Trudy Goodman
Dharma Teacher / Psychotherapist / Founder Insight LA

Trudy Goodman is the senior Vipassana teacher in Los Angeles from the Theravada lineage of the major meditation centers on both coasts where Trudy trained, and now teaches: Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA, and Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA.

Trudy has trained and practiced in two fields for over 25 years: meditation and psychotherapy. She studied developmental psychology with Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, and Carol Gilligan, and trained with a widely respected psychiatrist/psychoanalyst in Cambridge, Massachusetts -- Richard Chasin, MD. For 20 years, Trudy worked with children, teenagers, couples and individuals in a full psychotherapy practice and was a psychological consultant to K-12 independent schools. Since 1974, Trudy devoted much of her life to practicing Buddhist meditation with Asian and Western teachers in the Zen and Theravada traditions, including Zen Master Seung Sahn, Kobun Chino Otagawa Roshi, and Maurine Stuart Roshi.

She taught mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn in the early days of the MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) clinic at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. With Zen Master George Bowman, Trudy created courses and retreats for clinicians and others for many years. From 1991-1998, Trudy was a resident Zen teacher at the Cambridge Buddhist Association. She completed Jack Kornfield’s teacher training program and teaches meditation retreats and workshops with Jack (and others) at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, the Insight Meditation Society, the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and throughout the United States.

In addition, she co-founded, and is the Guiding Teacher for the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy, teaching Buddhist psychology and mindfulness meditation for clinical practice at conferences and workshops nationwide. In 2002, Trudy founded InsightLA, dedicated to teaching mindfulness to people from 'cradle to grave'. In addition, Trudy teaches awareness and compassion practices at USC, UCLA, Children’s Hospital of LA, and a variety of community settings. She co-founded Growing Spirit and the Center for Mindfulness and Psychotherapy in 2004.  www.insightla.org