Melissa McKay

Melissa McKay is a meditation teacher and the Executive Director of Insight LA. She has practiced meditation since the mid-1990s and trained in vipassana (insight, mindfulness) and metta meditation in Burma with the Burmese master Sayadaw U Pandita, and in the U.S. with Sayadaw U Khippa Pano of Vietnam. She has spent more than two years in intensive retreat practice and has over 10,000 hours of meditation training.

She began teaching in 2003 in her yoga studio in Brooklyn, New York. Since then she has taught with InsightLA, MNDFL, New York Insight, Bozeman Dharma Center, Big Bear Retreat Center, Won Dharma Center, Kula Yoga and Wanderlust, including the Wanderlust festivals. She has also been a guest on the podcasts of comedians Sam Tripoli and Duncan Trussell, among others.

Her teaching centers on vipassana and metta, offered through silent retreats, weekly classes that combine guided meditation with dharma talks, and mentoring. Her retreats are open to beginners and experienced practitioners alike. On her YouTube channel she shares free teachings and guided meditations, with a stated mission of helping people who are suffering from stress toward happiness and a better quality of life, "with humor and clarity." She is writing a book on meditation and Buddhist practice.