Leadership | Show Me Dharma

LEADERSHIP

Show Me Dharma Teachers Collective

Meet our teachers!

Terry has been a member of the Show Me Dharma sangha since 2001 and the teachers' council since 2004. He also serves on the Board of Trustees. He teaches the “Introduction to Meditation” and the "Eightfold Path" classes for new and relatively new students. He also facilitates the Thursday night committed practice class. His teachings reflect retreat experience and study with Eastern and Western Vipassana teachers, Insight Dialogue with Greg Kramer and the non-dual teachings of Adyashanti and Matt Flickstein.

TERRY FURSTENAU

PHIL JONES

Philip Jones began meditation practice in the Zen Buddhist tradition in 1987. In 1992 he started practicing Insight Meditation. He began teaching Insight Meditation in 1996, first in Columbia, MO and then also on retreats in the Midwest. He initially studied with teachers from Spirit Rock and the Insight Meditation Society and graduated from the first Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader program in 2000. He studied with Matthew Flickstein for ten years and more recently has been studying with Bhikkhu Anālayo, Shaila Catherine, and Ann Dillon. Phil was a co-founder of Show Me Dharma and served as a leader and a teacher from 1993-2006. He founded and led the Silent Mind-Open Heart sangha in Columbia from 2008-2019. In 2018 he re-joined Show Me Dharma and the Teachers Collective. He has also served on the board of directors of Mid America Dharma, a regional Insight Meditation retreat organization, since 1994.

Joe has practiced Insight Meditation since 1995 and has been a member of the Show Me Dharma Teachers Council since 2002. Joe leads an insight meditation group in Jefferson City, and has taught insight meditation to prison inmates since 1998. His teachers include Ginny Morgan, Phil Jones, and Matthew Flickstein. In January 2008, he completed the Community Dharma Leader training program through Spirit Rock Meditation Center. In his dharma instruction, Joe draws from traditional Theravada Buddhist teachings, Zen and Dzogchen practice, Advaita teachings, and the Diamond Approach. He is also trained as a psychologist and practices psychotherapy in Jefferson City.

JOE MCCORMACK

Rose Metro has been practicing vipassana mediation since 2005. She has studied in Burma, Thailand, and the US with teachers including Steve and Rosemary Weissman and the Venerable Chanmyay Sayadaw. Rose joined a committed practice class with Ginny Morgan in 2009, and she has loved being part of the SMD sangha ever since. In 2013, she began teaching mindfulness classes for teens and families.

ROSE METRO

Linda joined Show Me Dharma as a teacher in 2015 and has practiced vipassana meditation since 2001. She has a degree in religious studies and has been involved in several spiritual communities, including the Chautauqua center in Columbia, MO. She is an artist as well as a mother, and includes these perspectives in her teachings. Her practice centers largely around the importance of self compassion.

LINDA PLUSCHKE

TRICIA STRAUB

Experienced, trustworthy, fun. These are just a few of the ways friends describe this invaluable member of our team. Tricia is truly a joy to be around and makes it a pleasure to come to the sangha. Tricia also serves as the SMD Board Past President.

DONNA STRICKLAND

Donna has practiced Insight Dialogue since 2006, and has facilitated a number of Insight Dialogue classes since 2011. She was formally recognized by the Insight Dialogue community as a teacher in 2024. Gregory Kramer, Gary Steinberg, and Mary Burns have been important ID mentors and teachers. Insight Dialogue is one facet of her Insight Meditation practice, which began in 2004 when she joined Show Me Dharma. She feels deep appreciation for the many teachers she has learned from over the years, especially Phil Jones, Ginny Morgan, and Gloria Taraniya Ambrosia. She began teaching under the mentorship of Phil Jones in 2011, first at Phil’s Silent Mind-Open Heart sangha, and later at Show Me Dharma. Donna is a former English professor and a current psychotherapist, and she understands relationality and care to be key tools in awakening.

ShowMe Dharma Board of Trustees

The board of trustees, a group of seven to nine members of the sangha, is responsible for overseeing operations, raising money, paying bills, and attending to the long-term sustainability of the organization. They are guided by our bylaws.

Board of Trustees

Executive Committee

Dallas Jensen, President (board term: 2023-2025)
Alex Hedges, Vice President (board term: 2024-2026)
Tori Mondelli, Secretary (board term: (2023-2025)
Emily Love, Treasurer (board term: 2022-2024)

Trustees

Terry Furstenau (board term: 2023-2025)
Lori Reese (board term: 2023-2025)
Tricia Straub (board term: 2024-2026)
Marc Rice (board term: 2022-2024)
Amy Stephenson (board term: 2022-2024)
Joe McCormack (board term: 2022-2024)
Caya Tanski, (board term: 2022-2024)
Susan Schabilion (board term: 2022-2024)
Julie Midkiff (board term: 2024-2026)
Julie Midkiff (board term: 2021-2023)

CAYA TANSKI

Caya has been a student of the Dharma since 2003 and before that had spent several years studying within shamanic healing traditions as well a Hindu devotional path. Her formal introduction to Buddhism was through the Peacemaker Institute at Naropa University in Boulder, where she completed a year-long Peacemaker certification program and concurrently did intensive training in Non-Violent Communication with Marshall Rosenberg and other teachers. In 2003 she began committed practice classes at Show Me Dharma and is grateful for Ginny’s teaching, all the classes led by teachers on the Teacher’s Council and all the guest teachers SMD has hosted. Caya’s main teacher since 2007 has been Matt Flickstein, although she considers Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, John Milton, Joanna Macy and Thanissara & Kittisaro to be important teachers as well. Caya has been a lifelong social activist and is committed to seeing how we can bring the Dharma into social and environmental justice work to help that work go deeper into the core issues that human beings need to address for there to be lasting and transformational change. Currently, Caya continues her studies with Matt and has recently completed a two-year program with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. Caya is self-employed as a traditional naturopath, homeopath and energy medicine practitioner.