“I realize the teachings show up in my life in every way. They help me run my business better; they help me show up for my family better; they help me show up for other people better.”

Matchmaking in Australia

Jeremy Wortsman, 42, has a natural ease bringing people together and ideas to fruition.

That was evident as soon as he reached out to Tergar International in February 2020 to found a book club and then the first Tergar practice group in Australia — the Tergar Melbourne Practice Group. These groups practice Rinpoche’s Joy of Living teachings.

After three and a half years, the Tergar Melbourne group has flourished under his competent and creative guidance, culminating in Mingyur Rinpoche’s much-anticipated visit to Australia in December — his first ever.

Given his signature warmth and sparkle, it’s easy to see that people are drawn to be part of his team. 

“I’m a matchmaker,” smiles Jeremy, referring to his work as an artist’s agent. Indeed, he is the brilliance behind his global talent agency based in Melbourne, London, and New York City. His agency’s diverse projects include an art gallery, artist retreats, bed and breakfasts, and even a jigsaw puzzle company. 

“Teachings Show Up in My Life in Every Way”

The last months have been a marathon between work, Rinpoche’s visit, and being a family man with two young children. Where does his volunteer commitment come from? It’s about perspective: “There’s nothing more important than the teachings, really,” he says. “I realize the teachings show up in my life in every way. They help me run my business better; they help me show up for my family better; they help me show up for other people better.”

While many people would agree that the teachings are important, few would take the steps to create community. Why has this been such a priority for him? 

With the epidemic of loneliness still a legacy of the pandemic, he sees the importance of human connection. “I’ve taken it as a personal challenge,” he says. “I always try to mix what I really want to get out of it personally and make sure that there’s a greater good to it as well. If I can get those two things happening, then they work off each other.”

Finding the Path to Meditation

Jeremy’s own pathway to the teachings began in Long Island, New York, where he was born and raised. A sensitive, artistic individual who struggled with anxiety and panic attacks in his teen years, he came across Pema Chodron’s The Places That Scare You, which led him to his first meditation classes. 

At 19, he was a college sophomore living in lower Manhattan when the events of 9-11 occurred. Profoundly shaken, he decided it was time to pack his bags and move as far away as possible.

In Australia, his chosen home, it took some years before he reconnected to meditation. But he had the good fortune to keep coming across Kagyu lineage teachers, amongst them Traleg Rinpoche.  After Traleg Rinpoche’s passing, Jeremy kept looking for a living teacher and found him unexpectedly. “Mingyur Rinpoche came up in my conversations with Andrew [Holocek], and the rest is history!”

Why does he value the Joy of Living teachings? “They are really such a complete series of teachings. They contain the whole path, and there is so much depth to it,” he says. “Even though my main practice is the Path of Liberation, each time I come back to Joy of Living, I get something totally new out of it. I also appreciate it’s a very sequential path as well. Each piece flows into the other very elegantly. It’s a work of art really.”

When not working, Jeremy is often found at the ice hockey rink. This may be a much-deserved break for this “all-in-one super operator” — as one Tergar colleague affectionately describes him —  but more than likely, as he’s lacing up his skates, his next vision is becoming ever clearer in his mind’s eye. We suspect so!