Instructor Bios
The club is lucky to have a number of guest instructors who volunteer their time to help students become more mindful. We are extremely grateful for their continued support.
Jean Haley, MSW, LGSW
Jean is a social worker who incorporates mindfulness practices in her work with clients and in her own life. She has studied Zen, Vipassana, and mindfulness meditation for the past eight years. She volunteers at Shakopee Women’s Prison as a mindfulness instructor and will be teaching Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at the Center for Spirituality and Healing this winter. >> top
Erik Storlie
Erik Storlie is the Mindefulness 4 Students Club Supervisor and is an active Faculty member at the University of Minnesota. He is also the founder of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. Erik began the practice of Zen sitting meditation in 1964. Erik leads meditation and teaches meditation classes for The Center for Spirituality and Healing at the U of M. >> top
Terry Pearson, R. Ph. pharmacist, MBA
Terry has over thirty years of clinical experience in health care. She has completed a professional internship in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, MA. Terry has been practicing meditation since 1995 and teaching MBSR at the U of M and the Marsh for 2 years. >> top
Merra Young, LICSW, LMFT
Merra is the founder of Rivers' Way, a center for supporting the integration of meditation, compassion, and awareness in daily life. Merra has over thirty years of experience in the mental health field. She is an adjunct faculty at the University of Minnesota's Center for Spirituality and Healing as well as the University of St. Thomas. >> top
Judith Lies
A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist for over 20 years, Judith is a founder of HEARTWOOD Mindfulness Practice Center, and has been an instructor of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in medical, mental health, professional, educational and corporate settings for 12 years. She trained professionally with Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1993 and currently practices and studies with Thich Nhat Hanh and his monks and nuns in France and the U.S. She helps facilitates the Twin Cities Thich Nhat Hanh Sangha. >> top
Mark Nunberg
Mark began mindfulness practice in 1982 and has been teaching meditation since 1990. He and his wife, Wynn Fricke, founded Common Ground Meditation Center in 1993 for people interested in Buddhist mindfulness practice. Mark has studied with both Asian and Western teachers in several traditions, including practicing as a monk for five months in Burma. His primary teachers have been Joseph Goldstein and the other Insight Meditation teachers who teach at the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Massachusetts. Mark continues to be a devoted student of Buddhist practice, putting aside several months each year for intensive retreat practice. >> top
Nan Schwappach
Five years ago Nan launched, Just Mediation, a business devoted to managing conflict and stress through self awareness. Drawing upon extensive study and advanced training in mind body skills through the renowned Center for Mind Body Medicine in Washington D.C., she has designed and facilitated numerous trainings related to conflict, stress, listening and emotional intelligence. Audiences have included professionals in the medical, legal, business, spiritual and social work disciplines. >> top
Cass McLauglin
Cass works as outreach coordinator for the Center for Spirituality & Healing in the Academic Health Center of the University of Minnesota. In this role, she coordinates center programs focusing on health, complementary therapies, cultural and spiritual care including the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program, various lectures, and events. Cass is a seeker and explorer of the human spirit working to enhance wellness in individuals, in organizations and communities. She began meditating consistently in 1997 and continues to explore mind-body skills. >> top
Bob Zeglovitch
Bob has trained in Zen meditation since 1994. He has completed two intensive professional trainings in the teaching of mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) led by Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli. Bob has taught multiple cycles of an 8 week course on meditation and mindfulness to lawyers and support staff at Leonard, Street. This work has been recognized in the American Bar Association Journal, Minnesota Law and Politics magazine, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Bob has also taught mindfulness meditation at Hamline University Law School and has offered continuing legal education presentations on mindfulness for lawyers. >> top
Patricia Brown
Patricia Brown has been active as a dancer, instructor, performer and choreographer in the Twin Cities for the past twelve years. She is an African-based movement instructor, whose style is primarily rooted in and influenced by dance of West Africa, but not limited to that region or continent. Incorporating various forms of artistic expression, her classes are a dynamic representation of the connection of mind, creative energy and body in motion. Patricia works diligently as an educator throughout the community, school systems K-12, Penumbra Theater's Summer Institute, Stepping Stone Theatre, Vocal Essence Witness program, Macalester College and the University of Minnesota where she received the 2004 College of Continuing Education Distinguished Teaching Award. >> top
Br. Chi Sing, M.Div., M.A.
Brother ChiSing, M.Div., M.A., is an Interfaith meditation facilitator of "The JOY of Mindful Living" and his teacher is Thich Nhat Hanh, whom Martin Luther King Jr nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He facilitates Mindfulness retreats around the country, primarily in Texas, California and Minnesota. He is the founder and director of Awakening Heart, One Dharma, and the Dallas Meditation Center. He is best known for facilitating a unique Integral practice of resting/walking/sitting meditations (guided & silent), music, yoga/qigong/mindful movement, spiritual journal-writing, zen/vipassana/metta, sacred circle dance, visualization/affirmations, and especially opening the heart to "Infinite Light." His website is: www.AwakeningHeart.org
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Debbie Norgaard
Debbie began her formal meditation practice in 1999. After practicing yoga for several years and reading about meditation, she finally walked into a meditation hall and immediately felt like she had come home. Practicing mainly in the Vipassana tradition at Common Ground Meditation Center, she has attended several residential retreats and recently completed the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Training for Health Care Professionals. >> top