John Baker has been Buddhist since meeting the Tibetan teacher, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1970. In 1974 with Trungpa he co-founded, ran and taught at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, edited Trungpa Rinpoche’s Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism and The Myth of Freedom, and continues to teach Buddhism extensively throughout North America. In addition, John is currently a life-coach for individuals and co-leads on-going Buddhist-psychotherapy groups with his wife, Natalie.

Natalie Baker has been a student of Tibetan Buddhism since 1991 and has been teaching Buddhism since 1996. After receiving a bachelor's degree in psychology, she attended Naropa University for a graduate degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology, with an emphasis on Buddhist psychology. Natalie works as psychotherapist in private practice and lives in Pound Ridge with her husband, John and daughter Olivia.

Derek Kolleeny became a student of Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche in 1976, and joined Trungpa’s translation committee in 1982. He earned a B.A. from Harvard College in 1982, focusing in Buddhism and Tibetan and Sanskrit languages, and an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1989. In 1999 he became a founding Board member of The Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center. He has worked as Controller or CFO of various companies and non-profit organizations for more than 20 years.

Jane Kolleeny has been studying and teaching Tibetan Buddhism and Shambhala Training since the early 70s when she met Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder. She also taught for nine years at the Weekly Dharma Gathering at the New York Shambhala Center, a weekly gathering of 150+ attendees. Originally from Colorado, she moved to New York almost twenty years ago with her husband, Derek. Jane works as editor of two design magazines—Architectural Record and GreenSource: The Magazine of Sustainable Design.