Meet our Community Teachers
Our community teachers come from diverse backgrounds, each weaving mindfulness & modern life together in their own way. Read on to learn more about their programs and offerings.
Ethan Nichtern
Ethan Nichtern is a Buddhist teacher, author of several acclaimed books— including The Road Home: A Contemporary Exploration of the Buddhist Path and Confidence: Holding Your Seat Through Life’s Eight Worldly Winds— and creator of The Road Home podcast launched in 2018 available on iTunesand Stitcher and elsewhere.
Since 2002, Ethan has taught meditation and Buddhist psychology classes and workshops around New York City and North America and Europe, along with working with students privately. He has primarily studied in the Shambhala and other Tibetan traditions, but has also studied Theravadan and Soto Zen Buddhism. He is also an avid yoga practitioner. He served as Shastri, or Senior Teacher-In-Residence, for the Shambhala Meditation Center of New York, from 2010-2018.
Co-Founder, Senior Teacher
Lou Sharma
Lou is a mindfulness meditation teacher based in Charlotte, NC. She has practiced meditation for over 15 years, as part of her ongoing studies of Buddhism within various Tibetan Buddhist traditions, including Lama Tsultrim Allione’s Magyu community. In 2021, she completed Dharma Moon’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training.
Lou is interested in the ways mindfulness can empower more compassionate cultures of work, inspired by 15+ years of experience as a corporate researcher and strategist.
Co-Founder
Founding Community TeacherJackie Stewart
Jackie Stewart is a meditation teacher and mindfulness advisor based in NYC. She is part of the faculty for A Mindful World's advanced Buddhist studies program, Mindful.Dharma.
She is currently a student of Mingyur Rinpoche, and serves as a practice leader in his international community, Tergar. Jackie has an MA from NYU’s school of Culture, Education, and Human Development, with a professional background in the film and TV industries. She is a mother and wife, and has found the practice of meditation an invaluable tool to parenting (and partnering) with awareness and compassion.
Founding Community TeacherMaho Kawachi
Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Maho Kawachi first encountered meditation and Buddhism in downtown Manhattan in 2000. She became an avid practitioner in 2008 and has over a decade of experience, practice, training, and certification credentials including completion of the Interdependence Project Teachers Training, Mindful Meditation Teachers Certified Program, and Mindful Mentor Training. She has trained with and under many influential teachers, including Ethan Nichtern, Jack Kornfield, and Tara Brach, and was fortunate to meet with HH the Dalai Lama in 2017.
Maho is part of the faculty for A Mindful World’s Advanced Buddhist Studies program, and she also teaches at Open Heart Project, and as a volunteer at Rikers Island.
Heather Shaw
Founding Community TeacherHeather has been teaching yoga and other embodied contemplative practices since 2001. A student of Tibetan Buddhist and Vipassana meditation, as well as contemplative psychology, Heather’s path began in the Shambhala lineage through her work at OM yoga center, where she met her longtime friend and meditation teacher, Buddhist author Ethan Nichtern.
In 2018, Heather completed a certificate in Nalanda Institute’s Contemplative Psychotherapy Program, with a capstone focus on creating mindfulness-based curriculum for grades K-12. She is also a certified meditation instructor through Dharma Moon, where she is now a member of the Buddhist Studies faculty. In addition to teaching yoga, she works with people of all ages as a meditation instructor, contemplative coach and mentor.
Ollie Ledbetter
Community TeacherOllie (they/them) is a yoga teacher and licensed massage therapist based in Brooklyn, NY. They blend yoga philosophy and anatomy/kinesiology to create a layered and safe movement practice for all levels. Their 20+ years as a dancer, as well as history with injury and chronic pain, informs their knowledge of shifting bodies - how they move, and how they heal. As a trans practitioner, their gender-affirming work is based in a well-informed practice of not making assumptions.
Ollie studied under TaraMarie Perri, completing their 300-hr teacher training in 2016. They have taught extensively at studios, gyms, retreats, and community centers working with many populations including perinatal clients and folks with Parkinson's disease. They began and led the yoga program at Streetwork LES. Now you can find them at their studio home, Solid Gold Yogi in Bushwick, where they teach both anatomy as well as trauma-informed yoga for the 200-hr YTT, or at their cozy massage practice in Gowanus, True Bearing Bodywork.
Eric Gerard
Founding Community TeacherEric has been practicing mindfulness for over a decade and graduated from Dharma Moon's Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training in 2024 after many years of private study with Ethan Nichtern. He also completed Dharma Moon's two year Year Long Buddhist Studies course, which has shaped his life and practice in meaningful ways.
Originally from Chicago, Eric is an actor and also serves as the Co-Owner and Artistic Director at Blackbox Acting, a school that aims to prepare artists for their careers through a holistic approach. Eric is passionate about helping artists foster genuine connections with themselves and their work while encouraging vulnerability and bravery. He hopes to support others in developing a mindful and healthy relationship with their craft, whether that craft is art or the complex journey of existence.
April Kaiserlian
Community TeacherApril is a creative, mindfulness, body-centered psychotherapist based in Michigan.
April teaches Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and co-founded of the Grand Rapids Center for Mindfulness in 2010.