Karissa Sellman began her meditation practice in 2001 at San Francisco Zen Center and, in 2011, received lay ordination (jukai) with her teacher, Kiku Christina Lehnherr. In 2017 she began offering instruction in mindfulness practices and completed teacher training through UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center.

She currently teaches workshops, facilitates drop-in groups, and offers meditation mentoring sessions to individuals who would like additional support in their practice. Certified by the International Mindfulness Teachers Association, Karissa has also completed Integrative Health Coach Professional Training at Duke Integrative Medicine. She does not usually speak of herself in the third person.

My meditation practice began in 2001, during one of the darkest, most difficult times of my life. I was unemployed, recovering from both injury and illness, and in the process of ending a long-term relationship. (That was on the outside—you can imagine how things were on the inside!)

After exploring a few different options, I joined a weekly meditation group at San Francisco Zen Center and began taking Tai Chi classes at my neighborhood YMCA. I soon discovered these mind-body practices were transformative and deeply supportive as I lived through pain and suffering. They didn’t change my situation so much as they changed my experience of it—reducing physical discomfort, nourishing mental-emotional resilience, and growing my ability to notice and appreciate the everyday goodness that surrounded me in the midst of heartbreak and uncertainty.

Years later, in much better overall health, I leaned into these same practices during intensely challenging times at work. I could see that a prolonged period of stress and overwork was beginning to take its toll and I knew that making more space for self-care was critical. I joined an evening Qigong practice group and began hosting a weekly silent meditation session during the lunch hour. It actually didn’t matter to me whether anyone else came (though they did, and I was glad), the key was that I set critical boundaries in my professional life and continued to practice what I knew would help me flourish.

Eventually, I decided to pivot my career toward wellbeing support and advocacy. While my personal practice is rooted in Buddhist tradition, I teach mindfulness in a secular manner because I believe it is a powerful offering for public health and I especially want to share it with those who might never set foot in a temple or meditation hall.