Her emphasis is on vipassanā (insight) and mettā (loving-kindness) methods,[2] and she has been leading meditation retreats around the world for several decades.

[3] In her sophomore year at the State University of New York, Buffalo in 1969, Salzberg encountered Buddhism during a course in Asian philosophy.

[8] The following year, she took an independent study trip to India, and in January 1971 attended her first intensive meditation course at Bodh Gaya.

[9] Salzberg is a student of Dipa Ma,[10] Anagarika Munindra,[11] Sayadaw U Pandita[8] and other Asian masters.

An in-depth interview with Salzberg appears in the book Meetings with Remarkable Women: Buddhist Teachers in America, by Lenore Friedman (Boston:Shambhala, Revised and Updated edition, 2000; ISBN 1-57062-474-7) Salzberg was honored by the New York Open Center in 1999 for her "Outstanding Contribution to the Mindfulness of the West".