About Lisa
Lisa Ernst is a meditation teacher, artist and founder of One Dharma Nashville. She has maintained a committed meditation practice for 30 years in the Zen and Vipassana traditions. Lisa received full teaching authorization through her primary teacher Trudy Goodman in the Thai Forest/Spirit Rock lineage. She offers private meditation training, classes and workshops and leads meditation retreats internationally. She has taught at Spirit Rock, InsightLA, Southern Dharma, Big Bear Retreat Center and more. She has also led pilgrimages to India and Costa Rica.
In her teaching, Lisa emphasizes both transformational insight and everyday awakening as an invitation to embrace all of the path’s possibilities. As a practicing visual artist Lisa incorporates Dharma into contemplative photography and writing.
Lisa especially enjoys teaching students how to engage in the unknown, the mystery, and to work with open ended, unanswered life questions that can’t be solved through traditional logic. Lisa focuses on working with questions in meditation practice to support living from our truest intentions.
Recommendations for Lisa’s retreats and teachings:
“Lisa is a wise and skillful teacher who generously shares her deeply lived experience of the dharma. She teaches from the heart with authenticity, tenderness, and compassion, which make the teachings come alive. Lisa has an outstanding ability to make complex teachings more accessible and applicable to your life. Her experience in both the Zen and Insight traditions is weaved beautifully in her teachings. If you are on retreat with Lisa, you will appreciate the wisdom, care and support she brings to each student, from beginner to advanced practitioner.” – Trudy Goodman and Jack Kornfield
“I have been meditating since the late 1980s and have participated in retreats in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Mexico, and the United States. I have also been fortunate enough to have been in contact with many talented teachers. Out all the teachers that I have known, Lisa is among the top. Lisa originally studied Zen before moving on to Theravada and the meditative style of the Thai forest tradition (particularly the lineage of Ajahn Chah). She is very able at bringing both traditions into her teachings in a very informative way. Most important for me, however, is that Lisa teachings are heartfule and, as a result, makes the teachings relevant. She is a very compassionate person and a very insightful teacher. She has truly made a difference in my life and how I interact with the world around me. ” – Jeffrey Samuels
“Lisa is an incredible and inspiring teacher. She is so humble, down-to-earth, and honest in her teachings. She has such a wealth of knowledge and experience with meditation, and yet is always so kind and understanding toward beginners and shares her knowledge in a way that is easily accessible to people at all stages of their practice. I have been on 5 retreats that she has led, attend her weekly Tues night meditation, and have been in multiple classes that she has led. Her guidance and teaching has been enormously helpful to me in deepening my practice and understanding the Buddhist path. She’s by far the best meditation teacher I have known, and I highly recommend OneDharma and Lisa’s teachings to all! ” – Keila Franks