Practice and Class Leaders
Victoria Vogel MA, MFT
Since 1978, Victoria has had more than forty extended meditation retreats. Many were family retreats that included her husband, daughter, and son. She is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center's Dedicated Practitioners Program and continues meeting monthly with the teacher and groups. Victoria continues to study and practice of tranquil awareness meditation with Bhante Vimalaramsi during meditation retreats. She studied Advaita Vedanta, Tai Chi, QiGong, Yoga, and Zen. Her strong daily meditation and physical exercise keeps her in a fit and balanced lifestyle. Victoria has more than 25 years experience counseling couples, adults, and teens, using a holistic Body-Mind-Spirit orientation. The cornerstone of her work is the warm connection with people. This “non-judging” models something important for her clients. They receive strength and acceptance with their most shameful feelings and secrets. She help clients develop wisdom to calm inner conflicts. Their relationships flourish and Insight flows naturally. "As a seasoned therapist, I am skilled with a variety of therapeutic tools and situations. I have saved many marriages. I am especially successful with lonely people who want a partner. I am an expert helping parents with spirited children. I use EMDR for PTSD. I talk to teenagers easily. I am a rock for couples on the sands of divorce. I have compassion and knowledge for people with poor health. Victoria has master’s degree in Transpersonal Counseling combines Psychology with spirituality. Her post-graduate training includes 12 years of Masterson group consultations. I have led a CHADD International ADHD Parent Support Group for 10 years. |
Scott A. Jordan, RYT 500
A Vietnam veteran, Jordan began his lifelong study of yoga and meditation in 1970. After graduating from Florida State University in 1973, he moved to Los Angeles where he studied Soto Zen at the LA Zen Center and Vipassana meditation with Ruth Dennison and Robert Hover. He received a California State Teaching Credential in 1977 in San Francisco where he taught yoga at Cañada College and community centers around the Bay Area. Throughout the 70’s he perused meditation training with Shri Munindra-Ji, Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfiled, and other leading meditation teachers. He studied Buddhist psychology, meditation, and Pali with the Venerable Sayadaw U Silananda and a founding board member of the Theravada Buddhist Society of America. In his travels, Jordan studied yoga and meditation in India, trekked the Himalayas, and lived in the Middle East. He is a certified RYT 500 yoga teacher and the former publisher of Polipoint Press, Sausalito, California. Jordan has been a lifelong political activist and is an outspoken advocate for yoga and meditation as a path to health and sustainable happiness. He studied with and the late Venerable Bhante Punnaji and trained in Tranquil Wisdom Insight Mediation and the Brahma Viharas with Venerable Bhante Vimalaramsi for more than 10 years. In 2019, Jordan received a temporary ordination as a Buddhist Sāmaṇera at the Dhamma Sukha Mediation Center. He leads Smiling Awareness Meditation classes on Facebook Live and offers workshops on the Big Island of Hawaii and Mill Valley California. SHORT BIO: Scott Jordan, Yogi, Buddhist Sāmaṇera, Meditation Teacher & Guide Scott Jordan, has practiced and lead meditation and yoga groups for more than 40 years. He received monastic and teacher training by Buddhist monks in meditative stages with an emphasis on mastery and leadership. Jordan studied yoga and ayurvedic philosophy in India where he was certified a registered yoga teacher teacher (RYT500). His approach to guiding meditation studies combines both intellectual understanding with development by direct experience. Jordan’s workshops and classes are structured to address the concerns and interests of participants by delivering precise methodology with clarity and compassion. They balance equal parts theory, instruction, and practice with Q&A throughout. He teaches and coaches meditation in the SF Bay Area and the Big Island of Hawaii. His forthcoming book, Profiles of Enlightenment is scheduled for publication in September, 2020. Smiling Awareness Mediation online classes are available on Facebook Live and Instagram. |
Khemalo Laurence, RYT 500
Laurence is a certified yoga teacher since 2006. She turned her attention to focus on intensive meditation practice in 2008 after raising her two sons in a bi-cultural environment. She is a graduate of the 18-month long Spirit Rock Meditation Center ‘ Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation Training Program “ and has completed a large number of 10-day extended retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. On her path as a spiritual seeker, she resided at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center from 2012 to 2014 with the intention of training as a “monk”. She studied the practice of Soto Zen with Reb Anderson and Eijun Linda Cutts. While traveling in Europe she attended retreats at Thich Nhat Han’s Plum Village and at the “Centre Durckheim” in France . Since 2014 she has dedicated herself to practice with Bhante Vimalaramsi. “To receive Bhante Vimalaramsi ‘s guidance was a turning point in my meditation practice,“ she acknowledges. Laurence has combined Yoga and Meditation into a life long practice and exploration of health, well-being and contentment. She teaches gentle yoga along with meditation and loving-kindness to seniors and in other community settings. |
Grant Rudolph MA, MFT
A meditation practitioner for more than 40 years Grant has been a therapist since 1986 where he cofounded EchoRock Neurotharopy in Mill Valley California. Grant taught at California Institute of Integral Studies, the College of the Redwoods, and JFK University. He studied Jungian psychology and dream work at Pacifica Graduate Institute in San Francisco, and was a a founding member and practice guide at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre California. He earned a Masters of Arts from Yale University. Grant began using Low Energy Neurofeedback (LENS) technology with his clients when he observed the dramatic positive changes they experienced in daily life. He recognized that mental and emotional states that resulted with LENS treatments resembled those meditators experience after long retreats. This typically included increased clarity, calmness, and contentment. With successive improvements in LENS technology, he also saw accelerated productivity and job performance in fewer sessions. After working at Alta Mira Recovery Center—a residential treatment program in Sausalito, California—he collaborated with Judith Miller, PhD to apply the Colorado Protocol she developed to incorporate Echo Rock Neurotherapy practices that include mindfulness training, use of nutraceuticals, and frequent LENS treatments. Grant believes that fMRIs confirm many of the same conclusions the Buddha discovered and taught 2600 years ago. His work today combines early Buddhist training techniques with advanced technologies to awaken conscious self-knowledge and contentment to enrich peoples lives. |
