FOUNDER

Jesse Watkins has been meditating since 2013 with the Shambhala tradition, and is trained as a Meditation Instructor. She has a strong connection to mindfulness and wellbeing practices in daily life. Pre-pandemic, Jesse helped run Buddhist youth retreats in France and Germany. As a mother, she dreams of creating spaces for meditators with families, so as not to exclude parents.

FOUNDER

Cailin Burney-O’Dowd has been holding spaces for young adults to meditate and share meaningful experiences together throughout her 20s. As a school teacher and community gardener, she loves helping groups find creative ways to reflect, explore and grow together, through conversation and connection.

FOUNDER

Llew Watkins has been practising in the Kagyu and Nyingma Buddhist traditions since his late teens. In his twenties he spent two and a half years in solitary meditation retreats in Wales and India. He is a writer and sculptor exploring the connection between Buddhism and science fiction. He first visited the Olchon Valley at the age of 11 and has been in love with the Black Mountains ever since.

Mathew Cunningham is ordained in the Soto Zen tradition and has trained with IZAUK, an organisation that facilitates the practice of Soto Zen Buddhism in the UK. He has spent time studying and practicing in France, Japan and America. Mathew is an artist and arts educator who co-teaches the Mindfulness and Drawing course at the Royal Drawing School. He also works as a Massage Therapist.

David Morris has been practising in the Shambhala tradition for 12 years. In 2018 he took temporary monastic ordination and completed the 9 month residential training program at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, Canada. David has worked as a Buddhist chaplain in higher education since 2016, and is a songwriter and musician.

Corine van Huissteden began meditating in 2009 in the cramped dorm room of a friend. She is one of the few Europeans authorised to facilitate the Social Meditation practice developed by Nick Kranz. Before the pandemic, she facilitated social meditation evenings weekly for 3 years, and the Youth Nights at Shambhala Arnhem & Amsterdam since 2014. She is a meditation instructor and core staff member for the Young SITA Meditation Retreats. In her daily life, she works as a researcher in a big Dutch peat preservation research project.

Sophie's meditation history is relatively short, but growing well. She loves to experience events within analogue settings as organiser, photographer and participant. There are two strands to her photography practice: documentation of arts and cultural events, and capturing textures in the natural world.