Dharma Teachers

Mark Nunberg began his practice in 1982 and has been teaching meditation since 1990. He co-founded Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis in 1993 with Wynn Fricke and continues to serve as one of the center’s Co-Guiding Teachers. Mark has studied with both Asian and Western teachers and finds deep inspiration in the teachings of the Buddha. Mark practiced as a monk for five months in Burma and completed four three-month retreats at Insight Meditation Society Retreat Center, as well as many months of intensive retreat practice at The Forest Refuge. Mark continues to be a grateful student of Buddhist practice. Administratively, Mark oversees programming at the retreat center.

Shelly Graf has been practicing in the Insight Meditation tradition and has called Common Ground their spiritual home since 2003. They are a graduate of Insight Meditation Society’s four-year teacher training program and lead residential retreats at IMS and other retreat centers nationally. Shelly currently serves alongside Mark Nunberg as one of Common Ground's Co-Guiding Teachers. Shelly oversees programming at the city center.

Shelly has an interest in integrating the teachings of the Buddha as deeply as possible into the fabric of our lives and as such, they have a special interest in waking up to whiteness as part of this total and fully integrated path of awakening. Whatever Shelly’s role may be, they will always be a grateful student of Buddhist practice first.

Wynn Fricke is co-founder of Common Ground Meditation Center, where she served on the board for nine years and continues as an active leader, teacher and practitioner. She has practiced in the Thai Forest and Mahasi Sayadaw traditions and has taught movement as part of Marcia Rose’s Self-No Self and the Creative Process retreats. Wynn was Vice President of the Buddhist Insight Network, a non-profit organization that serves as a resource for Insight teachers and sanghas across the country. She is currently in the Spirit Rock/Insight Meditation Society Teacher Training program. Wynn is also a professional choreographer and formerly the director of the dance program at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN.

Jean Haley has been studying and practicing Buddhism since 1998. She completed the Community Dharma Leaders training through Spirit Rock Meditation Center in 2012. She is a retired Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and taught MBSR at the University of Minnesota for 15 years. Prior to that, she worked for over twenty years in higher education at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, and the University of St. Thomas.

A native of El Salvador, Nils Heymann started meditating at the age of 16. He studied major religions at Lancaster University in England and did research on gurus in Pune, India. He stayed in Hindu and Benedictine monasteries until he went to Thailand to ordain in Ajahn Chah's Forest Tradition. He made a commitment to be a monk for seven years and lived in monasteries in England, New Zealand, and Italy. He helped translate talks by Ajahn Chah into Spanish and has given talks in a variety of venues including The East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland. The first discourse of the Buddha is the framework by which he lives his life. He currently teaches art to a bunch of beautiful urban high schoolers. Nils is a member of the Alphabet Brothers of Color Deep Refuge Group. His teachers continue to be Ajahn Viradhammo and Ajahn Sumedho.

Gail Iverson is a longtime leader and teacher at Common Ground. She led the Intro to Mindfulness Meditation workshop for many years. Gail has been practicing mindfulness meditation since 1987 and practicing at Common Ground since 2002. She was chair of the Board of Directors for 6 years and was part of the Operational Team for our Retreat Center.

Gabe Keller Flores has been part of the Common Ground community since 2008, when he was a high schooler falling in love with the Dharma. He currently serves as Operations Manager. He has practiced with Ajahn Sucitto, Gil Fronsdal, Rebecca Bradshaw, and many other wonderful teachers at Insight Meditation Society and Insight Retreat Center, and has spent over a year of his life, cumulatively, on silent retreat. As a practitioner and teacher, he’s interested in the integration of love and wisdom and the natural process of awakening taught by the Buddha.

As Operations Manager, Gabe oversees communications, registration, and the beautiful panoply of volunteers that host programs, ring meditation bells, fix broken things, arrange flowers, and make food for our retreats (among other things)! Email him at gabe@commongroundmeditation.org to talk about volunteering.

Kyoko grew up in Japan, listening to her mother tell stories about Kyoko’s late grandmother--a devoted Buddhist known for her kindness. The ancestral stories deeply impacted her and shaped her perspective. After moving to the United States, she earned her MSW and Ph.D., and dedicated nearly four decades to her work as a psychotherapist. A member of Common Ground since 1999, She completed a two-year teacher training program, two-year intensive course on Satipatthana, and the Heavenly Messengers program at Spirit Rock. She has served on the Common Ground Ethics Committee and on the Ethics and Reconciliation (EAR) Council since their inception. Kyoko retired in 2019, and continues to integrate the Buddha’s teaching into her daily life, being present to joys and sorrows especially in these times of profound changes, and responding with discernment and care.

Formally trained with a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Patrice Koelsch began sitting at Common Ground Meditation Center in 1995. Patrice is a graduate of Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders Program and completed a year-long Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program at the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. She has practiced meditation at monasteries in Thailand and Myanmar. Patrice has provided hands-on care for persons in the last stages of HIV/AIDS and worked for many years in HIV education and client support services. For more than two decades she has been facilitating meditation groups in correctional facilities. She is on the Board of the Minnesota Multifaith Network, and volunteers with ISAIAH and Faith in Minnesota to bring about a multicultural democracy, a caring economy, and a just climate future.

Stacy McClendon (she/her) is a dedicated Insight (Vipassana) meditation practitioner and teacher rooted in her home sangha, Common Ground Meditation Center. With years of experience guiding retreats and mindfulness practices, Stacy is passionate about making the Dharma accessible and meaningful for all people. She is especially committed to creating welcoming, intentional spaces where BIPOC individuals can explore the protective and liberating wisdom of the Dharma.

Stacy brings a warm, grounded presence to her teaching, supporting others in navigating stress, cultivating compassion, and meeting life with clarity and care. In addition to her work in meditation communities, Stacy brings mindfulness into workplace settings, offering practical tools that help individuals build resilience, enhance well-being, and engage more fully in their professional lives.

Ramesh has been part of the Common Ground sangha since 2006 and joined the Board of Directors in 2016. He is a Geriatric psychiatrist and has a deep professional interest in understanding the complex and dynamic interplay between our minds and bodies that often underlie many physical and mental health illnesses. His spiritual practice too is guided by the Buddha’s advice about the deep wisdom inherent in our bodies – “within this very fathom-long body, with its perceptions and inner sense, lies the world, the cause of the world, the cessation of the world and the path that leads to the cessation of the world.” He shares some of his experiences through workshops at Common Ground on mindfulness and chronic pain, and finding wisdom in our bodies. He is drawn to Buddha Dharma by the simplicity and universality of its message and its focus on practice and self-reliance, without the compulsion to believe specific creeds or dogmas. He especially values the importance given to ethical conduct, compassion, and generosity.

Merra Young is a psychotherapist, community Dharma leader, and founder of Rivers’ Way Meditation Center. She’s also on faculty at the University of Minnesota's Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing and at the University of St. Thomas /St-Catherine, Graduate School of Social Work. Merra has over 30 years of experience in the integration of meditation and psychotherapy and is co-founder of the Midwest Meditation and Psychotherapy Institute.