Tara Brach

Tara Brach (born May 17, 1953) is an American psychologist and proponent of Buddhist meditation. She is the senior teacher and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C.,[1] a "spiritual community" that teaches and practices Vipassana meditation. The group's Wednesday night meeting in Bethesda, Maryland, which is taught by Dr. Brach, is a large gathering of approximately 250-300 people.[2][3] Brach's talks are downloaded freely nearly 200,000 times each month by people in more than 150 countries.[4] Her colleagues include Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein and others in the Vipassana or Insight meditation tradition.[5] Brach also teaches about Buddhist meditation at many centers for meditation and yoga in the United States and Europe including Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, the Kripalu Center,[6] and the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies.[7]

She has taught the application of Buddhist teachings to emotional healing.[2] In 2003, Brach authored Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha, which encapsulated Brach's application of Buddhist teachings such as mindfulness to the psychological process of accepting and healing trauma. In 2013, Brach wrote True Refuge: Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart, offering a practical guide to finding our inner sanctuary of peace and wisdom in the midst of difficulty. Brach is an engaged Buddhist.

Education

As an undergraduate at Clark University, Brach pursued a double major in psychology and political science.[8] Brach received a doctorate in clinical psychology from the Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California.[2] She wrote a dissertation analyzing how individuals with eating disorders can utilize meditation as a healing technique.

Career

She co-created the Community Dharma Leader 4 Program, that provides aspiring meditation teachers with a 2-year training regime that includes retreats and mentoring, at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.[9] She now holds conferences at conference centers such as Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in conjunction with Kornfield.[10]

She co-founded the Washington, DC Buddhist Peace Fellowship[11] which is a subsidiary of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.

Personal life

Brach presently resides in Virginia with her husband, Jonathan Foust, a yoga and meditation teacher. Brach was raised Unitarian.[12][13]

Bibliography

Books

Articles

Audio Publications

Interviews

Notes

  1. ↑ "Tara Brach - Teacher page". imcw.org. Insight Meditation Community of Washington. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Adelman, Ken (May 1, 2005). "What I've learned: Tara Brach". Washingtonian. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Tara Brach - Wednesday Night Class". imcw.org. Insight Meditation Community of Washington. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  4. ↑ Boorstein, Michelle (May 18, 2013). "Meditation guru Tara Brach is calm eye of Washington’s stress-filled storm". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  5. ↑ Publishers Weekly Review Publisher's Weekly review of Radical Acceptance Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Tara Brach". Kripalu.org. Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Tara Brach, PhD". Eomega.org. Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, Inc. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
  8. ↑ Omega Institute Teacher Page Retrieved November 28, 2015
  9. ↑ "Community Dharma Leader 4 Program". Spiritrock.org. Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
  10. ↑ "The Gifts of Buddhist & Western Psychology". Eomega.org. Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, Inc. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  11. ↑ Washington Buddhist Peace Fellowship About Us Page
  12. ↑ "Riding the wave of secular meditation". Retrieved 2015-08-22.
  13. ↑ "Meditation guru Tara Brach is calm eye of Washington's storm - OnFaith". Retrieved 2015-08-22.

External links

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