Course Leaders

She was ordained into the Order of Interbeing in Plum Village in 2014 and received the Lamp Transmission as a Dharma Teacher in 2026. Her True name is True Mountain of Non-Fear.

Lauri has been meditating for nearly 40 years and met Plum Village teachings in 2006. Her PhD research (2008-12) on Thich Nhat Hanh, Mindfulness and Engaged Buddhism led to teaching MBSR courses, and from 2016 The Art of Zen Course for Plum Village UK.

She has co-created two further courses (Looking Deeply and Living Mindfully) for a pathway into establishing and deepening a personal and Sangha-based practice.

She has a creative practice, finding the combination of mindfulness and creativity fit together extremely well. She offers

Mindful Writing Workshops and Retreats and the new Playing with Mindfulness and Creativity Course.

Lauri has offered the The Art of Zen course over 40 times, and still finds much to gain from exploring these simple yet deep teachings.

Mindfulness is an integral part of her life and she finds the practice helps generate peacefulness, calm and clarity.

Ian is an ordained member of the Order of Interbeing in the tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, receiving the Dharma name True Insight on the Path after many years of practice, including two years living in Plum Village Monastery in France.

In 2014, Ian attended Thich Nhat Hanh’s 21-day retreat “What Happens When We Are Alive? What Happens When We Die?” Thay’s teachings on non-duality, interbeing, no-birth and no-death awakened a profound recognition of a near-death experience Ian had at the age of ten — an experience of deep connection, peace and love that he had never fully understood. Exploring and sharing this deep wisdom of non-duality has since become a central part of his practice.

After many years as a spiritual nomad, Ian has now settled in Leicestershire within a Christian community, where his life is guided by a simple volition: To practise. To share the practice. To build community.

He builds community locally while sharing mindfulness globally through online courses, retreats and gatherings. His work and volunteering include addiction recovery, end-of-life spiritual care and chaplaincy, neurodiversity, workplace wellbeing and community practice.

Ian has shared mindfulness in settings ranging from local communities and recovery groups to organisations and international settings, including with leaders at the United Nations.

At the heart of everything he shares is the practice of stopping, looking deeply and discovering our interconnectedness — helping us live with greater awareness, compassion, freedom and peace.

Clare was ordained into the Order of Interbeing in 2021 and received the Dharma name True Spring Waterfall

She first encountered Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings through attending Plum Village mindfulness retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh from 1998. This encounter was life changing, she became increasingly committed to her daily practice with the support of Sangha and it is now a central part of her life.

Clare’s mindfulness practice continues to be deeply rooted in her daily practice of drawing and painting in Helmsley Walled Garden. Clare’s practice transforms and enlivens everything she does. Her daily painting practice involves cherishing and falling in love with her subject matter, nature.

Through the wealth of experience brought by parenthood, periods of great change and upheaval in her life, the journey of caring for and the subsequent death of her beloved parents and husband, Clare has practised looking for the wonderful, ‘flecks of gold’ in her life (“this moment is full of wonders”). She realised that in trying to block suffering she would also be starved of her joy.

Tran can speak Vietnamese, English, French, and Norwegian. In the tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, his practice name is True Virtue of Vulture Peak.

In 2008, Tan began exploring mindfulness practices in the tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh to navigate a personal crisis. Since then, he has dedicated himself to studying and practicing mindfulness, expanding his approach to include various methodologies such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Search Inside Yourself (SIY), Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice (MBSP), and Theory.

Tan seamlessly integrates mindfulness practices into his professional work as a human flourishing facilitator, sharing his insights with numerous individuals and organizations, including multinational entities like the United Nations, General Electric, and Salesforce. He currently leads The Flourishing Circle, a mission-driven initiative aimed at helping individuals flourish by combining wisdom and science.

Jon lives in West Yorkshire and practises with Green Leaves Sangha.

Jon was taught to meditate 30 years ago and practised with several traditions before finding Thich Nhat Hanh and Plum Village. Jon went on his first retreat at Plum Village in France in 2015 and received the Five Mindfulness Trainings there. The experience was extremely powerful and began a process of positive change that continues today. He was given the Dharma name Blooming Insight of the Heart at the transmission ceremony. Jon has first hand experience of how the Plum Village practise can bring a lot of peace and happiness to the practitioner and by extension to those around them.

The experience of practice was so positive that Jon decided to take the step of leaving his job and moving to Plum Village, France, with his partner, to live and work there for a year and a half between 2018-2019. He worked on the organic farm at the monastery and practised daily with the Monastic community during this time. This experience deepened his practice significantly and firmed up a committent to bring the teachings to others in different ways; including through the building of Sangha (or spiritual community), through service at work and in the community and more recently through delivering the Art of Zen courses.

Jon co-founded Seven Sisters Sangha in London in 2017 and Green Leaves Sangha in West Yorkshire in 2023.

He is an aspirant in the Order of Interbeing.

Before moving to Yorkshire, Jon worked with homeless people, in a variety of roles, in London for over 15 years. This work was deeply challenging and fulfilling in almost equal measure. He has also been an activist involved in anti racist and environmental campaigns and aspires to continue to uphold the Plum Village tradition of integrating Buddhist practice and activism.

Heather received the 5 Mindfulness Trainings from Plum Village in 2023 and was ordained as a novice nun for a time limited period in 2025 with the Dharma name Ocean of Great Dedication.

Having been on a path of pursuing happiness through achievement and collecting medals on the world sporting stage, she became fascinated with the psychological aspects of being our best selves and turned to supporting others in their journeys as a leadership coach and spiritual companion. In 2017, feeling increasingly burnt out by pursuing conventional success she had a life-changing realisation; that most personal development just provides people with survival strategies in our broken societal system.

She is now dedicated to facilitating transformative journeys for both individuals and organisations through opening hearts and expanding consciousness and aspires to contributing to a more loving, peaceful and equitable world through mindful practice and a deep understanding of interbeing.

Heather has been practising, studying and teaching mindfulness for 15 years – initially following a secular path and then via various Buddhist traditions before ‘coming home’ to Plum Village in 2022. She currently serves as a Buddhist Chaplain at Durham University and is an aspirant to the Order of Interbeing.

Ted has been practising mindfulness since childhood. He attended his first retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh in 2008, and he spent several summers in the children’s programme at Plum Village. He received the Five Mindfulness Trainings in 2012, renewed them in 2022, and in 2025 he spent a week as a temporarily ordained novice monk during a special retreat at the European Institute for Applied Buddhism.

Since returning to regular practice in 2020, Ted has experienced for himself, and witnessed in others, the ways that mindfulness can bring greater peace, joy, understanding and connection. He loves sharing the practice with others, and has facilitated regularly with local sanghas and at Plum Village, including New Hamlet’s first dedicated group for LGBTQ+ practitioners in 2025.

Alongside his practice, Ted works as a civil engineer and holds a PhD in applied science. He is particularly interested in bringing mindfulness into everyday life and relationships, through mindful walking, eating, working and communicating. For Ted, practice is above all about being truly present for life, whatever form it takes, and he values approaching it with honesty, curiosity and flexibility.

Sarah received the 14 Mindfulness Trainings in 1999 with the name True Great Beginning Anew. She has practiced mindfulness, meditation, and yoga for 42 years and in the Plum Village tradition for 27 years.

Sarah’s spiritual experiences and academic qualifications are complimented by her variety of life experiences engaging with a diverse range of communities.

Since her school days she has been passionately involved in mindfulness, meditation, and yoga. She found these to be beneficial to make sense of the world, find purpose and support others. To widen her knowledge, she taught and practised whilst traveling widely. Whilst living in Plum Village she felt she had found her true home.

She has worked with students with different needs, conditions, and abilities, including SEN needs in a variety of support settings and is an Autism Ambassador for Hampshire County Council.

Sarah explores alternative ways to improve her and others’ health, such as food and holistic therapies found in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. She has worked in all levels of formal education, with the home educated community and has trained both teachers and yoga teachers.

She is enthusiastic and resolute in the desire to contribute to the community. She believes that mindfulness, meditation, and yoga are the most valuable gift.

Kirstie received the Five Mindfulness Trainings while on retreat in Plum Village France in 2022 and the lineage name, Deepening Path of the Source. She is now enjoying the journey as an Aspirant to receive the Fourteen Mindfulness Training and to join the UK Order of Interbeing.

Much of Kirstie’s time is spent on Sangha building and spreading the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, providing administrative and marketing support for Plum Village UK on a voluntary basis, including supporting the delivery of Plum Village UK’s Mindfulness courses and serving as the UK Sangha Coordinator. Kirstie is fortunate to visit Plum Village France regularly.

Kirstie continues to experience the transformational benefits of practicing mindfulness on all aspects of her life, including relationships, right livelihood and interbeing. Kirstie lives just outside of Stamford and practises with the Nottingham Deep Roots Sangha with an aspiration to continue to build Sangha, including in and around Rutland / Lincolnshire.