Rachel has never included her meditation history in her biography.  Presently, she leans into the spiritual and moral world of the loving kindness tradition and recounts her journey to pay homage to her teachers.  Meditation changed Rachel’s life.  Her spiritual home away is the Insight Meditation Center in Massachusetts, studying Vipassana meditation with Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Michele McDonald, Carol Wilson, Christina Feldman, Narayan Helen Liebenson, Gloria Taraniya Ambrosia, and others.  She loved the monastic retreats there practicing under Ajahn Amaro, Sister Candasiri, Bhante Gunaratana, and Sayadaw U Lakkhana.  In 1999, she went from the first half of the three month retreat at IMS and left directly to Myanmar and practiced for two months under Sayadaw U Pandita.  From there she went to Kyaswa Monastery in the Sagaing Hills in the north of Myanmar and practiced under Sayadaw U Lakkhana and Stephen Smith.  She presently is a student of Anne Briggs founder of Chestertown Insight Meditation.  

In a spirit of adventure when she left college she traveled through Africa with her best friend from college.  After traveling through Kenya, Uganda and Zaire, she continued on alone to India.  Is there any woman who traveled alone in India and would love to talk and trade stories?  Rachel was blessed to have practiced the Lam Rim under His Holiness the Dalai Lama for one month in Dharmsala India in 1990.  From there, she went to Bodh Gaya where the Buddha was enlightened.  Bodh Gaya has a temple from every Buddhist country in the world so she ingested the dharma from so many wonderful teachers.  She first encountered Llama Zopa Rinpoche in Bodh Gaya and decided to follow him to Nepal, where she continued her practice at the Kopan Monestery.  It was at Kopan monastery that she decided to work in human rights on her return to the United States. Before returning home, Rachel did one more retreat at Wat Suan Mokkh in Thailand.   She settled in Washington DC and worked at Amnesty International and studied under Maggie’s students in the DC area.   She feels incredibly blessed to have encountered Maggie Newman who inspired her.  She looks back at her younger self and says thank you.