Leadership Sangha (Board):
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Tara Mulay, PresidentTara has been practicing insight meditation and lovingkindness since 2003, and Mission Dharma became her home sangha in 2010. The support of the Mission Dharma sangha and guiding teacher Howie Cohn were invaluable as Tara committed to a 24/7 daily practice and a number of long retreat practice periods in the United States and Myanmar. Tara is passionate about the capacity of dharma practice to free the mind from difficult patterns and to awaken practitioners to their own capacity for deep happiness and peace. She is committed to empowering people of all backgrounds to see this potential for awakening in dharma practice. She has taught a number of class series for Mission Dharma and in May 2016 co-founded the San Francisco People of Color Insight Meditation Group. In April 2017, she will graduate from Spirit Rock Meditation Center's Community Dharma Leaders Program and begin a four-year retreat teacher training program with Insight Mediation Society. She takes great joy in providing volunteer service to Mission Dharma and knowing the benefits it provides to practitioners in San Francisco, as it has benefitted her. Tara's daily practice also informs her work as an appellate attorney in San Francisco.
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Dave has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1996 and sitting with Howie Cohn since 1997. He enjoys exploring the practice of meditation and the teachings of the Buddha -- and sharing both with others. He has been a volunteer at Mission Dharma since 2014. He is the Director of Operations for an educational research firm as well as a husband and father.
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Katherine Janes, TreasurerKatherine has been practicing various types of mediation since 2006, and has been a part of the Mission Dharma community since 2011. She also volunteers with environmental nonprofits in the Bay Area. Katherine enjoys spending time in nature while hiking and camping and likes to practice meditating while running marathons.
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Mary fell in love with meditation in 1997 and has practiced and studied in Tibetan traditions before coming to Insight Meditation ten years ago. She is one of three co-leaders of Insight Richmond, a relatively new sangha in her hometown of Richmond. In addition, she is currently enrolled in Spirit Rock's Community Dharma Leader program, and has taught beginning meditation classes at Mission Dharma. Mary has taken the lead in bringing mindfulness classes and sitting groups for staff and physicians at Kaiser San Francisco, where she works as an administrative manager.
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Anne has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 2000. She writes the weekly reminders for Mission Dharma and has been helping organize the Mission Dharma community with other sangha members since 2008. She has taught beginning mindfulness classes at Mission Dharma and has assisted the East Bay Meditation Center’s family program. In 2010, Anne completed Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner Program. Anne is also a psychotherapist with a practice in her home town of San Francisco.
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David has been on the dharma path for over 40 years and has a degree in comparative religious studies. David teaches and leads retreats for the Gay Buddhist Fellowship, facilitates a weekly meditation group for seniors, and is currently enrolled in Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Advanced Practitioners Program. He has been a co-teacher for Mission Dharma’s “Introduction to Insight Meditation class.
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Punit was born and raised in India, and he moved to San Francisco in 2012. Dissatisfied by the rat race, he started meditating in 2013, and went to his first Vipassana retreat in 2015. He's been influenced by multiple schools of thought - Buddhist, Advaita Vedanta, and Self-Inquiry. Punit enjoys giving back to the community, and started volunteering at Mission Dharma in 2016. In his free time, you can catch him reading a book or planning his next camping trip.
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Noemi has been part of the Mission Dharma sangha for almost nine years and Howard Cohn is her primary dharma teacher. She has studied Zen and Tibetan Buddhism. However she is most nurtured in the Theravada/Vipassana tradition. Noemi has been to several residential retreats and practices in the dharma everyday. She has devoted her life to working for social justice, working in racial equality, ending violence against women and disability rights. Sometimes she’s a poet.
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