Deborah Dorje started meditation practice in the 70’s, following the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s instructions and after discovering Buddhism in the 1980’s, became a student of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in 1989. She is an instructor of online meditation sessions as well as one on one therapeutic sessions. Deborah has practiced as a psychodynamic couples and individual therapist since 2000 and studied for a Postgraduate degree at the University of Roehampton. After qualifying and becoming registered with the British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy, Deborah worked with couples at the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships in London and then went on to have a private practice. She spent many years working for a volunteer organization that offers support to those who are suicidal and in despair. She states, "There, I learnt so much about the capacity of the human spirit to keep going in the face of adversity if there is someone to offer a little time and empathic support."

Sandra Scales holds a doctorate in East West Psychology from The Union Graduate School and a BA in Photography from San Francisco Art Institute. She has lectured at Stanford University and other colleges in California and Nepal. Sandra maintains a private counseling practice in Soquel, California and conducts international phone consultations using Eastern and Western Psychology. Sandra commented, "When I work, it is quite like painting. Together, we create new designs and new colors. Then, the beauty and the magic of change just happens." Scales is author and photographer of Sacred Voices of the Nyingma Masters and Sacred Words Spoken.

Deepa Thakur is the director of The Khyentse Foundation India, a non-profit organization. She is trained as a yoga and meditation instructor and leads traditional meditation courses throughout India and online. She organizes programs in traditional healing arts including meditation, dance, yoga and painting. She holds a diploma in experiential Early childhood Education from the Abiding Heart Education program and a Masters degree in Psychology and Buddhist Philosophy.

Author of Facing Death and Finding Hope, translated into 9 languages, Christine Longaker co-founded one of the first home care hospices in California in 1978. For four decades she trained medical professionals in palliative and spiritual care – offering the wisdom and methods in the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying in a non-denominational manner. Currently, her passion is helping people re-connect with essence love – the inherent confidence and sense of well-being we were born with. Christine is writing a book on self-compassion based on her trainings. She guides weekly online meditations and offers a retreat in Sri Lanka every year. 

Punya Sagara is an international Charya Dance and meditation teacher from Kathmandu, Nepal. She has organized many forums on the topic of “Positive living with loving kindness and compassion to oneself and others.” She started her meditation practice at the age of 16 and has studied under the guidance of many of the great Buddhist Meditation masters and Charya masters from the Newar tradition. She teaches students of all ages in schools and colleges, business people, lawyers and doctors and people in substance abuse centers. As a Buddhist woman and household practitioner, her focus is on bringing attention towards living positively with loving kindness. She emphasizes integrating meditational practices and activities into everyday life.

Sharon Louise Crayton has been intimately involved with cooking and food for more than 30 years. After studying Nutrition and French cooking at San Jose State University in the San Francisco Bay Area, she began creating recipes for companies such as S&W Foods, Foster Farm Chickens, Del Monte and Spice Islands. Then she struck out on her own, opening Café Sparrow, a California-French fusion restaurant, in Aptos, California. There she served as proprietor, chef and maître d’ while raising two children. In the midst of this, she met Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, who became her Buddhist meditation teacher and inspired her to slow down and begin investigating the intersections of Buddhism, cooking and compassion. In 1989, after selling Café Sparrow, Crayton immersed herself full-time in the study of Western and Chinese herbal medicine, food theory and acupuncture. Eventually, she began traveling the world. Her journeys took her to Dordogne, France and to Portugal, where she honed her culinary skills and Buddhist knowledge, cooking fresh, simple, lovingly prepared meals for some of the great Buddhist masters of our time. She currently lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Alana Siegel is a poet, performer and director residing in upstate New York. She earned her BA in Language and Literature from Bard College, awarded the William J Lockwood prize for excellence in Poetry. Her full-length collection of poetry, Archipelago, is published by Station Hill Press. In 2019, she completed a traditional Three Year Retreat at Pema Osel Ling, a recipient of the Tsadra Foundation Contemplative Fellowship. Most recently, she received a NYSCA Rural and Traditional Arts grant to write, direct and perform in Persephone’s Dream, a 12 hour play and meditation weaving together agricultural elements and theatrical practices drawn from Noh Theater, The Patrons of the Orders of Husbandry and the Eleusinian Mysteries.

Ms. Akshita Dutta is a counselling psychologist and an arts-based therapy practitioner. She was a co-founder of I Am Wellbeing, an organization dedicated to psychological trauma prevention and healing. She believes in tapping into the natural curiosity of people to help them explore unique and effective coping strategies to overcome social, emotion and behavioral challenges. In the workshop offered here she will be guiding participants with art therapy. She received her Bachelor's degree in Applied Psychology at Delhi University and a Master's degree in Counselling Psychology from Amity University.