Carole Melkonian has been practicing meditation for decades. In 1980, she spent four years in residence at Zen Mountain Monastery under the guidance of John Daido Loori and then 12 years studying closely with Thich Nhat Hanh, helping start his publishing company, Parallax Press. She has attended many three-month Winter Retreats at Chithurst and Amaravati monasteries and dedicated all of 2015 to practicing meditation at monasteries in England and America. She draws inspiration most deeply from the nuns and monks in the Forest Tradition of Luang Por Chah. She is especially drawn to the teachings of Ajahn Sucitto and former nun Willa Thaniya Reid, with whom she continues to study. She completed the two-year Spirit Rock/IMS Community Dharma Leader Program and, in 1997, attended the MBSR training course with Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli.

Janice Cittasubha Sheppard has been practicing meditation since 1995 and teaching meditation since 2002. She has an MA and Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology (University of Wisconsin–Madison). Since retirement from higher education administration in 2012, Jan has focused on sharing her knowledge of Buddhism and deepening her meditation practice. She was trained as a Community Dharma Leader at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and as a Lay Buddhist Minister in the Theravada Thai Forest lineage by the abbots of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery. She was given the name Cittasubha by her teachers Luang Por Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. She continues practicing with Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Amaro, Ajahn Sumedho, Ajahn Sucitto, and other monastics in the Thai Forest lineage. She has led a weekly meditation group for 20 years, teaches meditation, leads meditation retreats, and taught a year-long intensive program, Form and Freedom in Theravada Buddhism, for individuals seeking to deepen their understanding of the Buddha’s teachings and meditation practice. She has offered mindfulness meditation instruction in various secular settings, including government offices and healthcare facilities. Since 2012, she has volunteered in Wisconsin prisons to offer secular mindfulness meditation groups, lead Buddhist services, and provide Buddhist pastoral visits.