Founders
Empty Mountain’s Founders
Hello! We are Mike & Nicole Dunn, two ordained and core members of the Order of Interbeing (or OI members for short).
I (Nicole, cuz I’m the writer in our duo) am a 44-year-old gal born & raised in the suburbs of Philly and Mike is a 45-year-old guy from eastern Montana. We’ve been practitioners in the Plum Village mindfulness tradition for over 20-years and we are wholeheartedly invested in wanting to help support others on the path of practice, in the spirit of togetherness.
We are sangha builders; retreat organizers; retreat attenders; group/class/event leaders; and students of our beloved teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, who is often referred to as Thay (which means ‘teacher’ in Vietnamese). We are dedicated practitioners trying to find the balance of how to manifest Empty Mountain while also holding down the financial fort of living a lay life in the world.
Nicole Dunn,
True Wonderful Flower
Ordained core member of the Order of Interbeing since 2007; founder and program director of the Be Here Now Sangha in Missoula, Montana since 2002; active and joyful community builder.
Interests include: writing, poetry, music-making, dancing, spoken word, motorcycling, volunteering with hospice, working with young children, and as Leslie Knope from the show Parks & Rec once said: jammin on my planner. I am a writer for the Montana Woman magazine with a column called Mindfulness Matters and I have been an active blogger since 2012. To engage with my personal blog please click here.
I also have a personal website: InMindfulMotion.com
Mike Dunn,
True Friend On The Path
Ordained core member of the Order of Interbeing since January 2021; student of Thich Nhat Hanh’s since 2009; supporter of the Be Here Now Sangha in Missoula since the very beginning; staffer, facilitator, and circle holder in the ManKind Project since 2002.
Interests include: playing guitar, woodworking, audio book listening, UFC, attending YouTube university, and building projects. Mike is a skilled roofer by trade and his list of abilities in the realm of wood-crafting, music-making, and project-building is ever-growing.