At-a-Distance or In-Person Interactive Reflection (IR),
Meditation Practice Support or Dharma Teacher Mentoring 2025
Dori Langevin, PsyD * Liberty Lake, WA USA
In 2001, I began working with members of Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC (IMCW) who wanted to explore their inner and outer lives from the perspective of Buddhist psychology and practice rather than from the medical/mental illness model. I came to call this way of supporting others Interactive Reflection. During that time, I also served on the IMCW Teachers Council and Board of Directors and taught residential meditation retreats and Freedom from Addiction workshops with Tara Brach, the founder of IMCW.
Since moving to Spokane, WA in 2007 I have continued to work with IR clients and students in person or “from a distance” via telephone, Zoom or FaceTime. The latter have often been referred by Tara when challenging material emerged during retreat or when Meditation Practice Support is requested because a local teacher is not available. I have had the privilege to work with people living in the United States, Canada, Bahamas, Mexico, South America, Asia, Pakistan, Africa, Australia, Europe and UK. In the past, I served as a mentor for the Sounds True Power of Awareness on-line meditation training course with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. From 2017-2023 I served as a mentor for the first three cohorts of Tara and Jack’s 2-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program.
My professional life includes 15 years of clinical work and program direction in addiction treatment centers in California. In 1995 I moved to Moscow, Russia as the Director of Training for a USAID grant to provide 4-week addiction treatment training to Russian clinical staff and 5-day addiction recovery training for the general public. This program included a training-of-trainers component for 21 Russian professionals who collaborated with US faculty on the development and delivery of the trainings. In addition, I conducted qualitative research for my doctoral dissertation Addiction Treatment Training in Russia: Cultural Adaptation of the Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual Model. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have joined with my Russian and American colleagues in this important international effort.
INTERACTIVE REFLECTION (IR)
I received a doctorate in clinical psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2001, but chose not to follow the western medical model of licensure to diagnose and treat mental disorders. Therefore, our work together cannot be billed to health insurance. Through my years of clinical work in addiction treatment centers, my personal Buddhist meditation practice and teacher training, I am aligned with a bio-psycho-social-spiritual model of healing and recovery which is the foundation of Interactive Reflection. Your interest in Buddhist psychology or practice is not at all necessary for our work together.
IR relies on the aliveness of the moment – awareness of what is arising here and now with a clear and kind attention – which often reveals fresh perspectives on habitual patterns that have become “old and in the way.” I trust the intrinsic goodness of all beings and our innate healing intelligence. Together we will listen deeply and follow the impulses and wisdom that emerge from within you. To be “open to outcome, not attached to outcome” supports a welcoming field of trust and creativity within you and between us.
I am devoted to “re-membering” and calling on qualities of the Sacred Feminine ~ embodied presence, inclusiveness & variance of vision, trusting our inner knowing & authority, and deep reverence for all life rooted in the truth of interdependence within this Great Web of Life. Of course, I speak and act from these aspirations to the best of my ability moment-to-moment and make amends when I fall short…progress, not perfection!
We all have entanglements from cultural & familial “conditioning” which can be re-experienced and received with wisdom and compassion, untangling and often revealing their hidden gems. What has been considered wrong or difficult can be the doorway to transformation and liberation (i.e., “tracing back the radiance” rather than fixing what is wrong.) Or consider one of Loch Kelly’s inquiries, “What’s here now if there is no problem to solve?”
This process requires the radical approach of “turning toward and leaning into” what you may have tried to ignore, reject, or destroy to protect yourself. Of course, strategies may have been essential to your survival in the past when you had less choice and agency. Essential to this exploration is establishing trustable inner and outer resources and supports, and moving at a pace that can deepen the “repair” rather than causing more “rupture” within your heart-body-mind.
This approach requires courage and willingness to look honestly at choices that lead to suffering and choices that lead to freedom from suffering. Your sincere intention to investigate the ways you are currently perpetuating your distress will profoundly support working with IR. Sometimes the biggest obstacle to transforming difficult emotional states is unconscious attachment to painful patterns of shame and blame. And, we are all endowed with a brave heart that can open to deep respect and compassion for ourselves and others, and relinquish fault-finding internally and externally.
In addition, it is can be helpful to establish a regular meditation practice to support and integrate what unfolds in IR (if you don’t practice regularly now). There is more about Meditation Practice Support with me later in this document. I can also recommend Mindfulness Daily which is freely offered. Mindfulness Daily brings you a 40-day online training in mindfulness meditation with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. Each daily 10 –15 minute lesson includes a short talk and guided meditation designed to assist in establishing a meditation practice.
IR is a collaborative process and could include:
- opening mindfulness/embodied presence reflection which leads into
- exploring thoughts, feelings, sensations, dreams, images as they naturally arise, informing us of what in you is most calling for our attention and following that lead wherever it takes us.
- taking time to reflect on and discuss what has been revealed and how to integrate the learning/insights into daily life.
I also offer the Tibetan Buddhist practice of “Demon Feeding” created by Lama Tsultrim Allione which both invokes something that is in the way of complete liberation (a demon) and transforms that energy into an Ally. Initial Demon Feeding requires a 90-minute session.
MEDITATION PRACTICE SUPPORT
Meditation Practice Support can include didactic teaching and guided meditation practices (i.e., mindfulness, concentration, awareness of awareness, and the heart practices of gratitude, forgiveness, loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity); establishing a dedicated (“invitro”) practice; review of and suggestions for working with what is arising in your practice; establishing an (“in vivo”) life practice; suggesting resources for further study, support, and inspiration (e.g., books, audio-video); and embodiment practices of walking meditation and Qigong (of which I am only a student).
Spiritual development and peace of mind is supported by the teaching and practice of sila or ethical conduct – the intention of harmlessness, reverence for all life which refers to the first two lines of a pithy description of the path of awakening: Do no harm. Act for the good. Purify the mind. ~ Buddha (Dhammapada 183) Purify the mind refers to the development of wise effort, wise concentration and wise mindfulness through meditation.
Meditation Practice Support can include becoming more aware of emotional states and habitual thought patterns that create stress, distress and suffering and those that are wholesome and onward-leading toward liberation from suffering (e.g., mindfulness, generosity, joy, tranquility, investigation, and loving-kindness). The Buddha advised us to cultivate the four great efforts in regard to mental-emotional states: Wake up wholesome mind states when they are not arising in the mind. Keep wholesome mind states alive in the mind once they’ve already arisen. Avoid waking up unwholesome states of mind when they haven’t yet arisen in the mind. Be present for unwholesome mind states as soon as they arise in the mind, so that they don’t cause avoidable suffering. (Kaira Jewel Lingo’s translation). As such, there is often a natural flow between Meditation Practice Support and IR.
In addition, I offer individual Dharma Teacher Mentoring to practitioners who are teaching Buddhist meditation classes and want support in the teaching role, but are not in a formal teacher training program. Possible discussion areas range from the logistical to the visionary and experiential aspects of teaching including curriculum development (content & format of teachings and meditations), teaching style, qualities and role of a teacher, and challenges in the “classroom.”
My Buddhist Training and Retreat Teaching: In June 2010, I completed the 4-year Spirit Rock/Insight Meditation Society (IMS) teacher training and was authorized to teach The Dharma of Liberation in the Lineage of the Elders by Jack Kornfield, Phillip Moffitt, Joseph Goldstein, Carol Wilson and Guy Armstrong. I have co-taught retreats at IMCW, Spirit Rock, IMS, Cloud Mountain Retreat Center, Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville, Southern Dharma Retreat Center, Tara Mandala, and Teen/Young Adult Retreats with Inward Bound Mindfulness. I teach regional retreats with various Insight Meditation sanghas in Nevada and Washington State and in the past, I offered 5-day retreats twice a year in Spokane, WA. I also taught a monthly Experienced Practitioners Group in Spokane from 2013 to 2023 (co-taught in 2024).
I have had extensive experience with addiction and recovery since 1980 both personally and professionally. My personal experience was my initial testing ground for “dukkha” (suffering, stress) and freedom from dukkha (liberation, awakening). Life reveals dharma!
COST AND FREQUENCY OF SESSIONS
We can meet in person or via phone, Face Time or Zoom. Generally, I schedule sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with start times between 10am and 2:00pm Pacific Time although other times may be possible. Please note: I will always list session times in Pacific Time and trust that you will translate to your time zone.
Since 2019 my sliding scale has remained $90 – $150 per 60-minute session. Sliding scale means that you choose the amount you pay in one of the following ways:
- In-person sessions: cash or personal check made out to Dori Langevin
- Mail personal check to 19831 E. Snake River Ave, Liberty Lake, WA 99016-5285 if not meeting in-person and list session fee & dates in the memo space.
- Use Zelle (which you set up with your bank) and securely transfer funds from your account to mine. There are no fees for using Zelle and account numbers are not shared.
My Zelle ID is 509-688-7772 - Pay Pal charges two transaction fees. If you want the convenience of using PayPal and you are willing to cover the transaction fees, let me know where you live, how much you want me to receive ($90 – 125) and I let you know the amount to send to PayPal. I do not request you cover the transaction fees if you choose to offer $130-150 per session.
If you need to cancel a session, please text or email me 24 hours in advance to avoid paying for a missed session. For my bookkeeping simplicity, I request that your payment arrives before the session if not meeting in person. Thank you in advance for honoring these payment requests.
The frequency of sessions is based on your time, finances and needs coupled with my schedule. However, if possible, I recommend we start meeting weekly or bi-monthly to establish a personal connection and co-create the momentum that can support your intentions for our work together.
I cannot offer emergency or “on-call” coverage. For various lengths of time I am off-the-grid teaching, on personal retreat, engaging in restorative travel or just having fun! Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Text 509-688-7772 [email protected]
Some of the books that I have found helpful with awakening in practice and in life include:
Tsultrim Allione – Feeding Your Demons: Ancient wisdom for resolving inner conflicts
Tara Brach – Radical Acceptance, True Refuge, Radical Compassion, Trusting the Gold
Pema Chödrön – The Places that Scare You
Clarissa Pinkola Estes – Untie the Strong Woman
Joseph Goldstein – Mindfulness: A practice guide to awakening, A Heart Full of Peace
Roshi Joan Halifax – The Fruitful Darkness: Reconnecting with the body of the earth
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson – What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures
Loch Kelly – Shift into Freedom: The science & practice of open-hearted awareness
Sue Monk Kidd & Ann Kidd Taylor – Traveling with Pomegranates: A mother-daughter story
Ruth King – Mindful of Race: Transforming racism from the inside out
Jack Kornfield – A Path with Heart, The Wise Heart
Anne Lamott – Somehow: Thoughts on love
Vanessa Machado de Oliveira – Hospicing Modernity: Facing Humanity’s Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism
Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone – Active Hope: How we face the mess we’re in with unexpected resilience & creative power
Resmaa Menakem – My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized trauma and the pathway to mending our hearts and bodies
Mingyur Rinpoche – In Love with the World: A monk’s journey through the bardos of living and dying
Sharon Salzberg – Loving-Kindness: The revolutionary art of happiness, Real Happiness: The power of meditation, Faith
Thanissara – Time to Stand Up: An engaged Buddhist manifesto for our Earth
Larry Yang – Awakening Together: The spiritual practice of inclusivity and community
John Welwood – Perfect Love Imperfect Relationships: Healing the wound of the heart, Awakening the Heart: East/West approaches to psychotherapy and the healing relationship (Ed)