Teachers
SHARON BENATAR is a Buddhist practitioner and Clinical Psychologist in private practice, drawing inspiration from Eastern and Western approaches to healing and health. Other avenues of interest include the creative arts: painting, crafts, poetry, music and symbol. Sharon has been facilitating personal development and self expression through groups, workshops and individual therapy for over 20 years. She is a certified facilitator of “Healing Relaxation”, the introductory course of the Tara Rokpa Therapeutic programme(registered in the UK and Europe), developed by Ven. Akong Rinpoche.
ANN CAMERON grew up on a farm at the southern end of the Kruger National Park where she was inducted into the beauty of the bush. She has a PhD in Science education and has taught undergraduate courses in Astronomy and Geomorphology at Wits University.
VINCENT CARRUTHERS is a management consultant specialising in environmental issues and eco-tourism. He has served on the boards of several companies and para-statal organisations such as the North-West Parks and Tourism Board and the Magaliesberg Advisory Committee to Gauteng and North-West province. He has published a number of books including The Magaliesberg, The Wildlife of Southern Africa, South African Frogs.
MERVYN CROFT has been engaged in Buddhism for over 30 years, including a period of 13 years as a member of the resident community at the Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo. He has participated in retreats in the Theravada, Zen and Tibetan traditions and for many years was a student of Godwin Samararatne from Sri Lanka. In 2000 he co-founded the Emoyeni Retreat Centre where he lives and teaches.
MONICA FAIRALL is a writer and broadcaster on health. She teaches yoga in Durban and has had a lifelong interest in natural medicine, the mind-body connection and healing through resonance and frequencies.
PHYLLIS JARDINE & ARLENE VALET have been involved seriously in tai chi for 18 years and have traveled to the east to experience training there. They are senior students and assistant instructors to Sifu Edward Jardine who heads the International Tai Chi Society. The International Tai Chi Society is the oldest Tai Chi organisation in South Africa and has branches across Gauteng, and in Durban, Cape Town, England, Canada, the United States, Australia and Finland.
MOYRA KEANE works in education and curriculum development at the Science Faculty of the University of the Witwatersrand. She has been practising meditation for many years, has led retreats at the Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo and Emoyeni Retreat Centre, and taught Buddhist courses in Johannesburg.
ANNIE LEATT has been a student of Buddhism since her early teens. The idea for this weekend emerged during a month-long retreat at Emoyeni at the end of 2006, where she was dealing with many of her own fears. Annie teaches courses on Buddhism at Religious Studies at UCT, and is currently doing a PhD at Wits.
GILL McDOWELL has worked for many years as a print media designer. In teaching the visual arts she is interested in exploring how mindful creative practices such as drawing can help us to live with renewed appreciation, awareness and balance.
ROB NAIRN was formerly Professor of Criminology at the University of Cape Town. Since 1964 he has undergone training under teachers in the Tibetan and Vipassana traditions, including Akong Rinpoche and Thrangu Rinpoche. In 1993 he completed an intensive 4-year retreat at the Samye Ling Tibetan Centre in Scotland. He is the author of a number of books on the psychology of meditation.
SUE RANDALL is a writer and editor. She has an MA in research psychology and has read widely in case studies of past-life memory. She lives at Emoyeni.
JOHN STRYDOM is a retired clinical psychologist who has an interest in the nondualistic traditions such as Zen, Taoism and Advaita Vedanta. He has spent several periods on the staff of the Buddhist Retreat Centre near Ixopo. He recently moved from Hogsback to Emoyeni and offers workshops on relationships, emotions, addictions and the application of the nondualistic perspective to everyday living.
JOHANN VAN SCHALKWYK has been practising and studying Buddhism for more than 20 years. He has a particular interest in understanding the Teachings as presented in the Pali Suttas, and also finds the work of contemporary thinkers engaging. He is a co-founder of Emoyeni and lives there.