Year of the Wood Dragon: End-of-Year Practices (Shambhala Online)

February 8th

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    Please register by clicking here.

     

    Join us on Shambhala Online each day from Jan 30-Feb 8 for a FREE (Donations welcome) line-up of “Shambhala New Year Programming.” These special events will take place in the end of year practice period before Shambhala Day, and will feature talks by teachers in our community, followed by group recitations of the protector, mamo, and closing chants.

    Each daily talk will follow roughly the same schedule:

    • Welcome and Presentation (30 mins)
    • Sitting Chants (25 mins)
    • Closing & opportunity to give

    Presenters for these end of year practice sessions will include: Rhea Colmar, Lennart Krogoll, Tillie Perks, Judith Simmer-Brown, Jeff Scott, Greg Smith, and more!

    End-of-Year Practice Session Lineup

    January 30—Opening Up The End of Year Practice Season: The Meaning of Protector Chants and Why We Do These Practices At This Time of the Year with (Session Leader to be announced)

    January 31—Pacifying the Turmoil of the Mamos: The Mamos In the Context of Dakini Lore with Judith Simmer-Brown

    February 1—Iconography of the Protectors: Dharmapalas, Mahakalas, and Lokapalas with Greg Smith

    February 2—Protectors and Their “Land Centre Homes”: Trungpa Rinpoche & The Histroy of These Connections with Tillie Perks

    February 3—Exploring the Mamos Chant & Its Relevance to Today with Jeff Scott

    February 4—The Importance of Mind-Protection and Protector Chants with Lodro Dorje Holm

    February 5—Structure of Protector Chants – Seed Syllable, Description, Request, Offering, Exhortation, & Mantra with Rhea Colmar

    February 6—The Four Karmas and Protector Chants with Lodro Dorje Holm

    February 7—Exploring the Concluding Request To The Protectors with Lennart Krogoll

    February 8—Closing the Year End Practices Together with (Session Leader to be announced)

     

    About the Year of the Wood Dragon

    The Wood Dragon is associated with qualities of wisdom, confidence, cleverness and honesty. In Dragon years, we may see revolutionary ideas, but these years can also be known for reliability and a lack of arrogance. The element of Wood in the upcoming year makes this year less fierce and domineering than other dragon times, bringing us a year with potential for working well with others and being able to compromise when needed.

    About End-of-Year Practices

    The 2024 End-of-Year practice sessions are every day from January 30-February 8 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. These special events take place in the end of year practice period before Shambhala Day, and feature talks by teachers in our community, followed by group recitations of the protector, mamo, and closing chants.

    These sessions will offer explorations of the various protector chants, deepening our understanding of this end of year practice tradition and greatly enriching our ability to practice in a whole-hearted way.

    During the last 11 days of the year, we offer end-of-year practices to lay the ground for a positive transition into the New Year. The first 10 of these days are a time for intensive practice, focused on protector chants as a way to help overcome obstacles in our life, community and world. The end of the year is traditionally considered a positive time to do these practices. Other end of year activities could also include cleaning the household and shrine, resolving debts or disputes, and gathering energy for the new year.

    The last day before Shambhala Day is a “neutral day” (Feb 9, 2024) on which we could do the final preparations for the New Year, having finished the practice from the 10 days before.

    Programs without a price are free. For those programs with a price listed, please do not let price be an obstacle. Visit our generosity policy page.

    When available as an option, your generosity in offering the patron price helps cover the costs for others who are not able to pay the full price. Any amount offered above the Program Price is considered a charitable donation to the centre, and will be included in a tax receipt issued by email in February of the following year.

    For programs that have a register button, it is helpful for us if you can indicate your intention to attend by registering ahead of time. In order to prevent duplicate entries in the Shambhala Database, all registrations are reviewed before you will receive a confirmation email.

    Our Refund Policy:  For convenience you can pay online using a credit card via PayPal. If we cancel the program for any reason, we will give you a full refund. We understand that sometimes after you have pre-paid, you might be unable to attend.  We will be happy to refund your payment if you request it at least 24 hours before the program starts.  Due to the difference in PayPal charges for purchases and refunds, we charge a nominal amount of $5 for a refund.