Dale Asrael

Dale Asrael was born in a suburb of Washington, DC. From a Jewish family, she grew up with a strong sense of the sacredness of life and awareness of the continuity of suffering. After completing university studies in film and Eastern religions, Dale moved to Canada in 1970, disheartened by the Vietnam War. Shortly after she took refuge at the Kagyü Center in Vancouver, British Columbia, Dale heard reports of a "revolutionary young lama" who was teaching about chaos and wisdom. She journeyed to Boulder to meet him, and during her first interview with the Vidyadhara in 1973, Dale realized she was "being given answers to questions I hadn't even begun to articulate."

Dale attended the first session of Naropa Institute in 1974 and the first public dathün at Rocky Mountain Dharma Center that same summer. An early member of the Kootenay Dharma Study Group, she spent the next six years traveling from BC to attend programs with Rinpoche. During that time, she completed a degree in Education and became a music teacher in the BC school system.

Dale was a participant at the 1978 Seminary, a program remembered for Rinpoche's regular gatherings for post- talk singalongs in the hotel lounge. In 1979, she moved to Boulder to study more intensively with the Vidyadhara. For five years she taught music at the Buddhist-inspired Vidya School and served as Head of Practice and Study at Rocky Mountain Dharma Center from 1985-1990. Currently, Dale is a member of the Upaya Council and an Assistant Professor at Naropa University, where she's been on the core faculty for seven years. She married David Cook at Magyel Pomra Encampment in 1993.

Dale enjoys teaching meditation and is especially interested in how instructors can continually train to deepen their understanding of practice and become skilful mentors. She says, "I am continually humbled by studying and teaching the rich dharma heritage of our lineages. No matter how much we have learned, the Dharma always has more to teach us."