Happy February Friends!
We are in the middle of winter here in the mountains of Colorado. Not much activity, even the animals are quiet in their homes. We are happy for the snow that falls occasionally and for some reason, the wild horses like to come and graze throughout Tara Mandala when it does. It makes the snow even more beautiful seeing these powerful animals so close. Living in the southwest, we look forward to any precipitation and the snow is a major source of water for the area.
Tulku Ösel, Cady, and the boys have finally returned after many years abroad and settled back in here. The energy they bring to the land is palpable. Having a teacher on the land, although once commonplace, has been deeply missed since Lama Tsultrim had to move to sea level for health reasons. We could not be more appreciative to have a resident Lama once again. Tulku Ösel is beginning a series of special teachings for the residents on the Green Tara sadhana which has excited all of us. He has promised to do a deep dive into various practices for those of us on the land. And if you would like to experience these intimate teachings (a little shameless plug here), and experience living on the land without committing to moving here permanently, please look into our Practitioner-In-Residence (PIR) program, where you can come to experience the beauty of living here on the land, in community with just a three-month commitment, or longer if you would like.
Soon, we will be going into our annual Losar retreat. Two weeks before the end of the lunar new year, each of us on the land will pack in our food, practice texts, instruments, and anything else we will need in our rooms/yurts/cabins for the 2-week retreat. This year, we will go into retreat on February 15th and come out on March 2nd, and during this time, all activities on the land will be shut down. When the land is closed like this, it is even quieter than usual, if that is possible. This is a very special time for us on the land. We get to experience the spiritual energy we sometimes miss in the day-to-day activity of work.
And finally, we are very excited to share that we have two new people helping out on the land. Jesse has come to help with land and facilities. He has been fixing things left and right for us and keeping us safe with snow plowing miles of road for us. In the kitchen, we have Francois, a vegetarian chef who has trained in Paris but moved to Pagosa Springs to be near his wife’s family. We are so lucky to have these two and their kind energy on the land.
Wishing all the best,
Clifton Carmody
Operations Director
Photos: Header (J. Brownlee), land with horses (Bodhi Stroupe)
