Kate Munding

Residential Retreat Teacher

Kate Munding sits on the Spirit Rock Guiding Teachers Council and is the guiding teacher for Assaya Sangha, a women's Buddhist meditation community-based in the San Francisco East Bay. Along with teaching retreats and daylong at Spirit Rock and other retreat centers, Kate is a teacher for Spirit Rock's Family Days and Family Retreats. In addition to her Dharma teaching, Kate has been a mindfulness educator in schools since 2008. She is the co-founder and main teacher for Now Children. Now Children is a unique online learning environment designed to network, train, and provide professional development to educators and mindfulness teachers who want to bring mindfulness-based curriculum to kids. This work's nexus is based on the belief that mindfulness is not just a bandaid but a transformative technique that can help steer future generations towards a more conscious and compassionate future. When she's not teaching, Kate loves being mom to her young son. She lives with her family in the San Francisco East Bay.

What mindfulness really is about is learning how to understand all of it: the parts of our experience that are difficult, that are challenging, that are stressful and unpleasant to be with, even seemingly impossible to be with sometimes. It’s also about being with the absence of that: those moments that may be neutral and seem benign, the little moments that make up most of our day. We miss so much of our life because we don't see the value in those moments! And so mindfulness is also about understanding them, and seeing the joy, happiness, and contentment that are there. Mindfulness is this practice that excludes absolutely nothing from our experience.
 
Kate Munding, Ricky, Ricky, Ricky... What's Going On?

Kate Munding's Upcoming Programs

Retreat On-Land

March 8 - March 9, 2025 Saturday - Sunday | 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Freeing the Hindered Mind: The Dharma of Working with Challenging Emotions and Mind States

Open to all self-identified women. Life is often complicated and challenging, making it easy to feel lost or disconnected from our spiritual path. However, the Buddha taught that difficult emotions and challenging mental states aren’t obstacles to the path to happiness; they are integral parts of it. This two-day meditation and Yoga retreat is designed to guide practitioners through a series of experiential exercises aimed at building courage, resilience, and clarity when dealing with difficult emotions and traditional Buddhist hindrances.

Kate Munding

Kate Munding

Antonia Fokken

Antonia Fokken

Family On-Land

Sunday, April 13 10:30 AM - 3:00 PM

Spring Family Day

Family Days are a wonderful opportunity to spend the day connecting with your children, yourself and a community of supportive peers. Come play, share, learn, and open your heart!

Kate Munding

Kate Munding

Eve Decker

Eve Decker

Dharma Library

Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Kate Munding through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.