Thursday, July 10
Pulaski Park, Northampton, MA
6pm
This coming summer marks two important events for the Dzogchen Community of America, a 501c3 educational non-profit based in Conway, MA. One is the 30th Anniversary of the Dzogchen Community in America, founded by Tibetan Buddhist master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, and the other is the inauguration of the Universal Mandala Hall on Khandroling, our retreat land in Buckland, MA.
To celebrate these events we are planning a three-day festival from July 11-13, 2014. As part of our celebration, there will be free music and dance concerts, presentations about our Community and a formal inauguration of the Mandala Hall.
Leading up to these main events, we plan to give three public demonstrations in nearby towns of two of our community’s movement practices. These two practices are the following:
The Vajra Dance is a meditation practice integrating movement and sound. This practice is a method for integrating one’s body, energy, and mind into the knowledge of our own authentic nature.
The Vajra Dance is practiced on a large, five-colored Mandala that represents the correspondence between the internal dimension of the individual and the outer dimension of the world. Its form is characterized by a concentric configuration of geometric shapes. During a Vajra Dance session 6 women and 6 men practice together.
In 2011, at the International Dance Olympiad in Moscow, the Vajra Dance was officially recognized by CID (Conseil International de la Danse in Paris), the official organization recognized by UNESCO for all forms of dance in all countries of the world. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu also became a member of this International Dance Council.
Yantra Yoga, the Tibetan Yoga of Movement, is one of the oldest recorded systems of yoga in the world. Its unique series of positions and movements, combined with conscious breathing, can help coordinate and harmonize one’s energy so that the mind can relax and find its authentic balance. Yantra Yoga uses a sequence that consists of seven phases of movement connected with seven phases of breathing. Many positions used in Yantra Yoga are similar to those of Hatha Yoga, but the way to assume and apply them differs.
While today’s Yantra Yoga practitioner does not necessarily need to follow a particular spiritual path, anyone can practice without limitation. This rich method is connected with the essence of the Dzogchen Teachings, and for millennia it has been taught for the purpose of finding the true natural state.
