Khenpo Kunga is a Senior Tergar Lama. He became a monk at a young age and began his education at Tergar monastery, where he studied the rituals, prayers, and other traditional practices of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. At fifteen, he entered an extended meditation retreat and spent three years mastering the profound contemplative practices of the Kagyü lineage.

Following this period of intense meditation practice, he entered the renowned Dzongsar monastic college near Dharamsala in Northwest India. After studying there for eleven years and receiving his Khenpo degree (roughly equivalent to a PhD), he taught at Dzongsar college for three additional years. Khenpo Kunga’s primary teacher is Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, though he has studied with many other revered masters as well.

In recent years, Khenpo Kunga has taught in Asia, Europe, and the United States as one of the main teachers for the worldwide network of Tergar monasteries, meditation centers, and meditation groups.

Tim Olmsted is a Tergar Instructor with decades of experience teaching meditation. He began his Buddhist studies in 1977; in 1981 he moved to Kathmandu to study with Mingyur Rinpoche’s father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. During the twelve years that he lived in Nepal, Tim studied with many of the renowned meditation teachers living there and worked as a psychotherapist serving the international community. Tim is one of the founders and senior instructors of the Tergar Meditation Community, for which he regularly travels around the world leading retreats and teaches online. He 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. Tim is the founder and president of the Pema Chödrön Foundation. He is known for the down-to-earth warmth, practicality, and humor of his approach to teaching meditation. 

Antonia Sumbundu began her formal practice in 1988 after attending a talk by the Dalai Lama. Her 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. She holds a master’s degree in MBCT from Oxford University, and is an Associate with the Oxford Mindfulness Center.

Cortland is a scientist, translator, and meditation teacher who offers workshops and leads retreats around the world. He has practiced meditation for nearly three decades and has spent time on retreat in monasteries and retreat centers throughout Japan, Burma, and India, including eight years spent living in Tibetan refugee settlements in Kathmandu, Nepal. He has a Ph.D. in Mind, Brain and Contemplative Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was mentored by renowned neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson. He also holds a master’s Degree in Buddhist Studies from Naropa University. In addition to his work as an Instructor for the Tergar community and Executive Director of Tergar International, Cortland serves as Research Scientist and Chief Contemplative Officer at UW-Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds and the center’s affiliated non-profit, Healthy Minds Innovations. Cortland is actively involved in scientific research and has published articles on the impact of meditation practices on the body, mind, and brain. He has also published twelve books of translations of classical texts on Buddhist philosophy and meditation. He currently lives with his wife and son in Madison, Wisconsin.