Sangha Recognition Corner...

Behind The Meditation Bell: Meet Our Practice Leaders

Practice leaders offer guided meditation instruction and facilitate dharma-centered discussions at open sittings at Insight PV. Here are the stories of four of our practice leaders, and how these generous sangha members came to be sitting behind the bell.

Paul Coombs, one of the Center’s first practice leaders, has a long grey beard and a warm smile. He has been meditating since plunging into practice on a 16-day retreat in 1987. Since then, he’s done many retreats and has become a pillar of the meditation community in the Pioneer Valley. Although not formally a meditation teacher, Paul brings the perspective of meditation into his family life and his work as an economist. He is grateful for meditation, as he has found in the practice a meaningful way to work with life’s inevitable challenges. As a practice leader, he sees his contribution as “just helping”.

When Kim Weeber is not working as a podiatrist, she is never far from a meditation center. A dedicated yogi, Kim has explored a variety of spiritual paths including a long stint as a Zen student. However, after meeting Bhante Gunaratana and seeing the potential of Vipassana practice, she became a devoted student of Theravadin Buddhism. Recently, Kim completed the Community Dharma Leader program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and she is now teaching classes and leading retreats on her own. As a practice leader, Kim tries to share her understanding of meditation in a way that will be helpful to others. She enjoys providing the opportunity for others to practice and seeing the deep connections which form among community members.

In 1976, Adi Bemak encountered meditation while traveling briefly in Burma. She remembers slumping over during her first sitting and being helped to straighten her posture by the hand of her teacher. By 1979, she had attended her first retreat at Insight Meditation Society and felt she had found her place. In the intervening years, Adi has trained both as a teacher of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and as a Community Dharma Leader. Adi would like to be a resource for people as they explore dharma practice and its place in their lives. She loves the wonderful refuge the Center provides and appreciates the respectful way we come together as a community through dharma practice. “This is a real blessing for the world,” she says.

Like Adi, Peggy Gillespie first encountered meditation in 1976. She had come to Naropa Institute in Boulder,CO where she met Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and Jack Kornfield. These 3 would soon start Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, MA and by 1979 Peggy had joined as a staff member. After her stint at IMS, Peggy helped found (with Jon Kabat-Zinn) the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction clinic at UMass in Worcester. Asked how meditation has helped her, she reflects before responding, “Practice has helped me to see that I want to live with kindness towards myself and others. Practice helps me to grow kinder.” As a practice leader, Peggy tries to create a space that is welcoming to all people. She especially enjoys the discussion period and offering a place in which people feel comfortable sharing their views and ideas.

—Andrew Berger