Gary Sanders

Gary Sanders
Gary Sanders is a seasoned meditation teacher and dharma guide based in Los Angeles, CA. As the founder of SCV Mindfulness, Heavy Metta PDX, Boundless Heart, and others, Gary has dedicated himself to sharing the transformative power of Buddhist practices with diverse communities across North America.
Authorized to lead Buddhist meditation and dharma groups at Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, Gary's teaching journey expanded when he joined the staff at Portland Insight Meditation Community. There, he was honored to be empowered to teach in the lineage of the revered Ruth Denison. Gary's approach is deeply rooted in the heart-based practices of the Buddha, which he explores and shares through daylong retreats, workshops, and online sessions. His current practice focuses on Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation, which he has skillfully integrated into a unique blend of mindfulness techniques.

As a frequent contributor to The Tattooed Buddha community, Buddhist Recovery Network, and other communities and platforms, Gary creates meditation videos that make Buddhist teachings accessible and relevant to contemporary practitioners. His compassionate guidance and innovative teaching methods have touched the lives of students across the globe, helping them cultivate mindfulness, wisdom, and inner peace.

Events from this teacher

Today

  • Gratitude Turns What We Have Into Enough and More

    BRN Academy

    “Recovery and gratitude seem to go hand in hand. In the heat of our addictions, whether substance or process, we all tend to really focus on the hardships of our lives, our trials and tribulations and get stuck in the old comparison game, comparing our insides to others outsides, a line heard frequently in 12...

  • Emotional Sobriety: Comfortable in Your Own Skin

    BRN Academy

    Facebook Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1400167713509983/</p>Gary Sanders lives in Portland, OR. He is originally from the Los Angeles area, where he was the founder of SCV Mindfulness and led up to three weekly meditation groups for over 5 years. He was empowered to lead Buddhist meditation and dharma groups at Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. He helped,...

  • Forgiveness on the Path to Recovery

    BRN Academy

    So many of us come into sobriety with a really poor relationship with ourselves and so heavily burdened with resentments towards ourselves and others. By practicing forgiveness, not in a theistic Christian outside ourselves way, but as self empowering and self healing way to start to let go, to change our relationship with, and to...

  • Gary Sanders – Just assume the answer to every question is compassion

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TglK7eM4csU "Just assume the answer to every question is compassion” - Father Greg Boyle in his book Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion In Buddhism, compassion is the appropriate response to pain and whether we are new to sobriety and suffering the special kind of newcomer pain, or in long term recovery...

  • Facing Our Inner Demons – Online Summit 2025

    Featured
    BRN Academy

    Facing Our Inner Demons - BRN Online Summit A 2-day Buddhist recovery summit of tools, truth, and transformation. October 18th and 19th, 2025 8:30am – 12:00pm PDT 11:30am – 3:00pm EDT 4:30pm – 8:00pm UTC / UK / IRE Find out More and Register

  • Angulimala and the Wreckage of our Past

    Featured
    BRN Academy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KskmIGMG_5o Many of us come into recovery, change our lives completely, and then get utterly surprised and disappointed when the closest ones around us still don’t trust or believe us. Some of us have to gruelingly trudge through legal repercussions for many years after committing to recovery.  These issues and an infinite of other problems commonly...

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