Teachers

 

Will James

Resident Teacher

Will James is Tallowwood Sangha’s resident teacher. He attended his first Insight Meditation Retreat in the late 1970s with Christopher Titmuss, a pioneer meditation teacher in the west.  This meeting kindled a deep interest in meditation and a great love for the Dharma teachings and practices.

Will continued to study with Christopher through the 1980s and also studied with Subhana Barzaghi in the Zen and Insight traditions. In 2005 Will was invited by Christopher and Subhana to take up the responsibility of teaching in the Insight tradition.

Will’s teaching lays great emphasis on seeing into the ‘dependent arising’ and empty nature of all phenomena.  This seeing makes possible a deep understanding that frees the mind and opens the heart.

As well as teaching at the Tallowwood Sangha, Will leads retreats in Bellingen, in Byron Bay and in Bali (willjamesinsight.com/bali.html). Will has taught at the Dharma Gatherings in Australia and India, and has been a lead teacher in the Australian Dharma Facilitators Programme. He facilitates Dharma Study Programmes in his local area, and is a Teacher Mentor for the Insight Meditation Institute’s teacher training programs.

Guest Teachers

Christopher Titmuss: www.christophertitmuss.org

Radha Nicholson: www.radhanicholson.com

Subhana Barzaghi: www.subhana.com.au

Tallowwood Sangha acknowledges these apprentice teachers

  • Ali Barlow

    Ali began a meditative life in 1997 whist staying in an Ashram in South India, and attended her first Insight Meditation Retreat in 2008 where her love for the Buddha Dharma opened like a flower. This love led quite naturally into a life of service in support of her teacher Will James, Tallowwood Sangha and retreat life for one and all. Ali has been mentored in the supporting teacher role by Will since 2017 and is an experienced retreat manager as well as leading yatras and a weekly sitting group in Bellingen. She is also a member of the Tallowwood Sangha management committee. Ali began Dharma teacher training with the Insight Meditation Institute in 2021.

  • Lisa Siegel

    Lisa is an environmental educator who first attended a Dharma gathering in 2009 when she was feeling overwhelmed by the state of the planet. Learning about the Dharma felt like a reawakening of an understanding that she had had but just forgotten. Since that time, Lisa has continued her study of the Dharma with her teacher Will James. She also joined the Insight Meditation Institute teacher training in 2021. Lisa is particularly interested in how the understanding of the interconnectedness of all things can be deepened and applied in everyday life. Lisa has been a part of the Tallowwood Sangha Management Committee since 2015 and helps organise retreats and sangha communications.

  • Rowan Holden

    Rowan has an innate curiosity about both the material world and the intangible aspects of life. Childhood questions about the physical and mechanical broadened in adulthood into an enquiry about the human struggle for inner peace.

    Rowan attended his first retreat with Christopher Titmuss in 1981 and a deep interest in the dharma was kindled. After many years of inner enquiry and attending retreats in the Insight Vipassana tradition, Rowan has been encouraged by Will James and other Insight teachers to explore opportunities through which he can share his dharma understanding.