Teachers
Molly counts all of her students and all of life’s challenges and joys among her teachers but credits a few specific teachers as having shaped her into the person she is today.
Molly’s teaching is particularly unique in that she is able to draw connections between a variety of religious and spiritual disciplines, especially Yoga, Vedanta, Buddhism and Christianity. Like her teachers, she recognizes that understanding the depth of each tradition only enriches the student’s experience of any one of them. Her passion for interfaith inclusivity is supported by extensive study and practice, and she delights in supporting students to open their hearts and minds through appreciation of both the gifts and limitations of various spiritual perspectives. The teachers that she credits most with her formation all share her dedication to interfaith study as a means to collective liberation.
Swami Vivekanda
Swami Vivekanda (1863-1902) served as a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga in the Western world. He is credited with raising interfaith awareness and bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion when he “crashed” the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Molly has been passionate about his message of self-empowerment through connection with divine presence since she became aware of him in the early 90’s. She later studied at the Vedanta Society of Seattle, a branch of the Ramakrishna order, for several years before leaving the United States to relocate to Mexico.
Ram Dass
Baba Ram Dass, born Richard Alpert (1931-2019), was an American spiritual teacher, psychologist and author who shared extensively his teachings on spiritual well-being, conscious and compassionate aging, and death and dying. He is famous for his early experiments, as a Harvard professor, on the use of psychedelics as a means to expanding consciousness. Molly first became intrigued by Ram Dass through a cassette of his teachings given to her by a friend during a difficult time in her life. She began to read everything she could by him, and later listened to podcasts of his teachings every night. She finally wrote to him and asked if she could come and see him, delighted to find out there was a process for personal retreat. The first time Molly encountered Ram Dass, she felt she had met a person who absolutely exuded the kind of loving presence, groundedness and authenticity she aspired to. She was able to spend three more weeks with him on personal retreat before his death.
Larry Ward
Larry Ward is a senior Dharma teacher ordained by Zen Master Thich That Hanh and the founder of The Lotus Institute for Buddhist mindfulness practices. Larry received his ordination into Christian ministry in 1972, and was introduced into Buddhist practice in Calcutta, India in 1977. He first met Thich That Hanh in 1991, inspiring the practice to become the center of his life and service. Molly first had the opportunity to study with Larry during a retreat in Mexico and was immediately in awe of Larry’s presence, kindness and clarity, as well as his ability to teach from a multi-faith foundation, championing anti-oppression, collective care and self-transformation.
Richard Rohr
Richard Rohr is a Franciscan priest of the New Mexico Province. He is the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation and academic dean of the CAC’s Living School. He is a critic of orthodox philosophies within organized religions that maintain dogmatic practices around masculine and feminine energy, binary thinking and "rules'' in general as opposed to true human connection to the divinity. Richard teaches with a particular emphasis on how mystic practices and contemplation, combined with direct action, meet the social justice issues of our time. Molly graduated from the Living School for Action and Contemplation’s two year program in Christian Mysticism in 2019, immensely deepening her understanding and appreciation of the interconnectedness of mystic traditions.
Howard Thurman
Howard Thurman (1899-1981) was an American mystic, theologian, educator, and civil rights leader, playing a leading role in many social justice movements and organizations of the twentieth century. Thurman preached a philosophy of “Common Ground,” which taught that humans need to seek an inner spiritual happiness, leading them to share their experience in community with others. In 1944, Thurman co-founded San Francisco’s Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, the first integrated interfaith religious congregation in the United States. Reading Thurman’s seminal book 'Jesus and the Disinherited' completely changed Molly’s religious perspective. It fundamentally reshaped her understanding of religion and confirmed her conviction that all religious and spiritual practices must ultimately lead to freedom from suffering, therefore must be concerned with care for and solidarity with the marginalized and oppressed.
Liz Caemmerer
Liz Caemmerer was the founder of the Grunewald Guild, in Plain, Washington, the retreat center where Molly held all of her teacher trainings and retreats for nearly 13 years. The Guild’s mission is to welcome and inspire all who seek to explore the relationships between art, faith & community. Liz was a spiritual director, weaver, hiker, and true mystic, with a strong background in biblical studies and prayer and interfaith communities. It was on many long walks with Liz over many years that inspired Molly’s interest in Christian contemplative traditions.
Erin Kenny
Erin Kenny was a devoted naturalist and the founder of The Cedarsong Way, and Cedarsong Nature School, the United States first forest kindergarten. She was also Molly’s oldest sister and best friend, living in and around Seattle for over 25 years together. While Erin influenced Molly is all kinds of ways, it was through the process of illness and death that Erin truly became one of Molly’s greatest teachers.