Hollyhock Presenters

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Our presenters are curated for their quality, depth, integrity, and alignment with our educational purpose. Since 1982, a distinguished faculty of authors, educators, activists, artists, performers, and practitioners have shared their work at our Cortes Island campus and in Vancouver.

People smiling at Activate 2023 Hollyhock Leadership Institute

Michele McDonald

Michele McDonald has taught Insight meditation for fourty years and teaches extensively throughout America, in Canada, Burma, and various locations around the world. As a guiding teacher for Vipassana Hawai’i she has been a quiet pioneer. She is the first woman to have taught a formal retreat in Burma, side-by-side with a senior monastic figure (Sayadaw U Lakkhana, Abbot of Kyaswa Monastery). Her style of teaching focuses on helping individuals find entry points into stillness that are natural for them. She also loves teaching meditation with online programs she helps design.

vipassanahawaii.org

Events with Michele McDonald

Metta Vipassana: Awareness as a Path to Liberation
April 21 - May 5, 2024

Experience Metta (unconditional love and kindness) Vipassana (insight) meditation on beautiful Cortes Island. In this 14-day silent retreat, discover the four immeasurables (unconditional love, wise compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity) through meditations that fuse these fundamental spiritual emotions with the intuitive wisdom of Vipassana. Develop compassionate awareness and a more…