Catherine Ingram

Catherine Ingram is an international dharma teacher with communities in the U.S., Europe, and Australia. Since 1992 she has led Dharma Dialogues, which are public events that focus on directing awareness toward greater wellbeing in an ethical and happy life.

Catherine also leads numerous silent retreats each year in conjunction with Dharma Dialogues. She is president of Living Dharma, an educational non-profit organization founded in 1995.

In May, 2009, Catherine was the guest-teacher at a special satsang at Gurukula, in Fremantle, Western Australia. Catherine says:

"Our sanctuary is not in finding security in this world. Security in the things and circumstances of the world is an illusion. Our sanctuary is in our ability to passionately celebrate beauty, to show up in love for our friends and families, to live lightly on this earth, and to experience wonder. Our refuge is also in our facility to let go as needed when loss inevitably comes. In this way, our awakened intelligence glows in both happy and troubled times, and our lives stay fresh."

In Sep. 2009, Catherine attended the Vancouver Peace Summit, a three-day gathering of luminaries including the Dalai Lama, Eckhart Tolle, Maria Shriver, numerous Nobel laureates, and a couple dozen other presenters.

The Dalai Lama, she said, emphasized again and again the need for women to have greater roles in leadership in all fields because, he said, they are "biologically" more nurturing and have a greater sensitivity to suffering.

He feels that our educational system is the domain in which ethics and a connection to the totality of life needs to be taught now that there is a worldwide diminishment of the role of churches and the cohesion of families, arenas which once provided more spiritual and ethical sustenance.

He also implored the educators and scientists attending the conference to introduce emotional and social intelligence in schools and for the media to start concentrating more on "good news," stories that uplift our spirits instead of scaring us to death.

Eckhart Tolle, Catherine said, suggested the introduction of "awareness" training in schools, not just as one of the subjects but as the main subject -- "awareness of emotions, awareness of thoughts, of other human beings and their thoughts," and for young people to learn to not equate their thoughts with who they are so that a child has a sense early on of his or her own nature and of the nature of the other children.

At the Summit, there was a moment Catherine heard about that she didn't actually witness. Apparently, after one of the sessions, the Dalai Lama and Eckhart Tolle held hands as they walked to lunch. It is an image, she said, I would have liked to imprint in memory, one that I might call upon in moments of distress.

To most of the world, they are probably the two most respected spiritual leaders of East and West. But in these last days and over the many years I have known them both, Catherine observed, they have shown themselves to be wise global citizens, beautifully human and simple, doing their part for a gentler world.

You can read Catherine's other impressions of the Vancouver Peace Summit Here.

Also, in Oct. 2009, Catherine reported, "I am in the process of moving to Maui, Hawaii, and will be starting up webcasts and a regular Dharma Dialogues schedule once I am settled. I have been on a bit of a sabbatical since leaving Australia some months ago as I strained my voice there. But I am now feeling fine and wanted to thank all my friends there for their concern and love."

For further updates on Catherine's activities, visit her Web