Instructor

Dr. Anish Dhamija is a full-time psychiatrist and family medicine practitioner in San Diego County. He has been practicing mindfulness-based methods since 2010. With a passion for educating others regardless of background, he has had experience teaching mindfulness and self-compassion courses to a wide range of folks, from the unhoused to physician trainees. He has found the skills learned from these classes to significantly enhance his own life, and he is eager to share them so others may hopefully have the same benefits as well. His philosophy as a teacher is to be approachable and be realistic with the busyness of life, so one could more naturally integrate these teachings into one's routine.

Anish lives in Poway with his wife and a young son, and enjoys outdoors, woodworking, and soulful music.

Anish looks forward to hopefully connecting with you in class soon!

Helen E. Davis, PhD, LMFT. is a licensed psychotherapist in group practice in Rancho Bernardo. Helen began her journey in meditation over 30 years ago. It transitioned to Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in 2013 when she took the 8-week MBSR class at UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. She has completed the MBSR Teacher Training Intensive under the direction of Susan Woods, LICSW and Char Wilkins, LCSW and attended the Advance Teacher Training facilitated by Dr. Steven Hickman and Beth Mulligan, PA-C.

Helen teaches mindfulness programs in her group practice and has incorporated mindfulness-based treatment for anxiety, emotion regulation, depression, trauma and self-esteem into her practice where she has worked as a therapist for over 23 years. Helen's intent and passion is to offer MBSR and mindfulness to help individuals with emotional and physical pain find greater peace, contentment and wellness. 

Margaret Cullen is a licensed psychotherapist and was one of the first ten people to become a Certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher.  For over 20 years, she has pioneered secular contemplative programs for a wide variety of populations including physicians, nurses, HIV positive men, cancer patients, overweight women, military spouses college students, clinicians and educators.  She has developed and taught contemplative interventions for research studies at Stanford, UCSF, Portland State, Penn State, University of Michigan, and University of Miami.  In 2013, she developed a mindfulness and compassion program (MBAT - Spouse) for military spouses that she piloted at Ft. Drum, Maxwell Air Force Base, and Joint Operations Special Command.  In 2015, she co-authored a book on Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance (MBEB), an evidence-based program that she piloted across the US and Canada.  She has also designed and co-delivered teacher trainings for both MBAT-Spouse and MBEB.

As a clinician, Margaret has been a facilitator of support groups for cancer patients and their loved ones for 25 years.  In 2010, she was invited by Thupten Jinpa to contribute to the development of the Compassion Cultivation Training, first through the Center for Compassion, Altruism, Research and Education at the Stanford School of Medicine and currently as Founding Faculty for the Compassion Institute.  A meditator for over 35 years, she has sat dozens of intensive retreats ranging from ten days to three months and has written extensively on mindfulness. Nothing brings her greater joy than contributing to a more compassionate world.

Michelle is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, the developer of the Compassion for Couples program, and the founder of Wise Compassion- a company specializing in teaching compassion in various relational contexts. She is a teacher trainer, mentor and co-founder of the Mindful Self-Compassion Teacher Training, as well as a senior teacher of Compassion Cultivation Training, certified Daring Way Facilitator and a Senior Trainer at the UCSD Center for Mindfulness. She teaches and speaks on the topics of compassion internationally. You can listen to her podcast: Well Connected Relationships wherever you like to listen to podcasts or on her website. Her book Compassion for Couples: Building the Skills of Loving Connection is due out February 2023. For more information please visit her website: WiseCompassion.com.

Renée is the Acting Director of the Youth, Family & Education Programs at UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. With education as her background, Renée is very interested in mindfulness for teens and adults alike.  In 2013, Renée was hired as the Administrative Coordinator for the Center for Mindfulness. During this time, Renée attended her first MBSR class. Since then she has been practicing daily and has developed a passion for teaching mindfulness. She attended the MBSR Teacher Training in 2015 and since has become a Certified MBSR teacher.

Noriko Morita Harth is a Certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Instructor, Certified Mindful Self-Compassion Instructor and served as the Managing Director of the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness for many years. Noriko has been teaching MBSR and MSC since 2014. She also offers mentorships for MBSR and MSC teachers, MBSR Teacher Training programs, and practicum at the Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute at the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness.

Born in Japan, she moved to the States in 1985. Noriko feels that her life transforming journey of discovering and exploring mindfulness practices has allowed a more balanced life and identity between these two cultures. Noriko strongly believes practicing mindfulness and compassion, and bringing its principles into her life has and continues to help her grow as a person. She feels passionate about bringing these practices to other people's lives. It is her mission to share what she has learned, what she continues to learn to our community. In addition, Noriko sees an opportunity, based on her own integration experiences, to introduce mindfulness & compassion programs to the Japanese community.

Lorraine M. Hobbs, M.A., is Founding Director of the Youth, Family & Education Programs at the UCSD San Diego Center for Mindfulness. She is a family therapist and former clinical director of adolescent treatment programs. Lorraine is certified to teach Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), and Compassion Cultivation, Altruism, Research & Education (CCT), a Stanford University accredited program created by contemplative scholars and endorsed by H.H. The Dalai Lama. She is a certified teacher of the Humanize Contemplative Dyad Foundational Program – based on the research of social neuroscientist Tania Singer, Ph.D.

Lorraine is co-author of two books: Teaching Self-Compassion to Teens (Guilford Press, 2022) and The Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids (New Harbinger, 2023). She is also a mentor for the MBSR certification pathway at the UCSD Mindfulness Based Professional Training Institute.

During her tenure at the Center for Mindfulness, she designed and implemented curricula in mindfulness-based interventions for multiple age groups, including a program in Mindful Compassionate Parenting for Parents of Kids with Autism and Other Neurodiverse Conditions. She is a pioneer in self-compassion training for parents, teens and kids and is co-author of the Mindful Self-Compassion Program for Teens & Young Adults, adapted from the adult program created by Kristin Neff, Ph.D. & Chris Germer, Ph.D. Lorraine is co-founder of the MSC-T teacher training program and provides teacher training in the MSC-T curriculum throughout the U.S. and internationally.

Her new curriculum for kids, A Friend in Me: An AI supported emotional strength training program for kids has been adapted into a classroom model, using an avatar to help kids cultivate skills in self-compassion.

Lorraine trains NGO staff through UNHCR in Ecuador. She has trained psychologists and mental health workers in Nicaragua and Mexico through a USAID program, Mentte Cedat and serves on the Mentte Cedat Advisory Board.

After a decorated career as a world class swimmer, Corrie was first exposed to mindfulness on a yoga retreat in 2002.  A certified yoga instructor and the former Head Swimming Coach at the University of California, San Diego, Corrie incorporated mindfulness concepts into her athletes mental training routines.  Now as a certified mPEAK (Mindfulness Performance, Enhancement, Awareness & Knowledge) Coach, Corrie works with athletes and teams to increase their performance through the power of present moment awareness.  Corrie lives with her husband and 2 young children in Solana Beach, CA.

Lisette Atala-Doocy is a Certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Instructor who also holds a Certification from The Mindfulness in Schools Education Project, a program originally from the UK. Furthermore, she received a Certificate of Attendance from the Omega Institute on Radical Acceptance: Pathway of Emotional Healing & Spiritual Freedom led by Tara Brach. She is Co-Founder of the Bilingual Center for Mindfulness, which promotes mindfulness courses in Spanish and English.

Lisette’s strong conviction about the benefits and power of mindfulness practice has inspired her to passionately promote these techniques within our community. She has been teaching MBSR, Mindful Yoga and Mindful Living in Spanish and English for several years in the San Diego – Baja California regions. The mindfulness programs she has led in various institutions include the School of Medicine, Baja California State University and a Scripps Clinic women’s group. She has been spearheading a Mindful-Living group for more than six years. In addition to having practiced meditation for over 23 years, Lisette has also studied classical music and linguistics while making significant contributions to the San Diego art world over the course of many years.

Mariana is a certified Mindfulness Instructor for kids and teens. She took a mentoring and certification training program at the UCSD Center for Mindfulness. She also completed an intensive teacher training in the Mindfulness in Schools Education Project (MiSP .b program), a program launched in the UK, having obtained a certification to teach this dynamic, classroom-based program to middle and high school students. She is currently working to become certified to teach the Making Friends with Yourself Program, which is a Self-Compassion curriculum for teens based on the ideas and research of Kristen Neff and Christopher Germer taught at the Center for Self-Compassion. Since 2015, she has been working with the Youth and Family Programs Division at the UCSD Center for Mindfulness.

At this time, Mariana provides support in Mindful and Compassionate Parenting Workshops and will start offering training on this to parents in Mexico. Mariana strongly believes in the power of Mindfulness. This has inspired her to concentrate her studies on helping children and teens develop self-regulation, resilience and social-emotional skills that they can use for the rest of their lives. Her passion for teaching children and teens has inspired her to pursue further training in the Little Flower Yoga Program. This also motivated her to start a Stress Reduction Program where she applies her knowledge to teach in economically underdeveloped areas in Oaxaca, Mexico, where she has been teaching a multiage group of teens and pre-teens.

Mariana is a multicultural woman. She spent eight years living in Europe. This has helped her better understand how different societies work. Her native language is Spanish and she also speaks English, French and German. She spends her free time traveling and producing wine at her vineyards in Ensenada, Mexico with her husband.