Trina Truong
vipassana Meditation teacher, MBSR qualified Teacher trained at the Mindfulness Center of Brown University.
Trina is the Founder of Wake Up Together Online Meditation Community, Co-Founder & Co-Guiding Teacher at Pacific Northwest Meditation, Served on the Teacher’s Council at Portland Insight Meditation Center.
Trina brings a uniquely heartwarming approach to her teachings. Born into a Buddhist family in Vietnam, she grew up around monastics and spent her youth at the temple. Her first teacher was her mother, who taught her the Brahmaviharas through daily life events. Trina blends the eloquent ways of the Eastern approach with the systematic methods of Western Buddhism. Her teachings is influenced by Thich Nhat Hanh, Bhante Guanaratana, and Master Sheng Yen. She practices in the Theravadan, Insight, Vipassana, and Zen tradition. Trina has accumulated over 150 days in silent retreats.
Trina is trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) through Brown University. She has taught mindfulness to underserved communities in prisons and inner cities, and to business groups, young professionals, and retirees.
Trina is passionate about building communities that embodies diversity, equity and inclusion. She was authorized to teach in 2021. She began teaching retreats in 2023. She served on the Teacher’s Council at Portland Insight Meditation Community in 2023. In Spring of 2024, she co-founded Pacific Northwest Meditation, an open door meditation community in Portland that invites all who seeks meditation, study and guidance with no boundaries. She continues to create spaces for the BIPOC community to have place to practice and hear the Dharma.
She is a visionary and entrepreneur at heart. She has been involved in several startups and built businesses for over 15 years in the city of Chicago. She applies Buddhist principles and ethics to lead and inspire teams, advocating work-life balance and mediatating interrelational conflicts at work. As her spiritual journey deepens, her business ventures reflect these aspects of her love for the inner life. These days, she is directing her creative energy to building a non-profit organization. She continues to teach a daily sitting group online, sutra study classes, mindfulness workshops, and retreats throughout the Pacific Northwest.
In her past time, she enjoys going on long hikes, nature photography, zen calligraphy, singing and poetry. She is a mindful foodie and delights in cooking and sharing vegetarian dishes with friends and family. She currently lives on an organic farm in Washington that is the home of a Buddhist temple and a Druid sanctuary.
Trina currently lives on the grounds at Mount Adams Buddhist Temple. She recently completed a one month intensive silent retreat at Forest Refuge. In February, she taught a 3-day insight meditation retreat at Trout Lake Abbey. To stay connected to her upcoming offerings on Buddhist Study courses, retreats, and public talks visit her website and subscribe to wakeuptogether.org. View her public talks and hear recordings of her guided meditations and reflections online.
Dear Friends,
Upon returning from my one month intensive meditation retreat, I'm ever more eager to share with you the practices that have the power to shift our experience of life to be enlivening and fulfilling–the joy, the pain, the endings, and the beginnings all have their place here. I invite you along on this journey of waking up together.
Each day that we sit together, we practice cultivating awareness. Insights arise in that space where Dharma is practiced and understood. Dharma (the teachings of how things truly are) comes to life in Sangha (community). I'm in touch with the profound joy of the Dharma. The joy that deepens and expands when Dharma is reflected and shared with you, and through you and your practice. I am happy to know you are there, and that you are practicing as best as you can.
I think the idea that the meaning of life is to be realized on our own and that we must go it alone to find it can be a pitfall we find ourselves in at times. Here, and with each other, we already have many good conditions, wonderful resources and accessibility to good teachings and ways to practice, yet why do we still struggle alone? This is precisely why we need our Beloved Community–our spiritual family. We look to each other to recall these qualities of loving-kindness, compassion, and wisdom. We touch our inner capacity of patience, understanding, and forgiveness. We reignite our spiritual drive and the conviction to return to the practice or simply to just keep persisting and trust that the practice is working through us. Our good friends and guides remind us of our innate abilities that, at times, we forget when we feel despair, helpless, overwhelmed, or misunderstood. We need each other to awaken.
Why do we go it alone when we have each other? The pull to revert back to what we know, to what we are familiar with, to how we have always responded to things is strong. These habit energies lose their strength and weaken when we are a part of each other's lives. When a group of people practice together to remain awake, alert and equanimous, it becomes more natural and simple. To see the nature of things, to see the sense of self, to stop and look deeply at our actions and our views and see what is truly offering us happiness and inner peace, perhaps, will call us back to our true refuge. In these times, I invite you to come back often, to remember your Buddha nature, your Sangha and the teachings and practices that directly leads to freedom in the mind and in the heart space.
Humbly yours in the Dharma,
Trina
TRINA TALKS and PODCASTS
The Power of Mindfulness
AWARENESS IS YOUR ESSENTIAL NATURE
SCHOOL LOGO’s
“May I become at all times,
both now and forever,
A protector for those without protection,
A guide for those who have lost their way,
A ship for those with oceans to cross,
A bridge for those with rivers to cross,
A sanctuary for those in danger,
A lamp for those without light,
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter,
And a servant to all in need.
- Shantideva, 8th century Indian Buddhist monk
PRACTICE GUIDANCE WISDOM
“Without concentration, there is no wisdom. Without wisdom, there is no concentration. One who has both concentration and wisdom is close to peace and emancipation.” - the Dhammapada
the truth lies within you.
Trina works to help people uncover blindspots and barriers to living a life of fulfillment. The practice of meditation and the application of mindfulness can reveal many subtle aspects that one can gain through books, therapy, and listening to podcasts. Letting go of the mental, emotional and physical troubles can only happen once there is a clear understanding of the root of our problems. Trina provides concise and simple instructions to be implemented and practiced over the course of daily life that produces extraordinary results. Under Trina’s sound, gentle, and clear guidance, individuals discover the nature of reality for themselves. You will discover that island within you without needing to change anything outside of you. You will build the confidence of the right way to practice, and how to train in being the master of your mind.
find your tribe
Often times, when individuals take on a meditation practice or start questioning their spiritual path, it can be a lonely experience. Alone, one can easily stray into dark corners, have okay experiences, and maybe have incremental progress. Alone, we can achieve some success. But to make that quantum leap of success in your practice, having a community made up of a trusted teacher, rich reminders, and a group of open-minded and warm-hearted friends are necessary. Trina draws individuals who share this interest to go further and deeper. We don’t just skim the surface, we dig deep in practice, study, and contemplations. This is evident in the space that Trina curates. Join in on the practice.
