Janet (Koshin) Sims

Janet (Koshin) Sims is a psychologist, author, and was once described by a friend as "an emotionally intelligent geek." In 1997 Thich Nhat Hanh opened The Green Mountain Dharma Center just a few miles from her home in Vermont and Janet became deeply involved in Vipassana meditation. Another turning point came in 2003 when a friend mentioned The Science of Enlightenment series by Shinzen. After listening to that she made her first contact with Shinzen and has been studying with him ever since.   

In 2008 Janet moved to Oregon and co-founded Basic Mindfulness Portland, LLC (bmindfulpdx.org) offering mindfulness-based psychotherapy/consultation and Basic Mindfulness Meditation Training (both in person and via Skype).  

Presently, Janet offers a weekly sitting group and teaches a dana-based series of Basic Mindfulness classes at Zen Center Portland. She also enjoys providing individual beginner  and intermediate instruction as a facilitator for Shinzen Young. Janet has also published a book, Mindful Awareness and Strategy: A Basic Mindfulness Toolkit which is a combination of Shinzen’s Unified Mindfulness system plus her own experience from years of teaching mindfulness to clients and students.

Janet has taught Basic Mindfulness at Dartmouth Medical School, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Portland State University's Contemplative Education Program, Providence St. Vincent's Medical Center and Lewis and Clark College.