Dr. Lourdes Arguelles (Lopon Dorje Nkgma Dorje Khandro) was installed as a Lopon (Skt. Acharya) by His Holiness the 37th Chetsang Rinpoche, head of the Drikung Kagyu lineage after several decades studying and doing retreat under several Tibetan Buddhist masters of different traditions in India and Nepal including His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. She was ordained as a Ngkma (lay tantric practitioner) by His Eminence the 8th Garchen Rinpoche. She currently teaches mind training and death, dying and rebirth among other topics at Drikung Kyobpa Choling, a Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Center in Escondido, California and to its Latin American sangha in Mexico DF. Dr. Arguelles received an interdisciplinary PhD degree in Human Relations and Community Studies with a specialization in Psychology from New York University and did post doctoral studies at York University (Canada) in Law and Mental Health and UCLA in Ethnopsychology. She is Professor Emerita of Education and Cultural Studies at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California. Before joining CGU, she was the Mac Arthur Chair in Gender and Feminist Studies at Pitzer College, Claremont, California. Dr. Arguelles is a retired California licensed psychotherapist who worked pro-bono for many years with migrants and their families in the US-Mexico Borderlands. In order to better serve her clients, she also spent time studying and working with scientists on new paradigm research on consciousness and heart-brain communication and its application in trauma therapy. She currently lives in retreat when not assisting the dying and the terminally ill.

Dr. John Freese (Rev. Dhammabodhi) is a former Buddhist monk in the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition, a Buddhist minister in the Dhamma Vinaya Order, and a professor of Buddhist studies at Sakya Buddha University in Santa Ana California. After being a monk for 12 years John transitioned back to lay life. He moved to Los Angeles and did 10 years of graduate school. He earned a Master of Divinity at University of the West and a PhD in practical theology at Claremont School of Theology. His research is focused on integrating Buddhist meditation with trauma therapy. He has also focused on early Buddhist and Daoist yogic teachings. Based on his research he developed a Buddhist model of spiritual care and counseling called Buddhist ACT in which he has correlated the six processes of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with early Buddhist teachings from the Samyutta Nikaya. John is the founder of the Dhamma Vinaya Order, a lay order of Buddhist ministers. The DVO online temple is www.muktivihara.org He is a professor of Buddhist counseling at Sakya Buddha University in Santa Ana California. He is the host of Down with the Dharma podcast and editor of The New Order on SubStack.