Learn about Open Mindfulness Meditation (OMM) Leaders
Anne Asker
Anne has been practicing meditation for more than 20 years and believes her steady mindfulness practice has brought more presence, acceptance, and resilience in her life. Anne’s passion for the practice led her to the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness where she received training to become a qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher. In addition to teaching the MBSR course, Anne offers mindfulness presentations and workshops to law firms and business as well as private instruction.
Barbaranne Branca
Barbaranne Branca PhD ABN has been practicing meditation since 1978. Barbaranne trained to become a mindfulness meditation teacher via a two-year intensive course (Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, directed by Tara Brach PhD and Jack Kornfield PhD). Barbaranne is a certified LoveYourBrain yoga teacher (e.g., this is a program to teach yoga and meditation to individuals who have sustained head injury). Barbaranne works at Galaxy Brain and Therapy Center as a mindfulness meditation teacher.
Brenda Lindsay
Brenda is a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Instructor trained at Brown University. Brenda serves as a Council Member for the Ann Arbor Center for Mindfulness (AACFM), is also a Certified Meditation Instructor, a Certified Yoga Teacher (CYT-200), and a Personal Resilience Practitioner (PRP). Brenda founded Mind Transformations LLC and quickly discovered that teaching mindfulness to individuals, organizations, and communities has been one of the most gratifying experiences in her career. Attending annual silent retreats and practicing mindfulness daily are a priority in Brenda’s life.
David Fessell
David is a recently retired medical doctor (M.D.) He is certified through the two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) led by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. He teaches mindfulness to healthcare workers and community groups and is also a certified executive coach, author, and speaker on topics related to mindfulness and wellness.
Emily Adama
Emily Adama, MSW, has been teaching mindfulness and meditation in various therapeutic and community settings since 2013. Emily has taught Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention, and Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation courses. Emily received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan in 2015 with a focus on Mindfulness-based therapy. Emily has been a dedicated meditation practitioner since 2011 and is the Director of EarthWell Retreat Center, where she offers mindfulness-based retreats.
Jennifer Radliff
Jennifer is a certified mindfulness meditation teacher, trained by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. She has been practicing meditation since 1989 and has attended numerous retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh as well as Vipassana retreats throughout the US and in India. Jennifer maintains a mindfulness-based, trauma informed, private psychotherapy practice in Ann Arbor and has taught mindfulness and self-compassion courses to students, families, and community groups in the area since 2001.
Jeremy Seligman
Jeremy has been practicing meditation and mindfulness for more than four decades in a number of different practice traditions including Zen, as part of Thich Naht Hanh’s community, and in the Insight Meditation tradition. Jeremy is certified as a Mindfulness and Meditation teacher through the Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) led by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. Jeremy developed and presents a program for corporate environments called Mindfulness for Busy Leaders which introduces basic mindfulness practices to those who previously may not have known about these practices or thought they were not for them.
Joya D’Cruz
Joya D’Cruz was born and raised in India, and has lived in Singapore and in various places in the North Americas. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Michigan, and has trained in Somatic and Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy for Complex Trauma. Joya has taught Mindfulness-based Meditation with the Prison Mindfulness Institute in Windsor, Ontario; and in the Women’s Prison in Michigan, USA.
Julie Woodward
Julie Woodward’s, MSW, TYT-200, ACC, approach to meditation has been through the practice of yoga, which she began 30 years ago. Julie shares the fruits of this practice through her work as a social worker, health coach, yoga and meditation teacher. Julie’s specialty is integrating yoga practices and the practices supported by the findings of modern neuroscience with the mindfulness-based curricula to offer an embodies approach to well-being.
Laura Seligman
Laura has been meditating in various Buddhist and spiritual traditions since the 1970’s. After training with Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 1990’s, she taught Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) courses privately and at Strong Hospital in Rochester, NY. Laura is certified as a Mindfulness and Meditation teacher through the Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) led by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. She is also certified to teach The Realization Process by the founder, Judith Blackstone. Laura is a visual artist and has a studio where she teaches RP in person and online.
Libby Robinson
Libby is a Certified Teacher of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). She has taught MBSR since 2007 to members of the community and to psychotherapists, nurses, physicians, social workers, teachers, and other professionals. Libby also leads drop-in meditation sessions and has presented to organizations and businesses on mindfulness. She co-founded the Ann Arbor Center for Mindfulness (AACFM) with other mindfulness teachers.
Linda Kessler
Linda first learned about mindfulness meditation from a therapist she was seeing after a long battle with cancer. Doing a quick online search, Linda found Libby Robinson who was teaching an MBSR course. Linda signed up and was hooked! That was more than 14 years ago, and mindfulness continues to be an important part of Linda’s daily life. Most of her practice now involves mindful movement—Qi Gong and Tai Chi. Linda attends a week-long silent retreat each year with a teacher from Insight Meditation Society located in Massachusetts. In addition to leading a variety of OMM meditation sessions online, Linda helps schedule the sessions and sends out weekly newsletters.
Marta Dabis
Marta Dabis is a board-certified hospital chaplain and lead priest of JissoJi Zen Ann Arbor. Marta’s prior meditation experience in Hungary started in 1980 with Autogenic Training and later with Transcendental Meditation. Marta studied bodywork with her teacher Francis Bujold, later following in his footsteps, she practiced Zen monastically at the San Francisco Zen Center and was inspired further by Edward Espe Brown. Marta is a former management consultant, she has graduate degrees in business administration and computer science, and lives in CoHousing in Ann Arbor.
Pam Bifano Schweitzer
Pam Bifano Schweitzer, PMHCNS-BC received teacher training in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) from the Toronto Centre for Mindfulness Studies (CMS). An adult psychiatric nurse practitioner in the Michigan Medicine Department of Psychiatry for 30 years, Pam retired in 2018 and established her own practice of psychotherapy. As a council member of Ann Arbor Center for Mindfulness (AACFM), Pam participates in planning and offering retreats and workshops. Pam leads and participates in guided meditations at Open Mindfulness Meditation (OMM).
Paulette Grotrian
Paulette is an experienced meditator and teacher with over 25 years of meditation experience. She teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindful Self-Compassion, and is a co-founder of the Ann Arbor Center for Mindfulness and Open Mindfulness Meditation. Paulette trained to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in 2010 with Jon Kabat-Zinn and to teach Mindful Self-Compassion with Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer in 2016. Paulette annually attends silent retreats and practices mindfulness and compassion formally and informally.
Open Mindfulness Meditation 