IMS Online Learning Center

Nakawe Cuebas Berrios feels blessed to be able to study and journey through different healing and spiritual traditions in her life. The common thread between the many traditions that have touched her path has been the belief that health and wellness depend on a balance between the mind, body, and heart. The healing systems that she has studied are: Midwifery, Chinese acupuncture, Ayurvedic medicine and yoga. Spiritually the practices are Lucumi (Cuba), with roots from the African Yoruba culture and indigenous ceremonies. These practices helped to strengthen her connection to the Earth and Cosmos. Her ancestral home is Puerto Rico, blending the Spanish, African and Taino Indian roots that flow from her ancestors, and give her guidance and strength daily. Her Nuyorican roots are honored by her experiences growing up in New York City. By profession she has been a Midwife for 40 years and has worked in community health centers in the Bronx providing services of midwifery/well women health care. For over 20 years she has immersed herself in the teachings of the early Buddhist schools, mainly Theravada and Thai Forest. She studied in the Dedicated Practitioners Program and Community Dharma Leaders Program affiliated with Spirit Rock. She teaches Meditation through the Buddha Dharma. Presently she is in the IMS Teacher Training program, where she shares the Dharma by assisting and teaching on retreats. For 10 years she has served as a mentor with the BAUS Prisoner Correspondence course. She believes we all have the potential to live a life of wisdom and compassion for our benefit and for the benefit and happiness of all beings. These are the teachings of liberation, the truth that she wants to share. She gives gratitude to all her teachers who have guided her throughout the years.

Isabel Adon is an Afro-Latinx meditator in the Vipassana (mindfulness) lineage and leads meditation for the BIPOC group and LGBTQIA+ at New York Insight Meditation Center and this year at the Garrison institute annual LGBTQIA+ Residential Retreat. She has been meditating for over 25 years. She has been a member of New York Insight Meditation Center for over 20 years and learned about the Dharma from various teachers throughout the years. She served on the Board of Directors of Insight Meditation Society (IMS) for over 6 years and chaired the DEI committee. She is presently a Board Member and Board President of Peace at Any Pace. Isabel is a level 1 MBSR teacher, trained under Elaine Retholtz, Jon Aaron and Dr. Kasim Al-Mashat and continues to explore the possibility of bringing this work forward to marginalized communities and communities of color. Isabel trained with Resmaa Menakem in the Somatic Abolitionist Training (Somatic Abolitionism) Isabel is a licensed clinical social worker and works with individuals, children, and families. Trained in family system, focusing oriented therapy, solution focused therapy and aboriginal/indigenous/cultural centered therapy and trauma therapy as well as DBT. Isabel works with the client to support them in discovering their own inner strengths and tools to transform life’s challenges into opportunities and possibilities for growth. She is a focusing oriented therapist and certifying coordinator for the Focusing Institute in the philosophy of the implicit and felt sense, developed by Gene Gendlin (Focusing) and continues to learn under the mentorship of Lynn Preston. Isabel is an instructor in Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy (IFOT) and Indigenous Tools for Living (ITFL) and trained under Shirley Turcotte. This philosophy focuses on working with trauma, while leaning into the land and focusing not only on the individual but also the collective.

Lissa Edmond began a dedicated dharma practice in 2008 and studies Vipassana and the Brahmaviharas as their primary path with influences from Zen. Lissa is a meditation and mindful movement (qigong, yoga, etc.) teacher, somatic/trauma psychotherapist (SEP, IFOT, etc.), nurse practitioner (DNP, PMHNP-BC), and participant in the 2025-28 IMS/Spirit Rock teacher training program. Lissa identifies practice as a deep form of love and care and shares compassionate, embodied, and trauma-responsive practices for the wellness and liberation of all beings.