Shambhala Meditation Teachers in Los Angeles

The following is a list of local Shambhala teachers and meditation instructors.

Emily Bower

started practicing in the Shambhala community in 1987, in Berkeley, CA. She began studying with Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche when he came to teach in Berkeley in 1991. She served as his editor for various projects, including his first book, Turning the Mind into an Ally. She has studied kyudo with Kanjuro Shibata Sensei and is a lifelong member of the Dorje Kasung. In 1991, she joined the staff of Karme Chöling, where she lived for three years, working on publicity and marketing. She has been a professional editor since 1987 and has most recently worked full-time as an acquiring editor for Shambhala Publications in Boston. Now, in addition to traveling and teaching in the Shambhala mandala, she continues to work as a book editor and publishing consultant.

Debra Dysart

has been a student and practitioner in Shambhala ever since she found Pema Chödrön’s Wisdom of No Escape in a bookstore in 1997.  She is a Shambhala Art teacher, meditation instructor, and has served as Director of Education and Center Co-Director of Los Angeles Shambhala.  Debra sings with the Verdi Chorus and is a member of their board of directors.

Anne Fraser

has been a member of the Shambhala community since 1974. She was one of the founding members of the Shambhala Center in Chicago where she lived and practiced until 2008, when she and her husband went “on the road”. A former real estate lawyer with a large corporation, Anne is the mother of three and also a grandmother. Anne currently lives in Carpinteria CA with her husband Robert Lehmann and their two lhasa apsos, Kiki and Soso.

Jenny Hannah

offers mind-body awareness by way of deep communication. She is a meditation and yoga instructor, psychotherapist, art therapist, and group facilitator. She developed an Expressive Arts course based on principles of the Black Mountain College, and teaches at University of the West, a school founded on Buddhist values. Jenny has been engaged with Shambhala since 2007, has served with the community in various leadership roles, and continues to walk a path of warriorship, wakefulness, and sacred view.

Marcy Henry-Fink

has been a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche since 1977. Trained in both the sciences and the arts, she has been a stress management consultant for Boeing, and has worked with a start-up company that uses biofeedback and mindfulness/awareness exercises as tools for dealing with stress. As a member of the Los Angeles Buddhist and Interfaith Councils she worked for many years with the diverse religious communities in Los Angeles. She is a senior teacher and former Director of Education at SMCLA and travels frequently to teach.

Laura Landau

has taught classes in the Way of Shambhala series, Buddhist classes, Shambhala Art, co-directed the children’s program and for 4 years facilitated Friday morning meditation.  She was a script reader, had a brief stint as a writer/producer, has a Masters in Transpersonal Psychology and worked as a poetry therapist. Currently, she is hard at work having fun with the grandkids.

Robert Lehman

has been a meditator in the Kagyu and Nyingma and Shambhala traditions for over 37 years. His original teacher was the Vidyadhara, the Ven. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Since his passing, he has studied with Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and Her Eminence Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche of the Mindrolling lineage. Robert and his wife Anne Fraser are retired and living in Carpinteria, CA with their two wonderful Lhasa Apsos. They also have three splendid children, all carving out their own paths.

Marilyn Moore

has been active in the Shambhala community since 1997, serving in various administrative roles and for five years teaching meditation at the Center for Living Peace in Irvine. Her appointment as a Shastri in 2016 included a special commitment to developing a Shambhala community in Orange County. Marilyn has a special interest in all topics related to death and dying and co-facilitates a monthly on-line gathering called “Before I Die.” In 2011, Marilyn retired from a position working in an art gallery for almost thirty years and pre-pandemic, she fully enjoyed the time that gave her to teach, to travel and to stay in touch with three grown children living in other parts of the world.

Sharon Owyang

has been a student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche since 2007. She has served in many roles, including Regional Director of Southern California Shambhala. She is a writer, former film producer, and world traveler.

Anne Saitzyk

is an artist teaching painting at Art Center College of Design extension (ACX) and occasionally in other locations in the world. She met the Shambhala Buddhist dharma through a Dharma Art program in 1997 and now is a long time Shambhala Art Teacher and assistant to her husband, Steve Saitzyk, in running the international Shambhala Art program and in training teachers. She co-founded the monthly Contemplative Creativity Lab in 2013 and has served as co-coordinator of Westside Shambhala, Director of Contemplative Arts and as a Council member at Shambhala Meditation Center of Los Angeles. Anne has been teaching art for around 30 years and appreciates the collaborative element in co-creating spaces for insight to arise.

Joel Wachbrit

has been a member of the Los Angeles Shambhala community since 1989 although his first exposure to Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche came during college in 1976 at the then Santa Barbara Dharma Study Group. He has since served in Shambhala in many roles; as Center Co-Director, Membership Director and as the Director of Buddhist Education for 7 years. He also served as a Shastri for SMCLA for four years, retiring in 2020. Joel has been a working guitarist, songwriter and composer for more than forty years and continues to find great joy in the expressive power of music.

Gail Whitacre

is a longtime student of Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He is a native of Los Angeles, an archivist/librarian at the University of Southern California, and is currently Zooming with abandon.  He is married to Alie Lake.

Meditation Instructors

Emily Bower
Darryl Burnham
Debra Dysart
Marcy Fink
George Gomez
Rich Haluschak
Patrick Knisely
Laura Landau
Heidi Leong
Todj Mandel
Marilyn Moore
Sharon Owyang
Anne Saitzyk
Dan Siakel
Kate Summers
Carolyn Sykes
Joel Wachbrit
Gail Whitacre
Claude Zachary