Emma Mulholland Emma Mulholland died peacefully from cancer that had spread to her brain. She had been ill for the past few years but chose alternative medicine over western medicine, so it was not discovered until February of this year. She died at home, surrounded by close friends [...]

We held two Vajra Dance events in Kunselling this summer. Both were well attended. For the first one, a Deepening Course of the Song of the Vajra in July and e returned to Kunselling in August for the Annual Vajra Dance Retreat Week.

The last global mantra chain, just over a week ago at the time of writing, was a mantra chain of Guru Dragphur.

Dear Vajra Family, I am finding this so hard to write, but I decided that it was very important to me to do it. So I have decided to follow the advice I have sometimes given others: just blurt it out, there's no right way to say it. So here [...]

To anyone who has followed the Dzogchen Teachings - as transmitted by the late Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, the centrality of Guru Yoga practice will have come across in no uncertain terms. Repeatedly, Rinpoche would emphasise just how important Guru Yoga practice is. As aspiring practitioners, Rinpoche would [...]

Magic Circle Feels like it’s time to pull out the notes from my pilgrimage last year to say farewell to our precious Master. Our collective year of mourning and reflection following Rinpoche's passing has now ended: in the random personal reflections offered below I have no wish to intrude [...]

Dance of the Song of the Vajra at Kunselling Our retreat in June was a perfect opportunity to join together as a group to dance the Song of the Vajra and practise the Long Mandarava and Short Mandarava and Mandarava Ganapuja rites.  These photographs give just a flavour of [...]

REFRESHING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SANTI MAHA SANGHA   Now that spring has arrived, it feels like a good time to refresh in our minds the importance of theSanti Maha Sangha.  The Santi Maha Sangha training is a programme of study and practice created by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu in [...]

This is a poem I wrote about Namkhai Norbu based around three poems of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche In the expanse of the sky No matter how long the room’s been dark, an hour or a million years, The moment the lamp of awareness is lit, the darkness disappears. In [...]

How do I write about my experience as a new member of the Santi Maha Sangha when I am still only a newish member of the wider Dzogchen Community? I had thought that perhaps joining the Santi Maha Sangha training might be too advanced for me or that it [...]

These photographs were taken the day after the month long retreat of the Dakini Mandarava ended.  Nina Robinson led this recently at Tsegyelgar West in Baja California, Mexico

Auspicious signs in Britain come in the form of unexpectedly low priced train tickets, and catching the last available place on the course.  My journey to Wales was under a veil of mist and cloud, after three trains and a bus. Finally I arrived in Erwood and headed to [...]

Many of you may already be familiar with The Mirror, originally the newspaper of the International Dzogchen Community. The printed newspaper started back in 1991 and continued up until the end of 2013 when, due to printing and mailing costs, the newspaper was forced to do its last print [...]

The contemporary cult of mindfulness is in the vanguard of the spread of Buddhism in the modern world. In the UK, it is even sponsored by the state, in the form of free mindfulness-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) on the National Health Service. There are two university departments – [...]

The following are some words taken from an article I wrote for the Mirror titled; “How I Met Chogyal Namkhai Norbu”.  I feel they sum up my experience meeting Rinpoche while on my first retreat to Merigar in Sept/Oct 2008: When I arrived for the first evening of [...]

It was a very special time to be doing karma yoga - a small group of us, and we did more sitting practice than usual. These were the tasks we completed.  Colin fitted a splash back at the back of the cooker, and has emailed the Health and Safety [...]

I had a wonderful weekend recently at Kunselling - my first time there and my first ever Vajra dance workshop. The farmhouse was charming, cosy and peaceful. Rose cooked lovely healthy meals and worked so hard as did Stephie, the whole time looking  after us all and making the [...]

Dance Practice Week was a delight again this August.  Every year, many of the old hand dancers gather with newcomers to practise all of the Vajra Dances that Rinpoche has taught us in the delightful surroundings of Kunselling. The families of the dancers are welcome and something I particularly [...]

Dear All, This year, we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of Dejamling (South of France). And we'll have a “mystery” event to raise funds for the creation of a new terrace with a magnificent view on Valbonne and the surrounding hills! There will be presents for anyone willing to participate [...]

There were a lot of minor tasks at Kunselling this time but because we now pay to have the grass mown regularly this has let us focus our time on essential maintenance. The biggest task was building a base for the new garden shed and then assembling the shed [...]

I recently returned from a Yantra Yoga retreat with John Renshaw at Kunselling retreat house, which is nestled between the Black mountains and the Brecon Beacons in the Welsh countryside. It was a five day retreat and for several of those days we were graced with some beautiful weather. [...]

We recently completed a group practice retreat of the Dakini Mandarava and the Vajra Dance at Kunselling.  About a dozen practitioners participated at various times and we were blessed with superb weather – hot sun and clear blue skies which are ideal for practising sky gazing and the Tsogthig [...]