Dr. Julia Sagebien became a student of the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1973. She subsequently studied with the Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche, as well as other respected teachers such Dzongsar Khyetnse Rinpoche and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Her Buddhist training has included both an academic component (M.A Naropa University) and an extensive religious/contemplative component. Julia has been a Shambhala Training Director since the inception of the program and has taught at several Vajradhatu Seminaries. Online, she has been an active contributor to the Chronicles of CTR project and has more recently hosted several large online programs via Shambhala Online. Julia also worked closely with Spanish-speaking dharma centers worldwide and helped pioneer Queer Dharma. As a founding Governor of the Council of Warriors, she assisted with the preservation of the temporal/secular teachings of the Kingdom of Shambhala.

Dr. Sagebien was born in Cuba and now resides in Halifax, Chicago, and San Juan. She is a retired university professor and a widely published international scholar. She was Senior Fellow for the Canadian Foundation of the Americas and her development projects/conferences have been generously funded by the Ford Foundation and other international foundations. She completed her doctoral work at the London School of
Economics.