ABOUT

FCM Dharma Instructors

FCM Dharma Instructors are experienced Dharma practitioners who have completed a three-year Intensive Dharma Transmission Program and participated in numerous retreats and other programs with FCM's teacher Fred Eppsteiner, and who have been given permission by Fred to share the Buddha's teachings. They give talks and facilitate classes, Intensives and retreats for the Mindful Living and Dharma Paths for FCM, and assist with Wisdom Path programs led by Fred. 

Betsy Arizu became a member of the Florida Community of Mindfulness and a student of Fred Eppsteiner in 2011. She was ordained as a member of the Order of Interbeing in 2015 and has participated over the years in numerous retreats and intensives including FCM’s Dharma Transmission Program.

Betsy’s background is in counseling, mindfulness in education, art and organization development. She has been chair of the FCM Board of Directors and Sangha Care and Dharma Programs Leader on the Leadership Council. She currently leads retreats, workshops and Intensives and has taught meditation and mindfulness for teens experiencing homelessness.

David Braasch  first became interested in Buddhism when he moved to Taiwan in 1991. But it wasn’t until 2015 that he formalized his Dharma practice at the Florida Community of Mindfulness, mostly under the guidance of Fred Eppsteiner.

After realizing the importance of mindfulness in his own life, David began to incorporate mindfulness in his profession as a teacher, introducing mindfulness to teachers, administratiors, and students as a way to be more at ease at school and in life.

David teaches a variety of classes and intensives at FCM and is scheduled to receive his Qigong teacher certification soon.

Bryan Hindert has been following the Buddhist path since 2008, when a strong desire to transform his suffering drew him to the Florida Community of Mindfulness (FCM). Since then, under the guidance of Fred Eppsteiner, Bryan has been able to transform his life and mind in profound ways. Bryan ordained as a member of the Order of Interbeing in 2015 and completed a three-year Dharma Transmission program with Fred in 2018.

In 2013 Bryan helped to develop Wake Up Tampa Bay, a mindfulness group for young adults. He has also led retreats, taught classes and presented the Buddhist teachings in whatever opportunity has presented itself. Bryan also has served in a variety of leadership positions for FCM and is currently the Kitchen Lead, where he enjoys helping keep retreat participants well nourished.

Maria Teresa Jaureguizar formally entered the Buddhist path in 1996 and became a student of Fred Eppsteiner in 2012. Deepening her commitment to personal transformation and selfless service, she became an ordained member of the Order of Interbeing and completed the three-year Dharma Transmission Program.

Maria Teresa currently serves as FCM Community Leader and finds joy in sharing the Dharma through mentoring, teaching mindfulness and meditation classes, assisting in leading retreats, and sangha building through facilitating community activities and helping care for the community. She is happily married, works for Hillsborough County Government and has two dogs, a bunny, and a bird.

Brandy Kidd, LCSW, became interested in mindfulness (and subsequently, Buddhism) in her early 20s after encountering suffering both in her personal life and in her professional life as a clinical social worker.

Over the past 30 years, she has done her best to devote herself to the study and practice of Dharma throughout the comings and goings of life's stages — dating, marrying, raising children, building a career in clinical social work and managing a private practice for the past 22 years, and being present to a large extended family as members move through their various life stages. For the past seven or so years, she has co-facilitated the Naples Sangha and takes much joy in doing so.

Christopher Lee-Nguyen has been practicing with the Florida Community of Mindfulness since 2014. Over the years he has received teachings and transmissions in both Mahayana Buddhism and Tibetan's Yungdrung Bön traditions. He is currently studying and practicing the oral teachings of the Great Perfection from the Bön tradition. Chris is also an ordained member of the Order of Interbeing and has completed FCM’s three-year Dharma Transmission Program.

Chris lives in Fort Myers, where he helps with the Naples Sangha and serves on FCM's Board of Directors. He received his B.A. in communications from Florida Gulf Coast University, holds the rank of Sho-dan in the Shito-Ryu Karate-Do, and currently works as a software quality assurance engineer, loving husband, and father of his children, Bodhi and Kita.

John McHarris began practicing the Dharma in 1990 with teacher Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi at the Zen Center of Syracuse, Hoen-ji. Between the mid 1990s through 2016, John continued his practice while living overseas. In 2010, he had the good fortune to meet his teacher Fred Eppsteiner and has since been practicing with Fred's guidance ever since.

John has received trainings in the Theravada, Zen, and Vajrayana traditions and has completed FCM's three-year Dharma Transmission Program. In addition to having taught various FCM Intensives and classes, John co-facilitates the FCM Naples Sangha and also is in his third year of the FCM Residency Program in Tampa. John was ordained as a member of the Order of Interbeing at Thich Nhat Hahn's Magnolia Grove Monastery in 2023.

Prior to 2016, John lived and worked in Africa and Asia as a humanitarian aid worker for the United Nations World Food Program with a focus on food security, malnutrition and emergency response. More recently, his focus has been on service with FCM in a variety of leadership capacities (e.g., FCM Board chair and Leadership Council member).

Bill Mac Millen  has been a Dharma practitioner with the Florida Community of Mindfulness and a student of FCM's teacher Fred Eppsteiner since 2013. In 2018 he completed the three-year Dharma Transmission training taught by Fred. Bill was ordained as a member of the Order of Interbeing at Thich Nhat Hahn’s Magnolia Grove Monastery in 2019.

Aspiring to be of service to the community, he is on the Leadership Council overseeing the area of Center Care and also teaches and facilitates various classes and Intensive study programs offered by FCM.

Angie Parrish attended her first Buddhist retreat in 1999 with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Through the ensuing years she has received teachings in the Theravada, Zen, and Vajrayana traditions, primarily under the guidance of her teacher Fred Eppsteiner.  Angie was ordained as a member of the Order of Interbeing by Thich Nhat Hanh in 2009.

Prior to 2010, Angie brought the fruits of her experience in mindfulness and meditation into her professional career as an employee benefits consultant and trainer. In addition to her work as an Instructor, Angie also serves as FCM's Dharma Programs Leader. She is a qualified teacher of MBSR and is a frequent teacher in classes, Intensive study programs and retreats at the Tampa Center.