David Chernikoff began the study and practice of meditation in 1971 and started teaching insight meditation in 1988. He trained as a yoga teacher at the Integral Yoga Institute and completed the Community Dharma Leader program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. His teaching has been influenced by senior teachers from the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock, Tibetan teachers he studied with during a 3-year stay in Nepal, and Zen teacher Yvonne Rand.

As someone with a longtime interest in interspiritual dialogue, David has also studied and practiced with spiritual guides from other contemplative traditions, most notably Ram Dass, Father Thomas Keating, and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.

He taught psychology and meditation at Naropa University for many years and worked as the education and training director of the Spiritual Eldering Institute, a conscious aging program later renamed Sage-ing International. Currently David is one of the guiding teachers of the Insight Meditation Community of Colorado (IMCC) and has a private practice as a spiritual counselor and life coach in Boulder, Colorado. He teaches workshops and retreats throughout the U.S.