Embodied Heart Sutra:
A Weekend of Sacred Buddhist Dance of Nepal

With Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya
February 7–8, 2026

This retreat invites participants to explore the Heart Sutra through sacred movement and embodied meditation. In Charya dance, we translate the profound teaching of emptiness into physical experience allowing insight to arise through the body, not just the intellect. Through flowing movement, stillness, gesture, and mantra, participants are guided to sense how form and emptiness are not separate, but continuously interwoven. Prajñāpāramitā, the feminine embodiment of wisdom, is invoked as a living presence expressed through clarity, openness, and fearless compassion.

Taught by Prajwal Vajracharya, a 35th generation Buddhist priest and master dancer of the Charya Nritya tradition, a unique Newari Buddhist tradition from Nepal dating back over a thousand years that uses the physical body as a vehicle for liberating the mind.

REGISTRATION DETAILS

• FREE ONLINE INTRODUCTION JANUARY 11

  Join Prajwal Vajracharya for a free online introduction to this program. Sunday January 11th at 9am Pacific Time.

  RSVP to receive Zoom link

• IN PERSON (RESIDENTIAL)

  Pricing depends accommodation selection. 10% off early bird pricing before January 6th

  Includes:

  • Full weekend teaching

  • Two nights accommodation (Friday and Saturday) in your accommodation of choice

  • Three meals a day.

  Check in:
  Friday February 6th 3 - 6pm

  Check out:
  After program on Sunday at 6pm.

  Option to stay over Sunday night and check out Monday before 12pm (please select ‘add additional night’ to select this option)

  View accommodation options and sign up HERE

• IN PERSON (NON-RESIDENTIAL)

  $350 (10% off $315 early bird pricing before January 6th.

  Includes:

  • Full weekend teachings

  • Lunch on Saturday and Sunday

  Program 10am - 6pm daily

  Sign up HERE

PRAJWAL VAJRACHARYA

Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya is a 35th generation Tantric Buddhist priest from Nepal and ritual master of the Charya Nritya dance tradition and other ritual forms. Prajwal began his training in Charya Nritya, the dance aspect of Newar Buddhism, from the age of eight, receiving formal instruction from his father, the Buddhist scholar and ritual master Ratna Kaji Vajracharya. Prajwal Vajracharya is now the foremost teacher, practitioner, and performer of the tradition. He is a veteran of several world tours. He teaches beginning and advanced students around the globe. He founded Dance Mandal in 1996, and the Foundation for Sacred Buddhist Arts of Nepal to preserve and expand this rare ancient form of Buddhism and its related traditions

The Wisdom Buddhas as Performed Iconography, by Joseph Houseal of Core of Culture