Monday

Shambhala Board Oath Ceremony

On Jan 31, 2023, new Shambhala Board members Jason Elias, George Gomez, Ashoka Mukpo, Cynthia Sagers, and Kiri Westby, took their Shambhala Board Members Oath. The oath ceremony was witnessed by continuing Shambhala Board Members, members of the Shambhala Global Services Team, and community members. Over 100 people attended the oath ceremony and represented community members from around the globe. It was a poignant and cheerful event with many toasts, spontaneous poems, and lots of time for socializing with the new Board members as they zipped around from Zoom breakout group to breakout group. We wish them well on their journey as the move forward in their Board Member roles!

Jason Elias is a photographer, creative director, and partner at the production company Easy Tiger. He also hosts and produces the Big Deep podcast, which explores people’s dedication to the ocean. Jason is a long-time Shambhala member, having held a number of leadership positions in the Los Angeles community. He is an avid scuba diver, loves to adventure travel, and enjoys a good tequila. He lives in Venice, CA with his wife, Jessica, and their awesome kid, Arlo.

George Gomez was born in Nicaragua and migrated with his family to the United States from Costa Rica as a young boy and has called California his home ever since. Growing up, he loved storytelling and eventually received a B.A. in Film and TV from UCLA. Today he is a producer and content creator with over 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry. George began engaging with the Shambhala community in 2006 and quickly felt a karmic connection to the Shambhala terma and the community of practitioners in Los Angeles. Over the years, he has held several volunteer and leadership positions within the Los Angeles sangha, including starting L.A.’s chapter of the Heart of Recovery and coordinating the Young Meditators group for five years. George attended Sacred World Assembly in 2014 and later received the Rigden Abhisheka from Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche in 2017, who he still considers his root guru. He is also a Meditation Instructor and was authorized to teach Way of Shambhala courses in 2018. George is very open about his 13 years of sobriety and involvement in the 12-step community. He has developed and taught mindfulness courses geared towards addiction recovery and understanding animal behavior among dog trainers. He also has a long history of community organizing and event planning. In his spare time, he enjoys photography, making electronic music, and being a proud father to his beautiful 3-year-old son.

Ashoka Mukpo is a journalist, writer, and human rights researcher. He’s worked in West Africa, Central America, and on the U.S.-Mexico border. Currently he is a features writer for Mongabay, covering environmental issues and the political economy of conservation worldwide. He also writes about migration and the U.S. immigration detention system. Ashoka was one of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s stepsons and was trained in the Shambhala practice and study path by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He is currently without a teacher and is attempting to practice bodhichitta, the Werma sadhana, and the divine art of humility.

Dr. Cynthia Sagers is an educator, scientist, and higher education leader. She became Vice President for Research at Arizona State University in September 2018 and has led the growth of the research enterprise to record levels of scholarly achievement and a global reputation for innovation and entrepreneurship. Dr. Sagers previously served as Vice President for Research and professor of biology at Oregon State University, and Associate Vice Provost and professor of biology at the University of Arkansas. She is the former chair and long-term member of the board of directors for the Organization for Tropical Studies and has served and counseled numerous economic development agencies on matters of university innovation and commercialization, and federal agencies on science and technology policy. Sagers currently holds the rank of Full Professor at Arizona State University. Dr. Sagers completed a Ph.D. at the University of Utah and was a post-doctoral fellow at UC Berkeley before joining the faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Arkansas. She has earned recognition as a research fellow with the National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama), and the National Research Council working at the US Environmental Protection Agency (National Health and Environmental Effects Research Lab (NHEERL), Corvallis, Oregon.

Kiri Westby (She/Her) is a mom, an activist, a writer, a wife, a teacher, a student, and a Boulder-born Buddhist (affectionately known as a “Dharma Brat”). Throughout her childhood, Kiri attended Shotoku, Rights of Passage, Sun Camp, Rights of Warriorship, Shambhala Training, and several programs with various Tibetan Buddhist teachers. Kiri has been part of organizing and teaching at Shambhala Family Camp for the last nine consecutive years. Kiri’s activism work has taken into numerous war zones around the world. Kiri currently works as a professional writer, splitting her time between Boulder, Colorado and Bucerias, Mexico, and serves on the Board of Directors of September School, a private high school/middle school in Boulder. Kiri’s first book, Fortune Favors The Brave: An Extraordinary Memoir, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2020.

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New Board Members Doha

Striving for wholeness. Recognizing the goodness in everyone. 
The path is littered with obstacles, but that’s the point.

At the end of a darker, colder night, I step to the front porch and head outside. 
It’s clear, cold, beautiful, and the rising sun gently warms my face.

I’m bathed in the wisdom and warmth of my new board members. 
The darkness that once engulfed us is at our heels. 
We have the beauty and moment of now and we can see a bright vision ahead of us.

“Oops!” crossing the threshold. Chaos is good. 
Changes are needed in order to give way to impermanence. 
Rousing bravery for the moment

In the inescapable space of things falling away 
may the liberating magic of creativity and trust be present.

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