ABOUT US
IRINI ROCKWELL
Supreme Rainbow Dancer
Five Wisdoms Institute Founder, Director and Principle Trainer
For over two decades, the Five Wisdoms have been the compass guiding my life—through joy and challenge, growth and transformation. These profound teachings from the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition showed me that our everyday energy—whether messy, brilliant, shy, passionate, or chaotic—is not something to fix or hide. It’s something to understand, to embrace, and ultimately to transform into wisdom.
The Five Wisdoms Institute was born from a simple but powerful desire: to bring these teachings down to earth and into the lives of real people. Not as abstract concepts, but as living, breathing experiences that help us become more fully ourselves—more awake, more compassionate, more connected.
This work isn’t about becoming someone new. It’s about uncovering what’s already here. Beneath our defenses and habits lies immense clarity, creativity, presence, and love. When we come to know our energy—our patterns, our gifts, our triggers—we begin to see how every part of us has a wisdom side. Even our tightest knots hold the potential for freedom.
That’s what the Five Wisdoms offer: a path to embodying who we truly are. Not just in meditation or on retreat, but in our relationships, our work, our leadership, and our communities.
Through courses, trainings, and a growing community of practitioners and teachers around the world, we explore these energies together—not from the head, but through deep, embodied experience. I don’t teach at people. We engage. We discover together. And in that process, lives begin to shift.
My vision is simple: a world where people know themselves deeply and live from that wisdom. Where we meet life’s transitions with grace. Where we communicate with more kindness. Where leadership is rooted in authenticity. Where healing starts with presence. Where the energy of life is not feared or controlled, but embraced as the gateway to awakening.
If this resonates with you, I invite you to join us. There’s no single way this work looks—it’s as unique as you are. But the journey is the same: toward wholeness, freedom, and the wisdom that’s already within you.
With heart-felt appreciation,
Irini
Discovering the Five Wisdoms
One summer day in 1976, I was sitting in a friend’s apartment in Boulder, CO, where we were both assistant teaching at Naropa Institute [now University], a school that focuses on training in the arts, Buddhism, and contemplative psychotherapy. I was reading "Cutting through Spiritual Materialism," written by Naropa’s founder, the Tibetan meditation master Chögyam Trungpa. The following passage caught my eye: “In the Tantric tradition energy is categorized in five basic qualities or Buddha Families: Vajra, Ratna, Padma, Karma and Buddha. Each Buddha family has an emotion associated with it which is transmuted into a particular ‘wisdom’ or aspect of the awakened state of mind. The Buddha families are also associated with colors, elements, landscapes, directions, seasons, with any aspect of the phenomenal world.”
Reading those words changed my life. It led me to a contemplative tradition with an understanding of energy at its core. My immediate connection came from my passion for exploring the dynamic qualities of expressive movement as a dancer and choreographer. I explored human emotions—the heat of love, the strength of anger, the stiffness of pride, the sparkle of joy. So I instinctively knew about the energies of which he wrote. My awareness of these energies began to color my perspective in many aspects of my life, particularly my relationships with people. Why was it that one man brought out my intellectual curiosity and another my physical desire? Why did I feel at ease with one person and anxious with another? Why would I feel powerful in one situation but inhibited and frustrated in another? What was the energetic relationship between myself, these people, and these situations?
Almost 50 years later, I am still at it!
ASSOCIATE TEACHERS
Our international cadre of teachers are authorized by Irini to teach the Five Wisdoms
MATTHIAS HEIDEL
Frankfurt, Germany
Almost as long as I can remember, I have been interested in what is behind the obvious, on the surface of things and people. The main aspiration in my work as an artist, art therapist, and NonViolent Communication trainer and in my path as a human being is to dig into what it really means to be “authentic.” I am convinced that play and creativity are at the core of every human being to find their own unique access to this basic life energy.
The Five Wisdom Energy work is, in my experience, a most wonderful container for practicing and rediscovering our innate qualities of wisdom and compassion to enrich our own and others’ lives. I studied sculpting at the university of fine arts in Karlsruhe, Germany, client centered art therapy at Staatliche Kunst Akademie, in Wiesbaden, meditation with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and other teachers, and Non Violent Communication with several trainers, especially Robert Gonzales in his Living Compassion work. In my work as an artist and trainer I try to fuse all these influences in order to contribute to peoples’ thriving.
SYDNEY LEIJENHORST
Wageningen, The Netherlands
For more than forty years, I have been on a journey with the martial, healing, and meditation arts. For several decades the Five Wisdom Energies have been one of my main ‘inspirational arteries’. My specialty lies in catalyzing embodied experiences of these inner qualities and integrating their energetic and creative impulses. My work with Irini Rockwell was one of the most important forces in this development. Other meaningful influences have come from Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Dagga Tulku and Diane Musho Hamilton.
As director of KenKon Integral Life and Training center, I have incorporated the Five Wisdom Energies in various ways, embedding them in our various disciplines such as karate, qigong, and (Tibetan) meditation as well as in seminars, bringing together various teachers and systems. I have also used them to direct and balance organizational processes at KenKon and in trainings for organizations.
Twice a year we hold the ‘Five Vital Wisdoms Weeks’. These periods have become integrative journeys during which my colleagues, students, and I experience an intensified and creative digestion of these wonderful teachings. People in all disciplines, including Zen, judo, aikido and dance, get a taste of these teachings. The energies become a shared source of inspiration, a language that makes people connect at a new and meaningful depth. It enlivens the way we are present in our bodies and world.
FRANCESCO MELITA
Wageningen, The Netherlands
I work as an independent coach, trainer and storyteller. The two-year Wisdoms@Work training has influenced all I do, personally and professionally. My strength lies in creating an open, safe atmosphere that offers space for development and freedom of expression. It is important for me to express my passion, humor, and creativity to stimulate those qualities in others. At Winnock, I assisted people suffering from chronic pain; at HAN, Arnhem and Nijmegen, I coached teachers; at Koning Willem I Marketing College, I coached marketing students in professional presentations; at Curnet, I offered creativity training for employees of the four biggest civil-engineering bureaus in the Netherlands. I led a workshop for the Dutch Association of Psychologists. At Wageningen University and Research Centre, I coached students and at the Geemente Reeuwijk en Bodegraven Conference, I presented in a collaboration between the municipalities of Reeuwijk and Bodegraven.
KELLY PETRIE
Oregon, Wisconsin USA
A yearning to come home to my authentic nature is what guided me to Naropa University’s Contemplative Education, where I was immersed in Buddhist philosophy and embodiment work, unleashing glimmers of energetic radiance that felt so freeing. This is where I was first introduced to Maitri Space Awareness and Irini Rockwell’s work. Touching the energies through sensate presence transformed the way I could more genuinely connect with the autistic students I was working with at the time. My thesis emerged as a study that unveiled a deeper understanding of autism through the Five Wisdoms lens, lending to a contemplative approach to relationship development between autistic and neurotypical people.
My passion continues to center around the transformative power the Five Wisdoms brings to curriculum design and teacher-student relationships. I founded the Maitri Center for Mindful Living in Oregon, Wisconsin. My signature training is geared toward parents, caregivers, educators, and other professionals who wish to strengthen their relationships with the autistic people in their lives.
TESSA RACINE
Mas Marvant, France
I have worked in the film industry for twenty years. I make documentaries for French TV and lead video workshops with young people. As well, I am a client-centered therapist. For two years I was assistant to Irini Rockwell’s Paris Wisdoms@Work training. As a a long-time student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, I teach in the Shambhala Buddhist Community. I am very involved in family life, with both children and grandchildren.
CARUCHA SCHWENCKE
Den Haag, Netherlands
I work as an independent psychosocial therapist, coach, and certified mindfulness trainer. I followed trainings at the Institute for Mindfulness in the tradition of Jon Kabat-Zinn and Breathworks Mindfulness Teacher Training for supporting people dealing with chronic pain and long-term (physical) health conditions. The basis of my work is deeply rooted in the contemplative tradition: Buddhist psychology, meditation, and Western therapeutic skills. I completed the two year Five Wisdoms@Work training program with Irini Rockwell with a focus in contemplative psychotherapy. Since then the Five Wisdom Energies have become an integral part of my personal and working life. As a member of the Network Palliative Care Haaglanden (The Hague), I offer spiritual support for those from different religious and cultural backgrounds who are facing death. I am also in charge of mental welfare and safety issues in Het Koorenhuis, an educational arts institute in The Hague. Over the past two decades I have studied and practiced under the guidance of many Tibetan Buddhist teachers, doing shorter and longer study and meditation retreats in the Karma Kagyu tradition.
KLARA MOLNAR
Hungary
The Five Wisdoms gave me clarity about who I am. They helped me find my strengths and purpose in life. They also played a big part healing my relationships with myself and my family through understanding and seeing the ways I communicate with myself and with others. I met Irini and the Five Wisdoms Training in my early 30’s when my life was a big mess. I was in a big transition trying to figure out what to do with my life and how to best serve the people around me. I knew this to be my path, so I followed Irini on the Five Wisdoms path...and I never left.
The Five Wisdoms system is a way of life. If we connect deeply, with ourselves and with others, the world becomes a place where people understand and help each other. It is a natural way of life for all of us. As a Health Coach, a Nutritionist in TCM and a Trainer I use the Five Wisdoms to understand our clients more deeply. I teach the Five Wisdoms to the members of our 5 Elements Community in Hungary.
MIKE BROWN
Sedona, Arizona
Formerly I was co-director at Red Mountain Sedona, a behavioral health program for young adults learning to meet their life goals through contemplative therapy and life coaching. I was introduced to the Five Wisdoms as a young adult and they quickly became a focal point for an approach to life. The Five Wisdoms Training swiftly helped me see that we can experience relief from our stuck patterns by gently walking with them rather than running away from them or trudging through them. What relief it has been to see that wisdom is present now, even if we experience it as confusion. I embrace the Five Wisdoms in both my personal and professional life. As a martial arts teacher and meditation instructor, I am have a deep commitment to assisting others to become better friends with themselves and find purpose in their lives.
NEM BAJRA
Los Angeles, California
My passion is to bring joy to workplace, family, and the community. Being an engineer and entrepreneur has helped me appreciate the benefits of technology and financial success in improving one’s livelihood. Yet, I notice that the happiness that comes from having plenty of money and good health is rather limited and conditional.
Having practiced meditation for many years and trained in the Five Wisdom Energies, I have learned that I can lead a life of joy when I live out my true self. This is my motivation for wanting to share this wisdom with others. When we come to more fully understand our own energetic makeup of the Five Wisdom Energies, we can apply this knowledge to be our most authentic self in our everyday life and work situations.
SABINA STECKIEWICZ
Warsaw, Poland
My journey with the Five Wisdom Energies, with Irini as a guide, began in 2006 when she came to Warsaw to conduct a Five Wisdoms workshop. That year I also began Zen meditation and Hatha Yoga. This was the beginning of my spiritual journey. The Five Wisdoms have become an integral part of my daily practice of mind & energy & body. After fifteen years of practicing on my own, I did the Five Wisdoms Training. Irini gave me the spiritual name “Rich Earth Mother” which reminds me of my inherent richness and resourcefulness. I subsequently did Teacher Training with Irini and became an Associate Teacher. I have found the Five Wisdom Energies a unique way of understanding myself and others, and a way of seeing the world in its colorful dynamic dance of energy. This method deeply changed the way I perceive the world within me and around me. In 2011, I became certified through Himalayan Iyengar Yoga Centre conducted by Sharat Arora, and have worked for several years as a Hatha Yoga teacher. I find that blending my Hatha Yoga along with Zen training with Five Wisdom Energies practice helps to bring the body, energy and mind in union when working with trauma. My emphasis is on how trauma is experienced in our lives and is stored in the physical and energetic bodies, while offering safe ways to release the trauma and restore the flow of energy.
CRAIG ZINK
East Aurora, New York
I was fortunate to spend my childhood surrounded by rolling hills, valleys, forests and streams, and the activities and interesting people that were available to me in this unique rural environment. These experiences spawned my interest in becoming a geologist and spending my working career in the environmental field.
Stepping on the path of the Dharma in my mid-forties was a natural progression from those early connections in the natural world. The stressors of life also led me to daily contemplative practices and becoming a yoga teacher, meditation guide and wellness coach. In 2008 I began training in the Shambhala Buddhist teachings and became codirector of the local group. Intensive study of the Dharma and participation in multiple retreats and programs deepened my worldview and expanded my vision and innate capacities for being and working with others. And most recently, studying, practicing and becoming certified to teach the Five Wisdom Energies of Tantric Buddhism has expanded my understanding of human relationship dynamics, the connection of life experience to contemplative practice and the diverse energies in sentient beings and the phenomenal world.
Assisting in the startup of a local Five Wisdoms Energy group has been very rewarding and a way of bringing these important teachings into the world. I am in concert with the constant changes with inner/outer life experience when I am grounded in awareness, and open to reality and natural expressions happening in the moment. I find it more natural to make that connection when my contemplative practices are strong, and I am aware of the unique energies in that time and space. My passion is to share the steps that bring one to awareness and understanding of the Five Wisdom Energies. From simplicity one opens to diversity seeing the unique qualities that are forever in flux. And from there it is how we relate to it all.
JEAN MARIE GUNNER
Hamburg, New York
I feel a longing to understand. in an embodied way, the unseen, mysterious energy that I feel coursing through all things in the world. In 2021, I embarked on the yearlong Five Wisdom Energies Training with Irini Rockwell and became certified to teach in 2023. I helped found Five Wisdoms Center in Western New York, an affiliate of Five Wisdoms Institute.
For the last thirty years, I have done my small part to help manifest enlightened mind in a pediatric practice and have found the application of the Five Wisdom Energies indispensable. I am able to compassionately and effectively mentor and coach staff, leadership, and the team in real time as we navigate intensified emotional situations. Emotions are no longer something to be feared, rather they are pure energy that can lead to greater depths of connection and human understanding.
I am now entering a semi-retirement, and clearly see that Five Wisdoms provides a framework in which to live authentically and with courageous engagement and compassionate action. I am very interested in how to stay balanced, sane, engaged, and joyful as I stay committed to applying and keeping a balance of all Five Wisdoms in everyday life.
MICHAEL ANDERSON
Vienna, Austria
I’m a long-time meditation practitioner, artist, and teacher. I’ve always been interested in the intersections between these three paths. Just as the subtlety of experience fills our awareness in meditation practice, the subtle interplay of space, form, and energy are at the heart of artistic practice. So too is there a subtle art to forming a dynamic and heartfelt learning community. The Five Wisdoms has given me a language to articulate what I intuitively knew: that both artistry and teaching are about working with energy. The Five Wisdoms Learning Framework is a system I designed to incorporate the Five Wisdoms into the energetic fabric of learning environments in schools. Facilitating contemplative arts experiences for adults is also part of my focus. I founded Art of Being to help more people discover their authentic selves and connect with their natural creative capacities. I lead an annual Art of Being retreat in Sicily in addition to online and in-person programs in Vienna. I’m a certified visual arts teacher with experience teaching in schools around the world, I’m certified to teach mindfulness to teens through the Mindfulness in Schools Project (UK), and I received my adult mindfulness teacher training from Bodhin Phillip Woodward (Spain) and David Nichtern (US). I completed Five Wisdoms teacher training with Irini Rockwell in 2024.
FIVE WISDOMS INSTITUTE AFFILIATES
Affiliates are organizations owned by Five Wisdoms teachers.
NEM BAJRA
Mitra Path
Los Angeles, California
Mitra Path’s mission is to support sustainable livelihoods around the world. We believe our livelihoods can serve as a powerful vehicle for personal and professional growth. Mindfulness and Entrepreneurship are Mitra Path’s pillars in achieving our mission.
mitrapath.org
JEAN MARIE GUNNER
CRAIG ZINK
Five Wisdoms Center
Hamburg, New York
At Five Wisdoms Center, we offer Five Wisdoms programs in a retreat setting, on an individual basis, and in regular practice sessions. The Five Wisdoms is likened to an energetic operating system that can help us find and follow our life's purpose.
fivewisdomscenter.com
KELLY PETRIE
The Maitri Center For Mindful Living
Oregon, Wisconsin
The Maitri Center for Mindful Living is a space to simply "be" you, held in the highest regard. All walks of life are welcome here. Safety & acceptance are our essential core values & the foundation for discovering perennial wellbeing through mindful awareness practices. We invite you to come home to yourself!
maitricenterllc.com
SYDNEY LEIJENHORST
KenKon Integral Life
and Training Centre
Wageningen, The Netherlands
KenKon is an Integral Life & Training Centre that offers ongoing classes, private sessions, seminars and events around martial arts and meditative and yogic arts. It offers opportunities for learning, inspiration, practice, and a warm, fluid and open community. Rooted in various Eastern traditions, it embraces and integrates modern approaches to health, well-being and personal development.
kenkon.org
MICHAEL ANDERSON
The Art of Being
Vienna, Austria
Art of Being was founded as a way of helping more people connect with their natural creative capacity. It is founded on the belief that everyone is an artist, that art is an expression of our authentic selves, and that contemplative practice creates a space where authentic art making can arise. Founder and Associate Teacher: Michael Anderson
art-of-being.org
KLARA MOLNAR
Five Elements Nutrition
Hungary
Adapt a simple, personalized lifestyle. A conscious and healthy lifestyle can be simple. If you want a healthier and calmer life, but change seems complicated and stressful, or you don't know where to start, we will help you see your situation and the solution more simply.
5elemes.hu
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