Dancing with Rain and Rainbows: The Life and Teachings of Yeshe Tsogyal (Residential)

In this annual Vajrayana retreat, we gather in practice, study, and ritual while exploring the life and teachings of the great female adept Yeshe Tsogyal. Through meditation, community, and close engagement with her story, we will deepen our connection to the wisdom and liberating insight she embodies.

Revered as a powerful source of blessings and a guide through challenge and transformation, Yeshe Tsogyal’s life offers profound insight into the compassion and wisdom needed to navigate turbulent times. As a manifestation of the divine feminine principle of nondual wisdom, meditating with Yeshe Tsogyal invites us to experience the full range of our emotions as gateways to liberation.

Please join us to:

• Explore Yeshe Tsogyal’s life and teachings as a guide for awakening
• Deepen your connection to her blessings and protection
• Reflect on the divine feminine as nondual wisdom
• Participate in study, practice, ritual, and community with NDF’s Vajra Sangha

Throughout this retreat, we will explore the life and teachings of the female adept, Yeshe Tsogyal, while joining together in practice, community, and ritual. As the preeminent example of how to traverse the path of awakening through challenge and turmoil, Yeshe Tsogyal’s life story offers profound insight into the will, focus, compassion, and insight available to us for living well during these volatile times.

For Vajrayana practitioners, Yeshe Tsogyal is famous as a potent source for blessings. First, we supplicate her to help remove obstacles in our lives, practice, and minds. We pray to her to mitigate the forces of the setting-sun world—both the dark age of “disease, famine and war” and the human karma of struggle that expresses itself in aggression, intolerance, and prejudice. She bestows the blessing for the blossoming of long life and the deepening of prajna, or penetrating insight, the wisdom that sees the truth of things as they are. 

Inseparable from her humanity is Yeshe Tsogyal as a manifestation of the divine feminine principle–experiential nondual wisdom that takes female form (as well as male form) when it is represented symbolically. To meditate on or with Yeshe Tsogyal is to enhance our capacity to experience the outflow of our emotions as portals to liberation. Please join us for this unique retreat where we will learn to dance with the full spectrum of life’s expressions under the guidance of this yogini’s gentle hand.

Text: Please purchase prior to the retreat.

To help us to explore these practices and teachings more deeply, this retreat will include Dharma talks, practice sessions, ritual practice, breakout groups, and close reading sessions of The Life and Visions of Yeshe Tsogyal: The Autobiography of the Great Wisdom Queen, by Terton Drime Kunga and Yeshe Tsogyal, translated by Chonyi Drolma.

This retreat is open to NDF Vajrayana practitioners enrolled in the 2026 program.

Typical Retreat Schedule

(All times are Eastern time zone)

First Day — Orientation at 6:45 pm. Opening session begins around 7:00 pm.
Last Day —The closing session end at 12:00 pm.

These times are just for reference. An expanded schedule will be provided in pre-retreat information emailed during the week prior to the event.

Important Health Information

COVID-19 testing is no longer required. Masks are optional and encouraged if you are at higher risk. We encourage you to stay at home if you are symptomatic to protect others.

Scholarships

Cancellation Policy

We understand that personal circumstances may require you to cancel your registration. In these cases, please contact us right away at register@naturaldharma.org. Cancellations affect our ability to offer rooms to others and create additional work for our staff, therefore we charge the following fees to help mitigate these costs.

For cancellations (based on program start date):

• > 45 days: 100% refund minus a $75 admin. fee.
• 31-45 days: 50% refund of the required deposit; or 75% refund if registration paid in full.
• 21-30 days: 50% refund of total registration cost
• < 21 days: nonrefundable

If you must cancel due to an emergency or extenuating circumstances, please contact us at register@naturaldharma.org.

Access to Recordings

NDF offers unlimited access to recordings, which are accessed in your user dashboard (more information about user accounts provided in a pre-retreat letter). If you have a user account, please register with the same email you use to log into your dashboard. If not, an account will be created for you using your registration address.

Availability will vary depending on the type of event and the backlog for our precious resource volunteers. Thank you for your patience.

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