About
Meg Gawler began Zen practice in 1968 with Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, completing over three years of monastic training. She later trained in the Theravāda tradition with Gil Fronsdal, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, and Ven. Anālayo. Gawler holds a Master's degree in Buddhist Studies with specialization in early Theravāda texts and is authorized as a Dharma teacher by Kornfield and Fronsdal. She teaches meditation in English and French, and also teaches Radiant Heart Qigong in the tradition of Teja Bell. She is affiliated with Insight Meditation Center and Insight Retreat Center.
Teaching focus
Gawler's core teaching draws on shikantaza (just sitting), breath-counting, koan introspection. The frame is the Zen tradition of seated meditation and direct pointing, but the language stays plain. Gawler doesn't lecture from height. The talks tend to think alongside whatever's actually present in the room. Recurring themes include zazen, samu, and sangha. None of those get presented as abstract ideas. They're worked into the body, into ethics, into how a practitioner shows up in family life or at work, so that the dharma stops feeling like a separate compartment. Gawler works comfortably with longer-term practitioners. Talks assume some familiarity with sitting, and the questions tend to circle around how to keep practice alive once the early enthusiasm has thinned out. Format-wise, Gawler teaches in online, in-person, retreat, and the tone moves easily between guided sittings, dharma talks, and Q&A. Questions tend to get answered the way they were asked, without being reframed into something cleaner. That alone tells you a lot about how the room feels.
Background
Meg Gawler began Zen practice in 1968 with Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, completing over three years of monastic training. She later trained in the Theravāda tradition with Gil Fronsdal, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, and Ven. Anālayo. Gawler holds a Master's degree in Buddhist Studies with specialization in early Theravāda texts and is authorized as a Dharma teacher by Kornfield and Fronsdal. She teaches meditation in English and French, and also teaches Radiant Heart Qigong in the tradition of Teja Bell. She is affiliated with Insight Meditation Center and Insight Retreat Center. Meg Gawler began practicing Buddhism in 1968 as a disciple of the Zen Master, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, including over three years of monastic training. She earned a Master’s in Applied Ecology, moved to France, pursued an international career in nature conservation and human development, and began practicing in the Theravāda tradition. She has trained with Gil Fronsdal, Ven. Anālayo, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, and others. Meg holds a Master’s in Buddhist Studies, specializing in early Theravāda texts. She is authorized as a Dharma teacher by both Jack Kornfield and Gil Fronsdal, and teaches in English and in French. In addition, Meg teaches Radiant Heart Qigong in the tradition of Teja Bell. Gawler teaches across several communities, including Insight Meditation Center, Insight Retreat Center. That work sits within the Zen tradition of seated meditation and direct pointing, and the recurring concerns of Gawler's teaching, ethical foundation, steady attention, and the slow softening of habitual reactivity, echo the older texts without sounding distant from a 21st-century practitioner's life. What stands out across Gawler's talks isn't a single technique but a steadying tone. Practice is treated as something built slowly, in ordinary life, with care. There's room for the difficulties practitioners actually bring into the room, grief, restlessness, the body's complaints, family obligations, and the encouragement is consistent without being pushy.
Lineage
Gawler teaches within the Zen tradition of seated meditation and direct pointing. Source notes mention training with Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Gil Fronsdal. Current affiliations include Insight Meditation Center, Insight Retreat Center. The lineage shows up less in titles than in the way Gawler talks about practice, with steady reference to the older Buddhist vocabulary while keeping the door open for people who've never read a sutra. Whether that framing lands as monastic or lay depends on the specific talk, but the consistent thread is care for the form without letting the form become the point.
What to expect
Sitting with Gawler, you can expect grounded instruction in shikantaza (just sitting), with space to ask questions and bring whatever's actually showing up in your practice. On retreat the structure follows a classical rhythm of sittings, walking practice, and dharma talks, with silence held between sessions. Online sessions tend to keep the same shape, shorter sits, a talk, and time for Q&A, in a format that's accessible from home. Group settings have a community feel without becoming social. People sit, listen, and check in. The teaching voice is steady. Gawler won't push you past your edge, and there's a clear preference for slow, sustainable practice over breakthrough chasing. Bring a notebook if you like, or don't. Either way, you'll be met where you are.
