Sharon Salzberg helped bring Theravedic Buddhism, one of the most conservative Buddhist dsiciplines, to America as one of the three co-founders of the Insight Meditation Society in 1974. Salzberg first encountered Buddhism in 1969 as an undergraduate at SUNY Buffalo while taking a course on Asian philosophy. She spent the next year doing independent study in India, meditating at Bodh Gaya, where Buddha reputedly achieved enlightenment, and learning vipassana meditation, a mindfulness meditation that uses breathing techniques and silence to let go of a sense of self. She returned to America in 1974 and joined with Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein in creating the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. She and Goldstein went on to co-found the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in 1989 and the Forest Refuge meditation center in 1998. She has published numerous books on modern Buddhist practice, beginning with Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness in 1995. Her 2010 book The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program made the New York Times Bestseller List. Throughout her career, while serving as a respected teacher in the Vipassana movement, Salzberg has continued to learn and study under other Buddhist masters in America, India, Tibet, and Nepal.