March marks the beginning of autumn in Australia and we celebrated World Wide Vajra Dance Day by coming together for a weekend of dance and karma yoga. The pleasure of combining practice with work is one we all know — so much can be achieved in just a short time with many hands on the job! We cleared out two tool sheds, took a trailer load of junk to the local recycle depot, gave the gonpa and mandala kitchen a good clean, prepared a delicious lunch, and were back on the dance mandala in no time.
KY weekends are a regular feature on the Namgyalgar calendar, a chance for sangha to come together for practice, informal discussion and enjoying each other’s company. Of course, for members wanting to spend more practice time at the gar, the retreat cabin is available for personal retreat, plus rooms in the house. And everyone pitches in.
Current retreatant Mark is mowing up a storm, and Harry and Sarita have popped in doing maintenance on water, electricity and jumping on the ride-on mower too! The wallabies especially love eating the short grass after a good mowing session. Marek (from Dzamling Gar) is taking care of the pool cleaning and brainstorming with Harry over how to get our bore water well activated. Belen has been working in the garden. Ella who runs our Airbnb (formerly Rinpoche and Rosa’s apartment at one end of the farmhouse) is a regular too.
The gar is supported by a number of local practitioners who live nearby or in surrounding districts including SMS teacher Arnaud, Varja Dance teacher Nicki, Yantra Yoga teacher Emily, and Kaita instructor Tobgyal. On Zoom we can beam in nationwide to join a daily practice group and weekly classes broadcast by our other teachers from various locations around Australia.
Practice retreats held throughout the year at Namgyalgar tempt DC members from all states to visit the tropical north and enjoy the benefits of practicing together. The keenly felt presence of Rinpoche and the guardian landforms around us, renew our inspiration and commitment to the teachings.
Even tradespeople who visit say — it’s so peaceful here! So far in this month there’s been a few: Mark the snake catcher, Luke the wasp man, Terry the electrician, Dave the road guy. Thanks to Lynne’s fundraising efforts and generous donors, we raised enough to fix the potholed sections of road we have been putting up with for years.
In April, from 12-18, Arnaud and Emily will lead a 7 day retreat at Namgyalgar: Guru Yoga: Breathing, Movement and Sound. The course is designed to deepen our understanding of Guruyoga, using the Yantra Yoga series, Pranayamas, Shine & Lhagthong as well as Guruyoga practices linked with the transmission of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and Namkhai Yeshi. The main part of each day will be dedicated to the teachings of our precious teacher, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu on the Tsalung and Yantra Yoga retreat he gave in Dzamling Gar in 2016.
A number of people will be will be flying or driving from other states. The gar is just an hour’s train or car ride from Brisbane airport. Yes, it’s long plane ride from the rest of the world, but we are thrilled to have international visitors, Marek and Belen, staying for a month. Love to see you here soon!
Jan Cornall (autumn geko)
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