Larissa Kitenko is a longtime practitioner and teacher of Insight Meditation. She has completed the Community Dharma Leader-4 Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center (SRMC) in California with Mary Grace Orr (SRMC) as her mentor and guiding teacher. Her training also includes completion of the Dedicated Practitioner Program also through SRMC, and is a member of the Teachers’ Council of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC (IMC-W) under guiding teacher, Tara Brach, Ph.D.
Larissa trained with Jon Kabat-Zinn and has been teaching MBSR since 2005. She is certified as an Associate Clinical Chaplain at Shore Regional Health in Easton, MD. She leads the Easton Meditation Sangha and also teaches at the Salisbury Buddhist Community, Mindfulness Meditation in Dover, the Insight Meditation Community of Grasonville, MD, and the Insight Meditation Community of Lewes. She leads workshops and retreats all throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.
More information is available on Larissa’s website, Still Point.
Luisa Montero-Diaz has been practicing vipassana meditation since 1987 and teaching meditation since 1993. She completed the three-year Community Dharma Leadership program sponsored by the Spirit Rock Meditation Center.
Prior to her exploration of Buddhist meditation, she was involved in Gurdjieff’s Fourth Way spiritual study groups for four years.
Affiliated with with Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC (IMCW) since its inception, Luisa lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, and leads day-long and weekend retreats in the Washington DC area. She is committed to integrated meditation practice into work and life.
Carl Skooglund has been practicing Buddhism since 1993. He is a charter member of the board of Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC (IMC-W).
Carl taught the first IMCW Family Meditation class from 2000-2010. He has participated in IMCW’s sutta study groups since 2002 and trained with Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leader program from 2005-2008. Since 2015, Carl has been on the regular teacher rotation of the IMCW Takoma Park class.
He is the author of several articles including Treasure Hunt: Exploring Buddhism’s Early Teachings, The Question of Essential Human Goodness, and Keeping Your Eye on the Ball.
Since early 2020 he has served on the IMCW Teachers Council Curriculum Committee, which helps coordinate and balance IMCW’s offerings.
La Sarmiento (they/them) has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1998.
They are a Guiding Teacher and Senior Retreat Manager for the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC (IMC-W), a guiding teacher of the IMCW LGBTQ and People of Color Sanghas, a Lead Retreat Teacher and DC Coordinator for Inward Bound Mindfulness Education, and is a 2012 graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders Training Program.
La is also a Reiki Teacher since 2004, produces Respectful Confrontation workshops in Washington, DC where they reside, plays the ukulele and is renowned for baking incredible chocolate chip cookies.
More information can be found by visiting lasarmiento.com.