Portland Meditation Group Practice Leaders

Christy Cassano discovered her love for yoga five years ago.  Her appreciation for meditation came a bit later when on a whim she decided to participate in a ten day, silent Vipassana retreat.  Since then, she has found a wonderful balance in the physical movement that yoga brings and the internal stillness that meditation cultivates.  Though she has lived all over the country, she now calls Portland, OR her home.  Christy also enjoys snowboarding, hiking, biking and making art of various kinds.

held by the silence

so perfectly,

this heart sits

so full

and empty

holding space

within the space

now free to listen.

I breathe in

I breathe out

with the rise

and the fall

and the rise

and the falling away

I witness

the splendor of my living

the sure and sweetness of my dying

Mary Froelich

September 2009

Raku Loren brings his love of travel, photography, dance, learning, and mindfulness practice together into several vibrant offerings which include private and group photography instruction to deepen the experience of travel, sound-based dynamic meditations and ecstatic dance parties, and through insight meditation instruction.  Raku currently finds his spiritual inspiration catalyzed from the teachings of Jonathan Reynolds, Jack Kornfield, Marshall Rosenberg, Thich Nhat Hanh, Eckhart Tolle, Osho, the ocean, and the divine sunshine.  Raku enjoys organic gardening, cooking Asian street foods, dancing, yoga, running, making photographs, playing the upright bass, and cultivating a mindfulness practice.  He has worked as a massage therapist, a photojournalist, a middle school science teacher, and as a world music DJ.  He has traveled extensively throughout India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Morocco, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.  Raku's meditation experience is grounded in Zen, Vipassana, creative movement, and ecstatic dance.  Galleries of Raku's stunningly beautiful wedding, authentic portraiture, and documentary photographic work can be enjoyed at: www.rakuloren.com

~ PORTLAND GROUP GUIDING TEACHER ~

Jonathan Reynolds has trained with the White Lotus Foundation, Erich Schiffmann, and Spirit Rock Meditation Center.  He is currently enrolled in JFK University’s Graduate Counseling Psychology Program, and hopes to further integrate the practices of meditation, therapy, embodiment, and conscious relationship into his own life and work.

Jonathan’s teaching is born out of a deep gratitude for the inner relief and freedom that his own practice has provided over the years.  Drawing on many wisdom traditions, his teaching and counseling sessions are centrally rooted in Buddhist Vipassana Meditation, the Classical Yoga of Patanjali, and the Nondual Advaita Vedanta teachings of Shankara.  Generally speaking, Jonathan’s teaching is greatly informed by his love of India, the cultural present and historical context of this sacred and enchanting land.  His manner of teaching meditation is greatly influenced by time spent in the presence of Jack Kornfield, whose wisdom has infused Jonathan’s voice with compassion, playfulness, and story.

Jonathan is a founding teacher of the Learning To Listen Yoga & Meditation Center, a San Francisco-based Nonprofit Teaching Collective committed to offering tools that promote conscious living.  He is a husband and a father, and currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he offers private counseling sessions, teaches meditation and yoga, enjoys drinking tea, and leads retreats both locally and worldwide.  www.learningtolisten.info