Our Teachers

Laura Kattō Phillips
Sensei, Soto Zen Priest, Teacher
Kattō started practicing Zen at Clouds in Water 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 Zen Bridge here in Stillwater. She re-engaged with Clouds and received the Buddhist precepts from Byakurin Judith Ragir 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 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 enjoy hiking, cooking, and spending time with family, friends, and sangha.


Christopher Shoshin Hafner
Soto Zen Priest, 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 in2009, and received lay transmission
(permission to teach independently) from Tim in 2024.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.  ​