NDF Practice Groups
ANNOUNCEMENT -- Beginning October 13, 2009, Natural Dharma Fellowship will be hosting a Natural Meditation Practice Group every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Friends Meeting House, Longfellow Park in Cambridge, MA (details below). These practice evenings are open to all.
Natural Meditation Practice Group
Weekly, Tuesdays @ 7:30pm
Cambridge Friends Meeting House, Longfellow Park, Cambridge, MA 02138
Map/Directions
The Natural Meditation Practice Group (of the Mahamudra and Dzogchen
traditions) supports the ongoing deepening of students in the four
aspects of natural meditation: one-pointedness, simplicity, one-taste,
and non-meditation. These guided meditations, Q and A, and discussions
offer an opportunity for students to find connection and support
for their ongoing natural meditation.
The monthly schedule will flow
as follows:
- First Tuesday: Meditation and teaching with Lama Willa
Contact: info@naturaldharma.org - Second and Fifth Tuesday: Natural Meditation, led by Natural Dharma Fellowship Meditation Teachers
Contact: info@naturaldharma.org - Third Tuesday: Margha Meditation, led by Natural Dharma's Meditation Teachers. These practice sessions - open to all - will focus on meditations being introduced in the Margha Program.
Contacts: Leah Weiss Ekstrom, Mike Miller - Fourth Tuesday, beginning January 26 : Service Reflection Group, in which we explore ways of taking meditation and mind-training practices off the cushion and into our local communities.
Contacts: Kathe McKenna
Tara Sadhana Group
The Tara Sadhana Group meets monthly to practice the Green Tara sadhana (liturgy), as transmitted and taught by Lama John Makransky. Hosted and led by Bob Morrison in Arlington, the practice lasts about one hour and incorporates the Dzogchen view of open awareness as well as love/compassion and offering practices as integral elements of the sadhana. Those interested in joining this practice group should request permission from Lama
John or Lama Willa. It is co-sponsored by Natural Dharma Fellowship and Foundation for Active Compassion.
Contact: Bob Morrison
Five Element Awakening Practice Group
Monthly, Second Saturday @ 2-4pm
Tree of Life Tai Chi Center, 440 Somerville Ave, Somerville, MA 02143
Map/Directions
Developed high in the Himalayas, Tibetan yoga promotes well-being, opens the channels, and awakens the body-mind continuum to the experience of innate wisdom. Through Tibetan yoga practice, energy winds and attention of mind are brought into inseparable union. Because these practices take place in movement, they can infuse every waking move we make. Thus the possibility for awareness isn’t left behind on the meditation cushion, but may be recognized in movement itself.
Uniquely derived by Lama Willa from ancient practices of Trulkor, Tummo, and Tibetan Dance, Natural Dharma’s yoga curriculum includes breath, energy and bodywork. Beginning with the Five Element Awakening Practices, yogis take refuge in buddha body, energy and mind; awaken bodhicitta; cut through afflictive emotions; and explore the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and space as they are magnetized in the body. These Awakening Practices may be taken up on their own, or they may become foundational to more advanced yoga training in longer retreat.
Contacts: Jane Moss, Jane Burdick