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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Yuka Nakamura has been practising in different Buddhist traditions since 1993 (Zen, Vipassana, Vajrayana). She has a PhD in Psychology, and is an MBSR-teacher and teacher-trainer at the CFM Zentrum für Achtsamkeit, Switzerland. She teaches Vipassana meditation both at home and abroad, among them Meditation Center Beatenberg (CH), IMS (US), Gaia House (UK), Seminarhaus Engl (D). She also teaches at Bodhi College and is engaged in several Dharma translation projects.
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Guest Teachers
Guy Armstrong has practiced Insight meditation for over 45 years, including training as a Buddhist monk in Thailand with Ajahn Buddhadasa. He began teaching in 1984 and has led retreats worldwide. He taught the long retreats at IMS and Spirit Rock for over twenty years. He is an IMS guiding teacher and author of Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators.
Sally Armstrong began practicing vipassana meditation in India in 1981 and started teaching in 1996. She is a member of the Spirit Rock Teacher’s Council and has served as a co-guiding teacher at Spirit Rock. She developed and led Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioners Program and Advanced Practitioner Program. She regularly teaches retreats on awareness, metta and concentration as well as month-long retreats.
Irene Bumbacher has been practising in Asia, Europe and the US 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 also works as a Shiatsu- and Traumatherapist.
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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
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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.
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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 Gaia House Teachers Council.
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.
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.
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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.
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