John DiLeva Halpern
About the Teacher
Why study with them?
Artist, Cultural Activist & Meditation Instructor
John DiLeva Halpern is an artist, cultural activist, and meditation instructor in the Tibetan Nyingma Buddhist tradition of H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche.
His contemplative training began in the 1970s with the Gurdjieff tradition, followed by Reiki Level III training in 1979. In the early 1980s, he studied Iyengar Yoga with Radames Silvestri in Venice, Italy, later teaching yoga and leading retreats in New York City. He also studied briefly with J. Krishnamurti before encountering H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche and the Khenpo Brothers, in 1983.
Following Dudjom Rinpoche's passing, John became a close student of his son, H.H. Shenphen Dawa Norbu Rinpoche, for nearly three decades, training in Dzogchen, Anu and Ati Yoga, Tsa Lung, vase breathing, Tummo, and Bardo practices.
In 2009, Shenphen Rinpoche requested that John and craniosacral therapist Kenneth Frey begin teaching Calm Abiding meditation (Shiné) at the Dudjom Center in New York. For the past 18 years John has led Naked Mind meditation and retreats in Manhattan and at centers in the Catskill Mountains.
An internationally recognized artist and award-winning filmmaker for over fifty years, John co-founded the Institute for Cultural Activism International (ICAI) with Emily Harris, in 2020.
His teaching integrates somatic awareness, contemplative insight, and the recognition of interdependence, extending meditation beyond individual experience into everyday life and social engagement.
“Realizing the engineering of our conditioned minds, we can reverse-engineer society's pathologies.” ~ John Halpern
John DiLeva Halpern is an artist, cultural activist, and meditation instructor in the Tibetan Nyingma Buddhist tradition of H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche.
His contemplative training began in the 1970s with the Gurdjieff tradition, followed by Reiki Level III training in 1979. In the early 1980s, he studied Iyengar Yoga with Radames Silvestri in Venice, Italy, later teaching yoga and leading retreats in New York City. He also studied briefly with J. Krishnamurti before encountering H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche and the Khenpo Brothers, in 1983.
Following Dudjom Rinpoche's passing, John became a close student of his son, H.H. Shenphen Dawa Norbu Rinpoche, for nearly three decades, training in Dzogchen, Anu and Ati Yoga, Tsa Lung, vase breathing, Tummo, and Bardo practices.
In 2009, Shenphen Rinpoche requested that John and craniosacral therapist Kenneth Frey begin teaching Calm Abiding meditation (Shiné) at the Dudjom Center in New York. For the past 18 years John has led Naked Mind meditation and retreats in Manhattan and at centers in the Catskill Mountains.
An internationally recognized artist and award-winning filmmaker for over fifty years, John co-founded the Institute for Cultural Activism International (ICAI) with Emily Harris, in 2020.
His teaching integrates somatic awareness, contemplative insight, and the recognition of interdependence, extending meditation beyond individual experience into everyday life and social engagement.
“Realizing the engineering of our conditioned minds, we can reverse-engineer society's pathologies.” ~ John Halpern
