It was the pain and confusion following the death of my father that set me on the Buddhist path in 2008. I was lucky to be living in Oakland at the time near East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC), and instantly felt connected to the Buddha’s teachings when I first heard them. Starting out, it was especially important to have a practice space like EBMC where I felt safe as a queer, gender non-conforming person of color. From there, I was drawn to retreat practice and spent years practicing in long retreat at various Insight centers in the US. Through the teachers at those centers, I was exposed to the methods and teachings of various South and Southeast Asian traditions, and have felt deeply inspired by the teachings of Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Ajahn Chah, the Aloka Vihara nuns and Bhikkhu Bodhi. In 2020, I was authorized to teach the Dharma through Spirit Rock’s teacher training program. As a teacher and in my role as a therapist at a community mental health agency in Oakland, it’s been a great gift to bear witness to the intimate spaces of this human life, both in myself and others. Over these years in practice I’ve seen how, even from the depths of our most profound suffering, it is possible to meet difficulty with steadiness, tenderness, and wisdom. As our search deepens, we begin to taste the freedom and stillness that was there all along.