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Teachers

All our programmes are held by esteemed teachers, that have practiced and studied meditation and other contemplative disciplines for many years. All Shambhala teachers have gone through a thorough curriculum of teacher training and practice. The spiritual leaders of the Shambhala Buddhist lineage – Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his son Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche - have empowered some of their senior students as „Acharyas“ and „Shastris“ which are Sanskrit terms for Senior Teachers.

Dechen Chöling also works with renowned teachers from other respected traditions such as Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong etc.

Find out more about our teachers in the descriptions below and on the Shambhala Europe website. All are looking forward to meet you here and support and inspire you on your personal path. Most of the programmes are also facilitated by Meditation Instructors and Assistant Directors who serve as personal advisors for the participants.

Shambhala Lineage Holder

Sakyong Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche

Sakyong Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche, the spiritual head of the Shambhala Buddhist Lineage, founded Dechen Chöling in 1994. He is the Dharma heir of his father, the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who was instrumental in bringing Buddhism to the West.

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Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

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

Born in Tibet in 1939, Trungpa Rinpoche was recognized at an early age as a tülku, or reincarnated teacher. He fled Tibet in 1959, and four years later went to Oxford University in England. From that time until his death in 1987, he worked tirelessly to bring the living teachings of meditation to the Western world, establishing several major practice centres, over one hundred meditation centres, and Naropa University.

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Lineage Holder

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 Taoism) and 3rd-generation student of Wang Xiangzhai, founder of Yiquan martial arts and Zhangzhuan (standing Qigong).

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Kanjuro Shibata Sensei XX

Onyumishi Kanjuro Shibata is a 20th generation master bowmaker and archer and 3rd generation "Bowmaker to the Emperor of Japan" (retired).

In 1980, by the invitation of The Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan meditation master, and founder of Shambhala International and Naropa University, Kanjuro Shibata XX came to the United States from Japan to teach Kyudo and together with Trungpa, founded Ryuko Kyudojo (Dragon-Tiger Kyudo Practice Hall) in Boulder, Colorado.

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Acharya

Barbara Märtens

Barbara Märtens is trained in cultural pedagogy, Zen-arts and contemplative psychology; currently she is the director of the Buddhist Gate of Shambhala Europe. Barbara Märtens teaches, Maitri Space Awareness practice and other contemplative approaches to art, work, and to life in general. Her special emphasis lies in training sense perception and creative expression in individual and group work. She is a Shambhala and Buddhist teacher with more than 20 years of practice. Today she is a member of faculty in Karuna and Upaya, an organization for contemplative psychology, health and art.

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David Hope

David Hope has been a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche for the past 30 years. He helped establish the London Shambhala Centre in the 1980’s. Since then he has taught widely in Europe and other countries worldwide, including Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. He has been involved with Dechen Chöling since its beginnings in 1995, as a co-director and in many other ways. In 2005 he was appointed as Acharya (a senior teacher) for the Shambhala community. He lives near Dechen Chöling with his wife, Christina de Block.

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David Schneider

David Schneider began to practice Zen meditation with a local group at Reed College, in Portland, OR, in 1971. Later that year he did several retreats under Suzuki Roshi. IN 1972, he saw Suzuki Roshi and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche together at the San Francisco Zen Center.
David moved into the San Francisco Zen Center where he was ordained by Richard Baker Roshi in 1977, and where he lived for 13 years, practicing, studying and doing many academic and practical jobs as part of community life.

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Mathias Pongracz

In 2005, Mathias Pongracz was appointed Acharya, or senior teacher, by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. In 2006 he became the new Acharya-in-residence at Dechen Chöling.
He has studied and practiced under Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He also studied closely with Kobun Chino Roshi from 1992 until his paranirvana in 2002. Mathias is also a qualified and experienced teacher for "Mindfulness based stress reduction" (MBSR).

Mathias Pongracz was a television reporter for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation. He is also the former director of Shambhala Training in Vienna.

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Shambhala Teacher

Catherine Eveillard-Elsky

Catherine Eveillard-Elsky met Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche in 1989 in Montréal where she was the Shambhala Training Resident Director. Since then, she has been following his guidance and ended in 1995 in the chateau du Mas Marvent, which was going to be Dechen Chöling, in charge of the renovation and the launching of the new center, as the first director. She has never left DCL and is living now in the farm next door with her husband herb Elsky and their son, Felix. She is currently working as an architect.

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Christina De Block

Christina de Block has been a student of both Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche for many years. Born in South Africa, she lived in London for most of her adult life, where she taught meditation and Buddhism, and worked as a language teacher. She is now settled in France near Dechen Chöling with her husband David Hope. As a Senior Shambhala teacher she enjoys teaching meditation to local people, as well as those from all over the world who come to work, study and relax at Dechen Chöling.

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