College & University Students / Young Adults Winter Retreat

Gaylon Ferguson, PhD, has practiced and taught Buddhism for over four decades. He received a doctorate in cultural anthropology in 1996 and taught at several universities, including fifteen years as core faculty at Naropa. He is a senior dharma teacher in the Shambhala International Buddhist community and has led meditation programs in numerous cities in the U.S. and internationally since 1976. He has been published in anthologies including "Dharma, Color, and Culture"; "Mindful Politics"; and "Black and Buddhist". He is the author of "Natural Wakefulness" and "Natural Bravery".

Vegan Aharonian began studying Shambhala Buddhism in 1996 and has been teaching Shambhala Buddhism since 2007. Originally from Armenia (the former Soviet Union), he came to the United States as a graduate student at Columbia University in 1991. In addition to teaching regularly in New York, he has also taught international Shambhala programs in Russia and Ukraine. Vegan holds a PhD in geophysics and has worked as a software engineer for most of his career. His last engagement was at the United Nations. He is currently serves as co-Director of Karme Choling and leads practice and education for NY Shambhala Center.

Judith Simmer-Brown is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, where she has been in the faculty since 1978. She has practiced Tibetan Buddhism for almost 50 years. She serves on the steering committee of the American Academy of Religion’s Contemplative Studies Group. Dr. Simmer-Brown lectures and publishes on Tibetan Buddhism, American Buddhism, women and Buddhism, interreligious dialogue, and contemplative studies. Her books are "Dakini’s Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism" (Shambhala) and, with Fran Grace, an edited collection of articles called "Meditation and the Classroom: Contemplative Pedagogy for Religious Studies" (Religious Studies Series, State University of New York Press).

Grace Gershuny is an American organic farmer, writer, and leader in the organic farming movement.
She is the author of books and articles on soil management and composting including; "The Soul of Soil", "Start with the Soil", "Compost, Vermicompost and Compost Tea: Feeding the Soil on the Organic Farm" and "The Organic Revolutionary: A Memoir from the Movement for Real Food, Planetary Healing, and Human Liberation".
Previously, she was editor of the "Organic Farmer: The Digest of Sustainable Agriculture".
Currently she serves on the faculty of the Institute for Social Ecology.