Buddhist Practice In The Service Of All Beings Everywhere
“It is through the activities of one's life that one's discernment shines.”
– Anguttara Nikaya 3.2 - Lakkhana Sutta
About JoAnna
JoAnna Hardy is an insight meditation (Vipassanā) practitioner and teacher; she is on faculty at the University of Southern California, a meditation trainer at Apple Fitness+, a founding member and teacher at the Meditation Coalition, a visiting teacher at Black Being LA, a visiting retreat teacher at Insight Meditation Society, and a collaborator on many online meditation Apps and programs.
She was born into a Catholic family and has early memories of being drawn toward contemplation, quietness and inner reflection. All the while externally rebelling and pushing up against societal norms that keep many oppressed, marginalized and excluded.
Her inner turmoil led to causing external pain for herself and others. To help lessen her suffering she went on a search for some kind of peace. For years at a time she visited many different spiritual traditions, eventually finding her home in Buddhism and Vipassanā meditation.
She teaches; silent meditation retreats, social justice based meditation classes and workshops, youth work, online courses, and works with private students.
She coauthored Teaching Mindfulness to Empower Adolescents, alongside Matthew Brensilver and Oren Jay Sofer.
Her greatest passion is to teach meditation in communities that are dedicated to seeing the truth of how racism, gender inequality and oppression go hand in hand with the compassionate action teachings in Buddhism and related perspectives to social and racial justice.
She is the grateful mother to CJ and Harris and happily married to Andre.
“Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word "love" here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace - not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth.” - James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
Audio
Extensive recordings of JoAnna's dharma talks and guided meditations are available in the following places:
Retreats and Events
Online: Living An Ethic of Love – Celebrating Black Dharma Teachings
With JoAnna Hardy, Lama Rod Owens, Ruth King, Kaira Jewel Lingo, Leslie Booker, Kate Johnson, Devin Berry, Angela Dews, Lissa Edmond, Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Rashid Hughes and Tuere Sala
Tuesday, February 18th – Friday, February 28th, 2025
Each day for two weeks, you’ll receive an email with a prerecorded dharma talk from a renowned Black dharma teacher including Kaira Jewel Lingo, Ruth King, Tuere Sala, Devin Berry, Lama Rod Owens, Kate Johnson, Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Leslie Booker, and others.
A Legacy of Contemplation and Resilience
Folks of African descent carry a rich legacy of contemplation—an enduring wisdom that, even in the face of colonization and enslavement, has taught us how to pause, rest, and reconnect with our true selves.
Our ancestors dreamed of freedom, prepared for it, fought for it, and ultimately manifested it against all odds. Through resilience, joy, and deep reflection, we embody profound truths of interdependence and belonging. We are living testaments to the power of community, holding the wisdom that none of us stands alone.
From these traditions, the world learns how to embrace paradox with grace—to hold grief and joy, struggle and triumph, as equal parts of the whole. In the face of adversity, we create beauty and thrive, transforming hardship into expressions of love and liberation.
Our path reminds us that freedom is not an individual pursuit but a collective awakening—a shared journey rooted in ancestral wisdom that rises with and through us all. This elemental, ancestral, and profoundly human power bears witness and uplifts us toward connection, resilience, and unity.
Join us to experience a celebration of resilience, joy, and the power of community.
Please note: This is event is open to anyone who would benefit from hearing wisdom teachings on resiliency, community and living by an ethic of love. This program is a fundraiser to build the scholarship fund at New York Insight. Your payment will go a long way to supporting access to the dharma for all.
Registration:
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CLICK HERE to open the registration form in a new browser window.
CLASSES IN LOS ANGELES
Meditation coalition’s
people of color and allies sitting and discussion group
First Sunday of Every Month, 11am - 12:30pm PT @Clockshop, 2806 Clearwater St, Los Angeles, CA.
This is a meditation group for people of color and their allies interested in using the Buddhist principles of mindfulness and compassion to help work with and understand better the many painful issues that people of color encounter in America.
Articles & Interviews
Discernment, Justice, and Mindfulness
Listen to JoAnna’s interview on the Hello Universe podcast HERE.
What's Love Got To Do With It?
In this episode of Ten Percent Happier’s Election Sanity Series, JoAnna explores how the unconditional friendliness of metta practice is anything but corny.
How a Buddhist Practice Can Help Fight Injustice
How to Engage Corona-Deniers (and Other Ethical Dilemmas)
JoAnna just recently did a podcast with Ten Percent Happier, hosted by Dan Harris. They discussed the ethical dilemmas that are emerging during this time of crisis, shift, and transmutation. Listen to the episode here.
Lion's Roar Special Ed. May 2018
A Conversation on Race Awakening
and Inclusion
April 27th, 2018
How to Practice Loving-Kindness
Lion's Roar
October 26, 2017
Interview with JoAnna
Spirit Rock Newsletter
Summer 2016
Online Courses
In 10 easy-to-follow videos, meditation expert JoAnna Hardy will teach you the basics of metta and how to put them into practice. Before you know it, How to Cultivate a Loving Heart will have you creating, and deepening, love and goodwill for yourself and the people in your life.
10% Happier | Series on Ethics
For 10% Happier subscribers, this course looks at the relationship of sila (ethical conduct). The course was shot in a bar to underscore that precepts are not commandments but trainings. We seek to cultivate a deep, ongoing exploration of how our actions and behaviors affect our mind, heart and those around us.
Next Step Dharma
Next Step Dharma is a six week online course focusing on post-retreat integration. Featuring JoAnna and a variety of prominent Insight Meditation teachers, it's particularly useful for folks who are new to the process of transitioning back into daily life from the space of retreat.
My book
Teaching Mindfulness to Empower Adolescents
is now here!
A powerful handbook of tools and principles that empower youth to explore their inner life.
Mindfulness is not simply a technique. It is more of a deeply honest conversation with ourselves and each other—a conversation that includes all of the joy and sorrow, love and loss of a human life.
As adults, we can facilitate this radically honest conversation with and among adolescents. This book invites educators to draw on their own wisdom, vulnerability and strength to engage their students, awaken mindfulness, and nourish compassion within them.
About
It all started when…
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