Our Teachers

Tracy is a 500-hour certified yoga teacher, sound healer, mindfulness facilitator, and healthcare professional with over 30 years of experience supporting others in healing environments.

Her mindfulness journey began in 2015 in the Colorado mountains and has continued to deepen through meditation and contemplative practice. A devoted mother of four, Tracy is passionate about working with children, teens, and adults to cultivate self-awareness, compassion, and emotional resilience.

Healing happens in community. Tracy believes that when we come together with presence, compassion, and an open heart, we create spaces where true transformation can unfold—one person, one breath, one moment at a time.

Life is difficult. Kim appreciates how mindfulness can support us through life's ups and downs, with more compassion for ourselves and others. 

After raising two sons and retiring from her law practice, Kim signed up for a meditation class in 2019, looking for some relief from persistent feelings of agitation and disappointment with life. Kim came to see how a mindfulness practice helps her engage more skillfully with thoughts and emotions, and that early insight keeps her devoted to a practice of daily meditation and study, reinforced by teacher-led retreats. 

Kim is a certified facilitator in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, a certified Alternatives to Violence facilitator and long-time student of Nonviolent Communication. She enjoys supporting others on their own journey to live with more choice, stability, compassion and ease.

Carlos was introduced to mindfulness meditation during treatment for substance abuse in May 2015. While being treated for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, he found that mindfulness practices brought significant relief and deepened his understanding of how to live a happy, productive life while navigating trauma.

This path eventually led him to begin studying the Dharma, exploring a variety of meditation practices, and participating in silent retreats. Carlos is a certified MBSR instructor and teaches through Flatwater Collective’s Mindfulness Academy and Begin Again: Mindfulness Behind Bars program. He also works with individuals experiencing addiction and PTSD at the Douglas County Department of Corrections.

Years ago working 60 hours a week and parenting two young children, I found myself at a crossroads. Would I continue on the path toward burnout, or could I learn to show up differently in the world for myself, my family, and my community? At the invitation of a dear friend, I enrolled in an introduction to mindfulness course and therein discovered a path to presence, peace, and community.

Today, mindfulness is most present in interactions with people throughout my day; family, colleagues, community. This practice has supported my ability to develop a grounded and regulated nervous system; a resource I’m grateful to share in personal and professional spaces. 

When teaching, I try to create a spacious, grounded, engaging container for curiosity, compassion, and dialog between participants. 

With experience in education and change management, Susie has completed extensive training with Mindful Schools, studied Restorative Practices with the Yukon Circle of Change, and is a registered 200-hour yoga teacher and a registered Circle of Security Parenting facilitator. She is currently pursuing a degree in clinical mental health counseling at UNO.

Discovering mindfulness in 2012 changed my life for the better in countless ways, most notably marking the beginning of a daily gratitude practice that has become the lens through which I view the world.

I welcome any opportunity to pay forward all that I continue to learn about mindfulness, and I am especially drawn to working with the underserved communities among us. I completed the Mindful Schools Teacher Certification Program in 2019 and, in 2018, participated in Sitting in the Fire: Mindfulness Practices for People in Prisons and Jails at San Quentin State Prison in California. Through Flatwater Collective, I teach in the Begin Again: Mindfulness Behind Bars program and facilitate our monthly Grateful Gathering on Sundays. I consider teaching at the county jails my life's most meaningful work.

There and in my offerings for the Flatwater sangha, I appreciate being able to share and grow alongside the participants. In the words of Ram Dass, “We’re all just walking each other home.”

Anne is dedicated to sharing mindfulness and meditation practices that support a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

She spent 20 years in public education as a teacher and educational leader and has been a devoted student of mindfulness and meditation since 2009. She has completed numerous certifications, trainings, and retreats to deepen her own practice and support others in theirs. Anne is a certified MBSR teacher and teaches through Flatwater Collective’s Mindfulness Academy and Begin Again: Mindfulness Behind Bars program.

She also teaches once a month during Flatwater’s Thursday evening Dharma gathering, drawing from Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist teachings and practices. Her teaching is guided by encouraging awareness and compassion through everyday mindfulness and helping each person discover a meditation practice that feels accessible and meaningful to them.

Kyle began practicing mindfulness meditation in 2008 and quickly recognized its benefit to his mental wellbeing. This eventually led him into chaplaincy and teaching. Over the years, he has shared the practice in a variety of settings, including higher education, hospice care, and nonprofit organizations.

Kyle’s teaching style has evolved to meet the needs of the people in the room. He adjusts based on who is there, their level of experience, and the questions they bring. Sometimes he focuses on foundational practices; other times he creates space for reflection and conversation.

He is less interested in presenting mindfulness as a concept and more in how it is lived and experienced in everyday life. When he teaches, he aims to create a space that is open, inclusive, and grounded—where people can explore their own experience in a way that feels accessible and real.

At Flatwater Collective, you can find Kyle teaching on Thursday evenings and through our Mindfulness Academy.

Mark is an insight meditation practitioner, student and teacher with an emphasis on early Buddhist teachings. He was first introduced to Vipassana, or insight meditation, during a ten-day silent retreat in the tradition of S. N. Goenka in 1984 and has been practicing insight meditation ever since.

He has attended many silent retreats and has completed courses in Satipatthana (foundations of mindfulness), Anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing), Brahma Viharas, and Emptiness guided by Bhikkhu Analayo, as well as courses taught by Guy Armstrong, Joseph Goldstein, and others.

Mark began teaching in 2017 when he was inspired to share the benefits he had found in the Dhamma. At Flatwater Collective, you can find him teaching regularly on Dharma Thursdays and occasionally guiding Sunday Practice. He also shares his experience of the Dhamma in other settings and serves on the boards of Mid America Dharma and the Buddhist Insight Network.