Meet Our
Instructors
Sensei Shoshin Barbara Craig
Sensei Shoshin Barbara Craig RSM
Founder (July 18, 1932–December 20, 2022)
Barbara Craig, RSM entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1951, professed her perpetual vows in 1956, and celebrated her 70th anniversary as a Sister of Mercy in 2020.
A graduate of College Misericordia (BA), Middlebury College, VT (MA), and Georgetown University, D.C. (Ph.D.), Sr. Barbara ministered in the Dioceses of Brooklyn, NY, and Scranton, PA. She also served the Sisters of Mercy as Director of Formation and Director of Incorporation, a position that focused on the spiritual mentoring of new members.
Sr. Barbara was a faculty member at College Misericordia, Penn State (W-B Campus), and King’s College. As a scholar of Spanish language and literature, Sr. Barbara brought her passion for social justice advocacy to the classroom and the marketplace. Her academic study eventually led her to membership on the Commission for Human Rights for Guatemala and Mexico. In more recent times, Sr. Barbara, along with Sr. Constance Kozel, was one of the founding members of the Peace and Justice Center of Wyoming Valley.
In addition to her life-long outreach to migrants, Sr. Barbara served in Prison ministry at the State Correctional Institute in Dallas, PA. Over the years, Sr. Barbara maintained ongoing contact with scores of prisoners, testifying at their parole and commutation hearings.
Everyone who encountered Sr. Barbara came away from her presence with an awareness of her deep spirituality– an interior luminosity rooted in her unwavering faith in the God of Mercy, and expressed as love lavishly poured out to others.
In the early 1990’s, Sr. Barbara began her study of Zen and together with Sr. Stephanie Olek, RSM started a Zen group in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Soon after, the group became known as the Flowing River Sanga, an interfaith gathering of people who support one another in the practice of Zen meditation and in a spiritual life grounded in the reality of the present moment. In 2002, Sr. Barbara was installed as a Zen teacher (Sensei) with the Dharma name of Shoshin (Beginner’s Mind). She is the Dharma successor of Roshi Janet Richardson in the lineage of the White Plum Asanga.
In Sr. Barbara’s long life as a Sister of Mercy and a Zen teacher, she was committed to the spiritual and corporal works of Mercy, and she journeyed with others on the Bodhisattva’s path of love, compassion, and generosity. Sr. Barbara’s “beginningless” and endless being is a light for all of us.
Sensei Judy Weintraub
Judy began meditation practice in 2001, sitting with the Flowing River Sangha in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Judy became a Dharma holder in 2009 and continued to study with Sensei Barbara Shoshin Craig, receiving transmission in 2017. Her dharma name is Dong Jen (“insightful”).
Judy received an AA degree, trained as a RN, as well as a BS degree from Wilkes University. Prior to retirement Judy was Administrator of the College of Health Sciences at Misericordia University. She shares her practice with five black cats and countless beings in the NJ Pine Barrens. In 2022, became the Spiritual Director of Flowing River Sangha.
Sensei Polly Ann James
Polly has been meditating since 1987. She was led to FRS in 2009 and began her study of Zen meditation under the direction of Sensei Barbara Craig RSM. Polly received Dharma transmission in 2018 receiving the Dharma name Zhi Sin (heart of compassion). She is a member of the White Plum Asanga and Zen Peacemakers. Polly graduated from Wilkes-Barre General Hospital School of Nursing and pursued her nursing career for 41 years. Since her retirement from nursing, she has become a Reiki Master and has a small private practice. Polly has been a Mercy Associate for about 12 years. She has 2 children and 7 grandchildren.
Sensei Polly is on sabbatical since May 2026.
Sensei | Soto Zen Priest Courtney Gessho Burgess Michak
Courtney Gessho Burgess Michak is a Soto Zen priest, Dharma teacher (Sensei), and a licensed professional counselor whose work is rooted in compassion. She integrates the wisdom on Zen practice with decades of experience supporting individuals through grief, trauma, recovery, and life’s inevitable transitions.
Her meditation journey began in the 1990’s through yoga, eventually leading to formal Zen Practice within the White Plum Asangha. In 2019, she became a Dharma Holder under Sensei Zhi Sin Pollyann James, Dharma Successor of Sr. Barbara Craig, founder of Flowing River Sangha. In 2022, she received the Dharma name Gessho meaning Moonlight–a reminder that even gentle light can illuminate darkness.
In 2023, Courtney completed Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program led by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. Offering meditation and Dharma talks in local and Zen communities.
In 2025, Courtney was ordained Shukke Tokudo and in 2026 received Denkai (Dharma Transmission) by Roshi Ed Sengetsu Sullivan of Red Rose Sangha.
Courtney often shares the wisdom of Sr. Barbara to “Sit, stay and heal” and the wisdom of Roshi Sullivan to “love one another and that begins with loving yourself.”