2025 Margha Program: Natural Meditation

Registration for the 2025 Margha Program will remain open through November 15.

Natural Dharma Fellowship’s Margha (“path” in Sanskrit) program is open to everyone and intended for newcomers as well as seasoned practitioners looking for a structured program to learn, progress, and deepen in a sequence of profound yet accessible meditations adapted from traditional Himalayan Buddhist training.

Margha Program content alternates year-to-year between focus on Natural Meditation and Bodhicitta, which may be completed in any order. Many students return to study with each series of practices for multiple cycles. Guided by a team of NDF teachers and Margha mitras (spiritual friends/mentors), the curriculum is built around monthly live online or in-person small group meetings. Participants choose the group they will meet with for the full year during the initial registration process. (In 2025, only one in-person group is available, located in Northwest Philadelphia.)

Within groups, peers offer invaluable support for each other as they explore the practices and teachings, presenting the opportunity to enact qualities of heart, and deepen in their understanding of the gem that is spiritual friendship. Margha students are encouraged to gather during twice-yearly hybrid retreats, at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge and on Zoom, to receive essential teachings and share experiences with their Margha Sangha.

The 2025 Margha Program dives into the practices of Natural Meditation. Participants are guided and supported through a comprehensive program of meditation, study, and contemplation, within a framework that gently invites and opens us to experience present, fresh wakefulness which is our intrinsic buddha nature. Meditation instruction in shamatha (calm abiding), vipashyana (insight), and open awareness will be offered. (The alternate year’s program focuses on practices of Bodhicitta, in which participants access and deepen in innate qualities of love and compassion for self and others, wisdom, sympathetic joy and equanimity.)

For more information about the Margha program, please click here.

MONTHLY GROUPS AND MITRAS
If a group is marked closed, please do not choose it. Email margha@naturaldharma.org to be put on the wait list.

• Remote 1: 1st Tuesday, 11:30 am-1:30 pm ET (Roxanne Broadbent, Judith Coleman)
• Remote 2: 1st Monday, 6:30-8:30 pm ET (Roxanne Broadbent, Michael Hirshland)
• Remote 3: 1st Monday, 6:30-8:30 pm ET (Philip Osgood, Alex Marie)
• Remote 4: 1st Sunday, 6:30-8:30 pm ET (David Bayer, Erica Zinter)
• Remote 5: 1st or 2nd Sunday, 4:00-6:00 pm ET (Richard Zipoli, Eric Brus)
• Remote 6: 2nd Monday, 6:30 pm-8:30 pm ET (Jan Cook, Alan Tuttle)
• Remote 7:1st Sunday, 6:30-8:30 pm ET (John Rott, Tamara Daly)
• Remote 8: 1st or 2nd Sunday, 7:00-9:00 pm ET (Eric Brus, Elisse Ghitelman)
• Remote 9: 1st Monday, 7:00-9:00 pm ET (David Bayer, Jean Fazzino Lain)
• Remote 10: 1st Sunday, 6:30-8:30 pm ET (Jean Fazzino Lain, David Martin)
• Remote 11: 1st Sunday, 4:00-6:00 pm ET (Jeff Sullivan, Judith Coleman)
• NW Philly (in-person only): 1st Sunday, 3:30-5:30 pm ET (2nd Sunday in September) (Heather Marg-Bracken, Thilo Marg-Bracken)

WHAT DOES IT COST?

It is Natural Dharma Fellowship’s aspiration that no one be turned away from our programs and retreats because they are unable to pay the full cost. The Margha Program is offered with a three-tier sliding fee scale so you may choose the amount that best fits your budget: Monthly payment plans are available if you wish to budget the fee over the year.

• May All Beings Benefit: $40/month ($480/year*) – For those who can afford it, this fee level helps provide support for those with limited financial resources and assists with the care and development of the Margha Program.
•  A Middle Way: $25/month ($300/year*) – This fee covers the basic cost of the Margha Program.
• Held in Sangha Loving-Kindness: $15/month ($180/year*) For those with limited financial resources or recent financial hardship.

*If you choose to pay annually instead of monthly

If the lowest payment level does not fit your financial situation, please do not hesitate to request financial aid. Options will be available on the registration page. This is a simple process and does not require extensive information. 

The program entrance fee does NOT include the cost of on-site retreats at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH or the online component of these hybrid retreats. The cost of required books, generally two per year, is also additional.

USER ACCOUNTS & RESOURCES

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.

Wonderwell Mountain Full Calendar.