Meet the MBEL-Team
MBEL is created and sustained by teachers, facilitators, and team members with diverse experience and a shared commitment to mindfulness, ethical living, and meaningful learning. Together, we create spaces for practice, reflection, dialogue, and community.
The people shaping MBEL today
Our team brings together teaching, course facilitation, community care, content development, communication, and technical support. Learn more about the people who help make MBEL possible.
Jochen Weber
Founder of MBEL, MBEL-Teacher, MBSR-Teacher
Learn more about Jochen
Jochen Weber, MD, is a physician and consultant in internal medicine, nephrology, diabetology, and social medicine. He conducted medical research at the Robert Bosch Hospital, Germany, and at Utrecht University, Netherlands.
He has been a UMass-certified MBSR teacher since 2006 and a co-founder of the German MBSR Teachers Association. Grounded in the early Buddhist texts and not committed to any single tradition, and shaped over many years by retreats and dialogue with Stephen Batchelor, his practice led to the development of Mindfulness-Based Ethical Living (MBEL) — a program built together with an international working group of mindfulness and dharma teachers and practitioners from different traditions. Its starting point is a simple observation: understanding ethics is not enough; what changes behavior is practice.
Jochen Weber is the founder and CEO of the nonprofit BuddhaFoundation.org and the founder of ethicalmindfulness.org. He is the author of the forthcoming book “Ethical Mindfulness — From Clear Seeing to Responsible Action” (Arbor Verlag), with a foreword by Stephen Batchelor and an endorsement by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Ayda Duroux
Co-Creator of MBEL, MBEL-Teacher, MBCT-Teacher
Learn more about Ayda
Ayda is a physician and MBCT teacher with many years of experience in pediatric intensive care and palliative care. She is particularly interested in communication in the medical field and the personal challenges faced in the healthcare system. Driven by this interest, she studied at the University of Oxford and earned a master’s degree in MBCT (Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy) in 2016.
Ayda has been practicing for more than ten years and regularly participates in retreats focused on secular Buddhism.
Ulla König
MBEL-Teacher, Insight Meditation and Dharma Teacher
Learn more about Ulla
Ulla’s work is rooted in the Vipassana and Theravada traditions. She teaches Buddhist meditation and ethical reflection as ways of cultivating greater contentment, inner freedom, and a deeper sense of connection—with ourselves, others, and the wider world.
Over time, she has expanded this foundation through somatic bodywork, trauma-sensitive mindfulness, and engagement with contemporary research in psychology and the science of meditation, mindfulness, and ethics. Her approach brings Buddhist wisdom into dialogue with evidence-informed understanding of the mind, body, and the conditions that support meaningful change.
For more than ten years, Ulla has taught retreats, workshops, and courses in a range of settings, including with people in prison, women affected by domestic violence, and refugees. This experience informs her commitment to teaching that is compassionate, embodied, trauma-sensitive, and responsive to different life circumstances.
At MBEL, Ulla teaches and contributes to curriculum development and teacher training, bringing together grounded Buddhist practice with psychological and scientific perspectives.
Atabey Sanchez-Haiman
MBEL-Teacher, MBSR / MSC / MBCT-L Teacher
Learn more about Atabey
Atabey Sánchez-Haiman is a biologist, pop artist and mindfulness based program teacher. From her Giraffes + Robots Pop Art & Mindfulness Studio she has created bright and playful pieces for schools, universities, hotels, toy stores, doctor’s offices and private homes. She brings art and mindfulness to a wider audience through The Mind Bimble podcast, contributing to the growing field of neuroarts.
She teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindful Self Compassion (MSC), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Life (MBCT-L), Deeper Mindfulness, and Mindful Habit Change and facilitates weekly mindfulness practice and deep listening groups at Frazzled UK, Mindshift Recovery, and the Greater Good Science Center’s Flourishing Schools Program. Atabey teaches and is part of the curriculum development and teacher training team at MBEL.
Domenica Klinar Alfaro
MBEL-Teacher, Psychologist
Learn more about Domenica
Domenica Klinar Alfaro is a psychotherapist and educator with a Master’s degree in Cognitive Clinical Psychology from Universidad de Belgrano, Argentina. She has been working as a therapist since 2011, integrating evidence-based psychotherapy with mindfulness and compassion practices. Her work focuses on personal growth, emotional wellbeing, life transitions, and the relationship between inner development and human connection.
Domenica is particularly interested in how mindfulness and compassion can extend beyond individual wellbeing to shape the way we relate to ourselves, others, and the wider world. She explores ethical living as an embodied and relational process, where awareness, compassion, responsibility, and our everyday choices are deeply interconnected. She is the creator of ROOTABILIA, a concept exploring rootedness, belonging, and connection in times of change and migration. She is currently involved in the development of Mindfulness Based Ethical Living (MBEL).
Heea Yang
MBEL-Teacher, Counsler, Educator
Learn more about Heea
Dr. Heea Yang, PhD, is a counselor, educator, and leadership guide with over 20 years of experience in trauma recovery, stress resilience, and contemplative practice, integrating somatic and body-based approaches, meditation, and self-inquiry to support whole-person development.
Since 2008, she has led leadership and wellness programs for executives as founder of the Carpe Diem Healing Art Institute in South Korea. She now directs the Carpe Diem Counseling & Coaching Center in Turin, Italy, working with individuals, couples, and the international school community as a wellbeing educator, drawing on over 30 years of cross-traditional study in contemplative traditions.
People who helped shape the foundations of MBEL
MBEL has grown through shared inquiry, practice, teaching, support, and collaboration. We are grateful to the people whose ideas, work, and early contributions helped lay important foundations for its development.
The MBEL Workgroup 2022 - 2025
