About Shaila
Shaila Catherine is the founder of both Bodhi Courses, an online Dhamma classroom, and Insight Meditation South Bay, a Silicon Valley-based center for mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom.
She has taught insight meditation since 1996 in the USA, Europe, Israel, New Zealand, and Canada. Inspired by the Discourses of the Buddha, Shaila maintains an unwavering dedication to awakening. Students express deep appreciation for her expertise in guiding practitioners to cultivate concentration and the deep absorption states of jhāna, as well as for her enthusiasm for sutta study.
Shaila’s first book Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity (Wisdom Publications, 2008), introduces concentration practices and the absorption states of jhāna. She authored Wisdom Wide and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhāna and Vipassanā (Wisdom Publications, 2011) to help make the traditional meditation teachings of Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw accessible to western practitioners. Her third book, Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind (Wisdom Publications, 2022), shares practical Buddhist strategies for overcoming restlessness and distraction both on and off the cushion.
Training with Great Masters
Born and raised in the USA, Shaila Catherine was introduced to meditation in 1980 during her senior year in high school. This training launched a lifetime of dedicated dhamma practice, during which she accumulated over nine years of silent retreat practice.
Shaila studied with renowned teachers in the USA, England, India, Thailand, and Nepal. She practiced with the founders of western meditation centers including Christopher Titmuss, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Anna Douglas, and Lama Surya Das. She lived abroad for most of the 1990s and trained with eminent Asian teachers including H.W.L. Poonja, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche.
In 2004, Shaila completed a 10-month intensive meditation retreat focusing on developing jhāna while using the breath as the meditation subject. She devoted nearly seven months in retreat to working with mettā and brahmavihara practices. And she twice completed a rigorous jhāna and vipassanā training program guided by Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw of Myanmar.
Shaila embodies the teachings of the great masters with whom she has trained. She is devoted to her meditation practice, gains inspiration from the early discourses of the Buddha, appreciates the detailed style of Abhidhamma, and values diverse approaches to developing and liberating the mind.
She enjoys exploring a variety of meditation systems, but her preferred approach is to establish mindfulness by observing breath, body, feelings, and mind states—practices traditionally known as ānāpānasati and satipaṭṭhāna.
1991
Christopher Titmuss,
H.W.L. Poonja &
Shaila Catherine
1990
Shaila with H.W.L. Poonja
Pa-Auk Sayadaw
Extensive Teaching Experience
Shaila has been leading meditation retreats worldwide since Christopher Titmuss first invited her to teach in 1996. Her approach to dhamma teaching emphasizes deep concentration, mettā, and the path of liberating insight. Students and colleagues describe her an accessible and compassionate teacher, with deep meditative attainment and exceptional clarity.
She is regarded as one of only a few western specialists skilled to train meditators to attain the deep absorption states called jhānas.
Shaila teaches retreats on her own, and she also enjoys co-teaching. She has taught numerous meditation retreats with Venerable U Jagara that emphasize gradual training, concentration through mindfulness with breathing, and mettā practice. She honed her satipaṭṭhāna practice while co-teaching with Anālayo Bhikkhu.
In addition to leading retreats, Shaila has created some unique programs and courses, including a 14-year study of all the sutta collections available as English translations. Her library of teachings features a wealth of online courses to support and challenge beginner-to-experienced meditators around the world.
