Home / Practice Centre

Teachers

All our programmes are held by esteemed teachers, that have practiced and studied meditation and other contemplative disciplines for many years. The senior teachers of the Shambhala tradition have gone through a thorough curriculum of teacher training and practice.They have trained for many years with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his son Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

Dechen Chöling also invites  renowned teachers from other respected spiritual traditions as well as teachers of Contemplative Arts, Embodied practices, Healing Arts, Yoga, Qi Gong, Kyudo, Ikebana, Theater, dance, singing and many other disciplines.

Shambhala Lineage Holders

  • Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

    Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

    Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, holder of the Kagyü and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, founded the Shambhala Buddhist lineage.

Shambhala teachers

  • Daniele Bollini

    Daniele Bollini

    Daniele Bollini was born in 1965 in Switzerland and discovered the teachings of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1981. He was Director of the Ticino Shambhala Center from 1990 until 2005, […]

  • Herb Elsky

    Herb Elsky

    Herb Elsky is an artist, for several decades specialised in abstract visual art, but in more recent years combining sight and sound into experiences of mind and space. Herbert Elsky […]

  • Catherine Eveillard

    Catherine Eveillard

    Catherine Eveillard was born and raised in Brittany, France. She lived in Quebec from 1974 to 1995; she started on the Shambhala path in Montreal in 1985. During these years […]

  • Dorothea Gädeke

    Dorothea Gädeke

    Dorothea Gädeke lives in Freiburg, Germany. She works as a stage performer, radio speaker and voice therapist, voice coach and musician. She is a so-called ‘old student’ of Shambhala, and […]

  • Barbara Märtens

    Barbara Märtens

    Barbara Märtens has been a Shambhala and Buddhist practitioner for more than  40 years. Being  a senior teacher within the Shambhala Community for many years , she  is also  the […]

  • Alex Paterson

    Alex Paterson

    Alex is from Canada where he worked as an actor before moving to London and then Sweden, where he has been living for over 30 years. Alex founded the Shambhala […]

  • Tessa Racine

    Tessa Racine

    Tessa Racine began practicing of meditation in 1998. She moved from Paris to live next door to Dechen Chöling, the European Shambhala land centre in 2001. She has taught the […]

  • John Rockwell

    John Rockwell

    John Rockwell has been a student, teacher, follower, and leader on the Shambhala Buddhist path for 47 years. His inspiration is to open the heart and senses on the spot.

  • Show all Shambhala teachers

Associated teachers

  • Sylvie Deraime

    Sylvie Deraime

    Sylvie Deraime is a certified practitioner of contemplative psychology and professional coaching, and also has trained in non-violent communication and professional co-development. She has been practising meditation for twenty years, […]

  • Show all Associated teachers

Sister Lineage Holders

  • Eva Wong

    Eva Wong

    Eva Wong, author and translator of thirteen books on the Taoist arts of health, meditation and Qigong, is the 19th-generation lineage carrier of Xiantianwujimen Taoism (Pre-celestial Limitless Gate School of […]

  • Kanjuro Shibata Sensei XXI

    Kanjuro Shibata Sensei XXI

    After the retirement of Shibata Sensei XX in October 2011, his adopted son (i.e. his son-in-law), Shibata Kanjuro XXI, took over as the official head of Zenko International – the […]