Teachers, Mentors, Staff

Staff

Ethan Nichtern, Founder, Head of Buddhist Studies
Ethan founded The Interdependence Project in 2005 with a few people studying meditation together in the East Village and in September 2007 became a nonprofit organization dedicated to Buddhist-inspired meditation and psychology, integral activism, mindful arts, and meaningful media.

In the summer of 2010, Ethan was empowered by his teacher, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, as a Shastri, a senior teacher of the Shambhala tradition representing the New York region. For the past eight years, Ethan has taught ongoing meditation and Buddhist psychology classes and retreats in New York City and around North America. He is on the part-time faculty at Eugene Lang College at New School University and lectures regularly at Brown, Wesleyan, and New York Universities. He has also studied Theravadan and Soto Zen traditions, and is an avid yoga practitioner.

He is the author of the acclaimed book One City: A Declaration of Interdependence (Wisdom Pubs). His writing has been featured on Huffington Post, Beliefnet, Tricycle Magazine, BuddhaDharma Magazine, Sentient City, Reality Sandwich, as well as other online publications. He has been interviewed by Rick Sanchez on CNN, and Michel Martin for NPR. He is currently at work on a novel as well as a second book on Buddhism.

Patrick Groneman, Executive Director
Patrick is a practicing video artist and meditator and is currently enrolled in IDP's introductory facilitator training program.  In 2006, he co-founded the multi-media collective Wunderkrafthaus, which explored the role that creativity and media play in the shaping of individual consciousness. He studied Painting and Video Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and has studied Buddhism and Meditation at the ID Project, the NY Shambhala Center, the Village Zendo ,the Insight Meditation Society and NY Insight Center. He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY with aspirations of cooking you something delicious.  namenorg.wordpress.com
 

Mary Veronica Sweeney, Creative Capital Consultant
“MV” is an award-winning artist and education strategist who, for more than twenty years, has worked to  expand our understanding of wisdom and the human imagination. While working as an arts educator, curriculum designer, development professional, visual literacy curator, and social and emotional learning researcher at various colleges on the east and west coasts, MV has been fiercely dedicated to the deep practices of art and mindfulness.  In 2007, she was invited by the US State Department to serve as an ambassador for the arts in their Arts-in-Embassies program.  She has studied extensively with many great teachers in the Catholic,Theravada,Tibetan and, most recently, in the Soto Zen tradition as a year-long Path of Service resident at Upaya Zen center in Santa Fe, NM with Roshi Joan Halifax.  After formal emersion in the interdependence of an intentional community, MV has returned to NY to gleefully serve as a "generosity catalyst" for the Interdependence Project community.

Caroline Contillo, Associate Director
Caroline is a  Brooklyn-based comedian, writer, visual artist, and activist with an overarching interest in consciousness. She has performed comedy, theater, and performance art in New York City since 2007. She studied Art History and Cultural Anthropology at The New School and Hunter College and has worked everywhere from Businessweek Online to the Department of Environmental Conservation. Her meditation practice is rooted in mindfulness, which she aspires to connect to her interests in ecology, poetry, feminism, humor, cooking, and really loud live music. www.carolinecontillo.com

Nadxieli Nieto Hall, Freelance Art Direction and Design
Nadxieli is a writer, visual artist, and book designer (www.nietobooks.com). She is the former co-editor of Salt Hill Journal and Carteles Contra Una Guerra (Gustavo Gili, 2004). Her poetry and prose have appeared in the New York Tyrant, Washington Square and West Wind Review, among others. Meditating keeps her sane. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Michael Carey, IDP Prison Project Coordinator
Michael sits at the Zen Center of New York City. He leads IDP’s Prison Project. He is the Director of the College Initiative, a non-profit reentry education organization that supports formerly incarcerated people in their pursuit of higher education. He was born in a very small town in Australia and lives with a six-year-old Zen master in Brooklyn.

Joshua Adler, Public Sit Coordinator (TREe)
Joshua is a professional member of the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association, and a co-creater of the Time Interchange of New York. He is also an award winning filmmaker, photographer, teacher, and the Artistic Director of the Theatre Research Ensemble. For more info visit JoshAdler.net

Kat Hendrix, Board Chair
Kat has worked with Taoist, shamanic, Buddhist and western psychological practices over the last seven years. She spent many years in higher education, obtaining an undergraduate degree in English and German, a Doctorate of Jurisprudence and completing graduate work in English.  She was abroad for several years, studying in Germany and holding posts related to human rights activism in Eastern and Western Europe, including the U.N. in Geneva.  Kat worked in the legal profession before transitioning to nonprofit management in arts education where she implements nationwide programs to support young people in finding, expressing and being rewarded for their creative vision and voice. Her favorite activities are meditating, laughing and seeing new places (in that

Meredith Arena, Arts Facilitator is an artist, teacher, writer and sometimes performer. She has curated group exhibitions and regularly organizes large-scale art projects with children. She has exhibited work in New York, California and Mexico. She currently works with children and families in Bushwick, Brooklyn and facilitates the monthly writers group at IDP. She has been studying at the IDP since fall of 2008.
http://munchess.wordpress.com

Jerry Kolber, Board Member, Grants Committee
Jerry is an award-winning writer, producer, and executive producer of television series including Inked (A&E), Confessions of a Matchmaker (A&E), Gastineau Girls (E!), The Agency (vh1), and more than 40 episodes of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo). In the last year alone Jerry wrote and Executive Produced a four hour documentary for fuse tv about the final world tour of seminal punk band NOFX (NOFX: Backstage Passport), the MSN.com 15 episode extreme adventure reality web series Fearless (25,000,000 views and counting), and a one hour special for Animal Planet about the world’s greatest animal communicator Sonya Fitzpatrick. He is currently producing a new prime-time reality soap opera about young adults reducing personal consumption and getting out of debt.
 

Gina LaRoche, Board Member
Gina is a founder and director at Seven Stones Leadership, a professional services firm that develops organizational leadership and works with individuals on their personal journeys. She brings respect, clarity, truth and love to all of her work. She is committed to work with individuals and organizations to create a context for sufficiency for all. She writes extensively on the subject through her blog and on Twitter. She has also published Living in Sufficiency: A daily journey (2009). Feel free to connect with her on Facebook or at www.sevenstonesleadership.com.

Jon Rubinstein, Board Member
Jon is the owner of Authentic Talent and Literary Management, where he works with actors, writers, and directors, focusing on their personal career visions and their interdependence with the entire planet. He has studied Buddhism and meditation at the ID Project and through Shambhala. Jon is deeply committed to benefiting all sentient beings––particularly through his work in the business world––and he is intensely interested in the application of Buddhist teachings to the workplace. He enjoys writing on that very topic for the ID Project's blog.

Teachers

Juan Carlos Castro, Teacher 
Juan Carlos has been a serious student of Buddhist meditation and philosophy for the past six years. He has been a member of the I.D. Project since its founding, has studied extensively in the Shambhala tradition, and is a Vajrayana student of the great Tibetan Buddhist teacher Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. A devoted yoga practitioner, Juan Carlos is also trained as a visual artist, and works as Art Director at Vogue Magazine. He teaches Buddhism both in the Nalandabodhi curriculum and at the I.D. Project in NYC.

 

Jessica Morris, Teacher 

Jessica Morris is a full-time meditation practitioner and teacher. She is a devoted student of Purna Steinitz, a Teacher in the Western Baul Tradition. Jessica is the founder of a meditation and study center in New Jersey. Her teaching is a constant encouragement for people to commitedly practice meditation & self-observation, study books of wisdom and be in community. Working with a living Teacher and the importance of Lineage are core ingredients that season her teaching style.

Robert Chender, Board Member, Teacher 
Robert Chender is a student of the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and is a senior teacher at IDP and at the Shambhala Meditation Center of New York. He frequently speaks to groups about the application of meditation practice to our daily work life, and serves as director of the Contemplative Lawyers Group of the NY City Bar Association. Robert has also taught at IDP about the relationship between Buddhist and shamanic practices. He is very happy to be on the board of IDP.

Crystal Gandrud, Teacher, Board Member 
Crystal is a freelance writer and professor of creative writing. She is also a graduate of Vajrayana Seminary, as well as a Meditation Instructor and Assistant Director in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition. Crystal lives in Providence, RI and Brooklyn, NY.

Ellen Scordato, Board Member, Teacher 
 Ellen has practiced Buddhism in the Shambhala tradition since 2004. She enjoys study and practice with the IDP, attending Zen retreats, and hearing teachings from rinpoches and roshis. A yoga student for 12+ years, she graduated from Om Yoga teacher training in 2005, where she joined the IDP as it began. Currently the chairperson of the IDP board, she makes her living as the co-owner ofThe Stonesong Press, LLC, a book producer of high-quality nonfiction bestsellers for the popular market. She taught English at the New School for more than 10 years and is a published author. A graduate of Wellesley College, where she studied Classics and art history, she lives in Manhattan with her husband and cats.
 

Lineage Mentors

Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara, PhD, is the Abbot of The Village Zendo. A Soto Zen Priest and certified Zen Teacher, she received dharma transmission in both the Soto and Rinzai lines of Zen Buddhism, through the White Plum Lineage. Roshi currently serves as the Guiding Spiritual Teacher for the New York Center For Contemplative Care. She also serves as Co-Spiritual Director of the Zen Peacemaker Family, a spiritual, study and social action association. Enkyo Roshi’s focus is on the expression of Zen through caring, service, and creative response. Her Five Expressions of Zen form the matrix of study at the Village Zendo: Meditation, Study, Communication, Action, and Caring.
“Coming back to the live moment is the greatest healing, the greatest compassion” -Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara
More information on Roshi O’Hara

Acharya Eric Spiegel Since 1980 Eric has been active in the growth and development of the Shambhala Meditation Center in New York. As a senior teacher there, he finds that his background and experience help him present the teachings of both the Vidyadhara and the Sakyong.
In addition to teaching the traditional syllabus of the Shambhala Community, Acharya Spiegel teaches on understanding the transitions of Life and Death, and on relating with the power and energy of Wealth from a sane, empowered view point – and on the general lack of insight into this topic that pervades our culture.
Eric has also been involved in the Stonewall Community Foundation, and the Queer Dharma and Diamond Metta groups.  More info on Acharya Spiegel
 

Sharon Salzberg is one of America’s leading spiritual teachers and authors and cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, Massachusetts. She has played a crucial role in bringing Asian meditation practices to the West. The ancient Buddhist practices of vipassana (mindfulness) and metta (lovingkindness) are the foundations of her work.
- “Each of us has a genuine capacity for love, forgiveness, wisdom and compassion. Meditation awakens these qualities so that we can discover for ourselves the unique happiness that is our birthright.”  More info on Sharon Salzberg

Buddhism & Psychology Mentor

Miles Neale, Psy.D., is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice, a Buddhist meditation teacher and the Assistant Director of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science, where he teaches public courses on the Indo-Tibetan tradition as well as collaborates on state-of-the-art clinical research of meditation. Dr. Neale earned his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2006 from the California Institute for Integral Studies, and has taught meditation programs at several prestigious university hospitals including Harvard Medical School, Columbia Presbyterian, Cornell Medical College, and Albert Einstein/Montefiore Medical Center.

Dr. Neale began practicing Buddhist meditation in India in 1996 and two years later met his primary mentor Dr. Joseph Loizzo, a Buddhist scholar, psychiatrist and Founding Director of the Nalanda Institute. In 1999 he began studying under Dr. Robert Thurman, renowned Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism at Columbia University and President of Tibet House US. He has also received essential teachings and instructions in India and Nepal from several great Tibetan masters of the Gelugpa school including Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kyabje Gelek Rinpoche and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. More information visit www.milesneale.com (link www.milesneale.com)