Irene Woodard has taught Shambhala Levels 1-4 for over thirty years. As a mother, she has contemplated parenting as a path and learning from her children, and was the lead teacher at Karme Chöling Family Camp in 2006 and 2007, and was a visiting teacher in 2022. Irene is passionate about love of the earth and earth protection. As one of the founders of the Shambhala Touching the Earth Collective, Irene has offered talks on earth protection, both in Shambhala settings as well on the global stage. Irene is a GreenFaith Fellow and is the Vice-Chair on GreenFaith’s Board of Directors. GreenFaith, established in 1993, is one of the world’s oldest interfaith environmental organizations. GreenFaith’s first Buddhist Fellow in 2011, she later represented GreenFaith at Standing Rock. Her work with GreenFaith has included participation in convergences in Rome, New Orleans, COP23 and COP25 and in December 2019, marched with Joan Fonda in Washington DC Fire Drill Friday. Irene is the owner of True Blooms, a floral business using seasonal, fresh, local plants and flowers. True Blooms designed the stage sets for The Dalai Lama’s visit to Town Hall, His Holiness Karmapa’s visit to NYC, World Resource Institute, and The Earth Institute at Columbia University. She is a Senior Teacher and meditation instructor in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition and was Director of Practice and Education, 2013-2018, at Sky Lake Shambhala Meditation and Retreat Center - a contemplative center for meditation, arts and community located in the Hudson Valley. Irene was part of the first delegation of Buddhist teachers invited to the White House under President Obama and is a lifetime Kasung (protector practice) and Kado (contemplative flower arranging) student. Adoring mother of adult children, Charles and Catherine, grandmother of Amelia, she is a baker, a poet, a friend and committed activist in caring for the earth.