The Teacher’s Collective is a group of active sangha members who have completed teacher training, demonstrated a dedication to practice, and have a commitment to serving the sangha. Headed by a resident guiding teacher, this group puts together creative learning opportunities for sangha members through events, retreats, and weekly talks.
Our Teachers
Joe Elliot
Joe Elliott is a counselor, artist, community organizer, and dharma teacher. He has been a practitioner of mindfulness for the past 27 years and a member of the Denver/Boulder Insight Meditation Communities since 1998. He underwent temporary ordination at the Bhavana Society in West Virginia in 1999 and completed a Buddhist Pilgrimage through India and Nepal in 2015. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. He taught counseling and family therapy at the University level for seven years including faculty positions at Regis and Metro State Universities. He completed a Dharma teacher training program organized by Tara-Lloyd Burton and has been offering talks for the past 8 years. Joe helps to lead the teacher’s collective at the Insight Meditation Community of Denver in his role as Resident Guiding Teacher. The collective puts spiritual education and programming together including weekly talks, retreats, and events that help to build community and deepen the practice of mindfulness. Joe finds inspiration for his dharma teaching through the creative arts where he practices various styles of dance, through studying the natural world, and gardening and cooking with wild foods. Joe’s talks draw from these experiences as he seeks to integrate contemporary scientific research and his experience as a counselor to promote the enduring wisdom of the dharma.
Beth Hinnen
Beth Hinnen has studied Yoga, Zen Buddhism and Vipassana for over 25 years. She hosts two meditation Meetup groups, and teaches a weekly online class called Dharma Wednesdays that blends Yoga philosophy with Buddhism. As a regular teacher for Insight Denver, she also serves as a Board leader, and as administrator of the Teachers Collective. She is an advocate of the Buddha’s reputed last words, “work on your own salvation diligently.”
Anne Heerdt
Anne started meditating in 1985 in Boulder. She has continued through raising children, working, going to college and earning a Masters in Education. Based on her training in education she is interested in how to work with the best meditation techniques for a variety of learning styles, life circumstances and physical differences. She has studied with Amma Thanasanti and is currently in the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program with Sounds True. Previously she was a facilitator in the local Dharma Punx meditation group for four years. She has recently joined the Teacher’s Collective at Denver Insight and looks forward to being part of the team of teachers.
Andrew Posner
Andrew Posner was introduced to the Buddha’s teachings in 2012, and remains a grateful student of the Dharma. He has trained at the Insight Meditation Society and at North American monasteries in the Thai Forest tradition. Andrew emphasizes integrating early Buddhist teachings on awareness, wisdom, and loving-kindness into our everyday lives.