Presenters

Martine Batchelor

MARTINE BATCHELOR author of Meditation for Life, The Path of Compassion,   Women in Korean Zen and Let Go: A Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits. Her latest works are the The Spirit of the Buddha, What is this? and The Definition, Practice and Psychology of Vedana.  She is a member of the Gaia House Teacher Council.  She teaches meditation retreats worldwide and lives in France. Recently she has been involved with the Silver Sante Study, teaching meditation, mindfulness and compassion to seniors in France to see if this could prevent ageing decline.

Martine Batchelor (SD)

MARTINE BATCHELOR trained in South Korea as a Sŏn nun under the guidance of Kusan Sunim from 1975-84. Today her interests range from how meditation can be integrated into daily life to how Buddhism can engage with issues of social inequality, particularly those involving diversity and women’s issues. Her emphasis in teaching is, above all, practical: whether in psychology, ethics or meditation she is concerned to present what will make an actual difference in the quality of one’s life.  She is currently co-facilitating a three-year research project at the University of Caen that is studying the effects of meditation practice on the process of aging. She has written articles on topics as diverse as the Korean way of tea, Buddhism and women, Buddhism and ecology, and Zen cooking. The author of Meditation for Life, The Path of Compassion, Women in Korean Zen, Let Go, and The Spirit of the Buddha, she teaches meditation worldwide and lives in south-west France. (www.martinebatchelor.org)

Ramiro Ortega

Ramiro Ortega began practising Buddhism in 2005 in the Soto Zen tradition. Since moving to the UK in 2008, he has spent long periods at Gaia House, both as a retreatant and as a resident coordinator.  

He trained to teach mindfulness at the University of Bangor in 2015 and the University of Exeter in 2017, and later also trained in Mindful Self-Compassion. He regularly teaches mindfulness retreats.  In 2022 he completed the Dharma Teacher Training Programme at Bodhi College and has since been teaching Dharma retreats. Ramiro also trained as a philosopher, and since 2021 he has been practising as a philosophical counsellor.

Ramona van Stuyvenberg

NICOLE SCHOONBROOD is working at the Radboudumc Centre for Mindfulness as a senior trainer supervising the teacher trainer program for mindfulness teachers. Besides being a teacher trainer, she is an experienced supervisor, compassion teacher and Insight Dialogue teacher. She has completed the Dhamma Teacher Program at Bodhi College and is also guiding retreats. 

Rebecca Crane

Professor REBECCA CRANE PhD is an experienced mindfulness teacher and has been personally exploring meditation for over 40 years. She is the former director of the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice atBangor University and is a trustee for The Mindfulness Network. She has written Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Distinctive Features, co-authored Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy with People at Risk of Suicide, and co-edited Essential Resources for Mindfulness Teachers. She graduated from the Bodhi College Teacher Training in 2022.

Regina Enders

Regina Enders hat als Krankenschwester in einer psychosomatischen Klinik mehr als 20 Jahrelang Menschen in emotionalen Krisen begleitet und seit 2007 dort auch Achtsamkeit vermittelt. Seit 2009 unterrichtet sie MBSR-kurse und hat dafür 2018 auch einen B.Sc. in Psychologie erworben. Eine ernsthafte Meditationspraxis mit zahlreichen Retreats pflegt sie seit 1996 und ist neben Akincano und einigen Vertretern der A.Chah-Tradition von Lehrern wie Carol Wilson, S. U. Tejanyia, Tsonkyi R. und der Bodhi College-Fakultät beeinflusst. Von 2014-2022 war sie auch in der Ausbildung von MBSR-lehrern beteiligt. Ihre Ausbildung zur Meditationslehrerin hat sie am Bodhi College erhalten. 
Mehr unter: www.regina-enders.de

Rhonda Magee

RHONDA V. MAGEE, M.A., J.D., is Professor of Law (Emeritus), the founding Director of the Center for Contemplative Law and Ethics, at the University of San Francisco, Founder of the Mount Iris Meditation Community (2025). She is an internationally-recognized thought-leader on applying mindfulness practices in support of personal and collective wellbeing. She is the author of the The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness(Penguin RandomHouse TarcherPerigee: 2019), which broke new ground on publication as the first book of its kind to integrate mindfulness principles and practices thoroughly into the conversation on addressing race and racism in diverse settings and communities, and helping us heal from the trauma that the legacies of racism causes. Her current work explores how culturally-specific practices – including Black cultural spirituality and the quality of soulfulness -- intersect with mindfulness and may strengthen communities across differences in these challenging times.

River Wolton

RIVER WOLTON began attending Insight Meditation retreats in 2000, and subsequently helped to establish Sheffield Insight Meditation. She completed Dharma Teacher Training with Bodhi College, is a regular teacher at Gaia House, and a Bodhi College faculty member. A former Derbyshire Poet Laureate, she has led arts projects for many years and is an activist in the LGBTQIA+ community. Her latest non-fiction book is a creative exploration of the Brahma Viharas as an antidote to burnout: The Subtle Art of Caring: A Guide to Sustaining Compassion (Windhorse Publications 2023). 

Robert M. Ellis

ROBERT M. ELLIS is the founder of the Middle Way Society and the author of a number of books on Middle Way Philosophy – including the introductory Migglism and the more detailed Middle Way Philosophy series. His most recent book, The Buddha’s Middle Way: Experiential Judgement in his Life and Teaching was published by Equinox in 2019, with a foreword by Stephen Batchelor. He has a Ph.D. in Philosophy, is an experienced teacher, and was formerly a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order. He now regularly leads retreats for the Middle Way Society.

Sean Williams

SEAN chairs the trustee board of Bodhi College. He has been attending retreats since 2003, frequently at GaiaHouse (where he was formerly a trustee) and has been following the secular dharma path since 2010. He has travelled with Stephen Batchelor in India several times. He has a Master’s degree in Buddhist Studies from SOAS University of London. He is currently undertaking a PhD at King’s College London, seeking to demonstrate how early Buddhism influenced Greek philosophy through the philosopher Pyrrho.