Will Ryken first connected to Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and the Buddhadharma in Boulder, Colorado in 1972 and that was it. He lived at Karme Chöling for two years and then was Director of Dorje Khyung Dzong for another two years, returning to Boulder until moving to Florida in 2006. Will co-founded the Shambhala Sun Summer camp in 1984. He has been teaching in prisons for the past twenty years and is currently a mentor for a gentleman on death row in Angola state prison in Louisiana. He currently lives in Ruskin, Florida with his wife Paula Bickford. They both teach and play at the St. Petersburg Shambhala Center as well as teaching and Assistant Directing Shambhala programs around the world.