Feeding Your Demons® Level I (Kapala I)

Dorje Lopön Charlotte Z. Rotterdam has studied Tibetan Buddhism since the mid 1990’s, and was authorized to teach by Lama Tsultrim Allione in 2006. She received the title of Magyu Lopön, lead teacher of Magyu: The Mother Lineage at Tara Mandala from Lama Tsultrim in 2016, and Dorje Lopön, Vajra Teacher, in 2023. Raised in New York City, Charlotte’s early fascination with consciousness led her to study philosophy and religion, culminating in a Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. In addition to her many years studying with Lama Tsultrim, she has had the joy of receiving teachings from Lama Tharchin Rinpoche, Namkai Norbu Rinpoche, Lama Wangdu Rinpoche, Adzom Paylo Rinpoche, Tulku Sang Ngag Rinpoche, among others. She teaches internationally on meditation, compassion, and a variety of Vajrayana Buddhist practices. Charlotte co-developed Tara Mandala’s Feeding Your Demons Online Certification Program, served as executive co-director of Tara Mandala for four years, and is currently a board member. An Instructor at Naropa University, she directs the Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education and co-developed and teaches Naropa’s Mindful Compassion Training. Together with her husband and frequent co-teacher, Lopön Pieter Oosthuizen, she co-authored Skymind: The Radical Path of Open Awareness, based on the teachings of the 11th century Tibetan yogini, Machig Labdrön (Shambhala Publications). The Skymind teachings, writings, and sangha invite us to rediscover the boundless clarity and compassion already within us, and to integrate and apply profound Buddhist insights to contemporary life. Charlotte has published essays in Mandala, Lion’s Roar, and Buddhadharma, and is a mother of two boys. www.skymind.us

Lopön Pieter Oosthuizen is a Senior Teacher in Lama Tsultrim Allione's lineage, Director of The Feeding Your Demons Institute, and co-author of Skymind: The Radical Path of Open Awareness. His journey arcs from the wild edges of apartheid-era Johannesburg to the heart of contemplative practice. As a boy, he roamed the veld with a slingshot and a longbow; by 19, he was an Intelligence Officer in the Angolan war. Afterward, he slung on a backpack and wandered east to a life-shifting encounter with a serene Tibetan porter in the Himalayan foothills, followed by the Dalai Lama in India and Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche back in South Africa - the first of many esteemed Buddhist teachers. After earning his Law Degree, Pieter again crossed continents to the U.S., where he served as Assistant VP for Academic Affairs at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and as Co-executive Director at Tara Mandala Retreat Center, where he recently also served as President of the Board for six years. Somewhere along the way Pieter also founded CELSUS Bio-Intelligence, a skincare company rooted in alchemical principles and modern science. These days Pieter leads retreats internationally on meditation, Feeding Your Demons, Skymind, and a variety of Vajrayana Buddhist practices, and writes about the non-dual nature of reality. Through all his work lives a single thread: How do we meet life with radical awareness and embodied courage?