Lynne Bousfield has been studying and practicing Buddhist meditation for more than 30 years having commenced in BodhGaya, India in the mid 1970’s. Since 1980 she has returned to Burma regularly to undertake intensive practice and develop her understanding of meditation and Buddhist psychology. She helped establish Vipassana Meditation in Australia and was a co-founder of the Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre (BMIMC).

Lynne is a clinical psychologist practising in Sydney since 1992. She was responsible for introducing insight meditation into pain management at a major teaching hospital in Sydney where she continues clinical consultation. Lynne actively incorporates meditation into her general clinical work with clients with a range of difficulties. Her emphasis in her clinical work is on the application of meditative practice as a means of understanding and transforming suffering into the foundation for insight.

Lynne is regularly invited to speak and present on her clinical work at national and international psychology conferences. She teaches meditation classes in Sydney as well as annual retreats with Steven Smith in Australia and New Zealand and with Steven and Michele McDonald in Canada.

Upcoming Retreats

Past Retreats

For Jake, connecting with the Theravada tradition has felt like a steady process of rediscovery and of coming home since he first heard the teachings of mindfulness at age fourteen from Steven and Michele. Since then, he has spent many months on silent retreat with teachers such as Sayadaws U Pandita, U Lakkhana, and others. He has lived as a monk for a total of three years under the guidance of Sayadaw U Pandita, engaging in intensive practice as well as studying the Buddhist Pali texts and increasing his skill with the Burmese language. Since 2001, he has interpreted between Burmese and English at retreats in Burma, Hawai'i, and elsewhere.

Jake is dedicated to developing contemporary presentations of mindfulness practice that are rooted with gratitude, humility, and strength in the 2500 years of tradition that preceeds us. He has written on the need for such authentic interpretations of the Theravada teachings in the academic thesis Strong Roots. He continues the search to understand modern and ancient ways of understanding, and interactions between them, in his studies in the Philosophy Department of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

He hopes to apply these understandings not only in an academic environment, but also to bring philosophical consideration and clarity into his own training as a practitioner and as a teacher of Insight Meditation, as well as into his role as a member of his family and a citizen of our world.

See also Jake's writings in Strong Roots and his Blog.

Upcoming Retreats

Past Retreats

Sarah Hegarty offers mindful yoga practice, designed to be accessible for a diverse range of individuals, and healing for all. She draws on her biomechanical and therapeutic training as a prosthetist, as well as her years of personal practise in yoga, yoga therapy, and mindfulness meditation.

Sarah focuses on complementing the Vipassana practice by developing wisdom awareness of the breath and the body from within the body, using movement techniques borrowed from yoga. The practice facilitates the opening of the hips, pelvis and lower back which allows the body to sit more comfortably; it develops postures that work to maintain the health and strength of the abdomen, spine and legs, and also the ability to move and breathe with awareness.

See also Klong Long Lake Retreat and Offering the Teachings.

Upcoming Retreats

Past Retreats

See also Offering the Teachings.

Grahame White has been involved in Buddhist meditation practice for 35 years. He began his study in England in 1969 before being ordained as a Buddhist monk for one year in BodhGaya, India in 1971. He took a primary role in the establishment of Vipassana meditation in the tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw in Australia and co-founded the Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Center outside Sydney.

Now, Grahame leads introductory and day long courses in Sydney and regularly teaches longer intensive retreats in the US. Many of these retreats have been in Hawaii under the auspices of Vipassana Hawaii where Grahame has been leading and co teaching retreats with Sayadw U Lakkhana, Steven Smith and Michele McDonald, as well as helping to guide the Hawaii sangha.

With Dr. Thynn Thynn, a Burmese Dhamma teacher, he has also pioneered a workshop format that enhances the transfer of mindfulness from the formal sitting practice into daily life. Grahame returns to Myanmar (Burma) each year in order to deepen his practice and study of the Buddha's teachings and at times assist in the teaching of Vipassana retreats for foreigners. Grahame teaches a classical tradition of insight meditation with an accessible style.

Upcoming Retreats

Past Retreats

Steven Smith is a founder of Vipassana Hawai'i (1984) and Kyaswa Valley Retreat Center in Burma (1995). Anchored in the Theravadan Buddhist Burmese lineage of Mahasi Sayadaw since 1974, he was trained by revered monk and meditation master Sayadaw U Pandita.

Steven is a founder of the MettaDana Project for educational and medical projects in Burma and is also a senior advisor on contemplative practice to the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society where he has developed programs for teaching meditation to business leaders, environmental leaders, journalists and philanthropists.

Vipassana Hawai'i is parent to the Hawai'i Insight Meditation Center (HIMC) on the Big Island of Hawai'i's remote North Kohala. A 30-year dream of Steven and Michele McDonald is giving birth in 2007 to a unique, innovative retreat center on our fragile planet. With thoughtfulness guided by simplicity, HIMC is growing a totally green, sustainable living retreat center on 200 acres of extraordinary land with lush tropical valleys and streams on a mile-long, dramatic coastline.

Steven and Michele McDonald regard this project as their opus and fruit of a three-decade dedication to the transmission of a Burmese Buddhist lineage into the modern world.

Three strong pillars of HIMC include: care of the land; trademark Fusion Dhamma retreats combining senior nun and monk Burmese masters with senior teachers of Vipassana Hawai'i; nurturing Next Generation students committed to the Hawai'i-Burma lineage to carry the legacy far into future generations.

Steven teaches Vipassana and the Divine Abodes-loving-kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity-meditation retreats in nature environments for small groups around the world.

See also Steven Smith's Writings and Photos.

Steven's Schedule

Please note: As well as Vipassana Hawai'i retreats, Steven teaches a number of retreats that are not sponsored by Vipassana Hawai'i. We list his complete schedule here for the convenience of his students. For non-VH retreats please follow the links below to get further information from the sponsoring organization.

Upcoming Retreats

Past Retreats

Michele McDonald has taught Insight meditation for twenty-six years. Beyond her commitment to the Vipassana Hawai'i Sangha in Honolulu, she has taught extensively throughout the United States, and regularly teaches in Canada, Burma, and elsewhere around the world.

Having worked with a wide range of Asian and Western teachers, Michele is most inspired by her practice with Dipa Ma and Sayadaw U Pandita and more recently in Burma with the Mya Taung Sayadaw.

She appreciates teaching at many levels of practice and has enjoyed teaching three-month retreats for experienced students as well as developing meditation retreats for youth.

Her style of teaching emphasizes helping individuals find entry points into stillness that are natural for them. She encourages an understanding the path of insight and a gentle strengthening of mindfulness and concentration so that, ultimately, people can access the peaceful depths of their experience in every moment. Michele is thrilled when students begin to love their practice.

See also Offering the Teachings and Michele's Articles.

Michele's Schedule

Please note: As well as Vipassana Hawai'i retreats, Michele teaches a number of retreats that are not sponsored by Vipassana Hawai'i. We list her complete schedule here for the convenience of her students. For non-VH retreats please follow the links below to get further information from the sponsoring organization.

Upcoming Retreats

Past Retreats

See also notes From the Teachers