Sage Institute, a small nonprofit meditation school in Taos, New Mexico, has introduced an annual scholarship for BIPOC and other underrepresented participants in its Meditation Leader Training Program.
The Donna Moon Martin Scholarship will support at least one trainee each year. Sage has not disclosed the award’s financial value or specified whether it covers full or partial tuition, but the organization presents it as an ongoing part of the program rather than a one-time award.
Scholarship recognizes a contributor to the original training
The scholarship is named for Donna “Moon” Martin, who served as student coordinator during the program’s early development and was one of its first three graduates. She participated while studying holistic health at the University of New Mexico–Taos.
Sage describes Martin as being of mixed Sandia Pueblo and New Mexican Hispanic heritage. The institute also says she was adopted into the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in the Pacific Northwest.
Martin had developed her own connection with meditation before joining Sage. According to the institute’s account, she used visualization and mental rehearsal while recovering from a spinal injury caused by a horseback accident. That story forms part of Sage’s remembrance of Martin and has not been presented by Transform Wire as an independently verified medical claim.
Naming the scholarship after an early student connects the institute’s current access policy with someone who helped organize the training at its beginning. It also preserves Martin’s place in the program’s history through a practical benefit for future participants.
Award becomes part of each training cycle
Sage Institute was founded in 2008 by author-teachers Sean Murphy and Mirabai Starr. The organization runs meditation classes, retreats and a nine-month training program for experienced practitioners preparing to teach meditation in community or professional settings.
Although the training is presented as secular and open to people from different contemplative backgrounds, its curriculum includes approaches associated with Zen and Vipassana. Lead teacher Sean Tetsudo Murphy is a sanctioned Zen teacher, and the institute says the course was developed with contributions from Buddhist and meditation educators.
Applications are open for the next Meditation Leader Training cohort, which is expected to begin in spring 2027. The annual scholarship means that at least one place in each cycle is intended for a participant from a group that has been underrepresented in the program or the wider field.
For independent meditation schools, financial-access commitments can be difficult to sustain without the resources available to larger educational institutions. Sage’s initiative is limited to at least one recipient per year, but it creates a defined and recurring route into the training while recognizing a practitioner involved in building it.
- Source: Sage Institute
- Web: https://www.sagetaos.com/
