The mala is a circular symbol that transcends the individual and cultural barriers to actualize the universal heart of realization and transformation. Please join an extraordinary opportunity to be part of a human mala of the heart, bringing the Yoga, Tantra and Buddhist communities together around the world in collaborative practice for peace. Experience a ritual festival bringing meditation, yoga, dance, and kirtan (chanting of divine name) in a seven-hour participatory cycle open to people of all backgrounds, experience, and age to affirm the power of unifying consciousness through sacred music, movement, breath, and intention. Set in the stunning mandala of Tara Mandala Retreat Center’s new Temple dedicated to the sacred feminine, this event is offered in conjunction with worldwide celebrations of the Global Mala project in over 50 countries, uniting the global yoga community from every continent, school, and approach to form a “mala around the earth” through collective practices based upon the sacred cycle of 108. The intention is to join thousands of planetary rituals that are raising consciousness on Fall Equinox and UN International Peace Day.

Donation: $27, $54, $108 to raise funds for the Tara Temple.

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Shiva Rea, M.A. is a yogini firekeeper, sacred activist, and leading innovator in the evolution of vinyasa flow yoga integrating the tantric bhakti roots of yoga, Krishnamacharya’s teachings and a universal, quantum approach to the body since she began teaching twenty years ago. She leads retreats and pilgrimages worldwide and has served as a creative catalyst to bring community together including Yoga Trance Dance for Life, Moving Activism for 1,008,000 Trees, Yogini Conferences and the worldwide Global Mala Project.

Lama Tsultrim Allione, author and international teacher, founded Tara Mandala in 1994. Inspired by the vision of a Western retreat center while living in the Himalayas in the 1970s, Lama Tsultrim founded Tara Mandala with her husband David Petit, where she is now the spiritual director and resident teacher.

Lama Tsultrim was one of the first American women to be ordained as a Tibetan nun in 1970 by the 16th Karmapa. At the age of 26, after four years as a nun, she returned her monastic vows, married, and raised a family of three. Lama Tsultrim earned a Master’s degree in Buddhist Studies and Women’s Studies from Antioch University. She is the author of Women of Wisdom, a groundbreaking book on the lives of great female Tibetan practitioners.

Lama Tsultrim also authored the recently published Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict, which connects the knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism with the modern psyche, addressing major cultural issues and the roots of our suffering. This National Bestseller is based on Lama Tsultrim’s pioneering technique using five steps to nurture the parts of ourselves we usually fight.

Lama Tsultrim has for many years focused her teachings on the lineage of Machig Labdrön, the 11th century Tibetan yogini who founded the Chöd lineage. In 2007, while leading a pilgrimage to Tibet, she was recognized as an emanation of Machig Labdrön by the resident Lama of Zangri Khangmar (Machig’s monastery in Tibet). In 2009 she was selected by an esteemed committee of scholars and practitioners to receive the international Outstanding Woman in Buddhism Award given in Bangkok, Thailand.

Lama Tsultrim’s teachings arise from the blessings of her many wonderful Tibetan Buddhist teachers, her 40-year dedication to the Buddhist teachings, and her experience as a Western woman.