SEAN WILLIAMS has been Chairman of Bodhi College since 2017. He has been attending retreats since 2003, frequently at Gaia House (where he was formerly a trustee), and at Spirit Rock and Scheibbs. Sean has been following the secular dharma path since 2010, and travelled with Stephen Batchelor in India in 2010 and 2013. He has recently completed a Master’s Degree in Buddhist Studies. Professionally, Sean works in the UK telecoms sector, currently as Chairman of two small fibre network businesses and formerly as Chief Strategy Officer of BT Group. Sean is married, with four grown-up children.
BRIGITTE HUBER-JORDI has worked as a pharmacist and is married with grown up children. From personal experience she became interested in the Buddha’s teachings about living with suffering. Since 2003 she has studied the early Buddhist texts and practised under the guidance of various Theravada and Secular Dharma teachers. In 2009 she finished her degree in teaching MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) courses and then taught classes in public and in clinical settings. She has participated in the Swiss MBSR Association and served on its board for some years. In her free time she loves to explore and photograph nature and human life in all parts of the world, where she and her husband travel.
GERIT STÖCKLMAIR is a microbiologist and psychotherapist, originally from Austria. Curiosity about the inner and outer world has put her on many journeys, and she has lived in England, Scotland and South Korea, before settling in Denmark, where she now lives. She has been practising meditation since 1994 and has been on extended retreats since 1998, mainly Vipassana, but also within the Zen and Triratna tradition. She graduated from the Committed Dharma Practitioners Program in 2010 and has an interest in personal development through body-mind-soul integration, which means you might also find her dancing on various occasions. Gerit has recently completed her Teacher Training with Bodhi College.
RICHARD FERNYHOUGH has been a follower of the dharma since 2002, initially in the Tibetan tradition, and more recently following the path of Vipassana. He has been on Buddhist pilgrimages with Shantum Seth and Stephen Batchelor, both in India and in Sri Lanka, and has attended many retreats including with Jack Kornfield at Spirit Rock in California. Until January 2021 Richard had been a practising lawyer for over 50 years acting as advocate and, latterly, as arbitrator mainly in international commercial disputes. He is married and has three grown up children and lives in Wimbledon in the UK.
OGA CHO began sitting at San Francisco Zen Center in 1990 and has since explored and practiced other streams of dharma, including Vipassana meditation. These days she finds delight in the burgeoning Secular Dharma movement. Her professional life has also been varied, from being a public interest lawyer to fundraiser for a dharma center, managing director of a hospice (all in the USA), and advisor in the New Zealand Ministry for Ethnic Communities. Putting roots down across the world, Oga has lived in South Korea, Jamaica, USA, New Zealand, Argentina and is currently based in Germany.
PILAR PUIG is currently studying with Bodhi College’s Committed Practitioner Program and has been exploring contemplative practice since 2012. Most of her dharma training has been in the insight tradition, either at Gaia House or with London Insight, where she spent some time as a volunteer. Pilar completed a Masters in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) at the University of Oxford in 2020 and is now a mindfulness teacher and teacher trainer. She has a special interest in trauma-sensitive mindfulness. She is also training as a somatic experiencing practitioner and clinical psychologist. Pilar is based in Barcelona, near her family and friends.