Kaira graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. and M.A. in Anthropology and Social Sciences and teaches Buddhist meditation, mindfulness, and compassion internationally, with a focus on activists, people of color, artists, educators, families, and youth. She began practicing mindfulness in 1997. An ordained nun of 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing, Kaira now is a lay Dharma teacher based in Washington, DC. She edited Thich Nhat Hanh’s, Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness with Children and helped to start and develop Wake Up Schools, bringing mindfulness to education. She currently teaches educators in the Mindful Schools year-long certification program, shares mindfulness with parents, educators and students in DC public schools through Minds, Inc, and teaches teen and young adults’ mindfulness retreats with Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme). Kaira explores the interweaving of art, play, ecology and spiritual practice and is a certified yoga teacher and InterPlay leader. Her spiritual roots are in the Vietnamese Zen tradition, which influences much of her teaching, and has also practiced Insight meditation extensively. She is currently in the 4-year Spirit Rock Teacher Training Program.
