Tara Brach
Tara Brach (born May 17, 1953) is a Amercan psychologist and expert on Buddhist meditation. She is also the founder and senior teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, a spiritual community that teaches and practices Vipassana meditation. This group's Wednesday night meeting in Bethesda, MD, which is taught by Dr. Brach, regularly attracts hundreds of people per week.[1] She has worked with Jack Kornfield and other prominent Vipassana meditation experts.[2] Brach also teaches Buddhist meditation at many prominent meditation and yoga centers in the United States and Canada including Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, the Kripalu Center [3], and the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies [4] Her books and CDs have also been featured heavily by Sounds True a prominent company specializing in producing and selling resources pertaining to spirituality. [5]
A clinical psychologist, she has taught extensively on the application of Buddhist teachings to emotional healing.[6] 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. Brach is a peace activist, and an engaged Buddhist. She co-founded the Washington, DC Buddhist Peace Fellowship.
Educational and professional background
Brach received a doctorate in clinical psychology from the Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California.[7] She wrote a dissertation analyzing how individuals with eating disorders can utilize meditation as a healing technique.
Brach spent ten years living in an ashram (a yogic spiritual community) where she practiced and taught kundalini yoga and concentrative (breath and mantra) meditations. After being introduced to Buddhist meditation, she attended a number of silent vipassana retreats led by Joseph Goldstein and other senior teachers. She went on to participate in a five year Buddhist teacher training program under the guidance of Jack Kornfield, a prominent Buddhist meditation teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and now holds conferences at internationally respected conference centers such as Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in conjunction with him.[8]
Brach presently resides in Virginia with her husband, Jonathan Foust, who is also a noted yoga and meditation teacher.
Bibliography
- Tara Brach (2003). Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha. ISBN 0-553-80167-8
- Brach Interview With Tami Simon, Founder of Sounds True
- Tara Brach Yoga Journal Article: A More Perfect Union
Notes
- ^ http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/1795.html
- ^ Kornfield, J. (2003). Publisher's Weekly review of Radical Acceptance: Embracing your life with the heart of a Buddha [Publisher's Weekly Editorial Review]. Retrieved April 17, 2009, from http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553801678/ref=dp_proddesc_1?ie=UTF8&n=283155
- ^ http://www.kripalu.org/presenter/V0000792/
- ^ http://eomega.org/omega/faculty/viewProfile/78719a6bfd2525e39fc2e2a81fdd770d/
- ^ http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/STSearch.do?searchTerm=tara+brach&searchDomain=keyword&selectedType=All+Products&searchPage=0&selectedComponentGroup=All&selectedItem=bestsellers&type=search
- ^ Adelman, Ken (May 1, 2005). "What i've learned: Tara Brach". Washingtonian. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
- ^ http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/1795.html
- ^ http://eomega.org/omega/dc/?content=PPC&source=1G.SEF.BRACH.land&campaign=OMDC&gclid=CPf3i6jEzKoCFQp75QodqScI3A