Shannon Smith sits down with Kara Haney. Kara is a long time friend and has been a leader in the Buddhist Recovery world for many years. Kara has been practicing meditation since 1993 and leading Vipassana meditation since 1996. Kara practices the fifth precept of full renunciation from intoxicants with over twenty years sober and utilizes the Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths for process addiction. In 2013 she assisted in starting Buddhist recovery groups in Santa Cruz and has been a foundational member and mentor for the community. Kara attends multiple silent Vipassana retreats each year. She has been empowered to teach by Bob Stahl, trained to facilitate Mindfulness and Buddhist meditation through the former Against the Stream Meditation Society and is currently in the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader two-year program. Kara has been active as the Program Coordinator for Insight Santa Cruz for five years and was a member of the Board for four years. She teaches weekly meditation groups at Insight Santa Cruz and offers daylong retreats. Kara currently lives in downtown Santa Cruz with her teenaged son and recently went back to school for a master’s degree in Social Work. She has a Meditation group called Fierce Hearts. https://www.facebook.com/fiercehearts108/