All instructors at our center are highly qualified in terms of training and formal practice. All of them have been authorized in their respective Buddhist traditions, have been practicing anywhere from 20 to 50 years and have been in retreat adding up to several years altogether. Many of them have been or continue to be ordained as a nun or monk.
Teachers of the Center
Since 1970 Fred von Allmen has been studying and practicing under teachers of both the Tibetan and the Theravada traditions in Asia, Europe and the USA. Since 1984 he is teaching retreats internationally. He is an author of Buddhist books and a co-founder and trustee of the Meditation Center Beatenberg.
Website
Ursula Flückiger has been practicing insight meditation since 1980 with teachers such as Ven. Ajahn Sumedho, Joseph Goldstein, Christina Feldman. She also received many teachings in the Tibetan Mahayana tradition and feels very inspired especially by its practices of Great Compassion and the realization of the nature of mind. She is a trained Hakomi psychotherapist and has been guiding insight meditation retreats since 1990. She is co-author of “Mahamudra & Vipassana” (Norbu, in German) and a co-founder and trustee of the Meditation Center Beatenberg.
Website
Since 1983 Isis Bianzano has devoted herself to Buddhist mind and heart training under various teachers of the Theravada and Tibetan Mahayana tradition in Europe, Asia and the USA. Authorized by Fred von Allmen she has been teaching Vipassana and Metta meditation courses since 2008 and is a trustee of the Meditation Center Beatenberg. In the last 27 years she has worked in various areas of social work.
Website
Rainer Künzi praktiziert seit 1986 Vipassana und seit 2002 zusätzlich in der tibetischen Tradition. Durch Fred von Allmen als Dharma-lehrer autorisiert leitet er seit 2008 Vipassana- und Metta-Retreats. Er ist Stiftungsrat des Meditationszentrums Beatenberg, Mitbegründer des Stadtzentrums Kalyana Mitta in Basel und arbeitete 18 Jahre als Kinder- und Familientherapeut in einer kommunalen Beratungsstelle.
Website
Yuka Nakamura, PhD, psychologist and MBSR teacher, has been practicing in various Buddhist traditions (Zen, Vipassana, Vajrayana) since 1993. She teaches Insight meditation at the Beatenberg Meditation Center (Switzerland), Bodhi College, the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) (USA), Gaia House (UK), and other centers in Switzerland and abroad. She also works as a translator of Dharma books.
Website
Guest Teachers
Katrin Auf der Heyde grew up in South Africa where she practiced in both Zen and Theravada traditions for many years. A physiotherapist and yoga teacher by training she is interested in an embodied practice that integrates sitting, walking and movement. Katrin completed her Dharma teacher training with Martine Batchelor and teaches in South Africa and in the UK.
Irene Bumbacher has been practising in Asia, Europe and the USA in several Buddhist traditions (Zen, Vipassana and Mahamudra) since 1989. Authorized by Fred von Allmen, she’s been teaching Vipassana und Metta meditation since 2008. She’s a co-founder of the Zentrum für Buddhismus in Bern and has an extensive background as a body-based therapist.
Website
Bernat Font teaches with a combination of scholarly rigour, everyday examples, and an artistic sensibility. Meeting the Dharma at an early age, he has been mainly influenced by Stephen Batchelor, Sayadaw U Tejaniya & the Thai forest tradition. A Bodhi College faculty member and founder of Espai Sati, he has a PhD in Buddhist Studies, translates Pali texts into Spanish & Catalan, and is also a jazz pianist.
Charles Genoud has been a student and practitioner of Buddhism since 1970. He studied with the Venerable Geshe Rabten and then with Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He has also practiced Vipassana meditation in India, Burma and the USA. Charles studied sensory awareness for several years with Michael Tophoff and spent some time with Charlotte Selver. His unique approach of Gesture of Awareness is the result of the combination of Buddhist meditation with the practice of sensory awareness
Website
Patricia Genoud-Feldman has been practicing Vipassana and Dzogchen since 1984 in Asia under the guidance of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Sayadaw U Pandita and later in the West. She completed her teacher training at IMS, USA under the guidance of Joseph Goldstein and others and has been teaching Vipassana meditation since 1997 in Europe, Israel and the USA. Patricia also studied and trained in Insight Dialogue and the Relational Dharma with Gregory Kramer as well as in MBSR in Worcester, MA, USA.
Website
Gregory Kramer is the Founding Teacher of the Insight Dialogue Community and has been teaching insight meditation since 1980. He developed the practice of Insight Dialogue and has been teaching it since 1995, offering retreats in North America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. He has studied with esteemed teachers, including Anagarika Dhammadina, Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Mahanayaka Thero, Achan Sobin Namto, and Ven. Punnaji Maha Thero. Gregory is the author of A Whole Life Path: A Layperson’s Guide to a Dhamma-infused Life (Insight Dialogue Community); Insight Dialogue: The Interpersonal Path to Freedom (Shambhala); Seeding the Heart: Practicing Lovingkindness with Children; Meditating Together, Speaking from Silence: The Practice of Insight Dialogue; and Dharma Contemplation: Meditating Together with Wisdom Texts. He has taught widely on a relational understanding of the Buddha’s teachings and is currently writing a book on relational Dharma.
Website
Ingeborg Mösching, MBSR-teacher and -trainer, graduate nurse, began with Christian Zen meditation in 1986. Since 1996 she has been dedicating herself to Buddhist heart and mind training under various teachers of the Theravada and Tibetan Mahayana traditions in Europe, Burma and the USA. Trained as a Dharma teacher by Fred von Allmen, she has been teaching Vipassana and Metta meditation since 2008. For many years she was a caregiver for the seriously ill, dying and newborns.
Jaya Rudgard lived as a nun in the Theravada tradition for eight years in the UK with Ajahn Sumedho. She completed her insight meditation teacher training in the USA with Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield and teaches retreats in the UK and internationally. She is a faculty member of Bodhi College and serves on the Teacher Council of Gaia House Meditation Centre in the UK. She also teaches qigong.
Catherine Schlaefli began Vipassana meditation with Patricia and Charles Genoud in 2009 and since then has regularly attended retreats in Switzerland and abroad. She completed the Dharma Instructor Program with Charles and Patricia and has also been trained to teach MBSR at the Center for Mindfulness in Zürich.
Ajahn Sucitto Born in London 1949… became a bhikkhu in 1976… teaching since 1981… based at Cittaviveka in West Sussex England… about to retire…
Akiñcano M. Weber is a Buddhist teacher and contemplative psychotherapist (MA). A former monk, he has lived and practised for 20 years in European and Thai Forest monasteries. He is the guiding teacher of Atammaya Cologne, co-founder of Bodhi College and teaches meditation and Buddhist Psychology in secular and traditional contexts in Europe and overseas.
Website
Carol Wilson has been practicing meditation since 1971. She studied with a variety of teachers, including Sayadaw U Pandita and Sayadaw U Tejaniya. She also practiced as a Buddhist nun in Thailand. Since 1986 she has been teaching vipassana and metta retreats around the world, including the annual three-month retreat at the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, MA, USA.
Website
Dr. Christiane Wolf is a physician turned mindfulness and compassion teacher and teacher trainer. She is an authorized Buddhist teacher in the Insight (Vipassana) meditation tradition, teaching classes and retreats worldwide. Christiane is the author Outsmart Your Pain – Mindfulness and Self-Compassion to Help You Leave Chronic Pain Behind, and the co-author of A Clinician’s Guide to Teaching Mindfulness, the classic training manual for several mindfulness teacher trainings across the globe.
Website