About Iris

Iris Lentjes

Iris Lentjes is a trained Mindfulness Meditation teacher.

She is a certified mindfulness meditation teacher, having received her Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program credentials in 2023. MMTCP is a 2-year teacher certification program. It's curriculum is based upon mindfulness practices Jon Kabatt-Zinn and others developed as a result of their Buddhist training and upon certain Vipassana practices (rooted in Theravāda Buddhism) Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield teach. These are the practices and techniques she shares in her classes.

She is on a personal quest for a deeper and broader understanding of what it means to be a homo sapiens in terms of an experience in consciousness, rather than accepting the modern definition of humans based upon the reductionist Newtonian Model. She is seeking direct experience of the subtle and essential nature of her human existence. She fell into Zen (Mahayana Buddhism) in 2019 and as a result is an active Zen practitioner and studies at a Zendo in Manhattan, NY. However, the practices and techniques she teaches are secular in nature and are not tied into the religion of Buddhism.

Her goal is to share what she knows with others because after having completed the 30-day meditation challenge organized by Deepak Chopra in 2009, it took her 8 years of trial and error to build a sustainable meditation practice.

It takes time to gain momentum and a muscle for meditation and she wants to create some support for others by sharing how to gain and sustain that momentum. She experiences the benefits of meditation practice daily now and wants others to benefit too, regardless of their spiritual path or religious affiliation.

There is so much going on in the world at present which challenges us. Only together we stand strong. She feels that the more inner resources we have, the better we can face what life brings us daily, so we can return to a sense of joy, peace or acceptance despite the circumstances.

Iris is also a wife and a professional in real life with a broad understanding of the stresses and distractions the modern world and workplace bring and thus the subsequent need for meditation.

Because she is aware humans are part of the whole, she is active in the tree care community in Jackson Heights. She is a proponent of active stewarding of New York’s urban forest.

Iris is originally from the Netherlands and has lived in Queens since 1999.

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