Retreat Cabins
Open Dates
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
The beauty of nature, quietness, and solitude supported me so much in letting the vajra mind shine through. Having time for my practice with no outer worldly pressure helped me to deeply relax into my meditation, creating space. I’m deeply grateful for this precious time on Tara’s Land! -Vera…
Personal Retreat in Prajna Residence Hall
Open Dates
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
We are happy to announce that the Prajña Residence Hall will be open for personal retreats during the above dates pending availability around group retreats.
Winter Solstice Celebration With the Tara Mandala Community
With Lopön Beth Lee-Herbert M.A., L.M.H.C.
December 21 - 22, 2019
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Come celebrate the Winter Solstice 2019 with the Tara Mandala community. Let's join together to center ourselves and begin the holidays by quieting our minds, settling in our bodies, and opening our hearts to the great mystery of the turning of the sun and the darkest night.
Feeding Your Demons Workshop
With Paula van Lammeren
February 15 - 16, 2020
Zutphen, Netherlands
The workshop provides a thorough grounding in this remarkable method for transforming and befriending negative emotions, fears, illness and self defeating patterns; and introduces the radical notion that to heal and transform ourselves we must ‘feed’ not fight our demons.
Green Tara Retreat
With Magyu Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam
April 23 - 27, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
In this retreat you will learn to embody Green Tara, the female Buddha of compassion, who provides protection from fears and obstacles. New in 2020 - This is a Pay-It-Forward Retreat!
Relationship as Sacred Practice: The Art of Love and Devotion
With Nadine Keller, MA and Andrew Keller
May 1 - 6, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Join us for an exquisite immersion into the path of awakening through conscious relationship. Approaching all relationships with deeper awareness, sacredness and intimacy invites us onto a path that is an unfolding process of profound personal and spiritual development.
Meeting the Wisdom Mother
With Shiva Rea and Lama Tsultrim Allione
May 5 - 9, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
During this retreat approaching Mother’s Day, we will explore the Great Wisdom Mother, and her historical emanation Machig Labdrön, the 11th century Tibetan Yogini. Many of us suffer from a lack of connection with the Wisdom Mother and could benefit from methods and experiences connecting us to her. How can…
Celebrating Machig Labdrön’s Birthday: Practice of the Garland of Jewels (Rinchen Trengwa) Sadhana
With Lama Tsultrim Allione
May 7, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
In honor of Machig Labdrön’s birthday, we will practice the Garland of Jewels (Tib. Rinchen Trengwa) sadhana to celebrate and share her living oral tradition of Chöd.
Undoing Patriarchy & Embodying Sacred Masculinity
With Lama Rod Owens
May 13 - 16, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
We will take up a dharmic lens to examine our relationship to violence and domination, power, femininity, love, and sexuality along a path to unveiling and honoring non-patriarchal expressions of who we are as human beings.
Open House and Intro to Meditation | May
May 16, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Tara Mandala is open to the public several times each year. You are welcome to join us for a guided tour of our beautiful Retreat Center and Tara Temple and an introduction to Buddhist meditation.
Journey into the Dakini Mandala: A Meditation and Writing Retreat
With Karla Jackson-Brewer and Ranjini George
May 20 - 24, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Through generative writing practices and Dakini Mandala meditation, we will journey into our innermost being, explore the five families, and transform our encumbered emotions.
Skin Out, Skin In: Uncovering the Roots of Racism and Oppression through the Four Foundations of Mindfulness
With JoAnna Hardy and Erin Treat
May 20 - 24, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
On the path to making a more equitable, just, and awake world, we need to wake up to how the roots of racism and oppression can arise within ourselves. By connecting to how they may arise in ourselves, we can more effectively and compassionately connect to how they arise in…
Aging with Wisdom and Creativity: Deepening our Practice through Reflection and Writing
With Victress Hitchcock and Olivia Hoblitzelle
May 28 - 31, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Many of us find ourselves dealing with issues around aging and how to respond creatively to this new phase in our lives. In this retreat, we will use writing in different forms – stories, poems, journaling - and small group sharing as a creative way to explore these issues.
Chöd: From Chögyal Namkhai Norbu
With Karla Jackson-Brewer
May 28 - June 1, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Chöd is a unique blend of the Tibetan Shamanic traditions and the Buddhist tradition of compassion and emptiness. This centuries-old practice is sung, and is accompanied by the use of a traditional Chöd drum and bell. Healing comes when fear, fixation, and self-clinging are cut through, when we nurture and…
Open House and Intro to Meditation | June
June 13, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Tara Mandala is open to the public several times each year. You are welcome to join us for a guided tour of our beautiful Retreat Center and Tara Temple and an introduction to Buddhist meditation.
Feeding Your Demons®: Kapala Training Level II
With Magyu Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam and Pieter Oosthuizen
June 16 - 21, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
This retreat consists of a deepening of the Prajña Paramita practice, an introduction to Jamgön Kongtrül’s text “Transmitting the Meaning of the Mother,” and Machig Labdrön’s method for cutting through discursive thoughts with sound.
Feeding Your Demons®: Kapala Training Level I
With Karla Jackson-Brewer and Polly Ryan, MA, MFT
June 25 - 30, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Inspired by the ancient practice of Chöd, Feeding Your Demons® is a five-step process created by Lama Tsultrim Allione that allows us to offer compassion and understanding to our own inner demons rather than engaging in battle and struggling with them.
Descent and Emergence: A Mythic Journey for Challenging Times
With Lama Tsultrim Allione and Michael Meade
June 25 - 30, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Join mythologist and storyteller Michael Meade and Buddhist teacher and bestselling author Lama Tsultrim Allione for an intensive four-day retreat.
Open House and Intro to Meditation | July
July 11, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Tara Mandala is open to the public several times each year. You are welcome to join us for a guided tour of our beautiful Retreat Center and Tara Temple and an introduction to Buddhist meditation.
Longchenpa’s Treasury of the Natural State: A Dzogchen Retreat
With H.E. Chung Tulku Rinpoche
July 13 - 19, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Longchenpa (1308-1364) was one of the most brilliant teachers of the Nyingma lineage in Tibetan Buddhism. He systematized the Nyingma teachings in his revered text Seven Treasures and wrote extensively on Dzogchen (Great Perfection).
Gateway: Inner Rushen (By Invitation Only – Garudas)
With Lama Tsultrim Allione
July 13 - 19, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
This retreat is required for all Complete Transmission (Garuda) participants who have completed their samaya for the Outer Rushen practices. These are closed teachings open only to those who are part of the Garuda Complete Transmission Program.
Gateway: Tröma Sadhana (By Invitation Only – Tigers)
With Lopön Beth Lee-Herbert M.A., L.M.H.C.
July 13 - 19, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
This retreat is required for all Complete Transmission (Tiger) participants who have met their samaya requirements for the White Dakini Sadhana. These are closed teachings open only to those who are part of the Tiger Complete Transmission Program.
White Dakini Drubchö
With H.E. Chung Tulku Rinpoche and Lama Tsultrim Allione
July 22 - 28, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
We will experience a traditional empowerment and be led through an in-depth process of learning and practicing the White Dakini mandala from Do Khyentse’s Dzinpa Rangdröl (Self-Liberation from Fixation) treasure cycle. This practice is the union of Machig Labdrön and Yeshe Tsogyel, surrounded by the dakinis of the five families.
Family Retreat: The Open Heart | Child Registration
With Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton, Magyu Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam, Pieter Oosthuizen, Scott Blossom, Jennifer Warren, Alexis Slutzky, Nick King, Nikita Gayle Romanzov, Andy Spall and Stacy Zumbroegel
August 1 - 7, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
This year’s family retreat will explore teachings and practices of compassion that open our hearts more fully to ourselves, each other, and the community of life around us. Compassion attunes us to the richness and radiance of interconnectedness, and the vibrant, awake heart that lies within each of us.
Family Retreat: The Open Heart | Teen Registration
With Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton, Magyu Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam, Pieter Oosthuizen, Scott Blossom, Jennifer Warren, Alexis Slutzky, Nick King, Nikita Gayle Romanzov, Andy Spall and Stacy Zumbroegel
August 1 - 7, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
This year’s family retreat will explore teachings and practices of compassion that open our hearts more fully to ourselves, each other, and the community of life around us. Compassion attunes us to the richness and radiance of interconnectedness, and the vibrant, awake heart that lies within each of us.
Family Retreat: The Open Heart | Adult Registration
With Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton, Magyu Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam, Pieter Oosthuizen, Scott Blossom, Jennifer Warren, Alexis Slutzky, Nick King, Nikita Gayle Romanzov, Andy Spall and Stacy Zumbroegel
August 1 - 7, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
This year’s family retreat will explore teachings and practices of compassion that open our hearts more fully to ourselves, each other, and the community of life around us. Compassion attunes us to the richness and radiance of interconnectedness, and the vibrant, awake heart that lies within each of us.
Family Retreat: The Open Heart
With Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton, Magyu Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam, Pieter Oosthuizen, Scott Blossom, Jennifer Warren, Alexis Slutzky, Nick King, Nikita Gayle Romanzov, Andy Spall and Stacy Zumbroegel
August 1 - 7, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
This year’s family retreat will explore teachings and practices of compassion that open our hearts more fully to ourselves, each other, and the community of life around us. Compassion attunes us to the richness and radiance of interconnectedness, and the vibrant, awake heart that lies within each of us.
Benefit Concert for Tara Mandala
With R. Carlos Nakai and Peter Rowan
August 15, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Join us for an inspiring concert evening with two amazing artists: Grammy Award winner and six-time Grammy nominee, Peter Rowan and Grammy-nominated and premier performer of the traditional Native American flute, R. Carlos Nakai. These inspiring musicians will take us through a musical journey, blending their insights into a unique,…
Buddhahood Without Meditation: Longchen Nyingthig P’howa
With Adzom Gyalse Rinpoche
August 20 - 24, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
The ability to transfer consciousness into an exalted state at the moment of death allows us to live without the fear of dying. Through P’howa, death becomes an opportunity for liberation instead of a mere severance from what we have known and loved in life.
Sky Mind: Machig Labdrön and Open Awareness
With Magyu Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam and Pieter Oosthuizen
August 20 - 24, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
In one of her brilliant teachings, Machig Labdrön – the great 11th century Tibetan yogini – suggests “don’t search, don’t practice; rest in your nature.” This powerful invitation reminds us to turn towards the innate wholeness of our being, the natural space/expanse of primordial awareness.
Liberation is Now: Engaging the Mind to Discover It Moment by Moment
With Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
August 27 - 29, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Join us for a special retreat with one of the most beloved and influential female senior Buddhist teachers in the West today, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo. Jetsunma will give teachings on a text by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye titled Advice Given To Lhawang Tashi.
Benefit for Tara Mandala and Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery
With Lama Tsultrim Allione and Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
August 28, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Join us for an afternoon event with two of the most well-known and influential female Buddhist teachers in the West today, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo and Lama Tsultrim Allione. They will answer audience questions and share stories and insights from their many years of Dharma practice and teaching.
Open House and Intro to Meditation | August
August 29, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Tara Mandala is open to the public several times each year. You are welcome to join us for a guided tour of our beautiful Retreat Center and Tara Temple and an introduction to Buddhist meditation.
Wisdom Rising: Journey into the Sacred Masculine
With Lama Tsultrim Allione, Pieter Oosthuizen and Karla Jackson-Brewer
September 2 - 8, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Experience transformation through the power of the mandala—a universal map of inner and outer balance, wholeness, and practical awakening. This training offers a journey into the Mandala of the Five Buddhas developed by Lama Tsultrim Allione to bring emotional transformation into alignment with the spiritual path.
Feeding Your Demons®: Kapala Training Level IV
With Lama Tsultrim Allione
September 14 - 19, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
In Kapala Training Level IV, you will receive Machig’s Ultimate Meaning from Lama Tsultrim, as well as the Crystal and the Rainbow Rays Movement Practice.
Feeding Your Demons®: Kapala Training Level III
With Pieter Oosthuizen
September 14 - 19, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
In Kapala Training Level III we will go further into Machig Labdrön’s lineage, learning specific new practices and deepening our understanding of the roots and branches of her lineage tree.
Dance in the Mandala of the 21 Praises of Tara: Praise Her, Embody Her, Discover Your Own Perfection
With Prema Dasara
September 23 - 28, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
During this retreat dancers will join in practices, meditation, and dances that guide the participant into the depths of their relationship with Tara; the Tara before us, the Tara we are.
Zhitro: The Six Moments of Opportunity and Practice for the Deceased
With Lama Tsultrim Allione and Debra Quayle
September 26 - 28, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
Zhitro is a simple and accessible practice that provides us with a way to help the deceased, and helps us to become familiar with the visions and experiences we may experience following our own passing.
Tröma Nagmo Chöd Intensive
With Sangye Khandro
October 2 - 5, 2020
Tara Mandala Retreat Center
This Chöd practice provides an extremely powerful means to sever the root of suffering, self-grasping, and fixation, thus revealing the inherent wisdom nature.
Return to Zangri – Pilgrimage to Bhutan 2020 Information
With Lama Tsultrim Allione, Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton and Polly Ryan, MA, MFT
October 22 - November 5, 2020
Bhutan
In 2020 we will return to Bhutan to Druk Zangri Khamar, the seat of Machig Labdrön’s lineage in Bhutan. During the 2020 pilgrimage Return to Zangri, we will be visiting our sister Sangha from across the earth and dive deeper into our tradition. We will learn the actual melodies and dances from…