Faculty

Eliza has a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Hong Kong and a
BSc in Physical Therapy from McGill University, Montreal, Canada. She also holds a
master’s degree in Buddhist Studies from the University of Hong Kong.

Eliza is interested in mind-body health education, and is a practitioner of meditation
for fifteen years. Her first meditation practice was in the Theravada tradition and
later also received teachings from various masters of the Vajrayana tradition
including Mingyur Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, and Anam Thubten Rinpoche.

Eliza is a JOL facilitator for Tergar Asia, and since 2014 she has been facilitating
JOL courses in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Taiwan. Currently she is a program
consultant and instructor at Bodhi Love Foundation Hong Kong, in charge of
mindfulness programs for kindergarten teachers and children. At the University of
Hong Kong, Eliza is a coordinator for a master’s degree program in Buddhist
Counselling.

Eliza lives in Hong Kong and travels twice a year to Scotland where the other half of
her family resides.

A practitioner of meditation for twenty-two years, Frédéric Auquier has studied Buddhism and practiced meditation in retreat settings in France and abroad. In addition to his work as a facilitator for the Tergar community, he works as a principal in an International High School located in Paris and teaches French Literature to 11th graders.

Frédéric has a master’s degree in French literature from Sorbonne University and a teaching degree from the French Ministry of Education. He also studied Mandarin in Beijing University and Taipei Normal University.

Frédéric lives in Paris, and he travels with his students in Asia whenever possible to help them improve their language skills in Mandarin and discover the richness of Asian culture.

Kasumi Kato is an experienced educator and meditation practitioner. She holds two master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin, where she taught the Japanese language for nearly two decades.

Kasumi’s interest in meditation began in her childhood in Japan, where she learned to meditate from a young age. In 2011, she encountered Mingyur Rinpoche’s teachings and has been practicing under his guidance ever since. She has completed over a year in solitary meditation retreat, in addition to many group retreats in the Tergar community. Kasumi has also studied with some of the most respected teachers in the Tibetan tradition, including Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche, and Thrangu Rinpoche.

Kasumi currently works full-time for Tergar International as a curriculum specialist, developing Tergar meditation and training programs. She also leads Joy of Living workshops and Path of Liberation retreats around the world and oversees the activities of Tergar Japan.

Outside of her professional work, Kasumi lives with her husband Cortland and stepson, CJ, in Madison, Wisconsin. In her free time, Kasumi enjoys personal retreats, traveling, and hiking in nature.

Maya Sepulchre’s life took an unexpected turn when she stumbled upon meditation and Buddhism while working for an NGO in Nepal. Since meeting Mingyur Rinpoche in 2007, she’s been combining her love for photography, languages, and spiritual practice in unique ways. With degrees in education and international development, plus training in project management, she brings together different worlds.

Behind her camera lens as a professional photographer, Maya tells stories that connect people across cultures. She’s equally at home speaking French, Spanish, or English, and has a special knack for translation. In fact, she worked with the Tergar en Español team to bring Mingyur Rinpoche’s book “Transforming Confusion into Clarity” to Spanish readers.
Her Buddhist journey, which had started in Nepal in 2006, has grown deeper through her studies with Mingyur Rinpoche as her main teacher, Tai Situ Rinpoche, Thrangu Rinpoche, HH the Dalai Lama, and other teachers. In 2009, Maya and her husband created Tergar Mexico. Today, as a leader of Tergar Mexico, she wears many hats - teaching, running programs, administrating and bridging communities among Spanish countries. It’s here that all pieces of her life come together: her project skills, spiritual practice, and passion for helping others connect with Buddhist teachings.

Scott began meditating over forty years ago as a means to improve his athletic performance. While long retired from high-level competition, Scott has maintained a daily meditation practice since his teens. In addition to daily practice, Scott spends one month of each year in silent retreat.

Since meeting Mingyur Rinpoche in 2010, Scott has dedicated himself to the practice and dissemination of Rinpoche’s teachings as one of the founders of the Tergar Madison meditation community.

Scott Anderson has a PhD in Kinesiology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and his research focuses on the physical correlates of meditation practice. His PhD Minor is in Religious Studies, with a focus on Buddhist Modernism.

Scott lives in the hill country west of Madison, Wisconsin with his wife and three cats. Together they run a busy Pilates studio in Madison. In his free time, Scott likes to row, do Pilates, bike, and ski.

Stephanie Wagner is a board-certified health and well-being coach (NBC-HWC) with a Master of Arts from the University of Minnesota in Integrative Health and Well-being Coaching. She also holds a Master of Music in flute performance from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.

A meditator for twenty years, Stephanie has studied with some of the world’s most renowned Buddhist teachers including Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Sharon Salzberg, and Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche. She met Mingyur Rinpoche in 2009 and immediately felt a sense of connection to Rinpoche’s message that anything in daily life can be used as an opportunity to wake up to our innate basic goodness.

Stephanie’s roles at Tergar include her work as a facilitator, a course guide for the Meditation Teacher Program, and an umdze (chant leader) for the Path of Liberation programs. In addition to her work at Tergar, she is the lead trainer for a nonprofit founded by renowned neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson called Healthy Minds Innovations. She is also on the teaching faculty at the University of Minnesota in the Integrative Health and Well-being Coaching program.

At a young age, Myoshin decided that school could not teach her what she wanted to know and that life would be her teacher. This led her to a lifelong journey of living in spiritual communities while exploring the inner terrain of being human.

Myoshin received dharma instruction from renowned Buddhist teachers Chanmyay Sayadaw, Sayadaw U Pandita, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, and Hogen Yamahata. She also developed a great love of retreats and at one point temporarily ordained as a nun in Myanmar. Myoshin’s training as a meditation teacher began with Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg at the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in 1994. She was appointed the teacher in residence at the Forest Refuge, the long-term practice center at IMS, in 2003.

In 1998, Myoshin was introduced to Mingyur Rinpoche. Twelve years later she moved to Minneapolis to help Rinpoche and others with the formation of Tergar Meditation Community. For a decade she led the team to oversee the formation of Tergar meditation groups and the training of Tergar community leaders. As a Tergar instructor, Myoshin leads programs that experientially explore how the practice of meditation and the wisdom of an open heart support the path of awakening.

Nature has been a strong teacher and support for Myoshin throughout her life. She loves to do solitary retreats in nature as well as hike, bike, cross-country ski, and now swim in the ocean on the beautiful Sapphire Coast in Australia, where she lives with her husband Edwin.

George Hughes has launched several businesses in his career and has served on the Board of Directors for a number of not-for-profit organizations. He is currently an officer and director of Tergar Schools and Tergar Institute, and a faculty member of the latter.

George began his journey into meditation and the wisdom traditions as a teenager and has done numerous personal retreats in Asia and North America. His main teachers, Mingyur Rinpoche and Tai Situ Rinpoche, have had a profound impact on his own practice and how he facilitates meditation groups with joy, levity, simplicity, and structure.

George has served as a Tergar International facilitator for Mingyur Rinpoche’s programs in the Americas and Asia, and he has co-managed Tergar meditation retreats across the United States and in Nepal. He founded the Tergar community in Stuart, Florida, in 2010.

In addition to meditation, George has studied and taught yoga, massage, and other holistic healing modalities. He has also organized a number of fundraising treks in the Himalayas to aid Mingyur Rinpoche’s social engagement and education projects in Nepal.

Tsunma Kunsang Palmo, originally from England, traveled and worked around the world as an art teacher in international schools for over a decade. On a trip to Nepal she encountered Lama Zopa Rinpoche and was so inspired by the teachings that she chose to stay in Asia and live a life immersed in the dharma. Soon after that she traveled to Himachal Pradesh in North India where she met Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo and was further inspired by her guidance and teachings. She went on to complete a three-year retreat at Sherabling Monastery under the guidance of Mingyur Rinpoche.

Continuing to take teachings from Rinpoche, Kunsang serves as a meditation and dharma teacher for Tergar’s Joy of Living and Vajrayana Online courses, Tergar retreats, and the Tergar Institute in Osel Ling Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal. In 2021 she was invited to teach in Antigua and Trinidad for Bodhicharya, an international organization founded by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche. She now divides her time sharing what she has learned through her years of study and practice in Kathmandu, India, and the Caribbean.

Antonia Sumbundu was first inspired to become a meditator after seeing a segment from The Lion’s Roar, a film about the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, but it was in 1988 after attending a talk by the Dalai Lama that she began practicing formally. Antonia’s first Buddhist teacher was the 3rd Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche. Following his death in 1992, she studied with a variety of teachers, including Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Chokling Rinpoche, and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. In 2002 she met Mingyur Rinpoche, and began to receive teachings from him.

Antonia was already a meditator with a keen interest in the clinical application of meditation when she began studying psychology. While chairing the Danish association for Cognitive Based Therapy, Antonia met Dr. Mark Williams, a renowned clinical psychologist and researcher in the field of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), and began a long and productive collaboration with him. Antonia was one of the first psychologists to be trained in MBCT, and since then her work has focused on training professionals in MBCT and exploring the unique characteristics of MBCT supervision. She holds a Master’s degree in MBCT from Oxford University, and is an Associate with the Oxford Mindfulness Center.

A mother of two, Antonia lives in Denmark and has been involved with Tergar since its inception in 2009, as a leader in Tergar Copenhagen, as a facilitator, and now as an Instructor. She is also a member of the Tergar Board of Directors. She continues to play a key role in the training and mentoring of Tergar group leaders throughout Europe.

Caroline Leach earned her Master of Arts in Psychology: Contemplative Psychotherapy from Naropa University and completed additional coursework in Sex Therapy at the Buehler Institute. She is currently a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC.0015356) in the state of Colorado, a National Certified Counselor (NCC) and a Certified Mindfulness Meditation and Ashtanga Yoga Instructor. She is trained and practiced in Sex Therapy, Somatic Experiencing for Trauma (SE), Emotionally-Focused Couples Therapy (EFT), and Psychodynamic Theory.

Caroline is an adjunct faculty member and director of meditation retreats in the Graduate School of Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Naropa University. She has developed graduate and undergraduate curricula for the Royal University of Bhutan and Tergar International that synthesize Eastern and Western approaches to psychology. Caroline designs and delivers professional development for meditation instructors and group facilitators in trauma-informed practice. She is also an Approved Clinical Supervisor, offering case consultation and supervision to other therapists and counselors.

Cortland Dahl is a scientist, translator, author, and meditation teacher with a lifelong interest in meditation and the science of flourishing. His journey began in the early 1990s when he first learned to meditate. His passion led him on a journey around the world, from monasteries in Burma to zendos in Japan, as well as eight years living in Tibetan refugee settlements in Nepal and India.

During his travels, Cort became fluent in Tibetan and became a translator and scholar, receiving a master’s degree in Buddhist studies and publishing twelve volumes of translations. He went on to study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was mentored by the renowned neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson and received a Ph.D. in Mind, Brain, and Contemplative Science, the first ever degree of its kind awarded by the university. He has since published numerous scientific articles, including a new scientific framework for the cultivation of well-being, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

As part of his Ph.D. dissertation, Cort created the Healthy Minds Program, now a free mobile app that has been featured by the New York Times, Vogue, Sports Illustrated, and many other publications. More recently, he authored A Meditator’s Guide to Buddhism and the forthcoming Born to Flourish: How to Thrive in a Challenging World, with Dr. Richard Davidson.

Cort currently serves as Executive Director and board member for Tergar International, the organization that oversees the Tergar community in the West, as well as a senior instructor for the Tergar community. He is also a scientist at the Center for Healthy Minds and Chief Contemplative Officer for its affiliated nonprofit, Healthy Minds Innovations. 

Cort currently lives with his wife and son in Madison, Wisconsin.

Daniela Labra Cardero is the founder and general director of AtentaMente, a Mexican non-profit organization that focuses on mental health and education. She is also a professor, researcher, and university coordinator and has written books and programs on socio-emotional education. She has been a meditation practitioner for 20 years and uses research on the science of well-being in her work.

Labra Cardero develops and teaches programs, training, conferences, and workshops for the public, private companies, educators, and public officials. She has collaborated with the Center for Healthy Minds to develop an online curriculum for preschool teachers and principals in Mexico. The program aims to reach 5,000 educators and impact over 130,000 kindergartners. She is also a practice teacher in the Healthy Minds Program app.

Edwin Kelley first became interested in Buddhism in 1975 when he attended a meditation retreat near Perth, Australia. Then he later pursued a career as a public accountant and in 1992 went to Burma to undertake a six-month period of intensive retreat with the renowned meditation master Chanmyay Sayadaw. While practicing in Burma he ordained temporarily as a Theravada Buddhist monk. Edwin first encountered Vajrayana Buddhism in Dharamsala, India, in 1993 and became a student of Mingyur Rinpoche in 1998.

Edwin has a postgraduate degree in Buddhist Studies from the University of Sunderland, UK. In 1994 he was hired as Director of Operations by one of America’s best known meditation retreat centers, the Insight Meditation Society (IMS), in Barre, MA. Eighteen months later he was appointed Executive Director of IMS and served in that capacity until 2003 when he resigned to pursue further long-term intensive meditation practice.

In 2009, Edwin moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to help establish the global Tergar Meditation Community, where he then served variably as Executive Director, Co-Executive Director, and CFO. He retired from his administrative role in 2022 and continues to lead programs and support students of Mingyur Rinpoche in his role as an instructor.

After living for thirty years in the USA, Edwin has returned to his place of birth, the Sapphire Coast of New South Wales, Australia, where he has now settled with his wife, Myoshin.

Karen Gronchi is the Product Director at Tergar International. She, oversees the Joy of Living program, Vajrayana Online program, Meditation Teacher Training program, and various events. With a business degree, a master’s degree in human development, and five years of postgraduate studies in psychoanalysis, Karen blends a practical organizational foundation with deep human insight.

Karen started her meditation journey in 2006, and some years after that, she served as the Coordinator of Shechen Mexico for four years, further honing her skills in promoting the sustainable growth of a meditation community. At Tergar International, she leverages her diverse expertise to cultivate transformative environments for meditators, ensuring the continued success and evolution of Tergar’s offerings to a global community. Karen is dedicated to supporting individuals on their meditative journey and is committed to contributing to Mingyur Rinpoche's vision of bringing awareness, compassion, and wisdom into the world

Mario is a physician, a neuroscientist, and a filmmaker. After almost 20 years studying the brain, Mario joined Google in 2009, where his passion for mindfulness drove him to become the lead of the Search Inside Yourself team in people development. Mario teaches SIY regularly at Google offices around the world and supports SIYLI as an SIY Teacher Training Faculty. He holds an MD (Neurology), a PhD (Neuroscience), and an MFA (Cinema).

Dr. Richard Davidson received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Psychology and is a William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is founder and director of the nonprofit Healthy Minds Innovations, which translates science into tools to cultivate and measure well-being. His research is focused on the neural bases of emotion and emotional style and methods to promote human flourishing, including meditation and related contemplative practices.

Davidson has published more than 600 articles and is the author (with Sharon Begley) of The Emotional Life of Your Brain published by Penguin in 2012. He is co-author with Daniel Goleman of Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body, published by Penguin Books in 2017.

Davidson has been recognized for his research through various awards, such as the William James Fellow Award from the American Psychological Society. He was the year 2000 recipient of the most distinguished award for science given by the American Psychological Association—the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. In 2003, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Davidson was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2006. He served on the Scientific Advisory Board at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences from 2011–2019 and was a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Mental Health 2014–2018. In 2017 he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and in 2018 appointed to the Governing Board of UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP).

Tim Olmsted began his Buddhist studies in 1977 under the late Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, Colorado. In 1981, Mingyur Rinpoche’s father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, was invited to teach in Boulder. Profoundly moved by him, Tim and his family moved to Kathmandu just a few months later to study with Tulku Urgyen and his sons.

During the twelve years that he lived in Nepal, Tim studied with many of the most renowned teachers living there and worked as a psychotherapist serving the international community. In 2000, Tim moved to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, at the invitation of Pema Chödrön, where he served for three years as the director of Gampo Abbey, the largest residential Buddhist monastery in North America. He is the founder and president of the Pema Chödrön Foundation, which supports monastic training and communities in need around the world.

In 2003, after a visit by Mingyur Rinpoche to Gampo Abbey, Tim started the Yongey Foundation to support and promote Mingyur Rinpoche’s activities in the West. Since its inception, Tim has been one of the five instructors for Mingyur Rinpoche’s worldwide meditation community, Tergar International.

Tim lives with his wife Glenna in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where he leads an active community that follows Mingyur Rinpoche’s teachings and those of his family lineage.

Tzunma Miao Rong was born in Taipei in 1975. In 1990, she went to study at Fo Guang Shan Buddhist College in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In 1993, she was ordained by Master Hsing Yun of Fo Guang Shan and received the nun ordination. In 1994, she went to Lhasa, Tibet to study Tibetan. In 1995, she studied in Leksheylin Buddhist College in Kathmandu, and followed Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche and other Rinpoches. Since 1999, she has been the CEO of Nagarjuna Institute in Nepal, responsible for supporting temples in Nepal, India and Tibet.

Since 2001, she has served as the translator of the 17th Karmapa, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Thrangu Rinpoche, Mingyur Rinpoche and other masters. She has been the CEO of HWA YUE Foundation since 2003. From 2005, she served in the Kagyu Monlam working group until now.

In 2006, she was appointed as president of the Chungsheng Cultural Publishing Company. In 2010, she served as a member of Tergar Asia decision-making group and the head of Tergar Asia curriculum planning group.

In 2011, she has become an instructor in Tergar Asia. In 2014, she established “the Five Stages of Meditation on Emptiness” course promotion team, and launched the “Treasury of Definitive Meaning” translation project. In 2016, she served as the coordinator of "Khema Bhikhuni Ordination Association" for the revival of the Tibetan nuns' precepts.

Vin Harris is a practicing Tibetan Buddhist with a degree in English and EuropeanLiterature, a craftsman who helped to build the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the West, an entrepreneur with an MBA, and the founder of an award-winning specialist woodworking company. Inspired from an early age by the freedom and creativity of entrepreneurship, he has never felt the need to have a “real job”.

Vin considers himself fortunate to know the late Akong Rinpoche as a friend and teacher for almost 40 years. Working to establish Samye Ling in SW Scotland under the guidance of Akong Rinpoche it became apparent that meditation and spiritual practice are not separate from daily life.

Recognising the difference meditation can make to people’s lives, Vin became a founding member of the Mindfulness Association and was a Teaching Fellow at the University of Aberdeen on the MSc in Mindfulness Studies. As well as mentoring mindfulness teachers, he develops and teaches innovative mindfulness programmes in the UK and Europe; always seeking new ways to communicate the subtle meaning and purpose of meditation practice in everyday language.

In 2013, Vin co-founded the Hart Knowe Trust with the aim of “helping people so that they can help others”. In collaboration with the Mindfulness Initiative, the Trust created and sponsored the Innovations in Mindfulness Awards to celebrate and encourage innovative approaches that make mindfulness accessible to a wider audience.

Vin has made pilgrimages to Buddhist holy places in Tibet, India, Sikkim, and Nepal. He built a house in the village near Samye Ling and lives there with his wife Marilyn.