Our Instructors
Shankhri Balaji
Shankhri is a certified meditation instructor from MNDFL’s 300-hour Mindfulness and Loving-Kindness Teacher Training program led by David Perrin and received mentorship from Thupten Phuntsok. She completed the 8-week MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) course with UMass Center for Mindfulness. She has since been studying Tibetan Buddhism under Scott Tusa and holistic spirituality with Megan Mook. Shankhri seeks to responsibly bridge the gap between authentic, traditional teachings and the practical, urgent needs of our modern society. Shankhri hopes to create spaces that facilitate opportunities for her students to go deeper with themselves, just as she has and continues to, with kindness, compassion, and courage.
Sarah Blackburn
Sarah is a dedicated meditator, teacher, and dharma practitioner for over 9 years. She has completed two meditation teacher trainings at The Interdependence Project under the mentorship of Ethan Nichtern and Kate Johnson, and at Three Jewels led by Hector Marcel, Coco Korniczky, and Thupten Phuntsok. She teaches meditation and wellness internationally and in NYC, and has co-created and taught at multiple children's programs for meditation, yoga, and healthy habits all over southeast Asia. She is passionate about combining her 10 years of experience of youth work in NYC with the powerful tools and mind training she has gained thanks to her incredible teachers and mentors.
Ray Jolicoeur
Ray Jolicoeur’s journey into mindfulness began almost twenty years ago after attending his first silent retreat at a Japanese monastery. He’d always been drawn to Asian culture and began meditating daily to cope with the stress of corporate life. Ray has completed over 500 hours of advanced teacher training and practices in the Zen tradition. He is a faculty member at MNDFL, teaches at studios, events and corporate sessions in NYC, is a facilitator for the Community of Mindfulness New York Metro, and practices at the Brooklyn Zen Center. Ray is a passionate advocate of the practice of meditation which inspired his latest project renoo, a line of mindfully-made meditation goods for the modern home.
Ariel Dobshinsky
Ariel Dobshinsky is a certified meditation instructor and practitioner, who began exploring meditation in 2011 to better manage her own anxiety as a young artist in New York City. She is a graduate of MNDFL Meditation's inaugural 300-hour teacher training program, and completed her 200-hour advanced level certification in 2018. She has formally studied and practiced in several traditions, including Vedic, Tibetan Buddhist, Shambhala, and Insight. Her teaching is based in practical mindfulness techniques with a foundation in classical Buddhist tradition: a holistic mind-body approach with a focus on applying various concentration, contemplative & compassion practices to everyday life. She has taught group and private meditation since 2016 for companies like MNDFL and Exubrancy, and leverages her professional experience in Operations and Hospitality Management to curate corporate sessions with executives and teams across industries in music, media, tech, finance, fitness, and fashion. Ariel is also a trained Crisis Intervention Counselor and mental health awareness advocate, and volunteers on behalf of Crisis Text Line, a global not-for-profit organization providing free crisis intervention via text.
Brenda Hung
Brenda Hung is an artist, a mom of two boys, a certified sound healing therapist, and a mindfulness meditation teacher. After trying meditation, Brenda saw how disconnected she was in her life and began a path of deepening her own mindfulness practice through yoga, meditation, and sound therapy. Brenda utilizes both mindfulness meditation and vibrational sound and energy work in creative group workshops and private and corporate wellness sessions. Her intention is to bring a soothing and calm energy to her sessions and to create a nurturing, non-judgemental, and compassionate space where students are encouraged to connect within themselves. Brenda received her sound therapy practitioner certifications from the Open Center’s Integrative Sound and Music Institute, the Resonant Alchemy Healing Sound Arts program, and The Woom Center. Additionally, she received her 300 HR TT in mindfulness meditation from MNDFL, and is an attuned Reiki II practitioner and 200 RYT.
Terri Barnett
Terri has over 25 years of experience teaching meditation. She formally studied and was trained in the Vedic Tradition, and in 2016, brought her practice to MNDF where she has completed over 500 hours of advanced teacher training and continues her studies in the Buddhist Tradition. Terri is a faculty member at MNDFL, leads weekly corporate and private meditation sessions and workshops in NYC as well as leads international retreats incorporating meditation and buddhist teachings along with the mindful movement practice of yoga. She encourages her students to show up with everything in their lives just as it is in the moment as she skillfully guides them with kindness, simplicity and precision, by holding space for their own experience and journey to unfold. Terri’s teaching style is based on mindfulness through concentration and contemplative techniques.