Meet Our Teachers
Our teachers are members of the White Plum Asanga and the Lay Zen Teachers Association.
Roshi Janet Jiryu Abels
Roshi Janet Jiryu Abels, who founded Still Mind Zendo in 1994, is now retired as Spiritual Director and Senior Teacher, although still actively teaching. She has been a teacher in the lineage of Taizan Maezumi Roshi and the White Plum Asanga since 2000, when she received Dharma Transmission from her teacher, Roshi Robert Jinsen Kennedy. In 2015, she received Inka from Roshi Kennedy and the honorific title of Roshi. Her dharma name, Jiryu, means Compassionate Dragon.
Roshi Janet is the author of Making Zen Your Own: Giving Life to Twelve Key Golden Age Ancestors (Wisdom, 2012) and is a certified Bio-spiritual Focusing teacher. Prior to founding Still Mind Zendo, she worked as a community organizer and peace activist. She is married to Roshi Gregory, and their daughter, Carrie, is an active member of the Sangha.
Roshi Marisa Seishin Cespedes
Roshi Marisa Seishin Cespedes is the Spiritual Director and Senior Teacher of Still Mind Zendo. She joined the Zendo in 2003 as a student of Roshi Janet, became a Dharma holder in 2012, and received Dharma Transmission and was installed as a Zen teacher (Sensei) in 2016. In September 2026, she received Inka from Roshi Janet and the honorific title of Roshi, at which time she took on the leadership role. Her dharma name, Seishin, means Clear Heart.
Roshi Marisa was born and raised in Mexico City and is a freelance journalist. In 1988 she moved to New York City, where she worked for several decades as a news correspondent and bureau chief for an international television network. She is fluent in both English and Spanish.
Sensei Jean Seiwa Gallagher
Sensei Jean Seiwa Gallagher joined Still Mind Zendo as a student of Roshi Janet Jiryu Abels in 2000, began service as a senior practice leader in 2002, and became a Dharma holder in 2015. In November 2019 she received dharma transmission and was installed as a Zen teacher (Sensei).
Her dharma name, Seiwa, means Serene Harmony. Sensei Jean is a poet and professor at NYU, where she teaches writing and literature. She is married and the mother of an adult daughter. Her latest book of poems is entitled Rivermouth Shouting (Parlor Press, 2026).
Sensei Matthias Esho Birk
Sensei Matthias Esho Birk began Zen practice in 1996, joined Still Mind Zendo in 2007, and was named a senior student in 2017. In October 2022, Roshi Janet named him a Dharma holder, and in April 2026, he received Dharma Transmission and was installed as a Zen teacher (Sensei). His dharma name, Esho, means Wisdom Blossoming.
Born and raised in Muenster, Germany, Sensei Matthias works as an Organizational Psychologist focused on leadership development at an international law firm based in NYC, and teaches leadership courses at NYU and Columbia. He is married with a young daughter and stepson.
Roshi Gregory Hosho Abels
Having been with Still Mind Zendo since its inception, Roshi Gregory retired in 2021 after 17 years as a Zen teacher. A dharma successor of Roshi Robert Jinsen Kennedy, he enjoyed a prior 53-year career as an actor, stage director, and Master Teacher of Acting in New York City, and is a poet and nature photographer.
Roshi’s poetry collections, Never Something Else: Poems from the Eye of Zen and Where to Begin, feature poetry sparked by practice and inspired by the natural world. He is married to Roshi Janet.