About
Gary Sanders is a meditation teacher and sobriety coach based in the Portland area. He teaches in the Insight tradition, authorized by Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society in Los Angeles and empowered to teach in the lineage of Ruth Denison through Portland Insight Meditation Community. Sanders founded several meditation communities including SCV Mindfulness and Heavy Metta PDX. He was a founding member of Refuge Recovery, a Buddhist-based addiction recovery program. His teaching integrates Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation and addresses both general mindfulness instruction and recovery from addiction. He offers classes, dhamma groups, daylongs, retreats, and individual sessions in various formats.
Teaching focus
Gary Sanders's teaching focus, drawn from the source profile, sits in the Insight and Theravada traditions. Several threads come up: metta and the brahmaviharas as embodied, felt practice rather than as positive thinking; compassion training that doesn't collapse into pity or burnout; and recovery and addiction-aware mindfulness. On talks, the style is closer to thinking-along than presenting. Gary Sanders works with whatever shows up in the room rather than reading from notes, which is part of why these talks land as conversational instead of scripted. Short pauses, longer sits, and questions that come back to direct experience are usual. Listed specialties on the source profile include addiction, recovery. The bigger move Gary Sanders keeps making is back toward attention itself: what's happening, how it's being held, and what gets in the way. That keeps the teaching close to practice rather than drifting into commentary about practice. For talks, schedules, and longer essays, the affiliated organization's page is where the live material lives. Gary Sanders's sessions tend to keep returning to the body, to breath, and to the felt quality of attention as the steady ground that the rest rests on. Gary Sanders's sessions tend to keep returning to the body, to breath, and to the felt quality of attention as the steady ground that the rest rests on.
Background
Gary Sanders teaches in the Insight and Theravada traditions. The teaching home is InsightLA. From the teacher's own profile: Gary Sanders is a seasoned meditation teacher, dhamma guide, and sobriety coach who has spent decades sharing the meaningful power of Buddhist practice across North America. Founder of SCV Mindfulness, Heavy Metta PDX, Boundless Heart, and other communities, Gary’s teaching is dedicated to fostering accessibility and inclusion in the dhamma. He was a founding member of Refuge Recovery, the Buddhist-based program supporting healing from all forms of addiction that has since spread worldwide. Authorized to lead Buddhist meditation groups at Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society in Los Angeles, Gary later joined the Teachers Council at Portland Insight Meditation Community, where he was honored to be empowered to teach in the lineage of Ruth Denison. His practice is rooted in the heart-based teachings of the Buddha and integrates Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation into a grounded, contemporary approach to mindfulness. Gary shares his teachings through ongoing class series, dhamma groups, daylongs, retreats, and one-on-one sessions, both in person and online. His compassionate presence, humor, and authenticity create learning spaces that are both welcoming and meaningful. A frequent contributor to The Tattooed Buddha and the Buddhist Recovery Network, Gary continues to produce meditation videos and writings that bring ancient wisdom into modern life - helping others cultivate mindfulness, insight, and freedom with a boundless heart. In the Insight stream Gary Sanders works inside, the emphasis is on direct attention to body, feeling tone, and mind, alongside the brahmaviharas and an ongoing investigation of how clinging and aversion arise. Talks tend to be conversational rather than scripted, and there's room for sila and ethics to be talked about as part of practice rather than as a separate topic. Gary Sanders's page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography. Gary Sanders's page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography. Gary Sanders's page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography. Gary Sanders's page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography.
Lineage
Gary Sanders teaches as a lay teacher in the Insight and Theravada traditions. The institutional home, per the source listing, is InsightLA, and that's where most of the public teaching schedule and any retreat offerings will be posted. The Insight lineage in the West runs through teachers like Mahasi Sayadaw, U Ba Khin, Anagarika Munindra, and Dipa Ma into the founders of IMS, Spirit Rock, and the regional centers, and most contemporary Insight teachers position themselves somewhere in that broad family.
What to expect
On a class or retreat with Gary Sanders, the basic shape is short instruction, longer sittings, and some Q&A. Online sittings and talks, mostly in real time with optional recordings, are part of the offering. The container is shaped by InsightLA, so format details, fees, and access policies follow that organization's norms. Expect plenty of silence, less talking-at-you than you might think, and an emphasis on letting the practice do its work rather than chasing experiences. For exact dates, registration, and any sliding-scale or scholarship information, There's usually a short Q&A window and, on retreats, optional teacher interviews where students can bring specific questions about their practice.
