As a youth, Noah Levine was incarcerated several times. His first book, Dharma Punx, details teenage years filled with drugs, violence, and multiple suicide attempts—choices fuelled by disillusionment with American mainstream culture. His substance abuse started early in life—eventually landing him in a padded detoxification cell in juvenile prison. It was in this cell where he hit an emotional rock bottom and began his vipassana practice out of a place of extreme drug addiction and violence. While incarcerated, he saw for the first time how the practice his father taught him gave him the tools to relieve the fear. Levine is the son of American Buddhist author Stephen Levine. He received teacher training from Jack Kornfield of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. Noah also credits the 14th Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ram Dass, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Norman Fischer, and Sylvia Boorstein as his teachers.