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.

Ramón Honea is a gay, second generation Oakland Latinx native. He 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 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 is an Assistant Teacher for the Original Medicine Yearlong Program.

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.

Dona has been immersed in Original Medicine, Indigenous Wisdom, and earth-based practices with the mentorship of Carol Cano for over a decade, having come across the work of Angeles Arrien in 2002. Dona braids together Embodiment practices, Energy Management for high performing organizations, and advocating an embodied approach to Women’s Well-being that honors the Feminine Energy Cycle.  She is an Assistant Teacher for the Original Medicine 4-part Series.