Brandon began attending classes in 2015 at Long Beach Meditation. In 2017 he volunteered to take a leadership role and join the Board. He is now Board Chair for Long Beach Meditation serving in that role since 2019. He is a health, environment and safety professional with extensive experience in facilitating project management. In his spare time he enjoys taking his motorcycle for long rides through the hills of Orange County.

Wendy is the Learning and Development Manager at a manufacturing software company and she lives with her two dogs, Kira (a black German Shepherd) and Dobby (a Chinese Crested Dog). She first took a basics of meditation class through the Orange Community Services and started attending Long Beach Meditation after an invitation by a friend in 2019. Meditation has helped her improve mental focus and process emotions more fully. She has served on the Board since 2022 and as Vice Chair since 2023. She has conceived, developed, and leads the highly successful Long Beach Meditation Book Club.

Originally from New York, Kisen moved to Long Beach in 2015. After a decade-long home meditation practice, she was introduced to Long Beach Meditation in early 2018 and has been an active member ever since. Kisen has served on the Board since 2019 and in the role of Treasurer since 2021. She lives at Yokoji Zen Mountain Center where she studies with Jokai Blackwell Roshi.

Serving as the Guiding Teacher since 2018, Jokai Blackwell Roshi represents the teachers of Long Beach Meditation during Board meetings, solicits teacher support from the Board, and recommends programming. He is in residency at Yokoji Zen Mountain Center near Idyllwild and hosts numerous retreats there throughout the year. In 2000 Jokai Roshi began studying with Charles Tenshin Fletcher Roshi at Yokoji Zen Mountain Center and then underwent formal study, encompassing over a decade of residential training and service. Upon completion of this study in 2014 he received Dharma Transmission, full authorization to teach, in the White Plum Lineage of Zen Buddhism. In 2022 he received Inka, the final seal of certification in Zen. Jokai Roshi emphasizes the direct experience of awakening using contemporary language and time-honored methods. He continues to live, work, and teach in Southern California.

Alma has been part of the Sangha since 2014 and has served on the Board since 2020. She loves Long Beach and is proud to call this city her home. She has recently worked for the City of Long Beach Parks, Recreation and Marine Department and has had various roles within the City. Currently she works for a non-profit think tank dedicated to understanding Latinx voters. Her strong commitment to her community and social justice drive her and she strives to align her meditation practice to her daily life. Alma is a co-facilitator of the Long Beach Meditation Book Club and is a valued champion of diversity and inclusion in the leadership and membership of the Sangha.

Dora came to Long Beach Meditation in 2018 after much searching and suffering. Long Beach Meditation has made an immeasurable impact on her life. She supports the organization and fellow Sangha members as a form of appreciation for all that she has received. In her professional life she works in healthcare operations, navigating various challenges such as ongoing staffing shortages while pursuing better patient outcomes in an ever-changing landscape of resources and needs. During her free time, Dora enjoys hanging out with her 14 year old son and riding her bike on the beach. 

Brad Gibson has been studying Vipassana Meditation since 1980. He has attended meditation retreats with Jack Engler, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and numerous others. In addition, he studied many years in the Tibetan Mahamudra tradition with Ken McCleod. In 2008 Brad began attending classes at Long Beach Meditation. He was invited to teach in January 2011, joining the board in 2023. He is a retired high school teacher, and lives with his wife and daughter in Long Beach, California.

Christine started her journey with Buddhism in 2006. Over the years, she’s attended various meditation groups, visited temples, joined retreats, and committed to a formal practice of her own. After moving from New York City to California she joined Long Beach Meditation as a Sangha member in 2022. Since joining the sangha she’s used her 15+ years of experience as an early childhood educator to help create youth meditation classes and she’s become a student of Tim Colohan JDPSN, Kwan Um School of Zen and one of the teachers at Long Beach Meditation. She is currently enrolled in a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. Christine loves living in Long Beach with her husband and two young children.