March 22nd (Saturday), 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM, PT
Online & In-Person at the Nyingma Institute
Consider giving yourself a one day retreat, nurturing the gift of joyful feelings, as an antidote to the world’s chaos and confusion. Using our inner resources, body, breath and mind, we can transform our experience to connect with joy, one of the Four Immeasurables, qualities that we can develop in meditation. This day-long retreat will offer sitting and walking meditations, gentle Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga movements, breathing techniques and chanting, to activate flowing, healing energies to nourish our whole being. When we feel happy, this positive energy naturally bubbles over to touch others around us. Lunch at the institute for in-person participants will be included.
Instructor: Olivia Hurd.
March 22nd (Saturday), 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM, PT
Online & In-Person at the Nyingma Institute
Consider giving yourself a one day retreat, nurturing the gift of joyful feelings, as an antidote to the world’s chaos and confusion. Using our inner resources, body, breath and mind, we can transform our experience to connect with joy, one of the Four Immeasurables, qualities that we can develop in meditation. This day-long retreat will offer sitting and walking meditations, gentle Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga movements, breathing techniques and chanting, to activate flowing, healing energies to nourish our whole being. When we feel happy, this positive energy naturally bubbles over to touch others around us. Lunch at the institute for in-person participants will be included.
Instructor: Olivia Hurd.
Mondays through Fridays, 6:45 – 7:30 AM, PT (February 17 – April 4, 2025)
Online & In-Person at the Nyingma Institute
This class is open to those who enroll in Introduction to the Mahayana: The Path of Heroes (part 1). This rigorous meditation practice class will meet five (5) mornings a week. We will experientially engage the sequence of meditation practices presented in detail in Tarthang Tulku’s Four-Month Program for Study and Practice published in Path of Heroes, Vol. 2, pp. 568 – 597.
Instructors: Mark Henderson, Caz Verde, Nyingma Institute Faculty and Staff.
“Whatever joys there may be in the world, all come from desiring the happiness of others. Whatever sufferings there are in the world, all come from desiring your own happiness.”
We can train ourselves to put the welfare of others at the center of every thought and action through the power of bodhicitta. In this workshop we explore the relative mind of enlightenment. Working with the breath, and through certain preliminary practices cultivating love and compassion, we meditate on exchanging self for others. To transform the three poisons of desire, hatred, and ignorance, we can awaken compassion and wisdom of the mind of enlightenment in our hearts. Open to all with an interest in transforming their lives through meditation practice. Readings from Path of Heroes, which can be purchased from Dharma Publishing.
Saturday, April 16th 10am-1pm PST
Instructors: Hugh Joswick & Mark Henderson
Contemplating specific insights into the nature of existence can help turn the mind toward the path of enlightenment. These traditional insights are often presented as a group of four: awakening to freedom and good fortune available only to a human being, contemplating impermanence, understanding karma, and seeing the pervasiveness of suffering. Through contemplating each of these thoughts, we are led to greater mindfulness and alertness, opening to the possibilities Dharma practice makes available. Readings from Path of Heroes. Open to all who wish to turn their life around through Dharma practice.
Saturday March 8th, 10am-1pm PST
Instructors: Mark Henderson & Hugh Joswick
This is intended to be a very practical, hands-on workshop, with a particular aim in mind: getting more comfortable in the meditation posture. Balance and ease in the body helps bring balance and ease to the mind.
You will be guided through a self-assessment of your own anatomy as it pertains to sitting meditation. We will practice both on a chair and on the floor using various props as is needed to make the posture balanced, grounded, and appropriate for your body at this time. Bring an open mind, and a willingness to play with different possibilities! You will leave with some practical exercises to use to support your meditation posture.
Saturday, January 25th, 10am-1pm PST, In-Person Only
Instructor: Donna Morton
This training day for KNTT Level 1 graduates will satisfy continuing training requirements for certified Kum Nye instructors for 2025. Open to all graduates of the KNTT program. Advance your Kum Nye understanding and further develop your teaching skills, at the same time connect with your global Kum Nye colleagues!
January 18th (Saturday), 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM, PT
Online Only
Thursdays, 6:15 -7:45 pm, PT (February 20 – April 3, 2025)
Online Only
Continued reading and translation of traditional texts and prayers in the classical Tibetan language.
Instructor: Mark Henderson.
Fridays, 3:30 – 4:45 pm, PT (February 14 – April 4, 2024)
Online only
This advanced Tibetan course consists of continuing reading and translation in the classical Tibetan language. It is for those who already have a good grasp of grammar, vocabulary, and working with Tibetan texts.
Instructor: Barr Rosenberg.
Mondays 6:00 – 7:30 PM or Wednesdays 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM, PT
(February 10 – June 7, 2025)
Online Only
Kum Nye is a way to relax and heal the gates of the senses, so that they also open inward, transmitting the full richness of experience and bringing more pleasure and joy into our lives. Kum Nye enables us to relax deeply and to be fully within the flow of sensory experience.
Joy of Being Ch. 11 Tuning Our Physical Senses 73
Over early and late spring terms we go deeply into Part 3 of Joy of Being: Senses and Perception. We will engage in practices for relaxing and healing the various sense organs. Nourishing the senses, distilling the pure juice of perceptions and experiences, we find a reliable source of contentment and meaning. As we develop their potential, we open into a richness of experience that brings more joy and pleasure into our lives.
The class is taught twice during the week: Monday the instructor is Abbe Blum at the Nyingma Institute; Wednesday is taught by Bram Williams and Angela Bushaway in the U.K. Students can attend one or both. Each term can be done on its own. This course is also intended as groundwork for those interested in eventually teaching Joy of Being. Prerequisite: Several terms of Kum Nye experience or permission of Instructor.
Wednesdays, 8:00 – 9:00 am, PT (February 12 – April 2, 2025)
Online Only
‘We commonly think of balance as our bodily equilibrium or stability. This understanding of balance is limited, however, and can be expanded by certain exercises and movements which show us how to bring breath, senses, and awareness into balance with our bodies and minds. We can make our whole system balanced, for balance is a natural condition of flowing feeling and energy which pervades the entire body and mind. This balance is the objective of Kum Nye.’
– Tarthang Tulku, Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga
This course will introduce the basic theory and develop the foundational practices of Kum Nye Relaxation, as presented by Tarthang Tulku in the text Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga. The practice of Kum Nye includes stillness and movement, breath, and self-massage.
Each term, through Late Spring of 2025, will highlight a different area of practice. This term will place a special focus on practices in the section Balancing and Integrating Body, Mind, and Senses. We will sample practices from all three stages of this part of the book.
This course is appropriate for those new to Kum Nye Relaxation, as well as those wishing to continue to deepen their understanding and embodiment of Kum Nye.
Instructor: Donna Morton.
Tuesdays, 6:00 – 7:30 pm, PT (February 11 – April 1, 2025)
Online and In-Person at the Nyingma Institute
“Our internal evolution can continue to unfold, expanding awareness and pointing ever more surely towards the full development of awakened mind” – Joy of Being p. 189
In the beginning, Kum Nye starts as a simple physical movements. Over time, if you are open to it, your practice will quickly move beyond any conceptual frame of reference, where language cannot capture it, opening to the possibility of a fully awakened mind. In this class we will work on developing this kind of openness in our practice.
Instructor: Santosh Philip. Prerequisite: two years of Kum Nye practice.
Thursdays, 10:00 – 11:30 am, PT (February 20 — April 3, 2025)
Online Only
In challenging and uncertain times, feeling groundless and unmoored can serve as an impetus to turn inward to our innate buddha nature, the source of all wisdom and freedom. This nature is always present, waiting to be recognized and fully inhabited.
The Tibetan Buddhist tradition offers powerful visualization practices that help us access our inner resources of compassion, clarity and resilience. We will work with classical deity practices that each open a unique pathway to transformation:
- Avalokiteshvara, embodying infinite compassion
- White Tara, representing long life and wisdom
- Green Tara, representing swift protection
- Vajrasattva, offering spiritual renewal
- Medicine Buddha, bringing healing to all levels of being
- Amitabha, radiating boundless light
This course also draws upon essential Buddhist texts and teachings that illuminate buddha nature – our fundamental capacity for awakening and expressing our deepest wisdom and goodness.
Instructor: Lama Palzang and Pema Gellek.
Wednesdays, 10:00 – 11:30 AM, PT, (March 5 – April 16, 2025)
Online only. Recordings will be available for those unable to join during class time.
This comprehensive seven-week course charts the remarkable journey of Nyingma Buddhist teachings from their ancient Indian origins to their contemporary expression. Our class begins in ancient India, exploring the seminal contributions of early masters including Garab Dorje and Shri Singha. We will discover the profound impact of the eight great vidyadharas of Oddiyana and the rich wisdom traditions that flourished at Nalanda University.
Tracing the dharma’s journey into Tibet, students will study the establishment of Buddhism through the KhenLobChoSum, the flowering of the Kama and Terma traditions, and the profound contributions of masters like Longchenpa and Jigme Lingpa. The course culminates in exploring how Tarthang Tulku carried forward the blessings of his revered teachers and his vision in establishing our spiritual community. This provides students a unique opportunity to understand their connection to, and the importance of supporting, this living stream of wisdom.
Instructors: Pema Gellek and Lama Palzang.
Schedule: International participants, please note that there are a few dates with different hours due to daylight savings — changed hours underlined.
Class 1 March 5 10 am PDT, 15.00 BRT, 19.00 CET
Class 2 March 12 10 am PST, 14.00 BRT, 18.00 CET
Class 3 March 19 10 am PST, 14.00 BRT, 18.00 CET
Class 4 March 26 10 am PST, 14.00 BRT, 18.00 CET
Class 5 April 2 10 am PST, 15.00 BRT, 19.00 CEST
Class 6 April 9 10 am PST, 15.00 BRT, 19.00 CEST
Class 7 April 16 10 am PST, 15.00 BRT, 19.00 CE
Part I: Origins in Ancient India
Class 1 & 2: The Dawn of the Sacred Teachings
- Garab Dorje, Sri Singha, Mañjuśrīmitra
- Eight Vidyadharas
- Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra
- The Sacred Land of Oddiyana
Part II: Flowering in Tibet
Class 3: The Great Establishment
- Khenpo Shantarakshita, Guru Padmasambhava, and King Trisong Deutsen
- Padmasambhava and the 25 disciples
Class 4: Living Streams of Transmission
- The Kama Lineage: Ancient Oral Traditions
- The Terma Tradition: Hidden Treasures
- Great Treasure Revealers
Classes 5 & 6: The Luminous Masters
- Rongzom Chökyi Zangpo (1012-1088)
- Katok Dampa Deshek (1122–1192)
- Longchenpa (1308-1364)
- Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798)
- Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887)
- Mipham Rinpoche (1846-1912)
Part III: Contemporary Transmission
Class 7: Our Community
- TT’s Root and Lineage Teachers
- TT’s Life and Teachings
- The Founding of Our Centers
Tuesdays, 7:00—8:30 PM (February 11 – April 1, 2025)
Online & In-Person at the Nyingma Institute
The Bodhisattva path “offers a precise and effective response to the dynamic blend of chaos, confusion, and bright intelligence that characterizes our times,” the Introduction to Dharma Publishing’s translation of Zhechen Gyaltsab’s Path of Heroes states. This Tibetan book was written in the first part of the 20th century as a summary and commentary on the Mahayana path. It incorporates many teachings of the Mahayana in presenting a path of self-mastery. In this term we will cover such topics as the preliminary practices of meditation, the training in the four thoughts that turn the mind to the Dharma, the development of bodhicitta, exchanging self and other, and making self-mastery your way of life. The Path of Heroes is an excellent introduction to the fundamental concepts of the Mahayana, and Tarthang Tulku’s introductory essays to each section are the basis of this superb, accessible program of essential practices for developing a bodhisattva way of life in the 21st century. Open to all those with an interest in understanding the Mahayana path in Buddhism and engaging its teachings. One Saturday workshop elaborating the Four Thoughts that turn the Mind to the Dharma is also part of this class.
Note: This course represents the first half of a comprehensive four-month program. To support your practice, we offer two components: this main class and an optional daily practice component with separate tuition.
Instructors: Mark Henderson and Hugh Joswick.
Thursdays, 6:15 -7:45 pm, PT (January 9 – January 30, 2025)
Online Only
Continued reading and translation of traditional texts and prayers in the classical Tibetan language.
Instructor: Mark Henderson.
Wednesdays, 8:00 – 9:00 am, PT (January 8 – January 29, 2025)
Online Only
‘As you massage, stretch the bonds of your ordinary conceptions. When you press a certain body point, no part of the body and in fact no part of the universe, need be excluded. Everything can become part of the massage. From a cosmological point of view, absolutely everything participates in the cosmos, and we and the universe are integrated.’
– Tarthang Tulku, Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga
This course will introduce the basic theory and develop the foundational practices of Kum Nye Relaxation, as presented by Tarthang Tulku in the text Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga. The practice of Kum Nye includes stillness and movement, breath, and self-massage.
Each term, through Late Spring of 2025, will highlight a different area of practice. This term will place a special focus on Kum Nye massage practice. A significant part of our Kum Nye text is devoted to Kum Nye massage, but it is often not practiced with the same regularity as the movement exercises are. There is so much to discover through Kum Nye massage!
This course is appropriate for those new to Kum Nye Relaxation, as well as those wishing to continue to deepen their understanding and embodiment of Kum Nye.
Instructor: Donna Morton.
Tuesdays, 6:00 – 7:30 pm, PT (January 7 – January 28 , 2025)
Online Only
“Once we become familiar with the experience of Kum Nye, and know how to surrender to calmness and inner peace, there will be no need for further instruction or guidance. Kum Nye will reveal itself naturally” – Joy of Being p. 188
How do we elevate our practice of Kum Nye, so that we can step into this calmness and inner peace. In this class we will work with ways of practicing surrender until we can step into calmness under any circumstance.
Instructor: Santosh Philip.
Tuesdays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM, PT (January 7 – January 28, 2025)
Online and In-Person at the Nyingma Institute
Once we properly accept ourselves and our situation, we can meditate in any place and at any time. This is what I am trying to point out. —Tarthang Tulku, Crystal Mirror IV, 170.
More than formal techniques or sitting practices, meditation offers a way of discovering the nature of mind. Once we understand meditation properly, the whole nature of mind can become meditation. And in this class through reading, practice, and discussion we will explore this expansive description of meditation. We will read Tarthang Tulku’s essays on “Taking the Teachings to Heart” from Crystal Mirror IV, Bringing the Teachings Alive: The Buddhist Heritage of Tibet. In these essays, Rinpoche presents a preliminary understanding of meditation and direct experience. He offers us a way to make friends with meditation and to discover an awareness that is immediate and spontaneous. This class is for those who wish to deepen their understanding of meditation, taking inspiration from Rinpoche’s writing for practice.
Instructor: Hugh Joswick.
