ALLAN LOKOS
On the road to becoming a meditation teacher and author Allan Lokos enjoyed a 30 year career as a professional singer on Broadway, in opera, and in concert. He was in the original Broadway companies of Oliver!, Pickwick, and the Stratford Festival/Broadway production of The Pirates of Penzance.
Allan is the founder and guiding teacher of The Community Meditation Center in New York City and has also taught at New York Insight Meditation Center, The New York Open Center, Insight Meditation Community of Washington, Columbia University Teachers College, Columbia University Buddhist Association, Marymount College, and The Rubin Museum. As part of his teaching Allan began creating small but dynamic practices based on a Buddhist teaching called the Paramis (Perfections). They formed the basis for his first book, Pocket Peace: Effective Practices for Enlightened Living (Tarcher/Penguin, February, 2010). Allan's new book, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living, will be published by Tarcher/Penguin in 2011. His writing has also appeared in Tricycle magazine (for whom he also led a month-long online retreat), Back Stage newspaper, and the anthology, Audacious Creativity.
Allan has practiced meditation since the mid-nineties and studied with such renowned teachers as Sharon Salzberg, Thich Nhat Hanh, Joseph Goldstein, Andrew Olendzki, Stephen Batchelor, Larry Rosenberg, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. He has also attended a number of weeklong teachings with His Holiness, The Dalai Lama.
An accomplished Native American flute player and a talented photographer, Allan lives on New York's upper West Side with his wife Susanna, an Interfaith minister.
Email Allan: allan@pocketpeace.com
