to deepening stillness and is richly informed by the compassion and pragmatism of the early Buddhist texts.

In 2016, Ven Canda founded Anukampa Bhikkhuni Project with Ajahn Brahm – a UK charity aimed at establishing a nun’s monastery in the UK www.anukampaproject.org

Jake Dartington has practised Buddhist meditation since 1995 and trained as a teacher with Christina Feldman. He began to teach retreats and meditation courses in 2007.

As well as leading retreats at Gaia House, Jake teaches with organisations including Yoga London, Bahia Yoga, Sheffield Insight and Oxford Gaia House Retreats.

He has also completed Mindfulness teacher training courses with Bangor University and regularly teaches eight-week courses in Nottingham.

Visit Jake’s website here
Visit Jake’s YouTube channel here

Zohar Lavie has been practising meditation in different traditions since 1995. This journey has taken her from the meditation cushion into exploring further ways of expressing truth and love and in 2004 she co-founded SanghaSeva.

She now spends most of her time facilitating retreats that offer service as a spiritual path around the world.

Since 2006 she has been teaching on silent retreats and Dharma gatherings in India, Europe and Israel.

Jaya Karen Rudgard began meditating in the 1980s and practised for eight years as a nun in the Thai Forest tradition in England with Ven. Ajahn Sumedho as her teacher.

She is a graduate of the IMS/Spirit Rock Teacher Training and teaches Insight Meditation and mindfulness in the UK and internationally.

River Wolton has practised in the Insight Meditation tradition since 2000. She is a co-founder of Sheffield Insight Meditation, a graduate from the Gaia House Community Dharma Leadership programme, and currently in teacher training with Bodhi College.

A published poet, she teaches creative writing in schools, colleges and community projects; she has a background in LGBT activism, and volunteers as an ally with LGBT asylum seekers and refugees.

Bernat Font met the dharma at 15 and since 2010 he has been practising in Europe, India and Myanmar.

A graduate from the Gaia House Community Dharma Leadership programme, he is currently in teacher training at the Bodhi College and guides a meditation community he founded in his native Barcelona. He holds an MA in Buddhist Studies.