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About the teachers
Subhana has practised meditation for over 20 years, is an acknowledged teacher in both the Insight meditation and Zen Buddhist traditions. She teaches seven-day intensive retreats in India, Australia and New Zealand.
In 1996 Subhana became the first Australian Zen Roshi and is the spiritual director of the Sydney and Melbourne Zen Centres. She is also the founder of the Kwan Yin Zen Centre in Lismore. Subhana is the mother of two children
and works as a counsellor and psychotherapist in Sydney.
Jeremy has been involved in Insight Meditation for the last eighteen years, spending several years in the east and in Europe learning and practicing meditation. He has been teaching retreats since 1991 in New Zealand
and he has taught in India. He currently lives in the Wairarapa working as a Counsellor and facilitating Stopping Violence programmes for men.
Sharda Rogell
Sharda has been practising and teaching Buddhist insight meditation for over 30 years and is currently on the Teacher Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in northern California near her home. She has been influenced by many different spiritual traditions, including her root teacher, H. W. L. Poonja, during her many trips to India. Sharda is also a student of A. H. Almaas in the Diamond Heart School. She has been teaching in New Zealand since 1991.
Yanai has practiced and studied Insight meditation and Dharma teachings in Asia and the West. He leads retreats in Europe, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Originally from New Zealand, he lives in Devon,
England, and is a member of the Gaia House Teacher Council. Yanai also served one year as a resident teacher for the staff at Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Mass. USA. He has also led various courses combining
meditation and silence with being in nature, which he finds to be a wonderful combination.
Finlay was a Buddhist Monk in the Theravada Forest tradition for 17 years mainly in England and Thailand, but spending nearly two years in the Stokes Valley retreat in Wellington. He has practiced and taught meditation
over the last 25 years, most recently in Wellington. He now lives at Lake Hawea with his wife Pip and new baby girl, Minnie. He is a furniture maker.
Shaila has been practicing meditation since 1980, with seven years of accumulated silent retreat experience. At the request of her mentor Christopher Titmuss, she has been teaching since 1996 in the USA, India,
Israel and England. Shaila studies at the Sharpham College for Buddhist studies in England, and dedicated several years to studying with masters in India, Nepal and Thailand, including H.W.L Poonja, Buddhadasa Bhikku,
Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. From 2001-2003 Shaila served as the resident vipassana teacher for the Albuquerque and Santa Fe Vipassana Sanghas. She completed a one year intensive meditation
retreat with the focus on concentration and jhana in 2004 and has recently founded Insight Meditation South Bay.
Photo by Fraser Gunn. To see more of Fraser's work, please visit www.laketekapo.cc and www.astrophotography.co.nz