
Our People
On this page:
Head Teachers
Valerie Forstman is an Associate Zen Master of the Sanbo Zen lineage and our Guiding Teacher here at Mountain Cloud. Her first teacher, with whom she continues to work, was Ruben Habito Roshi. Since 2003, she has also trained under the guidance of Yamada Ryoun Roshi, current abbot of Sanbo Zen.
Valerie came to Mountain Cloud with a shared vision of the core of the Zen path, a way of coming home to who we truly are. In keeping with the Sanbo Zen tradition, this path or ‘way’ may include koan training, “just sitting” practice, or simple breath awareness practice, all of which funnel into what it means to undergo the immense change of heart implied by the term “awakening.” What a joy and what a rich process it can be, not just to taste this, but to embody it and live it out in lives of compassionate service.
A first-career classical musician, Valerie holds degrees from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and Stony Brook University in NY. She has taught and performed in the U.S., Canada, and around Europe. After discovering Zen, Valerie went on to earn a Masters of Theological Studies and Ph.D. from Brite Divinity School.
As Guiding Teacher, Valerie is responsible for the quality and integrity of Zen offerings at Mountain Cloud. She offers dokusan to over 50 students a week and runs our sesshin and zazenkai. Alongside her guiding work at Mountain Cloud, Valerie leads sesshin (intensive Zen retreats) annually at two Zen centers in Germany.
Scott Thornton (San’un-ken) is a Teacher in the Sanbo Zen lineage and a Teacher and Residency Advisor at Mountain Cloud. Scott provides practice guidance to residents and leads our weekly Book Group, monthly Aging Buddhas gatherings, and weekly Intro to Zen classes.
Scott and his wife, Guiding Teacher Valerie Forstman Roshi, came to work at Mountain Cloud in July of 2022. After an early career as an actor and singer, he turned to Clinical Psychology, a profession he has worked in for over 45 years (and from which he plans to retire in early 2026), though he still enjoys the occasional singer-songwriter gig! He began meditating on his own for 12 years before joining The Maria Kannon Zen Center in Dallas and beginning Koan study with Ruben Habito Rōshi in 2000. He continues his training with Henry Shukman Roshi.
Read this lovely interview by Richard McDaniel with Scott about his journey into meditation.
Staff
Sarah Giffin is the Executive Director of Mountain Cloud Zen Center. In this role she drives the execution of our organization’s mission, manages our team of staff, leads fundraising and other new initiatives. She brings to the role over a decade of experience facilitating and administering non-profit programs in the field of youth and adult education. Sarah first came to the center as a Zen student in 2017 to pilot the first iteration of our Residency program. Since then, she took on a variety of roles including Facilities Manager, Curriculum Specialist, Online Program Manager, Board Director, and all the while, sangha member. She is a Master Degree candidate at George Washington University in Organizational Leadership and Learning.
John Handelin is our Facilities Specialist. John “Juan” Handelin serves as the main caretaker of Mountain Cloud‘s landscape, buildings, and infrastructure. He helps us maintain a beautiful, safe, and supportive environment for our practice. “I was given the moniker “Juan” when we built the original Mountain Cloud Zen Center in 1985. There were three “John”s working on site and every time someone called out “hey John!”, three heads turned. And so I became “Juan”, and the name stuck with me.”
Kieran Mead-Ward is our Membership and Curriculum Coordinator. In this role he overseas the general operations of all onsite and online programs, facilitates live sessions, works directly with volunteers and develops curriculum for our 30 Days of Zen courses.
Grant Goulet is our Campus Operations Manager. Following several years of online practice with Mountain Cloud, while based in Detroit, Michigan, Grant joined the Residency program in January 2024, and, since May, has enjoyed the role of Senior Resident, providing operational management of on-site programs, assisting with facility and grounds caretaking, and leading hospitality for guests.
Grant is deeply interested in the supportive tripod of spiritual, philosophical, and scientific disciplines, with particular emphasis on metaphysics and the nature of consciousness. After several years of self-directed inquiry and contemplative practices, Grant was drawn to Zen through the writings and talks of Alan Watts, and has since deepened his appreciation for the tradition as the “the sword so sharp it cuts two into one.” Prior to taking up residency at Mountain Cloud, Grant utilized his PhD in Biomedical Engineering as faculty in academia, and executive leader in industry.
Off the cushion, Grant can be found running wild in the mountains around Santa Fe, taking pictures, writing down his philosophical musings, and traveling around with his partner, Kayla, and their dog, Maple, in their tiny house on wheels.
Xander Moffat is our Registrar. While fielding all all general inquiries, registrations, and data collection, they are constantly working to make our registration experience more seamless and welcoming. In addition to this work, Xander is a filmmaker and a programmer/technical director for Glimmerglass Film Days, a film festival in Cooperstown, NY. He also works on a freelance basis creating digital products and media for a number of community-focused organizations. Xander is currently based in Portland, Maine.
Abby Shepard (she/they) is the Outreach and Communications Manager at Mountain Cloud Zen Center. They’re also a community organizer and musician. Since encountering mindfulness meditation in 2018, Abby has been passionate about weaving the practice into various areas of engagement, from community organizing to music to program management. They are a 200-hour certified Skill in Action yoga facilitator, and her practice spans multiple lineages in Yoga and Buddhism including Theravada, Zen, and the Eight-Limb Path of Yoga.
Board of Directors
Mark Paul Petrick, President. Mark is retired from a life of varied professional experiences in the arts, teaching, and communications. He studied art, photography and architecture at U.C. Berkeley, and earned an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has exhibited his work at major museums and art centers. He was a professor of art and photography for a dozen years at Maharishi International University.
Mark’s career path shifted to communications in the late 1990’s when he went to work in international telecommunications, public and industrial relations, and ended with a 9-year stint as a marketing communications professional. He retired in 2014.
Mark began a meditation practice in 1972, took up zazen in 2016, and became a member of Mountain Cloud in 2017. He joined the board of directors from 2021 through 2023, serving as President of the board for the last 1-1/2 years of his tenure. Mark lives in Santa Fe with his wife, Vivian Tuori, and their two cats. They enjoy international travel, and Mark continues to do creative artwork and photography.
Bryan Baldwin, Treasurer. Bryan first joined Mountain Cloud as Executive Director in 2022, shifting to Board member in Summer of 2023. Bryan brings more than 25 years of progressive responsibility helping mission-driven organizations become more purposeful, focused, and strategic. He has extensive nonprofit management experience and most recently served as a senior administrator for a large public university in New England and concurrently led its private foundation.
Bryan earned a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Public Discourse from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and is also a graduate of Harvard University’s Institute for Educational Management. He and his wife, Lisa Cushing Shaw, are avid travelers, lived abroad, and have visited more than 50 countries. Along with their sweet and whimsical dog Bruce, they now call Santa Fe their permanent home.
Patrick McCarthy, Secretary. Patrick is currently the Water Policy Officer at the Thornburg Foundation in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Previously he served as the Conservation Director of the Colorado River Program of The Nature Conservancy; Director of The Nature Conservancy’s Southwest Climate Change Initiative; Director of The Nature Conservancy’s Conservation Programs in New Mexico; and Director of the Zambezi River Basin Project in Zambia, among other leadership positions in conservation and land stewardship. Patrick is a member of the Mountain Cloud sangha.
Andreas Hernandez is a Professor at the University of New Mexico and Director of UNM’s Sustainability Studies Program. Andreas received his PhD in Development Sociology from Cornell University. He has Masters and Bachelors degrees in Social Work. Andreas is widely published, is a filmmaker, and has received numerous grants and awards for his teaching. Andreas is a dharma practitioner and associated with a dharma ecovillage in Brazil. Andreas lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico (when he’s not in Brazil).
Daisy Lin is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and writer with over a decade of experience leading editorial and marketing initiatives for technology and financial services companies, with a focus on supporting entrepreneurs and community banks. Her personal essays have been featured in Tricycle, The Huffington Post, NBC News and other publications. Daisy has also lent her expertise to nonprofit boards mitigating the effects of climate change.
A passionate advocate for the transformative power of the Dharma, Daisy has been practicing meditation for decades and has served in various sangha caretaking roles. She is an active practitioner at Mountain Cloud Zen Center and a student of Valerie Forstman. Her commitment to mindfulness and community continues to guide her forward.
Special Committees
Special Committees are committees working on timely and emerging projects on behalf of the organization, and include sangha members outside of the Board of Directors.
The Campus Planning Committee is a Committee of the Board comprised of Board Members, Staff, and Sangha members including: Guiding Teacher Valerie Forstman, Board President Mark Petrick, Executive Director Sarah Giffin, Facilities Specialist John Juan Handelin, Campus Operations Manager Grant Goulet, Sangha Member (and former Operations Team Member) Christy Hengst, Sangha Member (and local architect) Rob Vadurro. This committee is charged with researching and making recommendations to the board regarding short term and long term facilities needs and projects like capital improvements and deferred maintenance. To reach out to this committee, email Sarah at sarah@mountaincloud.org.
The Fire Mitigation Committee is a Committee of the Board comprised of Board Members, Staff, and Sangha members including: Executive Director Sarah Giffin, Facilities Specialist John Juan Handelin, Sangha member (and fire mitigation professional) Laura McCarthy, and Sangha member (and fire mitigation professional) Brian Stampe. To reach out to this committee, email Sarah at sarah@mountaincloud.org.
Teachers
Henry Shukman is Spiritual Director Emeritus at Mountain Cloud Zen Center. He joined the center as Guiding Teacher in 2010, bringing new fervor to the teaching at the center and fostering new programs. He then became Spiritual Director. Between 2010 and 2023, Henry has contributed greatly to the Mountain Cloud you see today.
He has trained with several Zen teachers, particularly the roshis Joan Rieck, John Gaynor, Ruben Habito and Yamada Ryoun Roshi, as well as with teachers and mentors in other traditions. Henry has received dharma transmission (inka shomei and sanmotsu) from Yamada Ryoun Roshi, Abbot of Sanbo Zen, and is a Shōshike (Authentic Zen Master) of the Sanbo Zen lineage of Kamakura, Japan. In addition, Henry is an award-winning author and poet. His struggles as a youth, combined with a spontaneous awakening experience at 19, paved the way for him to develop a well-rounded approach to spirituality and meditation, under the guidance of his teachers – one that includes both compassionate concern for the sufferings of the world and the great liberating power of awakening as its foundation. Henry is the founder and teacher of the Original Love Program, a comprehensive non-sectarian guide to meditation practice, and is the co-founder and teacher of the meditation app, The Way.
Learn more about Henry’s latest book – Original Love, his meditation app – The Way, workshops and current projects at www.HenryShukman.com
Carolyn Seburn is a Sanbo Zen Teacher based in Ontario and a regular teacher in our hybrid/online events.
She provides online dokusan to our members and during our 6-day retreats, dharma talks, and workshops for our 30 Days of Zen Course.
She is an authorized Dharma successor of Roselyn Stone (Sei’un An – Clearing Away the Clouds) Rôshi of the Mountain Moon Sangha (Toronto and Brisbane). She has been practicing Zen meditation since 1985 and guiding Zen practice since 2015. Married, with one offspring, Carolyn is also a biologist and public servant who focuses on wildlife conservation. Carolyn is also appointed a Zen teacher with Sanbo Zen International.
Shana Smith is an Assistant Teacher of Sanbo Zen based in Florida. Shana provides online 1-1 practice support to our members, and provides workshops for our 30 Days of Zen Course and sesshins.
Shana discovered yoga in 1990 and began attending regular classes in several different styles of yoga. After several years of ardent practice and study, she began to teach at her local studio and Yoga Temple. Shana became interested in the sensations and insights she experienced in Savasana, which led her to begin a regular meditation practice and in 2007 took refuge in the Sanbo Zen Lineage, and recently become a Sanbo Zen Assistant teacher. Over the years, she has found a tremendous synergy between Yoga and Zen, and integrates the two in her daily, committed practice.
Will Brennan is an Assistant Sanbo Zen Teacher, longtime practitioner, and founding member of Mountain Cloud. Will introduced Henry Shukman to the Mountain Cloud sangha and recommended that Henry become the teacher at MCZC. Will’s background includes teaching school and running plumbing business for many years in Santa Fe. When Will leads the Wednesday sit, he offers a short talk on topics ranging from his personal experience, his immersion in Zen koans, notable books and the wonder of life.
Guest Teachers and Facilitators

Maria Reis Habito began zen practice in 1987. She serves as guiding teacher of Sophia Zen Center in Indiana and is a teacher at the Maria Kannon Zen Center in Dallas. Maria is the International Program Director of the Museum of World Religions, the Director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute USA, and a Zen Teacher authorized in the Sanbo Zen lineage. She has lived in Taiwan and studied the Chinese language (1979-1981), and in Kyoto, Japan, where she studied the Japanese language. She received her M.A. in Chinese Studies, Japanese Studies and Philosophy in 1985, and completed her Ph.D. at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich in 1990. After teaching at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, she assumed responsibility for the international Interfaith program of the Museum of World Religions in 2002.
Ruben L.F. Habito is a Professor of World Religions and Spirituality and Director of Spiritual Formation at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. Before coming to SMU, he taught at the Jesuit-founded Sophia University in Japan for many years. While in Japan, he received Zen training for many years under Kōun Yamada Rōshi and is an authorized Zen Teacher in the Sanbo Zen International lineage, serving as Guiding Teacher of Maria Kannon Zen Center based in Dallas, Texas. He is the author of numerous books and articles in English and Japanese, including Be Still and Know: Zen and the Bible (Orbis 2017), Zen and the Spiritual Exercises (Orbis 2013), Experiencing Buddhism: Ways of Wisdom and Compassion (Orbis 2006), and Healing Breath: Zen Spirituality for Christians and Buddhists (Wisdom 2006), Living Zen, Loving God (Wisdom 2004) among others. He is the spouse of Dr. Maria Reis Habito, and together they are blessed with two adult sons, Florian and Benjamin.

Sean Tetsudo Murphy, Sensei, is a fully authorized Zen teacher in the American White Plum lineage, as well an award-winning author and recipient of a 2018 National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Creative Writing. The author of One Bird One Stone: 108 Contemporary Zen Stories, as well as three novels with Bantam Dell books, he is founder and director of The Sage Institute of Taos, NM, which hosts an innovative Meditation and Mindfulness Leader Training Program. He also teaches creative writing, meditation, and literature for the University of New Mexico-Taos and many other venues. www.sagetaos.com / www.murphyzen.com

Natalie Goldberg is the author of sixteen books, including Writing Down the Bones (Shambhala, 1986), which has sold over one million copies, has been translated into fourteen languages, and started a revolution in the way we practice writing in this country. Her most recent books are Three Simple Lines: A writer’s Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku and Writing on Empty: A Guide to Finding Your Voice. Natalie is also a prolific painter. Her book Living Color: Painting, Writing, and the Bones of Seeing(Abrams, 2014), describes painting as her second art form. Top of My Lungs (Overlook Press, 2004) contains forty poems, twenty of her paintings in color, and an essay, “How Poetry Saved My Life.” Natalie’s paintings are available to view on this website.
David Robert Loy is a professor, writer, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism. He is a prolific author, whose articles appear regularly in the pages of major journals such as Tikkun and Buddhist magazines including Tricycle, Lion’s Roar, and Buddhadharma, as well as in a variety of scholarly journals. Many of his writings, as well as audio and video talks and interviews, are available on the web. He is on the advisory boards of Buddhist Global Relief, the Clear View Project, Zen Peacemakers, and the Ernest Becker Foundation. David is one of the founding members of the new Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center, near Boulder, Colorado. Please visit the website at rockymountainecodharmaretreat.org for more information.
Nicola Redfern is an Insight Dialogue Retreat Teacher with an extensive background in both Zen and Vipassana meditation. With a strong belief that awakening is not simply a solo endeavor, Nic is particularly interested in getting meditation and dharma insight fully integrated and embodied in life, work, social justice, and all relationships. She has taught multiple courses on eco-dharma, unlearning racism, and Nonviolent Communication, as well as programs for LGBTQIA+. Nicola is originally from the UK and now lives near Santa Fe, NM.
David Hinton has published numerous books of poetry and essays, and many translations of ancient Chinese poetry and philosophy—all informed by an abiding interest in deep ecological thinking. This widely-acclaimed work has earned Hinton a Guggenheim Fellowship, numerous fellowships from NEA and NEH, and both of the major awards given for poetry translation in the United States: the Landon Translation Award (Academy of American Poets) and the PEN American Translation Award. Most recently, Hinton received a lifetime achievement award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Nancy Mujo Baker Roshi is is a distinguished Zen teacher and writer, renowned as the founding teacher of the No Traces Sangha within the lineage of Maezumi Roshi’s White Plum Sangha. A Dharma successor to Bernie Glassman, she is among the first fully empowered lay Soto Zen teachers. She is Professor Emerita of Philosophy at Sarah Lawrence College, where she taught for more than forty years, and the author of Opening to Oneness: A Practical and Philosophical Guide to the Zen Precepts. She lives in New York City.
Bill Bruce is a senior student who has been an active member of Mountain Cloud for many years. He writes, “I have been blessed with guidance from Henry Shukman Roshi since 2011, and more recently, with Valerie Forstman Roshi.” Bill is a self-described family man with a background in home construction and carpentry. He is a welcoming presence at MCZC, now joining the cohort of teachers to welcome students to the weekly Intro Class.
Internationally celebrated Dharma teacher of teachers, Kali Basman, intermingles Buddhist Psychology & Internal Family Systems Therapy into the living discipline of Yin Yoga
Kali’s work intermingles the outer constructs of anatomy & Traditional Chinese Medicine with the inner methods of mind training and trauma healing. She is certified and celebrated in her work with Internal Family Systems Therapy. Outside of practice life, Kali holds an MPH in Environmental Public Health and serves as a Project Director for the United Nations Association Global Health Initiative on the Africa Affairs Committee. She has been working with the UN as a Global Health consultant for over 5 years.
Kali Basman is a Conscious Dying Coach and Sacred Passage Doula.
Katie Arnold is the author of Brief Flashings in the Phenomenal World as well as critically acclaimed RUNNING HOME: A Memoir, published by Random House in March 2019. She is a contributing editor at Outside Magazine, where she worked on staff for twelve years. Her “Raising Rippers” column about bringing up adventurous, outdoor children appears monthly on Outside Online. She has written for The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Sunset, Runner’s World, ESPN: The Magazine, Elle, and many others, and her narrative nonfiction has been recognized in Best American Sportswriting. A competitive ultra-distance runner, she has run and won races at every distance from 5K to 100 miles. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her husband and two daughters.
Colleen Shaughnessy is an ordained Soto Zen priest and has been a Zen practitioner for 15 years and a member of Mountain Cloud since 2022. Professionally, she supports social sector nonprofits across the state to build their capacity and grant readiness through her role at Groundworks New Mexico. She lives in Taos, NM where she tends a native flower and rose garden, wanders hiking trails, and marvels at the beauty of northern New Mexico.
Karen Waconda-Lewis is a tribal native of the Isleta and Laguna Pueblos. After her initiation into Native Medicine, she introduced traditional healing practices into an urban American Indian health clinic in Albuquerque, NM. She continues to expand this program into local hospitals, the Indian Health Service, the VA Hospital, and surrounding organizations. Karen integrates Western medicine with Native healing in preventive health, mental health, and overall well-being. She is the founder and director of the Center for Native American Integrative Healing, LLC, located in Albuquerque, where healers from various tribal nations practice their traditional medicine and extend their services to the community.
Karen is a Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader program graduate and has been practicing mindfulness from a young age, guided by her grandparents in her traditional tribal practices of caring for the land, gardening, cooking and animals. She regularly provides dharma teachings incorporating Native teachings in her community and nationally. She has intertwined Native teachings with Vipassana meditation, incorporating these practices into ceremonies, sweat lodges, and her community at Laguna Pueblo. At Laguna Pueblo, the ancestral teachings of mindfulness have complemented the Buddhist teachings at the Detention Center, providing insight and wellness to inmates and their families. Additionally, Karen co-founded the Annual Indigenous and Native Healers Silent Retreat and the Albuquerque People of Color and Allies Sangha. She has also been appointed volunteer faculty at the University of New Mexico’s School of Medicine, where she guides faculty and staff on tribal health issues and wellness support to medical students and residents.
In her personal life, Karen enjoys spending time with her family, including her daughter and two grandchildren. She manages the family ranch and loves spending time with ancestral lands and caring for its inhabitants.
Rochelle Calvert, PhD, CMT, SEP, licensed clinical psychologist, certified mindfulness teacher, somatic experiencing practitioner has a devoted love to share the power and healing potential of mindfulness, somatic awareness and nature. She has studied and taught mindfulness for the past 20 years and knows personally the transformational potential. To share the love of these healing practices she has published a book, Healing with Nature: Mindfulness and Somatic Practices to Heal from Trauma.
Dr. Calvert leads courses and retreats in mindfulness, somatic experiencing and Awake in the Wild, nature-based mindfulness. She also facilitates professional trainings in mindfulness for clinicians and travels the country teaching retreats and seminars. She is the director of the Ecotherapy Program at SouthWestern College and New Earth Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is a certified mindfulness teacher with the Mindfulness Teaching Institute, the International Mindfulness Teachers Association and Awake In The Wild organization.
Rochelle is the founder and clinical director of New Mindful Life, which offers mindfulness, nature-based, and somatic experiencing therapies. She teaches individual meditations with nature that assist in healing from trauma. You can learn more about Rochelle on her website.




























