Hosted by Nalandabodhi East Coast Centers
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Nalandabodhi’s open Winter Retreat, traditionally held over “solar” New Years each year, is a time to look inward after a busy holiday season, get cozy in our homes with other participants cozy in theirs, reflect on our previous year, renew our aspirations for the coming year, and awaken our hearts of loving kindness and compassion together. This year’s 7th annual winter retreat will focus on relative bodhicitta.
This retreat features teachings by Acharya Lhakpa Tsering, Mitra Tyler Dewar, Mitra Lee Worley, Mitra Mark Power, and Karunika Dan Hirshberg, as well as guided Space Awareness practice, meditation sessions, and Path of Mindful Activity workshops, all aimed at helping us bring relative bodhicitta to our meditation practice and daily life. Short sessions designed for children and their families (“Dawning of Bodhi”) will also be offered.
Teachers
Acharya Lhakpa Tsering
Acharya Lhakpa Tshering was born in Bhutan and entered monastic school at age 12. In 1993, he enrolled at Rumtek Monastery’s Karma Shri Nalanda Institute in Sikkim, India. During his final years as a student, he served as an assistant teacher and member of the student welfare committee.
In 2002, Acharya Lhakpa graduated with a masters in buddhist studies, also known as an acharya degree. After completing his studies, he served as co-librarian with Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche, as a teacher at Karma Shri Nalanda Institute, and as an editor for Nitartha Publications in Kathmandu, Nepal.
In 2006, Acharya Lhakpa moved to Nalanda West in Seattle, Washington, where he continues to support students as a resident teacher. He is also a visiting teacher at Nalandabodhi centers across the northeastern and central United States, as well as Brazil.
Mitra Tyler Dewar
Mitra Tyler was born in Nova Scotia, Canada. He has been engaged in the study and practice of Buddhism since 1996, becoming a student of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche two years later. He began studying the Tibetan language in 1997, and became an oral interpreter and textual translator for Nitartha Institute and Nalandabodhi in 2000.
Tyler joined the faculty of Nitartha Institute in 2003 and was appointed as a senior teacher in Nalandabodhi in 2005. He has served as an oral interpreter for lineage-holding masters of the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. Tyler enjoys teaching on such topics as the four immeasurables, and exploring how the great Buddhist forebears inspire and inform life in the 21st century.
A musician and singer, he has participated in the creation of several ‘melodized’ liturgies and ‘dharma songs.’ Tyler is the father of an amazing daughter and lives in Seattle, Washington.
Mitra Lee Worley
Mitra Lee Worley was born in Glen Cove, New York. She graduated from Mt. Holyoke College with a BA in English and Drama, and later from The Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. Her acting career led her to discover Buddhism in 1973 while attending a theater conference in Boulder, Colorado, where she was invited to teach acting at the Naropa Institute. While teaching, she began meditating and attending talks by Naropa’s founder Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Lee met Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche at Naropa and became his student. She took on the role of practice coordinator in Boulder, and then of national practice coordinator for Nalandabodhi. Lee was appointed as a “Mitra” (Spiritual Friend) by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche in 2005, and currently oversees the Path of Meditation within the Mitra Council.
As a practitioner, Lee aims to be a champion of meditation both on and off the cushion. “I look for the truth that underlies the dharma,” she says, “and seek ways to bring it into moment-by-moment life beyond any dogma.” Lee is the author of two books: Coming From Nothing: the Sacred Art of Acting and Teaching Presence: Field Notes for Players.
Mitra Mark Power
Mitra Mark has been a student of the Dharma for several decades and has studied with Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche since the early 1990s. Over the years, Mark served in a variety of leadership and service roles within Nalandabodhi. In 2005, he was appointed as a teacher (Mitra) and made a member of the Mitra Council where his focus is the Path of Mindful Activity — the intersection of dharma and daily life.
Mark worked for many years as a chaplain and palliative care consultant in healthcare settings. In 2014, he broadened his focus to include life-transition and executive coaching. Mark is a partner in Awareness Enabled Life Positioning, a professional development company in China whose programs leverage experiential awareness, kindness, and creativity as key strengths of the business leader.
Mark, who resided in Seattle for 15 years, moved to New York in 2014, where he now lives in the Hudson Valley town of Red Hook with his wife Marion. They have two kind and creative adult daughters, a very hip son-in-law, and a much doted on granddaughter!
Dan Hirshberg, PhD
Dan Hirshberg, PhD is an award-winning educator and scholar who completed his doctorate in Tibetan Studies at Harvard University. Having practiced and studied Buddhist contemplative traditions for nearly three decades, he has accumulated several thousand hours of formal meditation practice and traveled extensively throughout Asia. He serves as a Karunika (“compassionate” teacher) for the Nalandabodhi Tibetan Buddhist community.
