About
Wendy Block is a licensed clinical social worker and Vipassana practitioner with 20 years of meditation experience across Buddhist, Hindu, and Advaita traditions. She studied with teachers including Trudy Goodman, Beth Sternlieb, and Victor Byrd, and was authorized to teach Theravada Buddhism by Trudy Goodman and Sharon Salzberg. Block completed the Dedicated Practitioner's Program at InsightLA and Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and trained in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy with cognitive psychologist Zindel Segal. She teaches MBCT, Mindful Self-Compassion, and MICBT (Mindfulness-Integrated CBT). Block works as a therapist integrating mindfulness and Buddhist psychology with psychotherapy and co-leads the InsightLA Long Beach sitting group.
Teaching focus
Wendy Block, LCSW's teaching focus, drawn from the source profile, sits in the Vipassana and Insight traditions. Several threads come up: compassion training that doesn't collapse into pity or burnout;. On talks, the style is closer to thinking-along than presenting. Wendy Block, LCSW 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 anxiety, stress, teens. The bigger move Wendy Block, LCSW 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. Wendy Block, LCSW'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. Wendy Block, LCSW'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
Wendy Block, LCSW teaches in the Vipassana and Insight traditions. The teaching home is InsightLA. From the teacher's own profile: Wendy N. Block began practicing meditation at age 18, studying different traditions, including Buddhist, Hindu, and Advaita paths. She has been practicing Vipassana meditation for 20 years, and has helped teach and organize meditation programs in Long Beach for Long Beach Meditation and Insight LA. She is dedicated to supporting and nurturing the practice of meditation in small community settings and health organizations. She has trained with cognitive psychologist Zindel Segal to teach Mindfulness- Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and facilitated mindfulness programs at Kaiser Permanente for adults and teens for many years. Wendy teaches MBCT, Mindful Self Compassion, MICBT, (Mindfulness-integrated CBT) and Buddha’s Path classes. She completed the Dedicated Practitioner’s Program at InsightLA and Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and recently the MICBT program from UC San Diego. Her teachers are Trudy Goodman, Beth Sternlieb and Victor Bryd. She was authorized to teach Theravada Buddhism by Trudy Goodman and Sharon Salzburg. She currently works as a therapist, integrating mindfulness and Buddhist psychology with psychotherapy and co-leads the InsightLA Long Beach sitting group. In the Insight stream Wendy Block, LCSW 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. Wendy Block, LCSW'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. Wendy Block, LCSW'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. Wendy Block, LCSW'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. Wendy Block, LCSW'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. Wendy Block, LCSW'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
Wendy Block, LCSW teaches as a lay teacher in the Vipassana and Insight 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 Wendy Block, LCSW, the basic shape is short instruction, longer sittings, and some Q&A. 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. There's usually a short Q&A window and, on retreats, optional teacher interviews where students can bring specific questions about their practice.
