Embodying Tara: A Meditation, Chanting and Yoga Retreat & Book Signing
July 19 - July 24, 2024 | Tara Mandala Retreat Center, Pagosa Springs, ColoradoTara, the female Buddha of compassion, is revered as the “Savioress” because she is known for saving beings from the ocean of samsara (suffering). Her name also means “star” as she is as infinite as the stars in the sky. She manifests in the world according to the needs of sentient beings.
Join us for the first-ever in-person 21 Tara’s retreat with Dorje Lopön Chandra on the sacred land at Tara Mandala, said to be the body of Tara herself. Lopön Chandra will teach five of the 21 Taras, one Tara per day. You will learn meditations and mantras for each Tara as well as hear stories of real-life women who embody their qualities. They will inspire you to bring these aspects of Tara alive in yourself, bringing your body, mind, and soul into alignment with your own enlightened nature.
In this retreat, we will invite Tara’s awakened energy to come alive in ourselves through:
Insight into core Buddhist concepts and teachings
Guided Tara meditations in the Trikaya Tara Temple and outside in nature, the true abode of Tara
Chanting melodies of the 21 Tara mantras
Gentle therapeutic yoga
Dyad (mindful relational) practice
Exploration of the lives of real women and movements that embody Tara’s enlightened activities
Closing fire ceremony under the stars with chanting on the final evening
The 21 aspects of Tara appear in the 11th century tantric text called the Twenty-One Praises to Tara, a devotional hymn popular in Tibetan Buddhism, from which Lopön Chandra’s new book, Embodying Tara, draws its teachings and practices. Students will have the special opportunity to celebrate the publication of this heartfelt work of scholarship and years of engaged practice with Lopön Chandra at an intimate book signing during the course of the retreat.
Recommended Reading:
As an accompaniment to this retreat, students are encouraged to read Lopön Chandra Easton’s new book, Embodying Tara: Twenty-One Manifestations to Awaken Your Innate Wisdom (2023).
$22.95 - Paperback