Program Teachers

Dr. Reggie Ray

Teacher

Dr. Reginald “Reggie” Ray is the Director of the Dharma Ocean Foundation, dedicated to the evolution and flowering of the somatic teachings of the Practicing Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.  He teaches in the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche.  The author of many books, audio courses, and online series, Reggie’s work and teachings draw from his background as a Buddhist scholar and practitioner.  His PhD is in the History of Religions from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago (1973).  He was the first full-time faculty member and chair of the Buddhist Studies (later Religious Studies) Department at Naropa University.  Over nearly four decades he grew the department and played various leadership roles at Naropa, developing with Trungpa Rinpoche many of the initiatives and projects that became part of Naropa’s unique identity as a Buddhist inspired university.  He began explicitly working with dharma students in 1995 and now devotes all of his time to transmitting the teachings of the Vajra dharma of his teacher.

Caroline Pfohl

Teacher

Caroline Pfohl is the lineage successor of the  Dharma Ocean lineage. Her spiritual journey has included three decades of study and practice in Chan, Taoism, and Tibetan Buddhism.  Within Dharma Ocean, she holds the role of Desung (Protector of Joy), and drawing on lifelong work in educating and healing, she takes the lead in bringing somatic meditation into the arenas of mentoring, relationships, family, well-being, and the arts. In addition to Dharma Ocean, Caroline also currently leads the Hemera Foundation, dedicated to supporting contemplative views and practices and their integration into ordinary life.  It focuses on dharma and secular education, children, and the arts.  

Katja Rübsaat

Program Coordinator

Katja had been studying Buddhism for a couple of years when she came
across the German edition of Touching Enlightenment and immediately felt
a strong connection to these teachings. She started her journey with
Dharma Ocean in 2016 with the first Awakening the Body program and
continued to deepen it ever since. Katja is living in Germany, Europe
with her four cats and works with young adults in a social education
center. She is engaged in supporting the European Sangha.

Chantal Buck

Meditation Instructor

Chantal joined Dharma Ocean in 2014 and has since been a student of Reggie Ray in the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. She lives with family in Connecticut, has worked in various clinical settings and is presently teaching in academia. She enjoys the natural world and all the wonders it holds.

Deborah Raoult

Meditation Instructor

Deborah Raoult lives in Los Angeles where she has a somatic movement and meditation practice dedicated to serving women crossing the thresholds of pregnancy, birth and early mothering. Introduced to the Dharma Ocean lineage through the Meditating with the Body program in 2006, she entered the Vajrayana path in 2008. Deborah is also deeply inspired by her relationship and time with horses in the high desert.

Everett Wilson

Meditation Instructor

Everett Wilson is a writer and poet living in Crestone, Colorado with his wife Anoushka and their two dogs, Luna and Eevee. He came to Dharma Ocean after five years of monastic Zen practice at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in California, and has been a tantrika with Dharma Ocean since 2012. He finds Reggie’s somatic approach to meditation and opening up the life of the heart has profoundly deepened his experience of the world.

Jake La Botz

Meditation Instructor

After getting clean from heroin addiction and searching to understand what his life was for, Jake was lucky to discover the dharma of Chögyam Trungpa and then begin working with Reggie as his teacher in 2003. Along the way, he also learned a lot through participating in 12 Step programs, Jungian analysis, and several years training in Aikido. For the last few years, he's been teaching meditation in prisons and in his local community around Nashville, Tennessee. Professionally, Jake is a songwriter and performer.

Jenna Harrison

Meditation Instructor

Jenna Harrison has been studying Buddhism and practicing meditation since she discovered Chögyam Trungpa’s book, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism in the early 90’s. She currently lives in Hawaii where she spends her time soaking in the beauty of the natural world and parenting her teenage son. 

Libby Weathers

Meditation Instructor

Libby Weathers began studying with Reggie Ray in 2007. The depth of genuine awakening over her years of study and practice continually inspires her dedication to this lineage. Professionally, Libby teaches mindfulness in corporate settings, and enjoys hiking and sailing in San Francisco where she currently lives.

Maria Vargas

Meditation Instructor

Maria Vargas is a long-time student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Dr. Reginald Ray. Out of gratitude for these life-enriching, life-changing Buddhist teachings, she dedicates herself to help making them available to others in both English and Spanish. Maria is a native Coloradan and lives in the Boulder area.

Norman Elizondo

Meditation Instructor

Norman has been an ardent student of meditation since 1994. He began his training and practice in the Theravada tradition. In 2001, he became a student of Reggie Ray and began training in the Tibetan Kagyu, Nyingma, and Shambhala traditions. A cofounder of Open Sky Wilderness Therapy, Norman has been working with struggling young people and their families since 1998. Norman offers the teachings in a way that invites students to explore their unique experience on the journey of meditation and to trust that experience.

Rebeca Castellá

Meditation Instructor

Rebeca Castellá has been studying and practicing with Dharma Ocean since 2006, the year in which Reggie Ray became her main spiritual teacher. She connects deeply with the Meditating with the Body teachings and has been sharing them with others through leading groups, being a Meditation Instructor and leading retreats, since 2011. She is currently living on the island of Ibiza, Spain, together with her husband Braddon. Ibiza is the island where they met at a yoga retreat in the summer of 2004.