About
Helen Weng is an assistant professor of psychiatry at UCSF and core faculty member at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. She is trained as a contemplative neuroscientist and clinical psychologist. Her research examines how compassion meditation affects brain responses to human suffering and uses machine learning to analyze brain states during meditation. She is affiliated with the East Bay Meditation Center and focuses on increasing diversity in contemplative neuroscience research through community engagement and social justice frameworks.
Teaching focus
Helen Weng, PhD.'s teaching focus, drawn from the source profile, sits in the Secular tradition. Several threads come up: compassion training that doesn't collapse into pity or burnout; dharma applied to social and collective suffering;. On talks, the style is closer to thinking-along than presenting. Helen Weng, PhD. 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 advanced practice. The bigger move Helen Weng, PhD. 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. Helen Weng, PhD.'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. Helen Weng, PhD.'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
Helen Weng, PhD. teaches in the Secular tradition. The teaching home is East Bay Meditation Center. From the teacher's own profile: Helen Weng, PhD is an assistant professor of Psychiatry, and a core faculty member at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and affiliate faculty member at the Neuroscape Center, UCSF. She is trained as a contemplative neuroscientist and clinical psychologist, and has studied how compassion meditation changes brain responses to human suffering. Helen's current research uses machine learning techniques to understand brain states that occur during meditation. She is working to increase the diversity of meditators included in contemplative neuroscience studies, using community engagement and social justice frameworks. Helen Weng, PhD.'s teaching tends to stay close to direct experience, working with attention, ethics, and the felt sense of the body rather than abstract doctrine. Helen Weng, PhD.'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. Helen Weng, PhD.'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. Helen Weng, PhD.'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. Helen Weng, PhD.'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. Helen Weng, PhD.'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. Helen Weng, PhD.'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. Helen Weng, PhD.'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. Helen Weng, PhD.'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
Helen Weng, PhD. teaches as a lay teacher in the Secular tradition. The institutional home, per the source listing, is East Bay Meditation Center, and that's where most of the public teaching schedule and any retreat offerings will be posted. Teaching authority and lineage details, where stated, live with the affiliated organization's profile page rather than with this directory entry.
What to expect
On a class or retreat with Helen Weng, PhD., the basic shape is short instruction, longer sittings, and some Q&A. The container is shaped by East Bay Meditation Center, 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.
