MindfulnessSeattle
Hosting Mindfulness Meditation in Seattle and the Northwest
Since 1975!
Dr. Joel & Michelle Levey
Deep bows and welcome to this page.
We remember Seattle when there were two yoga teachers – and three meditation centers. 
In 1975 Joel began to teach Mindfulness meditation in Seattle. Over the years with the encouragement of many of his teachers, he helped to establish many of Seattle first Mindfulness centers and to organize the first mindfulness and Vipassana retreats in the Pacific Northwest.
Since then we have been fortunate to deepen in our practice, to study with many remarkable teachers from a wide array of mindfulness lineages, and to introduce mindfulness ( and other contemplative practices) to thousands of people around the globe. We were among the very first teachers to introduce mindfulness and contemplative science into medicine, higher education, business and organizations, government, and sports arenas. For more details. In fact through our pioneering work in the late 70s, Seattle is recognized as one of the first cities in the Western world to have mindfulness based programs in universities, medical centers, and organizations.
We have hosted a weekly meditation on Tuesday evenings near Green Lake for over 30 years, and offer many Dharma Salons, retreats, and workshops locally, nationally, and internationally.
Seattle has had a thriving involvement in mindfulness education and we are grateful to have been the first to introduce the various practices, lineages, and traditions of mindfulness to Seattle beginning in early 1970s. Joel began the first Mindfulness Center in Seattle in 1975, and also began a Mindfulness and Mind-Fitness Based Stress Management Program at Group Health Medical Center in 1979 – (the same year that Jon Kabat-Zinn began his Mindfulness Based Stress Management Program at University of Massachuetts.) Joel also designed and taught two of the Western World’s first Mindfulness Based Graduate programs in Seattle at Antioch University in 1978. We were also among the first to bring Mindfulness and Mind Fitness training to world class and Olympic Gold medalist athletes and sports teams in the Northwest.
Over the years this work has spread widely into may leading organizations that the Leveys worked with in the Seattle area including: Boeing, Microsoft, Google, Weyerhaueser, Expedia, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Phillips Medical, Washington Athletic Club, Seattle Center, NOAA, and many other leading organizations in the NW. Since the 1980s we have also trained many of the faculty at University of Washington – medical school, nursing school, social work, etc. – who have gone on to develop mindfulness programs at U.W. that have helped to spread mindfulness education in our region.
As the mindfulness revolution has gathered momentum since the early 2000s, Seattle has become a vibrant community of mindfulness and compassion practice with deep integration into hundreds of organizations throughout the Northwest.
Contact us if you’d like to join us or are interested in learning more about teachings and retreats with us in Seattle or the Pacific Northwest – or beyond.
Read our recent article on the Roots and Shoots of Mindfulness:
