OUR TEAM
Teachers, Residents & Community
Clear Sky is a modern day monastery, with our Resident Teacher Catherine Sensei living on-site in community with our Associate Teachers, Full-time Residents, Three-Month Intensive Program Karma Yogis, Community and Work Stay Guests, and a lush ecology of animal friends, native plants and wildlife. Together with our Global Sangha and Online Community Members–We are Clear Sky Retreat Center.
Clear Sky is an act of love.
Founded by a group of dedicated practitioners, we step into the unknown every day as we build this community.
Instead of being secluded away from the world, we believe in creating a space that meets the world where it is at. This means that our residents undertake lifelong development and exploration and that they have day-jobs which serve our local or global communities.
How do we balance careers with running a meditation centre? How do we embody effective communication and teamwork skills that support varied ages and cultural backgrounds? How can we create a sustainable business model so our centre may support generations to come?
These are the questions we grapple with…
Our Founding Teachers
Qapel Doug Duncan
Founding Teacher July 14th, 1949 – October 5th, 2024
Qapel received lay ordination from Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche in 1978, and is a lineage holder in that teaching. He also received teachings from the 16th Karmapa and other Tibetan Rinpoches, as well as from the Ven. Sayadaw U Thila Wunta, and from a Master of the Western Mystery School. In addition, Qapel undertook numerous three-month solitary meditation retreats.
Catherine Pawasarat Sensei
Founding Teacher & Chief Visionary Officer
In 1998, Catherine Pawasarat Sensei began an intensive spiritual apprenticeship that is rare in the modern West. Studying under Acariya Qapel Doug Duncan, she underwent rigorous daily training in Buddhist meditation and philosophy. Catherine has studied and taught Dharma in remote areas of Antarctica, Brazil, Bhutan, and Guatemala. In addition to Buddhist philosophy and its applications to daily life, Catherine Sensei also draws on generative living, psychology and the arts. In 2004, she co-founded Clear Sky with Qapel Doug Duncan.
Our Resident Teachers
Karen McAllister
Founding Resident & Associate Teacher
After meeting our founding teachers in Japan, I managed their meditation center in Kyoto for many years.
I am privileged to have been part of the team that took the center from self-starter to second-stage growth.
Duncan Cryle
Founding Resident & Associate Teacher
The former Clear Sky Chair, a certified Mindfulness teacher, Dharma teacher, and an exec at an innovative technology company.
Through 30+ years of personal practice, 15+years of teaching meditation and mindfulness, and an active career working all over the world, I’ve learnt a lot about an integrated spiritual path.
Maureen Smith
ASSOCIATE TEACHER, LAND & BUILDINGS & FOUNDING RESIDENT
The year 2000 was when I first began studying Buddha-Dharma and meditation with the Namgyal Lineage. Since 2005, I have been a resident, caretaker and co-manager of the Clear Sky Retreat Center, studying and practicing under Clear Sky’s founders and awakening masters, Qapel (Doug Duncan) and Sensei (Catherine Pawasarat).I feel grateful for the Teachers, the Teachings and the Sangha which provide a platform to explore consciousness, train, and develop in order to support people to unfold.
Also a Registered Clinical Social Worker and Certified Imago Relationship Therapist, I have been a Mental Health and Substance Use Counsellor since 2011. Initially drawn to train in social work in order to support folks spiritually in hospice and palliative care, I am also trained as a MBSR facilitator. I teach and train in the ways of awakening and aspire to be as skillful and compassionate as my Teachers.
Dean Nicholson
ASSOCIATE TEACHER,
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATOR,
PERSONAL RETREAT MANAGER
I was re-introduced to Buddha Dharma in 2011 and began studying with Qapel and Sensei in 2014. In 2016 I became a long-term resident at Clear Sky and began a turbo-charged path of spiritual awakening through Karma Yoga.
My various roles at Clear Sky allow me to support the ongoing sustainability and growth of the Center, while creating opportunities for people to experience the magic of personal retreats and group living in an awakening community.
For my livelihood, I have a Masters Degree in Counselling Psychology and for the past 35 years I have worked as a clinical counsellor. I’m passionate about helping people grow and unfold, combining wisdom traditions, psychology, natural history, arts and literature, in a way of teaching and therapy that meets people where they are and helps them get to where they want to be.
Ava Maclean
ASSOCIATE TEACHER, COMMUNITY & MARKETING MANAGER
In 2016 I came to Clear Sky for a retreat. I still haven’t left.
In short, my life transformed upon meeting Doug and Catherine Sensei.
David Basu-Roy
ASSOCIATE TEACHER,
FARM & KITCHEN MANAGER
Our Four-Legged Residents
Duke
Sonora
Alegria
Onyx
Shoga
Our Board of Directors
Michele
Board Secretary
Michele Cherot, M.B.A., has a strong management background in organizational development
and business consulting. With over 19 years’ experience has the Business Manager of a
successful non-profit organization, her primary areas of responsibility included: management of
financial systems, strategic leadership and the creation of new revenue streams. Now retired,
she enjoys contributing to the development of the Clear Sky organization.
Erika
Board Liaison
Erika Rasmussen is a Denver-born creative writer, editor and filmmaker now living at Clear Sky Meditation Center and monastery just a few hours north in BC, Canada. She has dedicated her life to the well-being of all creation, and is learning how to wake up, grow up, clean up, and show up in an awakening paradigm of Integral evolutionist spirituality with her teacher Catherine Pawasarat Sensei, the Clear Sky community, and their three horses and two cats.
Damon
Board Chair
Damon, formerly know as Martin, Born in London, UK. Met Namgyal Rinpoche, his Root Guru, in 1975.
A student of Qapel and Catherine Sensei since soon after the death of Namgyal.
Damon has travelled, and worked all over Europe and North America. Lived in Japan from 1980 to 83.
Richard
Board Treasurer
As a long time student of Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche and fellow student with Qapel Doug Duncan, Richard supported Clear Sky since its inception and continues to play a valuable role in its growth.
As the President of Spectrum Glazes in Toronto, Richard brings his abundance of financial and business oversight to the Clear Sky Board.
A 500 Year Vision
Clear Sky was founded on a belief that everything we do is for the benefit of all beings. Our vision is to still be doing that 500 years from now. Our Board is helping us achieve that.
Ensuring that everything we do honours our quadruple bottom line, vision and mission, our Board is what brings our inner intentions and outer actions into alignment.
In order to achieve this, our Board members are leaders in strategic planning. And, because our Chair is a Certified Money Coach, we are pioneers in ensuring that all members have a healthy relationship with money. By bringing all organizational shadows into the light, our Board helps the Clear Sky truly shine.
It's messy. It's exhilarating. It's our calling.
Maybe it’s your calling too..
Questions are an important part of the journey. It’s easier with others–we’re here to light the way. Let us know know what’s calling you, and we’ll shed some light on purposeful next steps. We look forward to connecting with you!
Find Out.
If you feel the calling to connect in person, and to see for yourself what Clear Sky is all about–Explore your options with our “Four Ways to Stay”. We look forward to welcoming you for a visit, and to learning more about how your path might be aligned with ours!