Yuthok Nyingthig Ngöndro
GUIDED BY Christiana Polites
AUGUST 19th - 26th
7 Days Ngondro Practice + One Day Outer Guru Yoga Instruction
Online & In Person
SCHEDULE:
AUGUST 19 - 25 (3 - 4 hours/ day)
9am - 1pm: Teachings and Guided Ngöndro Practice
SATURDAY AUGUST 26
9am - 1pm: Outer Guru Yoga Instruction and practice, followed by Ganapuja
All times are in Los Angeles/ PST Time Zone
Check your time zone
All sessions will be recorded and available for reviewing for six months
Suggested contribution: $200 for 8 days
IN PERSON ATTENDANCE
Those in the Los Angeles area are welcome to join the sessions in person in our Yuthok Ling temple.
If you would like to do personal retreat at Pure Land Farms during this time and join the guided session in the mornings, please write to info@purelandfarms.com
(Personal retreat guests will be responsible for preparing their own meals.)
For those who wish to attend a full guided residential retreat in person at Pure Land Farms, our next in person group ngöndro retreat will be offered February 2 - 9 2023
Ngöndro, meaning ‘foundational' or 'preliminary' practices is the root of the tree out of which all other Vajrayana Buddhist practices grow. Yuthok’s ngöndro, traditionally done in the context of a seven day retreat is incredibly transformative to one's mind, health, and life, and is the gateway into the profound path of the Yuthok Nyingthig.
This seven day practice combines sessions of silent meditation, group mantra recitation, prostrations, visualization and contemplation, as well as instruction in the practice.
The week practice session will be followed by one day instruction in Outer Guru Yoga, the first in a series of four Guru Yogas in the Yuthok Nyingthig lineage of practice.
Yuthok Nyingthig
Yuthok Nyingthig, the ‘Heart Essence of Yuthok.' This unique and comprehensive set of Tibetan Buddhist practices was transmitted by Yuthok Yönten Gönpo the Younger, the great 12th century Tibetan physician and meditation adept who is considered to be an emanation of Medicine Buddha. It is a complete system of practice from the Anuttarayogatantra (Highest Yoga Tantra) class of teachings, beginning with Ngöndro (the preliminaries) and progressing through Kyerim and Dzogrim (Creation and Completion Stage practices) to the highest practices of Mahamudra and Dzogchen.
The tradition includes concise and essential methods perfectly suited for busy contemporary practitioners that offer both worldly benefits including improved health and longevity for oneself and others, as well as the ultimate benefit of complete spiritual liberation. The Yuthok Nyingthig is the main spiritual tradition connected with Sowa Rigpa (Tibetan medicine), and it contains many unique methods to heighten the intuitive, diagnostic, and healing capacities of doctors. It is the only complete cycle of Vajrayana teachings in which Medicine Buddha as a yidam (personal meditative deity).
Yuthok Nyingthig meditation practices are traditionally done in the context of a seven day retreat, making them practical and accessible in these modern busy times.
Christiana Polites received her Bachelor of Arts in the Comparative Study of Religion at Harvard University and has been immersed in Eastern spiritual traditions for over twenty years. She has studied both Tibetan and Chinese Daoist healing arts and received a Masters in Acupuncture from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. She has traveled extensively around the world, seeking out authentic living lineages in both the healing and spiritual sciences.
Christiana is the Executive Director of Pure Land Farms and the Sowa Rigpa Institute. She teaches foundational courses on Tibetan Medicine, yoga and rejuvenation and guides retreats and practices in the Yuthok Nyingthig meditation tradition at Pure Land Farms, online and internationally.