Pat George founded the Zen Center of Philadelphia in 2005. The Center trains lay, non residential students with an emphasis on helping practitioners be present, open and accepting of their lives. The atmosphere of study is intimate and informal. Pat received transmission to teach from Barry in 2009. She formerly studied for many years with Daido Loori and lived at Zen Mountain Monastery.

Karen began Zen practice in the late 1980′s, studying for several years during the 1990's with Hwalson Sunim, a teacher within the Chogye Order of Korea, a Lin-chi (Rinzai) form of Zen. In 1998 she moved to Costa Rica and there became a formal student of Sunyana Graef, a Dharma Heir of Phillip Kapleau. In 2005 Karen returned to the United States where she spent 2 years in residence at the Vermont Zen Center before leaving on what she calls her, "Walkabout" period, a series of solitary wilderness pilgrimages. In 2009 Karen retook her formal vows with her current teacher, Barry Magid of the Ordinary Mind School, and received Denkai from him in 2011. She is a current member of the Lay Zen Teachers Association.

Claire has been practicing Zen for 20 years, and has been a student of Barry Magid's since 2004. She received Denkai or lay entrustment from him in 2011. She has also trained in pastoral care with the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. Claire teaches a precepts class and performs Jukai. She also conducts ceremonies and weddings and is a semi-retired actor.

In 1981, while practicing law in Washington, D.C., Marc took up Zen practice and also began to explore a number of other approaches to meditation. He was a student of John Daido Loori for many years. He became a student of Barry Magid in 2009, and received Denkai, authority to teach, in 2011. As a law professor and Zen teacher, he introduced law students and legal practitioners to meditation, and encouraged them to deepen their practice in the context of their professional lives.

Marc passed away August 2nd, 2015. He had lived with cancer for many years, through many crises and remissions, but his final illness came upon him suddenly. He was a model of not sparing the Dharma Assests. He threw himself into his life and teaching wholeheartedly, joyfully, idiosyncratically, completely and genuinely. Gary Snyder's memorial words for Philip Whalen, apply beautifully to Marc as well: "His quirks became his pointers, and his frailties, his teaching method." Farewell Marc!

Dr. Andrew Tootell (born 1956) is an Australian Zen teacher in the Ordinary Mind Zen School, founded by Charlotte Joko Beck (1917 – 2011). Andrew is the founder and guiding teacher of OzZen. He is an accredited mental health social worker and maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Bellingen. On the 20th July 2019, in a ceremony held at the Garrison Institute New York, Andrew was given Denbo transmission by his teacher Barry Magid. This is full transmission in the lineage and acknowledgement of mastery on the Ordinary Mind Zen Way. Andrew is free to function as a Zen teacher in any way he finds appropriate, including transmitting to his own students. Andrew is currently a member of the Lay Zen Teachers Association. For more information please go to his website http://ordinarymind.com.au

Malcolm founded Ordinary Mind UK in 2019. He has been leading Buddhist groups in UK prisons for the last eight years, and it was through this work that he was given authorisation to teach by Barry Magid in 2018, and Denkai transmission in 2019. He is a member of the Lay Zen Teachers’ Association, and also an ordained lay member of the Order of Interbeing (The Plum Village Tradition) founded by Thich Nhat Hanh. He is currently working on a book on the Zen Precepts, using the experience of those practising in prison to examine the relation of our individual practice to the society of which we are a part. He can be contacted by email at ordinaryminduk@gmail.com, or via http://www.ordinarymind.uk

Shaheryar started Zen practice in 1993 and sat alone for seven years. After reading Charlotte Joko Beck's "Everyday Zen: Love & Work", he reached out and became Barry Magid's student at OMZ in 2000. Shaheryar left New York in 2010 for Abu Dhabi and then in 2014 onwards retired to his original home country, Pakistan. Till OMZ went on Zoom in the wake of COVID in March 2020, Shaheryar had continued his daily practice alone in that ten-year exile from New York. However, during this, prior-to-Zoom period, he had maintained sporadic contact with Barry Magid on email, listening once in a while to his teishos on the OMZ website and sitting in person with the OMZ Sangha on short visits to New York in 2015 and 2016. As COVID began and spread worldwide, Shaheryar decided to reach out online to his family, friends and to their family and friends, who were scattered in several countries, with the offer to instruct them in Zazen on Zoom. Then in August of 2020 with Barry's permission, he began to teach Zen Buddhism, once a week, under the title of "# 1 Learning: Sunday Class", which is now a multi-ethnic and multi-faith Sangha. Its practice, which is in its sixth year, continues uninterrupted. Shaheryar received Denkai from Barry on August 3, 2024 in a ceremony held in OMZ, New York. Acceptance of what is and the spontaneous compassion and skillful action which follows are the focus of our practice.