Against the Stream Teachers

Noah Levine, author of Dharma Punx, Against The Stream and The Heart of the Revolution, is a Buddhist teacher, author and counselor. He was trained to teach by Jack Kornfield of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. He is the founding teacher of Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, with two centers in Los Angeles and over 20 affiliated groups around North America. He teaches meditation classes, workshops and retreats internationally. Noah holds a Masters degree in counseling psychology. He is also on the board of directors of the Buddhist Recovery Network. Levine lives in Los Angeles.

Ron Ames is a meditation practitioner who has studied with both Noah Levine and Trudy Goodman. He completed Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner’s Program, and was trained as a teacher by Noah Levine in Against the Stream's first teacher training cohort. Ron has a deep interest in the Twelve Steps particularly as they relate to meditation practice. He works in the film industry as a Producer and 1st Assistant Director on feature films.

Matthew Brensilver, PhD, began practice in the Shambhala tradition and with a Thich Nhat Hanh sitting group. Since 2003, he has studied vipassana with Shinzen Young, who trained him to teach meditation.  For the past four years, Matthew has led a meditation class at USC and teaches at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center. He is currently a postdoctoral scholar at UCLA’s School of Medicine, where he works with a group doing addiction research. He completed “A Year to Live” practice – based on the book by Stephen Levine – and spent years sitting with hospice patients and their families. He was trained to teach by Noah Levine, with whom he co-leads the Monday night class in Santa Monica.

JoAnna Harper has been exploring and practicing multiple traditions since 1999.  In 2005, her focus landed on Buddhism and Vipassana meditation, which is the premise for most of her current teaching. Although her main focus is on working with youth through her bi-weekly children’s and teen sanghas, teen day long retreats, residential retreats and work in the juvenile justice system, she is also co -teaching adult residential retreats as well as leading a 'Year to Live' practice and teaching one-on-one sessions.  Her favorite teaching tools are working in Council and relational mindfulness.  She is a recent graduate of Noah Levine’s teacher training program and is trained through the Ojai Foundation as a Council facilitator.  She is the grateful mother of CJ and Harris - her main inspirations.

Mary Stancavage has practiced meditation, yoga, and cultivated a spiritual practice for over 20 years. She began studying with Noah Levine in 2005, and in 2009 completed his first teacher training program. She currently serves as Director of Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. She teaches meditation at recovery centers in Los Angeles, has co-facilitated Year-to-Live groups since 2008, and has a weekly class at ATS. She is currently enrolled in the Buddhist Chaplaincy Program at the Sati Center.  In addition, Mary has a Masters from UCLA, and has worked as an archaeologist in the Middle East.

Group Facilitators

Jordan Kramer first took refuge with His Holiness The Dalai Lama at the age of 15, and has devoted to his practice to improving the lives of others ever since. Jordan completed both Facilitator Training and “A Year to Live” practice under the guidance of Noah Levine. Drawing on his background as a certified Chemical Dependency Counselor, Jordan has been using the principles of the dharma to help teens, adults and their families heal the wounds of addiction for nearly a decade. An active member of the global sangha, Jordan has attended meditation retreats internationally, and currently teaches a weekly meditation class at Against The Stream in Sherman Oaks.

Joseph Rogers has been sitting and studying meditation with Noah Levine since 2005.  He has participated in both the Year to Live practice and a yearlong compassion practice with Noah and Against the Stream.  Especially interested in meditation as an outgrowth of recovery work, he has been teaching mindfulness and meditation practices to teens with substance abuse issues for the past several years.  He has also participated in facilitating anger management groups at Camp David Gonzalez with Noah Levine and JoAnna Harper.  Joseph completed the year-long facilitator training with Against the Stream and plans on kicking Samsara's ass.

Gary Sanders has been practicing mindfulness under Dr Faye Snyder, the originator of the Causal Theory, since 2005 and began sitting and studying meditation with Noah Levine in 2007. Gary finds great joy in co-facilitating the Buddhist Recovery Group at our Melrose location, leading other various men’s recovery groups, volunteering with the American Red Cross Disaster Team and being a member of LA County CERT. Currently enrolled in Noah Levine’s Facilitator Training, he looks forward to continuing service work and seeing where his heart leads him.

Anastajah Stearns is a mindfulness meditation facilitator, having studied with Noah Levine for 5 years. She is a co-leader of the weekly community group and the women’s sangha at Against the Stream. Taking meditation off the cushion and into daily life, she coaches people in eating and walking practices at The Ashram in Malibu. Her background is as a holistic health practitioner (since 1995), massage therapist, yoga instructor, and doula. Passionate about volunteering, she works with teens and women in recovery. Currently enrolled in the Against the Stream Facilitator 2 Training and the Spirit Rock Dedicated Practitioner Program, she is a grateful student of the dharma.

Eileen Ybarra began studying Buddhism and sitting meditation in 2004 when she attended  a two day non-residential retreat in L.A  taught by Trudy Goodman and Noah Levine   Since 2004 she has studied with Trudy Goodman, and  since 2006 has primarily studied with Noah Levine. She has also studied with Gil Fronsdal.  Her profession is public librarianship, a meaningful practice of service and mindfulness which she is grateful for.  Currently, she is the facilitator for the People of Color (POC) meditation group where she leads bi-weekly guided meditations and group discussions.  She has completed two year-long practice/study groups with Noah Levine, and has completed a year-long sutta study group with Gil Fronsdal, and is currently enrolled in the Against the Stream Facilitator Training.

Michael Zittel began a daily sitting practice in 1987. He has practiced Tibetan Buddhism in Kopan Monastery, Nepal, and Zen at Mount Baldy Zen Center. His main practice is Vipassana meditation which he studied formally with Shinzen Young, starting in 1999. He was trained to be a meditation facilitator through Vipassana Support International in 2001. He  taught meditation to both psychiatric outpatients and mental health professionals at South Bay Mental Health in 2003. He also works one-on-one with individuals helping them with their practice, and currently leads the 7am morning sits Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week at Against the Stream.

Affiliated Teachers

George Haas began his path with a period of light-weight spiritual seeking (and heavy-duty drug and alcohol use).  In 1978, he began a serious exploration of the 11th step of the 12-Step tradition, working primarily with concentration to reduce the anxiety of living sober.  In an effort to make sense out of, and live with, the mounting AIDS deaths of the 1980s, Mr. Haas began walking the Red Road (traditional Native American spiritual practices) and reading Buddhist texts. Moving to Los Angeles from Manhattan in 1992 to work in the film and photography trades, George began sitting Vipassana at Ordinary Dharma in Venice, and reading extensively.  In 1998, he began study with his current teacher, Shinzen Young, and Vipassana Support International, where he is now a senior facilitator. George teaches regularly at ATS.  He offers a guided-meditation via conference call Monday through Saturday mornings, 7:30-7:55am, and teaches privately via Skype, phone, email, text & IM, which Los Angeles Magazine included on its Best of LA 2011 list as “Best Online Buddhist Meditation.”  For more information check out his website: http://mettagroup.org or call him at 213-820-7800.

Dan Nussbaum leads meditation groups in L.A. where he is a longtime Silverlake resident. He began his sitting practice with Shinzen Young and since  2003 he has been studying with Jason Siff, who trained him to teach Recollective Awareness. As a member of the Skillful Meditation Project Teaching Sangha he also leads one-day workshops, retreats and works with students privately. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Cheryl Slean has been practicing Buddhist meditation since 1995 and studying in the Theravadan tradition since 1998. She has taught meditation for the last 5 years at Seattle Insight Meditation, mid-Columbia Insight (E. Washington), and in the health care community, including participating in research and education on meditation and chronic pain, stress relief and substance addiction.  She divides her time between Seattle and Southern California.

Shinzen Young became fascinated with Asian culture while a teenager in Los Angeles and has done extensive training in Asia in each of the three major Buddhist meditative traditions. Upon returning to the United States, his intellectual interests shifted to the burgeoning dialogue between Eastern internal science and Western technological science. This has led to collaborations with neuroscientists at UCLA and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In recognition of his original contributions to that dialogue, the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology has awarded him an honorary doctorate. Shinzen leads meditation retreats in the mindfulness tradition throughout North America, and has helped establish several centers and programs. Additional information, articles and details of his phone-based classes can be found at shinzen.org and basicmindfulness.org.