IMCC Teachers & Guiding Teachers Council
IMCC’s teachers are respected for their depth of practice, breadth of understanding, and compassionate hearts. Deeply attuned to our participants, they consistently deliver invaluable teachings reflecting their unique perspective and personal style. They also remain students themselves, committed to ongoing Dharma study, practice, and to deepening their understanding and embodiment of the Buddha’s teachings.
Our teachers adhere to a code of ethics, reflecting their understanding that, as Dharma teachers, they are stewards of the trust students place in them. All teachers are committed to personal integrity, clear teacher-student boundaries, and embodying the paramis of generosity, virtue, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience, truthfulness, determination, loving-kindness, and equanimity in daily interactions.
Guiding Teachers Council
IMCC’s Guiding Teachers Council (GTC) meets monthly to plan and oversee all aspects of teaching at IMCC, including weekly Dharma teachings, classes, retreats, guest teachers, teacher development, the identification and mentoring of new teachers, teacher criteria, and ethical guidelines. Current members of the GTC include Teresa Miller, Anna Vanhoy, Laura DeVault, Jeanne van Gemert, and Matt Fritts.
Email gtc@imeditation.org to reach a member of the GTC or direct an inquiry to any teacher.
IMCC Teachers
Sharon Beckman-Brindley, (she/her) a clinical psychologist, is an IMCC co-founder and a current IMCC teacher. Her offerings blend deep inquiry into the Dhamma with practical insights from modern western psychology. She is also a senior teacher of the relational meditation practice of Insight Dialogue (www.metta.org). Sharon enjoys developing programs for mental health professionals and she writes a blog (sharonbb.org) whose aim is to integrate western psychological understandings with the wisdom teachings of Buddhist psychology. She is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leaders Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, Calif. Sharon is a stepmother, and a grandmother and she lives with her husband in Charlottesville.
Laura DeVault (she/her) Is a practicing End-of-Life Doula who became a certified meditation teacher with Martin Aylward and Mark Coleman in the year-long training with the Mindfulness Training Institute in 2017. She graduated from the Mindfulness Self-Compassion Teacher Training with Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer later that same year. More recently, she completed the year-long New York Zen Center’s Foundations in Contemplative Care program, which brought even greater depth to her Death Doula practice as well as to her Dharma practice.
Matt Fritts (he/him) first met the Dharma as a UVA undergrad through a class on Buddhist meditation taught by Jeffrey Hopkins. He has been practicing and teaching yoga since 1996, when he completed his first Integral Yoga teacher training program at Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville. Matt has been an IMCC Sangha member since he moved back to Charlottesville in 2018 to work in UVA’s employee well-being program, and he finds that IMCC complements well his primary practice in the Himalayan Buddhist tradition. In his free time he loves hiking with friends and his dog, and hosting a classical piano radio show on WTJU.
Teresa Miller, MEd, (she/her) a graduate of Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders Program, uses a background in experiential facilitation, life coaching and a love of nature in her teaching, retreats, workshops and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction courses at UVA - all aimed at easing suffering, cultivating resilience, and allowing life to be met with kindness, wisdom, and joy.
Susan Stone, Ph.D., (she/her) is a founding teacher of IMCC. She initially trained in Zen for 10 years, is a lay priest, and lived at Shasta Abbey Zen Monastery for two years. Susan graduated from Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Community Dharma Leader program and lived at Bhavana Forest Monastery for a year. Having studied Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) under the direction of Jon Kabat-Zinn, she taught MBSR at the UVA Mindfulness Center for 17 years. She also served for 6 years as a mentor in the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. Susan authored At the Eleventh Hour, about caregiving for her dying mother; and The Sati Trilogy, novels set in the Buddha’s era. Her teaching focuses on exploring the Dharma and nonduality in the context of global changes and uncertainties.
Jeanne van Gemert, MFA, LMBT, LPC, (she/her) came to meditation 30 years ago through art; she co-founded McGuffey Art Center and taught art at PVCC. She is a graduate of Spirit Rock Meditation Center's Community Dharma Leader Program and studied Mindfulness- Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) under the direction of Jon Kabat-Zinn. Jeanne was on staff as a psychotherapist (incorporating meditation, body-oriented and expressive modalities) and taught MBSR at Duke Integrative Medicine for 16 years. Jeanne co-founded and served as a guiding teacher for Triangle Insight Meditation Community in Durham, NC until she moved back to Charlottesville in May, 2018. Jeanne enjoys teaching the integration of Buddhism into our everyday thoughts, emotions and interactions so that we can see how the extraordinary and the wise is hidden in the ordinary.
Anna Vanhoy (she/her) bio coming soon
IMCC Teachers Emeriti
Pat Coffey (he/him) began his meditation practice over 50 years ago and has been teaching for about 30 years both here in the U.S. and abroad. Originally trained as a retreat teacher through a joint training program of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in CA and the Insight Meditation Society in MA, he has studied with numerous Asian and Western teachers in the Theravada, Tibetan, Zen and Advaita traditions. Pat is the founder of IMCC, and Co-founder of Blue Ridge Prison Project, Meditation Teacher Training Institute and the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program offered through Sounds True. Currently, his teaching and practice explores the common Natural Awareness threads of all wisdom traditions. As the holder of several patents and with an extensive business background, Pat offers a down-to-earth, real-world approach to cultivating a strong contemplative practice. He is married with three children and three grandchildren.
Jackie Erskine (MSW) (she/her) began practicing with Tara Brach at IMCW in 1993, while living in the greater DC area. She completed the Community Dharma Leaders training program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in 2003. She led retreats, taught mindfulness meditation classes, and developed a particular interest in Buddhist approaches to death and dying. Jackie took special interest in supporting small spiritual friends' groups (Kalyana Mitta) After retiring to Charlottesville in 2006, Jackie was actively engaged as teacher and board member with IMCC for 5 years She continues to be deeply appreciative of this Sangha, of the Dharma sisters and brothers in IMCC who have supported and enriched her life.
Allie Rudolph
Affiliate Teachers contribute to IMCC’s mission as they are able through teaching, committee and service work.
Helen Farrar
Laura Good
IMCC Affiliate Teachers
Our practice leaders lead practice sessions and groups, such as the Noon Sangha sittings and Racial Affinity Groups, and assist in teaching introductory mindfulness classes in the IMCC community.
Julie Convisser, Philip Dupont, Tim Edmond, Lynda Fanning, Anna Fox Ryan, Mimi Hunt, Susan Kaufman, Barbara Maille, Amy Sarah Marshall, Barbara Martin, Rebecca Mason, Fred Maus, Jessica O’Leary, Kristen Pingry, Philip Schrodt, David Silver, Bev Wann, Shannon Williams
IMCC Practice Leaders
IMCC Guest Teachers
Dharma teachers with significant teaching experience and/or national or international reputation are invited periodically to lead classes, retreats, and programs as a guest teacher.
Recent guest teachers include Caverly Morgan, Tuere Sala, Sandy Newhouse, Venerable Pannavati, Leslie Booker, Lama Tashi, and Lama Willa Blythe Baker.
Past guest teachers have included Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Leigh Brasington, Bhante Gunaratana, Amma Thanasanti, Rick Hanson, Ruth King, Kevin Griffin, Hugh Byrne, George Mumford, Chas DiCapua, Kate Lila Wheeler, Susan Bauer-Wu, Robert Hodge, Ron Vereen, Donald Rothberg, Sharon Shelton, Noliwe Alexander, Chenxing Han, Kaira-Jewel Lingo, and Scott Bryce.