Mark Coleman

Mark Coleman first sat down to meditate as a teenage punk in London, and the practice took him on to India and the United States for long silent retreats. He trained in Insight meditation with Christopher Titmuss, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield, who later authorised him to teach, and also studied Dzogchen with Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Since the late 1990s he has led retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California, where he is one of the senior teachers.

His special interest is meditating outdoors. Through Awake in the Wild he guides silent wilderness retreats and a year-long training for people who want to lead nature meditation, and with Martin Aylward he runs the Mindfulness Training Institute, which prepares mindfulness teachers in the US and Europe. He also brings secular mindfulness into companies and public bodies. He has written Awake in the Wild and A Field Guide to Nature Meditation, as well as Make Peace with Your Mind, on loosening the grip of the inner critic, and From Suffering to Peace, and his guided practices appear on Waking Up, Insight Timer and Dharma Seed. He lives in Marin County, California, and teaches in person and online.