About Celeste Young

Celeste first started formal meditation practice in 2002. In 2011, she was invited to join the first teacher development cohort at InsightLA under the guidance of founder Trudy Goodman, PhD where she continued to train for the next 10 years. Since 2011, she has taught thousands of students mindfulness meditation. From 2012 - 2019 she served as the core teacher for ILA’s Essentials of mindfulness program, teaching multiple classes a week in person on an ongoing basis that introduced people to the fundamentals of meditation. Celeste has taught intermediate Buddhist and secular mindfulness classes, daylongs, and residential retreats throughout Los Angeles, the US, and internationally including Sri Lanka, Spain, France, Germany, Canada and Mexico.

She first started sitting Buddhist meditation retreats in 2002, and has sat multiple silent meditation retreats in the Insight tradition each year for over 18 years. In particular, longer retreats of 1 - 3 months at a time have been a strong support and a commitment she’s maintained annually since 2011. She’s a graduate of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s very first Advanced Practitioner Program (now called LEAP), trained in Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing training in 2016, and In 2017, received formal teacher authorization in the Theravadin Buddhist lineage from Trudy Goodman, PhD and Jack Kornfield.

Celeste is a former member of the InsightLA teacher council and also served as a mentor to new teachers internationally for many years for Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification program offered through Sounds True. Upon request, she teaches meditation and mindfulness for non-profit organizations and companies.

She served as a core trainer alongside Phillip Moffitt and Jennifer Ward for the 2025 Life Balance Strategist cohort, a program dedicated to training new strategists in offering mindfulness based change and transition work. She currently serves as a strategist in this work, offering private sessions online internationally for individuals and small groups seeking more balance in their lives and integration around how to live their deepest values and establish clearer priorities, and those seeking support in going through changes and transitions.

Celeste is passionate about sharing mindfulness and meditation in creative and innovative ways. She enjoys sharing the teachings in a wide variety of settings with many different communities, offering retreats, gatherings and collaborations in an effort to make the teachings accessible to a wider range of Angelenos as well as the global community. In addition, in 2016 she founded the Young-ish Adult sitting group for folks in their 20's - 40’s at InsightLA.