our teachers:

Trudy Goodman has trained and practiced in two fields for over 25 years: meditation and psychotherapy. She studied developmental psychology with Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, and Carol Gilligan, and trained with a widely respected psychiatrist/psychoanalyst in Cambridge, Massachusetts -- Richard Chasin, MD. For 20 years, Trudy worked with children, teenagers, couples and individuals in a full psychotherapy practice and was a psychological consultant to K-12 independent schools. Since 1974, Trudy devoted much of her life to practicing Buddhist meditation with Asian and Western teachers in the Zen and Theravada traditions, including Zen Master Seung Sahn, Kobun Chino Otagawa Roshi, and Maurine Stuart Roshi.

She taught mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn in the early days of the MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) clinic at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. With Zen Master George Bowman, Trudy created courses and retreats for clinicians and others for many years. From 1991-1998, Trudy was a resident Zen teacher at the Cambridge Buddhist Association. She completed Jack Kornfield’s teacher training program and teaches meditation retreats and workshops with Jack (and others) at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, the Insight Meditation Society, the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and throughout the United States.

In addition, she co-founded, and is the Guiding Teacher for the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy, teaching Buddhist psychology and mindfulness meditation for clinical practice at conferences and workshops nationwide. In 2002, Trudy founded InsightLA, dedicated to teaching mindfulness to people from ‘cradle to grave’. In addition, Trudy teaches awareness and compassion practices at USC, UCLA, Children’s Hospital of LA, and a variety of community settings. She co-founded Growing Spirit and the Center for Mindfulness and Psychotherapy in 2004. Trudy’s mother, sister, daughter, son-in-law and her grandchildren — four generations — have all settled here in Los Angeles.

Maureen Shannon-Chapple is a teacher who has been working with children and families for over twenty-five years. Her professional experiences have included classroom teaching, parenting classes, adult school and college teaching. She currently teaches first grade at Chadwick School. She has been a practitioner of yoga and meditation since the age of eighteen, and is delighted to merge her teaching and yoga/meditation background through her participation in Growing Spirit. She is a founding member of The Center for Non-Violent Education and Parenting. Maureen is the parent of two children, whom she also considers important teachers in her life.

teachers emeritus:

Susan Kaiser Greenland J.D. has a long practice in meditation and teaching mindful awareness to children. She develops mindful awareness curriculum for and teaches programs to children as well as classroom teachers, parents, therapists and health care professionals. In 2001, Susan and her husband Seth Greenland co-founded InnerKids, through which she has taught hundreds of programs to children ages pre-K through middle-school. In 2003, Susan together with Trudy Goodman, cofounded Growing Spirit a family program in Los Angeles that offers the teaching of mindfulness and compassion as a resource for parents and children. Susan was awarded the “Above and Beyond” award by Yogi Times in 2003 and was named a “Champion of Children” by First 5 LA in 2006. Susan began her career as a corporate lawyer in 1985 and from 1988 through 2004 provided legal and business affairs representation to network owned radio and television stations in New York and Los Angeles. Susan integrates her mindfulness practice with her legal experience by teaching continuing education programs to attorneys regarding mindful awareness and the practice of law. Susan speaks at professional programs throughout the country and consults with various organizations regarding teaching mindfulness awareness in a secular manner.

>
Liana, Kerry, and Ella.

Kerry Tribe is one of the driving forces behind Growing Spirit. An artist and teacher who has worked with Trudy for years, she also teaches art to college students.

Paris Spies-Gans is a college student who loves art and has been involved with meditation since she was 10. Paris loves working with kids: she has worked as an assistant teacher during summer school sessions, and also works as a tutor. From Paris: "The kids at Growing Spirit are great, and I love developing relationships with them."