For decades, Christina Feldman has been a foundational voice of insight meditation in the West—teaching, mentoring, and guiding thousands of students around the world with wisdom, compassion, and unwavering dedication. As a co-founder of Gaia House, an emeritus guiding teacher at the Insight Meditation Society, and a longtime teacher in the insight meditation community, Christina’s impact on countless lives is immeasurable.

Today, Christina is facing a profound personal challenge, and we are asking her wider community for support. Since October, Christina has lived with escalating and debilitating pain in her hip and leg—pain that eventually became so severe she was unable to walk. After extensive consultations and many attempts to identify the cause, specialists discovered that the true source of the problem was not in her hip, but in her spine: two prolapsed discs, including one condition her doctors described as rare and requiring urgent and highly complex surgical intervention. Christina now faces a delicate three-hour spinal surgery involving removal of two damaged discs, stabilization of the spinal column, and reconstruction around the spinal cord. Her expected recovery time is three to six months.

The financial burden is substantial. Despite being covered by the U.K.'s national health system, Christina has not received coverage for the costs of her treatment, consultations, medications, or related care for this condition. The surgery alone is expected to be very costly, not including ongoing medical expenses or the loss of teaching income during her extended recovery.

Christina has spent her life offering the Dharma with extraordinary generosity. Now, in a moment of real need, we have an opportunity to offer something back. Our goal is to help cover surgical and hospital expenses, ongoing medical treatment and medications, recovery and rehabilitation costs, and support during the months Christina will be unable to travel and teach.

Any contribution, large or small, will help ease this burden and allow Christina to focus fully on healing. If Christina's teachings have touched your life in any way, we invite you to support her now with the same generosity she has extended to so many.

A note from Christina: “I am so grateful for the kindness and support surrounding me. It is not easy to find words for the gratitude I feel. Difficult times are eased by the care of others, and I thank you.”

**Please note: because of limitations in the GoFundMe platform (the campaign was set up in the US but the funds need to be delivered to Christina's bank in the UK), Christina has given permission for IMS to receive these funds domestically as her agent and fully transfer all donations directly to Christina.

Thank you so much for being part of this. This fundraiser was organized by friends, students and colleagues of Christina. --Inger Forland, IMS ED

(Photo courtesy Jack Carey for Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.)