Our Teachers

Laura Kattō Phillips
Guiding Teacher
Kattō started practicing Zen at Clouds in Water Zen Center in 1997. After a few years, she stepped away to focus on her new family and explore other spiritual traditions. She eventually returned to Zen with renewed enthusiasm and became a member of the Zen Bridge community here in Stillwater. She re-engaged with Clouds in Water and received the Buddhist precepts (Jukai) from Byakurin Judith Ragir in 2014 and then in 2022 was ordained as a Soto Zen priest by Sosan Theresa Flynn. In 2023, she entered the role of sensei at Zen Bridge after having been a member for 17 years. She received Dharma Transmission, full teaching authority, from Sosan in 2026 and is serving as the guiding teacher for Zen Bridge. She is a retired psychotherapist and draws on her 20 years of trauma-related work as she explores ways for people to build nurturing, respectful ways of connecting with vulnerability, authenticity, and curiosity. She and her husband, Jeff, enjoy hiking, cooking, and spending time with family, friends, and sangha.


Christopher Shoshin Hafner
Assistant Guiding Teacher
​Shoshin first encountered the Buddha’s teaching at a very young age and has been a Buddhist most of his life. He is a long time student of Tim Burkett, who was a student of Shunryu Suzuki and the former guiding teacher of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center (MZMC). Shoshin began studying with Tim in 2005. He received Jukai from Tim in 2007, was ordained by him in 2009, received lay transmission (permission to teach independently) by him in 2024, and full Dharma Transmission by Tim in 2025. Shoshin is a doctor and professor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and a retired faculty member of the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota where he taught for many years. He currently lives in Stillwater with his wife Nancy and two cats, and enjoys gardening, cooking, botanical art, studying Japanese, and learning to play the shakuhachi.  ​