The BRAIDED WISDOM TEAM

Carol Cano, M.A., began her practice over 30 years ago at Wat Kow Tahm in Thailand and has actively engaged in building communities and teaching Dharma internationally.  She is a teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.  She is a core teacher and a former board member of East Bay Meditation Center. Carol co-founded Philippine Insight Meditation Community in the Philippines.

Her unique teachings are deeply grounded in Basque, Native American and Buddhist influences that braid the Dharma along with indigenous wisdom and Earth-based practices. Her psychology background gives her a unique view into the human condition, which helps her hold community in a compassionate and confident manner.  Carol reminds us to keep grounded in our hearts as we uphold spiritual ideals and encourages us to remain balanced within the demands of modern life.

To find out more about Carol, please visit www.carolcano.com.

As a certified Integral Coach and mindfulness practitioner, Danielle blends curiosity, insight, and use of meditation and somatic tools to support the facilitation of positive and sustainable change for individuals, teams, organizations, and communities. Her personal practice is grounded in Buddha dharma, ancestral listening, and earth-based spirituality. In 2019, she made a humbling vow to walk the path of an aspiring Bodhisattva which informs her intention to help in the relief of suffering for all living beings. She is a rope skipper, born again creator, lover of nature, and admirer of life's smallest details. Her sacred place of refuge is in the mountains under the moon and stars. Danielle has Master degrees in Public Health and Public Policy. Her professional and leadership experiences span across healthcare operations consulting, politics, public policy, and government affairs. She is a trainee with the 2021-2022 Braided Wisdom Leadership Training Program and is a co-host of the Asian Heart Mind Body Collective Podcast. 

Denise has worked in the field of Film, TV, Advertising and the independent film and art scene in the Philippines as a video editor, motion graphics animator, art director and video director for over 15 years. She took a pause from her career to become a full-time mother to her son, Astro. She immersed herself in the world of stories, nature, rhythms and the study of the human being through the lens of motherhood and the education of a young child. Navigating through the depths of a difficult postpartum, she found meditation and trauma work through neuroplasticity techniques which blend movement and somatic-centered therapies. She has volunteered as a visual story-teller for the spirit singers of the T’boli in South Cotabato, Philippines and social entrepreneurs that seek to keep the local weaving culture alive. She has volunteered with the community at Weekend Wild Child, the first blended Steiner-Waldorf and Forest-School inspired Wildschooling programme in the Philippines. She has collaborated and marketed for Elements of Tomorrow - ELMNTM, a lifestyle service and retail brand of locally-grown and community-made things that helps turn environmental concern and social good from a matter of advocacy into an everyday, personal practice. She is a participant in the 2021-2022 Original Medicine Yearlong Program.

Aubrey is the Program Manager for Braided Wisdom. She also co-facilitates for Braided Wisdom’s White Awakening & Healing Pod and the Community Healing Circle. Aubrey has a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology, which sparked her passion for holistic wellbeing. She is a certified yoga teacher, reiki practitioner, and mindfulness facilitator. As a mental health counselor, Aubrey realized in order to help others, she needed to focus on her own wellbeing by diving inward to the places of discomfort with self-compassion. Through the practices of gestalt processing, core energetics, meditation and conscious dance, she discovered the beauty of radically accepting all parts of herself, and how self-inquiry can bring people together as we share our humanness. She is a graduate of the Braided Wisdom Leadership Training Program of 2021-2022, which ignited a curiosity of her Celtic ancestry and their ancient ways of honoring the cycles of nature. Aubrey brings her gifts of patience, deep listening, and loving-kindness to support us all on our path to wholeness. 

Imee Contreras is the founder of Mindfulness Asia.  She is a co-founder of the Philippine Insight Meditation Community and Nibbāna Forest Refuge. She is a mentor for Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach's Mindfulness Teacher Training Certification Program, where she co-facilitates the Third Space in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Accessibility Program. She is the Mindfulness Teacher of Braided Wisdom's Leadership Training Program and an Assistant Teacher for the Original Medicine Yearlong Program.

She develops and facilitates innovative mindfulness programs for international companies, schools, and events. She volunteers to teach incarcerated women serving life imprisonment and supports sexually abused women and children. 

She spent a large part of her younger years growing up in the United States and is now based in her motherland, the Philippines.  She is mixed-race, adopted, and raised by hard-working, lower-middle-class, immigrant Filipinos.  She is a mother, an organic gardener, a health and wellness advocate, and a yoga therapist.

Janet E. Roos has been recognized as an innovator in Business Technology for over 30 years. She has worked coast-to-coast as a highly respected “In-House” and “Consultant” leader for world renown companies. Most recently, she served for ten years in both a Director and Project Management role at McKesson Corporation—a “Fortune 6 Company.” Janet successfully completed the UCLA “Mindfulness Certified Training Program” and is a fully certified member of the International Mindfulness Teacher’s Association. Her passion is bringing Mindfulness Best Practices to corporate employees, athletes, and others. Her goal is to provide a “Mindfulness Framework” for supporting career development, stress management, change/ uncertainty management, and career/life transitions.  Janet is a four time “Hall Of Famer” recognized elite athlete who understands the inherent value of employing Mindfulness Practices for competition, sports preparedness, and training. She has sustained a personal meditation practice for over eight years and has attended numerous training and silent retreats. Janet has volunteered with Non-Profit Organizations and currently serves on two non-profit boards in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ramón Honea is a gay, second generation Oakland Latinx native. He/they served for 20 years as a teacher/administrator in the Oakland Unified School District. Through therapy, Ramon found meditation and the East Bay Meditation Center’s “POC sangha” where he/they sat on the board, led several groups, and participated on the center’s coordinating committee. Leading meditation since 2009, Ramon obtained a mindfulness teaching credential through the Mindfulness Training Institute in 2018.  He/they is an Assistant Teacher for the Original Medicine Yearlong Program.

Monique Calfé has a background in event and program planning and management. She is also an experienced stage manager and audio and lighting technician. She holds a BA in psychology from Lewis and Clark College and currently serves as a Virtual Manager for Braided Wisdom and an Online Program Host for Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She greatly appreciates the expansion and accessibility of the growing online Sangha and offerings. Monique was introduced to the Dharma community at a young age through the middle school teen series at East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC) and teen retreats with Spirit Rock and Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme). Monique particularly enjoys attending retreats geared towards BIPOC, young adults and women. She taps into her creative side as a photographer, baker, and singer. Monique feels a deep connection to the element of water and loves looking up into space at any chance she gets.