Walt Opie is a dharma teacher in the Insight Meditation tradition. He is a graduate of the Insight Meditation Society's (IMS) 2017-2021 Teacher Training Program. He is also a graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders training program (CDL4), mentored by Kevin Griffin (author of One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps). Walt began leading sitting groups specifically for people in addiction recovery in 2011. He started assisting and teaching on residential insight meditation retreats in 2017.

​

Walt co-leads the monthly Insight Recovery Sangha through IMS Online. He is also a core faculty member with Sacramento Insight Meditation (SIM) through their Legacy Teacher Project. In addition, he joined the Board for the Buddhist Recovery Network in early 2024.

 

Walt is heavily influenced by the teachings of early Buddhism, especially as presented by Bhikkhu Anālayo and Bhikkhu Bodhi. He currently serves as a teacher/facilitator for several Bhikkhu Anālayo courses offered through the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (BCBS). Since 2014, he has been a volunteer teacher with Boundless Freedom Project (formerly known as Buddhist Pathways Prison Project) inside prisons in California. He also served on their nonprofit board for five years, including two years as Board Chair. He completed the yearlong Sati Center Buddhist Chaplaincy Introductory Training and has served as a Buddhist Chaplain at Santa Rita jail. 

 

Some of his most influential teachers are: Bhikkhu Anālayo, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Luang Por Pasanno, Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, Carol Wilson, Guy Armstrong, Gil Fronsdal, James Baraz, and Kevin Griffin. In addition, he has worked with Faisal Muqaddam, originator of the Diamond Logos teachings, for over ten years continuously.

 

Walt's writing appears in the book collection Still, In the City: Creating Peace of Mind in the Midst of Urban Chaos edited by Angela Dews (Skyhorse Publishing, 2018).

 

He was a communications professional with Spirit Rock Meditation Center for seven years until 2013. He received an MFA in Writing from California College of the Arts in 2004. In the past, he has also worked in the tech industry as an editor and customer relations professional. He also holds a BFA in Photography from California College of the Arts, as well as a BA in English from University of Richmond. 

 

Walt grew up in Staunton, Virginia near the Blue Ridge Mountains. Currently, he lives with his wife and daughter in Berkeley, CA, which is located on the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo speaking Ohlone people.

​