In 2015, Jake launched a monthly meditation class along with Jonathan Foust for DC-area CEOs that has been meeting continuously since. More recently, he created with Jonathan a yearlong program for his Young President’s Organization (YPO) Chapter members and spouses that is in its second year.

Jake is a graduate of a two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training program led by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. Earlier, he completed Jonathan Foust’s a Year of Living Mindfully. Jake has been practicing meditation since 2009. He is also a member of the Board of the Hoffman Institute, an organization dedicated to helping people achieve personal, transformational change.

Jake is co- founder of Kinetic Ventures, an early-stage venture investor. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and Roanoke College. He and his wife Carrington have been married for 26 years and have three teenage children. 

Stacey Guenther completed Jonathan Foust’s Year of Living Mindfully" in 2014.

Professionally, she is a coach, trainer, facilitator, and consultant focusing on leadership, well-being, and positive organizational scholarship. Stacey is the former director of educational programs at the Center for Consciousness and Transformation at George Mason University, where she founded a living learning community called Mindful Living. She continues to serve at Mason as an adjunct faculty member teaching a for-credit class called "Meditation, Mindfulness, and Stress Management".

Paul Beaton is dedicated to walking a path toward awakening and cultivating greater compassion and loving kindness for himself and for all others. Paul began his formal meditation practice in 2013 through one of IMCW’s neighborhood classes and began a yoga-based mindfulness of body practice in 2006. The dharma and IMCW have given so much to Paul--he is delighted to be able to give back through service on the IMCW board.

Chantelle Britton has practiced and studied vipassana meditation for over 10 years.  Chantelle both participated and served as a mentor in Jonathan Foust’s “Year of Living Mindfully” program and formally volunteered during the Insight Meditation Community of Washington’s Wednesday night meditation class in Bethesda, MD. Chantelle works full time in health policy for the Federal government and her real job is caring for her toddler, who also happens to the best teacher she's ever had. 

Growing up in India — the birthplace of yoga — Anna would watch her father meditate and do sun salutations barefoot before she eventually began her formal training in yoga and meditation with Master Kamal Srinivas. She went on to pursue extensive training in India and the US. Anna is the co-founder of Asian Sangha and is a mentor for IMCW and Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme) teen retreats. She is a graduate of the 2-year Meditation Teacher Certification program (with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach). Anna lives in Northern Virginia with 5 earthlings: her husband, two human and two non-human children and shares her love of learning at asaya.org.

Elena Baylis was introduced to meditation through IMCW’s Wednesday night class and is a member of the Center for Mindful Living sangha. Her focus is on the benefits of daily meditation practice and integrating mindfulness into everyday life. Professionally, Elena is a law professor who writes about post-conflict justice and international law. Elena is originally from Oregon and now lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and daughter. 

Laurie is dedicated to practicing and teaching awareness with compassion to live with meaning and purpose in an embodied way. She is the National Geographic author of The Mindful Day: Practical Ways to Find Focus, Calm and Joy from Morning to Evening, March 2018 and the NG magazine Everyday Mindfulness, June 2019.

A student of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh for over twenty years, Laurie is a Senior Mindfulness Teacher at the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute born at Google, a certified meditation teacher with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s two-year program, and a professor of Mindful Leadership at the R. H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. A former leader at Accenture and the founder of PurposeBlue Mindful Leadership, Laurie shares the science of mindfulness, compassion and emotional well-being in the US, Europe and Asia.

Silvia has been formally practicing Vipassana, Insight Meditation, for over 12 years. She graduated from the Year of Living Mindfully program in 2009 and in 2013 graduated from The Meditation Teacher Training Institute’s two-year program with teachers Tara Brach, Jonathan Foust, Hugh Byrne and Pat Coffey. That year, she also received a .b mindfulness in schools, teacher certification. She is currently part of the Advance Practitioners Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center a one-year program for senior students of the dharma, she has been an IMCW Affiliate Teacher for several years.

Silvia holds an MFA in film and television from NYU and works as a video producer for Montgomery County Public Schools. She has contributed as video producer to several of IMCW’s videos and is happy to work on multiple video projects to spread her love for the dharma.

As a mother of two young adults, her practice is an integral part of daily life.

Tara Brach is a leading western teacher of Buddhist meditation, emotional healing and spiritual awakening. She has practiced and taught meditation for over 35 years, with an emphasis on vipassana (mindfulness or insight) meditation. Tara is the senior teacher and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. A clinical psychologist, Tara is author of Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha and the book, True Refuge--Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart (Bantam, 2013).  She also has a meditation CD, Mindfulness Meditation: Nine Guided Practices to Awaken Presence and Open Your Heart.

Tara is nationally known for her skill in weaving western psychological wisdom with a range of meditative practices. Her approach emphasizes compassion for oneself and others; mindful presence and the direct realization and embodiment of natural awareness.

Travis Spencer is originally from the Valdosta, Georgia. He obtained a BA in English from Valdosta State University, and is poised to complete his MA in counseling from Trinity University in Washington, DC.

Travis began his Buddhist practice in 2008 and strives to be an agent of change in our community. Currently, he is a  Master’s of Counseling student at Trinity University. Travis is a lifelong learner, and wants to promote diversity, wellness and holistic care in our communities.

Hugh Byrne, Ph. D. is a teacher with the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. He completed a four-year teacher training at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the Insight Meditation Society led by Jack Kornfield. Hugh is also trained in and teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and has completed training in Somatic Experiencing, a mind-body approach to healing trauma. He is a co-founder of the Washington Buddhist Peace Fellowship.

Hugh is the author of The Here-and-Now Habit: How Mindfulness Can Help You Break Unhealthy Habits Once and For All (New Harbinger Publications, March 2016).

Hugh has been on IMCW’s Board of Directors and a member of the Teachers Council since 2003. He is also one of four teachers for the Meditation Teacher Training Institute (MTTI).