Portland-based MBSR Teachers
Meet Portland's MBSR Teachers
Each of the MBSR teachers listed here is committed to sharing the many benefits of mindfulness as part of a vibrant community of practice.
As Qualified or Certified MBSR Instructors, each has completed professional training through the Mindfulness Centers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Brown University, or the University of California San Diego. They are committed to maintaining the fidelity of MBSR through ongoing education, consultation and practice.
You will find the list of teachers below. Please feel free to visit their linked websites and/or contact them directly to learn more.
Certified MBSR Teachers
After completing initial qualifying training and teaching for an extended period, teachers may apply for MBSR Certification. Certification represents many additional years of teaching experience and completion of a rigorous review and supervision process. The certified teachers below offer the full 8-week MBSR curriculum on a regular basis and have been teaching for a minimum of 10 years.
Denise Gour, LCSW
Denise is a certified MBSR facilitator and has had the pleasure of teaching since 2009. She is also a licensed clinical social worker specializing in healing practices for people experiencing houselessness, poverty and incarceration as well as for professionals in medicine, law, and business. Her work is inspired and deeply informed by everyone she has the honor of working with. She completed her Buddhist chaplaincy training in 2021 and takes regular refuge in her Buddhist practice and the many gifts offered by all earthly beings including those in our local forests, rivers, oceans, and her own garden.
Kimberly Carson, MPH, C-IAYT, E-RYT
Kimberly Carson, M.P.H., C-I.A.Y.T., E-R.Y.T. is a health educator and yoga therapist at Oregon Health & Science University, specializing in the therapeutic use of mindfulness and yoga for seniors and people with medical challenges. Kimberly has taught Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for close to 20 years. She currently offers mindfulness classes to cardiac, oncology, chronic pain, and internal medicine patients. Kimberly has developed and taught yoga programs being researched at Duke University Medical Center and OHSU. The Mindful Yoga Program, developed by Kimberly and her husband Jim, has been shown in research trials to significantly reduce pain, fatigue and emotional distress in various patient groups. She co-directs national professional trainings for yoga teacher at OHSU and Duke Integrative Medicine.
Laura Martin, LCSW
Laura is Certified by the Center for Mindfulness at UMass Medical School to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Laura has been teaching mindfulness professionally since 2002, and has been an MBSR instructor since 2009. She is a student and teacher of Zen Buddhism, and a clinical social worker with over 20 years of experience. She has a golden retriever named Louis, who prefers walking meditation.
Nancy Boros
Nancy Boros has served as a health educator and mindfulness educator for 25 years, working with high risk maternity patients, parents and children, and managed the delivery of online education for a large health system. She has been teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction since 2015.
MBSR Teacher trained through Brown University Mindfulness Center, the Center for Mindfulness with University of Massachusetts Medical School, UC San Diego Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute, she is a Brown University Certified MBSR Teacher offering Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, an evidence-based stress reduction program created by Jon Kabat Zinn, PhD.
Other training: Wellness Coach Training, Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN, Mindful Self-Compassion Core Skills training with Kristin Neff, PhD and Chris Germer, PhD. and Positive Neuroplasticity Training - Professional Course, with Rick Hanson, PhD
A single parent for over 20 years, she navigated many challenges and great joy in raising two beautiful children, dogs, cats, birds and chinchillas.
Qualified MBSR Teachers
Qualified MBSR Teachers have completed Professional MBSR InstructorTraining and have been qualified by their program to teach the full 8-week MBSR curriculum.
Nan LeRoy
Bio coming soon.
Rena Satre Meloy
Rena is cofounder of Pause and a qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction instructor with over fourteen years of meditation experience. She brings a degree in business, health coaching, and professional training through the Mindfulness Centers at Brown University School of Public Health and the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Rena currently guides classes and workshops for the Pause studio based in Portland, Oregon, and facilitates workplace mindfulness trainings for organizations. She is humbled to be a part of the modern mindfulness movement and finds great meaning and hope in sharing this journey with others.
Ryan Kenny, LCSW
Ryan is cofounder of Pause, a licensed mental health professional, and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction instructor with over twelve years of meditation experience. He holds a masters degree of social work with a focus in mental health from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studied neuroscience at the Center For Healthy Minds and trained with the Mindfulness Centers at Brown University School of Public Health and the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Ryan currently guides classes and courses for the Pause studio based in Portland, Oregon, and facilitates mindful leadership programs and resilience trainings for corporations, nonprofit organizations, schools, and hospitals worldwide.