Elaine MacInnes, a member of Our Lady's Missionaries, studied koans with, and was authorized to teach by, the renowned Zen master Koun Yamada. She has established zendos in the Philippines and in Canada. She has served as the director of the Prison Phoenix Trust in England, and has placed meditation teachers in over 86 prisons, and she is also the founder of Freeing the Human Spirit, a Canadian charity that also teaches meditation to prisoners. In 2001, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. She lives in Toronto.