Lisa Ernst

Lisa Ernst is a meditation teacher, writer, and founder of One Dharma Nashville. Known for her embodied approach, she weaves Insight meditation, Zen and trauma-informed awareness into teachings for contemporary life. For nearly 20 years Lisa has guided retreats, classes, and workshops across the U.S. and internationally. Her focus is on helping people deepen their dharma practice on the cushion while also meeting life’s challenges with wisdom, compassion, and resilience.

Lisa  has maintained a committed meditation practice for over 30 years in the Zen and Vipassana traditions.  She received full teaching authorization through her primary teacher Trudy Goodman in the Thai Forest/Spirit Rock lineage. Lisa has taught at Spirit Rock, InsightLA, Southern Dharma, Big Bear Retreat Center and many more. She has also led pilgrimages to India and Costa Rica. Lion’s Roar and Tricycle Magazines have published a number of Lisa’s articles

Jeffrey Samuels, PhD

Jeff completed his first meditation retreat in Thailand in 1987 under the direction of Ajahn Buddhadasa.

Since then Jeff has completed a number of retreats in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Mexico, and the United States, in both the Mahasi Sayadaw and the Thai Forest traditions.

Jeff also earned a Ph.D. in Buddhist studies at the University of Virginia in 2002. He has been studying with Lisa Ernst since 2012 and completed multiple biannual retreats with her. Jeff taught a Pali language course through One Dharma as well as a recent daylong retreat on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. He lives in Vancouver Canada with his family.

Julie Noland, PhD

Julie Noland, Ph.D., has maintained a consistent and committed meditation practice since joining One Dharma in 2015. During this time she has also sat over 140 days of multi-day retreats, both in person and online. She completed One Dharma’s facilitator training in 2018 and Lisa Ernst’s dharma teacher training in 2022. She teaches Psychology as Vanderbilt University faculty and Insight Meditation at One Dharma, along with regular volunteering and retreat management.

Geoff Lovett

Jennifer Wang

Jennifer Wang is a facilitator for One Dharma’s Back to Basics Class. She has been a regular practitioner of mindfulness and meditation for over 10 years. Jennifer has completed numerous retreats, both residential and non-residential, in the Insight, Shambhala and Plum Village traditions. She also completed a monthlong retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in spring of 2019.

As a newcomer to Nashville, Jennifer is excited to share her experience of meditation with the Nashville community.

Scott Glazier

Scott has been meditating for ten years and he completed Osher Center’s Mindfulness Facilitation Training in 2019.  He is a trained and certified recovery specialist, mindfulness meditation teacher and case manager. Scott leads many mindfulness classes each week and his mission is to help others find continuous peace, purpose and connectedness all while having fun!

Mingo Perry

Mingo is a dharma and meditation facilitator connected to One Dharma. He is a dedicated practitioner of meditation, mindfulness, and yoga for over 10 years now.  He completed One Dharma’s 2022 teacher training program. Mingo enjoys creating contemplative and immersive writing and art that blend his practice and his passion together.

He is also a fitness and yoga instructor and health coach who regularly mixes in mindful movement, breathwork, and somatic practices with traditional exercise. Mingo hopes to support as many people as possible in their journey to alleviate suffering for themselves and others.

Tim Thayer, M.D.

Tim has been practicing mindfulness meditation since 2020 and completed the Osher Center’s Mindful Meditation Facilitator Training in 2023.  He enjoys exploring the bright and dark crannies of this life on his own and with others. His day job involves learning from patients and trainees as a clinician-educator cardiologist. He started giving Scott Glazier the occasional night off at Mindful Recovery in January 2024.

David Cabrera

David has been a Vipassana practitioner and instructor since 2007 and received certification through Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program in 2021. He is currently a mentor , and is part of the faculty training new mentors, for Banyan.

David has also led meditation and mindful movement retreats at Spirit Rock where he is also on the CDL team training new teachers for certification. He also leads mediation and mindful movement with One Dharma Nashville, where he co-founded their thriving BIPOC Sangha  and as a guest teacher for Insight LA’s BIPOC sangha Incorporating many years of martial arts studies, David is Laoshi in Chen Taiji and has taught mindful movement, Qi Gong ,Taiji for since 2011 and was trained by the International Tiancai Chenjiagou Federation USA under Sifu Kam Lee. David also specializes in Somatic Integration healing practices.

Being of Afro Cuban Asian heritage, David comes from a long lineage of Afro Cuban abolitionists who have devoted their lives to equality and liberation for all people of color in Cuba. David is also a Grammy award winning musician in the Latin music industry and a devout father and husband

Joe Panec

Joe started his meditation practice in the late 1980’s with occasional weekend sits at the Zen Center of Los Angeles. A periodic commitment to steady practice followed until 2020 when he stumbled upon the One Dharma Nashville’s online sits during the Covid lockdown. Since then he has been diligently practicing in the Vipassana tradition as a student of Lisa Ernst. He completed Lisa’s 2022 Dharma teacher training program and more recently in 2024 he completed two programs at Spirit Rock – the 2-year Dedicated Practitioner program and the 1-year Liberation through Emptiness and Awareness program. Joe has sat over 100 days of retreats since 2020. He continues with online dharma classes and programs and regular retreats.

In 2023 Joe took an early retirement from a successful engineering career in the semiconductor industry to focus on deepening an understanding of and practice of the dharma.

Randy Cox

Randy began his Buddhist practice in January 2012 through recovery from addiction. He found the Buddhist middle way to be instrumental in finding freedom from the suffering caused by addiction. He has continued to practice the Eightfold Path and uses mindfulness and meditation as the anchors to his sobriety.

Randy began his training in 2014 through a yearlong course at Against the Stream under the direction of Dave Smith. He continued his training through the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program and was given authorization to teach in 2023 under Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s lineage. Randy is one of the rotating facilitators of One Dharma’s Mindful Recovery and Back to Basics groups. He enjoys sharing his experiences in dharma practice for all seekers, especially for those in the LGBTQI+ communities and anyone in recovery. He also  enjoys hiking with his two rescue dogs.