Our Instructors and Guides

Shambhala Meditation Instructors

Our meditation instructors (or MIs) are practitioners who have specially trained to teach and support students who are on the path of meditation. Our instructors typically undergo several years of personal meditation training before being welcomed to train in giving instruction to others. At the Ottawa Shambhala Centre, Our MIs lead classes and study-groups, host a variety of practices, and provide ongoing personal support to members of the Centre.

Coordinator, Meditation Instructors: [email protected].

Don Adams was introduced to meditation through a day-long workshop held by the Ottawa Shambhala Centre in 1999. That same year he began coming to the Centre taking courses and doing the Shambhala Training weekends. In 2008 he became a trained Shambhala Teacher and Meditation Instructor. He is currently a student of the Sakyong, pursuing the Scorpion Seal path.

Marie-Laure Arsac-Shea (bio to follow)

Heather Anderson began meditating as a way to reduce stress during a very intense academic year at Queens. After moving to Ottawa, she tried several different types of meditation from various traditions and found a home at Shambhala. Through the Shambhala teachings, Heather has found meditation to be a powerful antidote to many challenges in her life and the teachings have brought her to a life-long unfolding spiritual path. Outside of being a Shambhala guide and the volunteer manager of the Ottawa Shambhala bookstore, Heather is a certified Integral Professional Coach, a policy advisor for the federal government and she enjoys the constant challenge of finding balance in her full life.

Jocelyn Beaudette (bio to follow)

Natalie Charron, PsyD has been been a meditation practitioner for many years, and completed her meditation instructor training in 2023. She has trained in both Tara Brach’s Theravadan lineage of metta practice, and now too in the Shamabhala Buddhist lineage of shamatha practice.

Loretta Colton first became interested in meditation in her university days, but it didn’t really stick then. She kept thinking about meditating for another decade or so, until a combination of work stress, personal grief, and a friend’s recommendation led her to a Shambhala meditation group in Yellowknife. This time it stuck, and when she re-located to Ottawa in 2006, Loretta joined the Ottawa Shambhala Centre and has been a member ever since. She has held various volunteer roles at the Centre over the years, including co-Director. She has been teaching meditation in the Shambhala tradition since 2012, and she completed the two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certificate with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield in 2023.

Colin Cordner has been practicing meditation within the Buddhist tradition since 2006, and has been a meditation guide since 2017. His path also often takes him through the domains of political philosophy, the philosophy of history, and the philosophy of science – particularly the philosophy of classical Greece. He splits his remaining leisure between various other Muses, especially those three charged with dance, poetry, and theatre. Also child-rearing.

Sean Dillon (bio to follow)

David Fowler has been a meditation instructor and teacher since 2006. David has had many roles including director and finance officer of the Ottawa Shambhala Centre.

Mark Frutkin has been a meditator for over forty years. He is a senior teacher of Shambhala and a Meditation Instructor. Currently qualified to direct Levels I-IV and the Dignity levels of Shambhala Training, he is a former Director of Shambhala Ottawa, and a former Warrior of the Centre. He is also the author of nineteen books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

Tejumo Ogouma was introduced to meditation in Montreal in the late 1990s. He became a regular practitioner in 2002 after attending a weekend retreat. Tejumo joined the Ottawa Shambhala Centre in 2003, and has since completed several advanced programs and retreats. He has a strong interest in the Shambhala Arts. He teaches Miksang (contemplative photography) and practices Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging). Tejumo’s professional work in the area of international development and conflict resolution has led him to organise several Bearing Witness Retreats in Ottawa. Tejumo is a Shambhala meditation instructor and served as the director of the Ottawa Shambhala Centre from 2012 to 2015.

Sarah Shima began meditating in 1998 and has been a member of the Ottawa Shambhala Centre since she moved to Ottawa in 2003. Sarah became a Shambhala Guide in 2005, and has been a meditation instructor since 2009. As well as teaching at the Centre, Sarah regularly teaches basic meditation to staff and clients at The Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre.

Alexis Shotwell has been a student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche since 1994, and a meditation instructor and teacher since 2000. By happy accident, she’s been involved with the Shambhala community since birth, the child of two practitioners in this lineage. Alexis is part of Queer Dharma at the Centre, a kasung, and has also served as Director of Practice and Education.

Tara Templin began meditating in 2005 when she was working in Honduras as a Peace Corps Volunteer. In 2009 she became a certified yoga instructor and taught yoga and mediation off and on for several years. She landed in the Shambhala Center around 2009 and then became a member in 2017. Tara completed her meditation instruction training in the Shambhala tradition in 2023. Tara sits on the Ottawa Shambhala Centre Council as well as works for the Shambhala Global Organization as an Executive Leadership Team member and Director of Community Care and Conduct.