Riverfest Community Demonstrations

Riverfest, Shelburne Falls, MA
June 7, 2014

11:15 - 11-30 Yantra Yoga
11:30 - noon Tibetan Dancing
noon to 12 :15 Yantra Yoga
12:15 - 12:30 Tibetan Dancing

Possible sites:
Mole hollow platform
Wine merchant (next door to McKusker's)

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 Choegyal 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:

Tibetan Modern Dance:
In the last two years, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu has dedicated a long time collecting and transcribing modern Tibetan songs, and encouraged us to learn modern Tibetan dance choreographies as well as creating new ones.

Written by young Tibetan songwriters, with love for their own country, these songs and dances are a joyful way to celebrate the Tibetan cultural heritage, which is today under risk of extinction.

In addition to supporting Tibetan culture, through these activities the people of the Dzogchen Community have discovered a pleasant way of spending time together,  dissolving tensions and calming the mind.

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.