Skymind: Vast View, Sacred Land

March 27, 2024

July 11 – 16, 2024

Buddhist teachings reveal our innate wakefulness and inherent wholeness, asserting that there is no fundamental lack in ourselves, others, or the world. Everything and everyone emerges from the ground of being, the Great Mother, accessible through the essence of our awareness, the nature of our minds. As the esteemed 11th-century Tibetan yogini Machig Labdrön advises, “rest in your nature.” Join us on the powerful land of Tara Mandala for an immersive exploration of these teachings, as conveyed by Machig. … More Skymind: Vast View, Sacred Land

Ego-clinging and Compassion: Everyday Remedies for a Complex World

March 28, 2024

April 12 – 14, 2024

Given all that’s going on in our world, how do we witness the strife, turmoil, and dissonance without succumbing to its weight? On a personal level, how do we manage our challenges, neuroses, and emotions without losing our capacity for presence and kindness? The Buddha suggested that our grasping to a self lies at the very heart of all our suffering. Machig Labdron, the great 11th-century Tibetan yogini, calls it ego-clinging and offers the remedy of “cutting through,” releasing our sense of an isolated, separate self. But what does this really mean in a practical sense? … More Ego-clinging and Compassion: Everyday Remedies for a Complex World

Mechanics of Meditation: Demystifying the Methodology on the Path of Liberation

March 28, 2024

May 16 – June 13, 2024

This five-week series is for experienced and beginner meditators alike. So often we are told: “follow your breath”, or “visualize the following”, or “rest in open awareness”. But what is it that we are really doing with our attention and our awareness, and how can we optimize our meditation experience?  … More Mechanics of Meditation: Demystifying the Methodology on the Path of Liberation

Feeding Your Demons® Kapala Level I

March 28, 2024

May 24 – 29, 2024

Feeding Your Demons® Kapala Level I is a simple but profound five-step process that guides the practitioner to transform their demons into protective allies through a sequence of illuminating questions and visualizations. Created by Lama Tsultrim Allione, it employs principles of the Tibetan Buddhist practice Chöd, as originally articulated by the eleventh-century female Tibetan teacher, Machig Labdrön. This method has helped thousands of people transform and heal negative emotions, fears, illnesses, and self-defeating patterns. … More Feeding Your Demons® Kapala Level I

Skymind: Glimpsing the Radiance of Our True Nature

March 28, 2024

June 7, 2024

Public Talk in Frankfurt, Germany (+ live online)

At the heart of Buddhist teachings lies the invitation to rest in our true nature, an inherent, brilliant wholeness which is not other than the ground of being itself. Recognizing and remembering this fundamental and inextricable connection to everyone and all things paves the way for a life of awakened, joyful compassion. In this evening’s talk, we will draw on the teachings of the 11th century Tibetan yogini Machig Labdrön, whose wisdom remains relevant and applicable in everyday modern life. … More Skymind: Glimpsing the Radiance of Our True Nature

Chöd – Cutting Through Ego-Fixation

March 28, 2024

June 8 – 11, 2024

In-person Retreat in Frankfurt, Germany

Chöd (literally ‘to cut’ or ‘to sever’) is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist practice through which we confront our fears and attachments by cultivating compassion and generosity. We visualize offering our own body to the forces that seem to destroy us, learning to let go of our grasping at the self. At the same time, we open ourselves to the innate freedom, compassion, and wisdom within. This practice, sung to beautiful melodies and accompanied by a drum and bell, has its roots in shamanic traditions and has traditionally often been used as a healing practice. … More Chöd – Cutting Through Ego-Fixation

Kapala I: Feeding Your Demons

March 28, 2024

June 8 – 12, 2024

In-person retreat in France

Feeding your Demons is a powerful and profound method for working with rather than fighting against the obstacles, conflicts, and challenges of our life. By meeting our fears and obsessions with gentleness and compassion, and nurturing their underlying need, we allow them to transform into allies, insight and wisdom. Drawing on traditional practices and teachings of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, this process was developed by Lama Tsultrim Allione, a Western Buddhist teacher and author of Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict.  … More Kapala I: Feeding Your Demons

Skymind: Opening to the Vast Radiance of Our True Nature

March 28, 2024

June 21 – 23, 2024

In-person Retreat in Prague, Czech Republic

At the heart of Buddhist teachings lies the invitation to rest in our true nature, which is not other than the ground of being from which all things and all beings arise. In every moment of life – even in times of confusion and unrest – this ultimate refuge is accessible to us, offering us support, inspiration and a profound connection to all beings. But this ground also calls on us to open our hearts to all aspects of the human experience – even the most difficult emotions, people and situations. This retreat – based on Pieter and Charlotte’s forthcoming book – introduces nature of mind teachings and a meditation practice to access this ground of being in our direct experience. … More Skymind: Opening to the Vast Radiance of Our True Nature

Kapala I: Feeding Your Demons

March 28, 2024

June 27 – July 1, 2024

Retreat in Tuscany, Italy

Feeding your Demons is a powerful and profound method for working with rather than fighting against the obstacles, conflicts, and challenges of our life. By meeting our fears and obsessions with gentleness and compassion, and nurturing their underlying need, we allow them to transform into allies, insight and wisdom. Drawing on traditional practices and teachings of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, this process was developed by Lama Tsultrim Allione, a Western Buddhist teacher and author of Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict.  … More Kapala I: Feeding Your Demons

Feeding Your Demons Kapala Level III

March 27, 2024

September 4 – 8, 2024

Kapala III is an advanced Feeding Your Demons (FYD) retreat that requires the completion of Levels I & II plus additional prerequisites. In this retreat, we go deeper into Machig Labdrön’s teachings and receive a profound new practice of hers.  Participants will also expand their FYD journey by working with collective demons, such as societal, cultural, and historical demons, and the demon of ego-clinging. Please visit the Tara Mandala website for details. … More Feeding Your Demons Kapala Level III

Liberation in One Seat (Dentog Chigma Chöd)

March 27, 2024

September 27 – October 2, 2024

The dynamic and transformative practice of Dentog Chigma, “liberation on one seat,” combines the melodic and rhythmic aspects of traditional Chöd with the visualization and mantra recitation of Tibetan Buddhist deity practice. The practitioner engages with various forms of Machig Labdrön – including a wrathful emanation – through purification, receiving blessings, radiant compassion, and ultimately the awareness of our inseparability from the ground of being. As such, it is an incredibly dynamic and transformative practice.  … More Liberation in One Seat (Dentog Chigma Chöd)

Lama Live! with Charlotte Rotterdam and Pieter Oosthuizen

July 7, 2022

The event opens with raising Bodhicitta and setting our motivation to listen in order to benefit all beings, followed by prayer requests for those in need. Lopon Charlotte and Pieter then respond to and answer questions from participants. While answering questions, Pieter and Lopon Charlotte teach on quotes from the 11th century master, Machig Labdron … More Lama Live! with Charlotte Rotterdam and Pieter Oosthuizen

Skymind: The Path of Open Awareness – Online Course

July 6, 2022

Sundays, October 2-November 20, 2022 With Charlotte Rotterdam and Pieter Oosthuizen Skymind is an invitation into the lived experience of the Nature of Mind – the vast, potent and radiant nature of reality. Though ultimately beyond words or concept, this ground of being is immanently accessible to us, given that it is our very own … More Skymind: The Path of Open Awareness – Online Course

Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict

March 16, 2022

April 22–24, 2022 at Drala Mountain Center, Red Feather Lakes, CO

This retreat offers an introduction to the process of Feeding Your Demons, a powerful and profound method for working with rather than fighting against the obstacles, conflicts, and challenges of our lives. By meeting our fears and obsessions with tenderness, compassion, and nurturance, we allow them to transform into insight, wisdom, and strength. … More Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict

Green Tara Day-Long Practice Intensive: Virtual Retreat

March 16, 2022

March 19, 2022

With Magyu Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam. Green Tara sits with one foot in the meditative posture and one foot extended, thus embodying active compassion and serving as a model for modern day contemplative life. We invite you to join us for a day of deep practice to connect with the luminous compassion of Green Tara and our innate awakened heart.  … More Green Tara Day-Long Practice Intensive: Virtual Retreat

Skymind: The Path of Open Awareness (Online Course)

July 15, 2021

October 22 to December 17, 2021

Following on last year’s popular course, we return for a deeper dive into Machig’s verses on the nature of mind, offered both to those new to these teachings and as a deepening for those who attended last year’s program.

Machig Labdrön – the great 11th century Tibetan yogini – is unequivocal in her insistence that our truest nature, the very ground of being, is not elsewhere:
Once one’s mind is recognized for sure, there’s no need to establish buddha from elsewhere. … More Skymind: The Path of Open Awareness (Online Course)