108 Days to Maratika

Following Mandarava to Maratika: 108 Days of Practice and Pilgrimage

Beginning on December 8, 2026, Shang Shung Institute UK & MACO Museum would like to invite practitioners from around the world to join us for something a little different.

For 108 days we will create an online practice group dedicated to Mandarava and the Long Life practice, which will eventually lead us from our homes to the sacred caves of Maratika in Nepal.

Some of us will make that journey physically. Others will participate from wherever they happen to be. But during these months we would like to practice together and, at the same time, explore some of the extraordinary history and teachings that lie behind this practice.

Maratika occupies a very particular place in the life and teachings of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu.

It was here, during his pilgrimage to Nepal in 1984, that Rinpoche received the Long Life Practice of the Immortal Dakini Mandarava. Maratika was already one of the great places associated with long life. According to tradition, Padmasambhava and Mandarava practiced here in the eighth century and attained the Vidyadhara of Longevity. For Rinpoche and his students, however, Maratika acquired another very direct connection through the revelation of the Mandarava practice there.

Over the years I have been fortunate enough to return to Maratika a number of times, and each visit has made me feel more strongly that it is not really a place one should simply visit. It is a place in which one should spend some time.

This is partly the reason for creating the 108 Days to Maratika.

Rather than meeting in Nepal as a group of people arriving from different countries and immediately beginning a pilgrimage, we would like the pilgrimage to begin several months before we get on the aeroplane.

From December 8 onwards, participants will be invited to maintain a daily connection with the practice of Mandarava according to their own circumstances and capacity. Alongside this individual practice, we will meet regularly online to practice together.

During the 108 days we will invite Santi Maha Sangha teachers, Yantra Yoga instructors and experienced practitioners to guide thuns and breathing practices and to offer explanations.

We would particularly like these meetings to explore some of the questions surrounding the practice rather than simply repeating it together.

Who was Mandarava? What does long life actually mean from the point of view of the teaching? What is the relationship between breathing, prana and our vital energy? What is Sogtig? What do we mean when we speak about terma and revelation? And what actually happened when Chögyal Namkhai Norbu travelled to Maratika in 1984?

As part of the programme, Jacobella Gaetani, who accompanied Rinpoche on his journey to Maratika in 1984, will speak about the history of Maratika and share something of its connection with Rinpoche and the circumstances surrounding that remarkable journey.

Whenever possible we also hope to hear memories from other people who knew Rinpoche and who can help us understand the circumstances in which the teaching arose.

In this way the 108 days will gradually become a preparation for pilgrimage.

As March approaches, our attention will turn increasingly towards Maratika itself: its history, its caves, Mandarava and Padmasambhava, and the meaning of pilgrimage and sacred place.

Then, from 11–24 March 2027, we will make the journey together in Nepal.

Our pilgrimage will begin in the Kathmandu Valley before continuing eastwards to Maratika, where we will have the precious possibility of spending several days practicing together in and around the caves.

Those who have travelled with us before will know that we try not to organize these journeys as conventional tours. Of course we visit extraordinary places, monasteries, temples and works of art, and Nepal is endlessly fascinating in this respect. But we also make sure to leave sufficient days simply to be in Maratika with our full presence and to deeply integrate our practice and merge it into the sacred space of Maratika.

During our stay we will establish a daily rhythm of practice. Each day there will be time for Mandarava practice, as well as Yantra Yoga and breathing exercises. We will also have a mandala available on which to practice Vajra Dance together.

The intention is not to rush from one activity to another, but to have enough time to practice, to explore the caves and sacred places, and also simply to experience Maratika and the particular atmosphere of this extraordinary place.

There is something rather wonderful in the idea that a practice received there by Rinpoche in 1984 has travelled across countries and generations, and that we can now spend these months practicing it together before following it, in a sense, back to the place from which it came.

For those who cannot come to Nepal, it is equally possible to participate in the 108-day cycle online. The journey to Maratika is not a requirement for joining the practice group.

We hope that people from different parts of the world will participate, sometimes practicing together online, sometimes practicing alone, but knowing that others are doing the same.

And eventually some of us will meet in Nepal, climb the steps to the caves of Maratika, unroll the mandala, and continue the practice there together.

108 Days to Maratika begins: 8 December 2026
Maratika Pilgrimage, Nepal: 11–24 March 2027

Further details about the online program, teachers, practice sessions and participation will be announced shortly.

For information about the pilgrimage:

https://www.shangshunguk.org/maratika-2027

Shang Shung Institute UK