Below is a list of teachers who have taught and continue to teach regularly at the DCC. This page is updated periodically as we add more names.
Lama Lena (Yeshe Katyup)
is a teacher of Direct Mind Perception and a lineage holder of several Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Her informal style is precise, direct and she is revered by students around the world for her exceptional ability to share profound teaching in a clear poetic and humorous way.
Drubgyud Tenzin Rinpoche
is the abbot of Chökyi Gyatso Institute (CGI), in eastern Bhutan. Born in Nepal in 1983, he was recognized by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche as the incarnation of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche’s maternal grandfather, Lama Sonam Zangpo, who was a great yogi from Bhutan and the founder of CGI.
Glenn Mullin
is the author of over thirty books on Tibetan Buddhism, many of which have been translated into a dozen foreign languages. His earlier titles focus on the lives and works of the early Dalai Lamas. Other titles of his elucidate practice traditions such as Lam Rim, Lojong, the Six Yogas of Naropa, Kalachakra, and so forth. He has been an international teacher of Tantric Buddhist meditation for the past twenty-five years.
Lama Lodro
is a mystic yogi, meditation master, and a multi-faceted, classically trained meditation teacher currently residing with his wife, Chrys Antaya, in Yukon, Canada. Lama Lodro's teaching style is Sahaja-Tantra, which is a fluid, natural, and spontaneous weaving together of many different teachings from many diverse paths.
Brian McLeod
was accepted as a student of the Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche in 1978. From 1984 to 1989 he lived at the Dharma Centre, participating in the first three-year Academy program for training Dharma teachers, followed by a two-year stint as Property Manager. He has been leading retreats in Canada and Germany since 1999, and has been the lead teacher of the River and Bridge Dharma Group in Winnipeg since 2007.
Gerry Kopelow
founded the Dharma Centre of Winnipeg, acting on instructions from his principal teacher Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche. He studied with Rinpoche and several other teachers in the Namgyal lineage over a period of thirty-five years. Lama Gerry has received encouragement and advice from both Venerable Tai Situ Rinpoche and His Holiness the 17th Karmapa.
Lisa Cowen
Lisa grew up studying with Namgyal Rinpoche directly as a child and young adult, and has continued on as a student of other great Dharma teachers since then. She has undertaken meditation retreats and intensive courses of study for about 25 years ranging broadly from Abhidharma to Vajrayana Yidam practices, and from Tarot to Dzogchen.
In addition to a passion for awakening, Lisa has specialized in Art and studied Psychotherapy.
She is the mother of a son who loves lego and minecraft, the custodian of an epic and rather wild vegetable garden, a working artist in the film industry, and a core founder of the Virtual Dharma Temple. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario.
Previously Lisa offered courses at the DCC such as Intro to Mindfulness, and Intro to Silent Retreat Practice, and continues a commitment to offering an accessible blend of the so-called transcendental and the so-called ordinary.
Jamie van Dam
is a graduate of the 2003-2007 Victoria Feldenkrais Teacher Training where he studied with many well respected Feldenkrais trainers: Jeff Haller, Jerry Karzen, Beatriz Walterspiel, Alan Questel, Katrin Smithback and Bonnie Humiston. Under their guidance he completed the 800 hour training program which focused primarily on discovering awareness; the principles and strategies of learning; the self image and its development and functional, developmental and structural types of movements.
Dragan Petrovic
is an authorized Zen teacher in the Mountain Moon lineage of the Sanbo-Zen tradition. He was born in Yugoslavia (now Croatia) and arrived in Canada in 1993 as a refugee during the civil war. He has over thirty years of meditation experience. He has completed koan training under his master Sei’un Roshi. He has over fifteen years of teaching experience. His teaching name is Seki’un.
Tracy Sheridan
has been studying Buddha Dharma for over 20 years and has been a life-long practitioner and teacher of of Yoga and movement awareness since 1983. She met her root teachers, Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche in 2001 and Lama Chokyi Gyaltsen (Lama Mark Webber) in 2003. She has had the good fortune of meeting and studying with other teachers in the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition.
Rob McConnell
A graduate of the Kinmount Academy and Seminary. He led a long career as a Physics teacher. Rob taught at University of Toronto instructing teachers. He has served on the DCC board twice. Rob has shared his love of Astronomy across the continent. His palliative training allows him to help his fellow Dharma friends. Presently, he is the visiting teacher leading staff retreats.
Sharon Tashi Davison
has been teaching and leading meditation retreats, courses and classes since 2010. Sharon Tashi has received instruction from Meditation Masters such as Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche, Thich Nhat Hanh, 17th Karmapa, Sayadaw U Tila Wunta, and Dzogchen Masters Wongdor Rinpoche & Lama Lena (Yeshe Katyup) whom she continues to study with.
Lho Ontul Rinpoche
is a highly accomplished Lama and Yogi in the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in Tibet in 1950 and recognized at a young age as an emanation of Kunzang Drodul, the 1st Lho Ontul Rinpoche, the older brother of the 19-20th century saint Orgyen Nuden Dorje. The first Ontul Rinpoche was recognized as an emanation of Drog Ban Khiu Chung Lotsawa, one of the twenty-five main disciples of Guru Padmasambhava.
Karma Sonam Senge
is a teacher of awakening in the tradition of his principal teacher the Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche. Senge currently lives off the coast of Vancouver Island, Canada, where he works with students who are committed to in depth transformation. Senge is a tantric adept, a student of the Kaballah, a teacher of Western mysteries, and a visionary Dharma teacher.