Jess McNally has devoted much of her adult life to Buddhist study and practice. After earning Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Earth Systems at Stanford University, she lived at Zen Mountain Monastery for over three years, completing more than forty week-long sesshins and exploring a wide range of Buddhist teachings. She was later ordained by Thrangu Rinpoche and began studying with Mingyur Rinpoche and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Under Mingyur Rinpoche’s guidance, she undertook several months of solitary retreat in Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo’s cave in the Himalayas. Now based in Alberta, Canada, Jess is in medical school at the University of Calgary and looking forward to a career as a medical doctor.   

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.