Wisdom Flame
Join us...
Six Tuesdays, online
January 14–February 18
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Where can we find true refuge? How can we work with feelings of anxiety and overwhelm, while also extending to others?
We will draw on wisdom and practices from Lama Tsultrim Allione, Lopön Polly Ryan, Lama Willa Baker, Joanna Macy and Pema Chödrön. We will also share our own wisdom and stories. All are welcome.
Each session will include a short dharma talk, guided meditation, reflection with one or two others, and open discussion.
We will explore topics like these ...​
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Embodying refuge
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Honouring our love (and pain) for the world
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Resting in the eye of the storm (with Lopön Polly Ryan)
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Feeding personal and collective demons
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Calling on sources of support
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Finding and offering refuge in our communities
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Susan Lorraine has been studying Buddhism since 1975, first as a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and since 2016 with Lama Tsultrim and the Tara Mandala community. In 2017 she co-founded How We Thrive, a small nonprofit in Nova Scotia, Canada, which hosts gatherings and events related to climate change, decolonizing and community resilience.
REQUEST THE ZOOM LINK by sending an email to fydnovascotia@gmail.com
Saturday retreats at Blue Forest Shores
You are invited to gather for day-long practice and community retreats in a beautiful setting on the Eastern Shore, 45 minutes from Halifax. Blue Forest is a relatively new wellness and education centre with a private shoreline, offshore islands, hiking trails through the forest, a Mi'kmaw-designed meetings space, medicinal herb garden, and state-of-the-art Finnish sauna situated close to the ocean.
We will arrive at 10:00 am, followed by a circle check-in, meditation practice, and BYO lunch with time for exploring and socializing. In the afternoons there will be a short talk and guided practice, with outdoor options when the weather permits. We will end with a sauna, departing at 4:00 pm. The cost for the day is $70.
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Current retreat dates:
January 11, 25
February 22
March 22
April 26
May 31
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Maximum 10 people per Saturday. Contact us at fydnovascotia@gmail.com to reserve your space.
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Find out more about Blue Forest Shores.
More on refuge: stories, resources, questions
About us
We are meditation practitioners living in Nova Scotia, a small province on the east coast of Canada that is the ancestral, unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq. Our group is dedicated to uncovering and practicing bodhicitta, the flame of wisdom and compassion, in ourselves and our communities. In the fall of 2017 we began gathering informally to study Buddhist women teachers—to take a closer look at their struggles and breakthroughs, their life examples and teachings. This Women of Wisdom study group was inspired by Lama Tsultrim Allione's 1987 book of the same title. Our exploration became a jumping-off point for exploring our own personal questions, stories, ancestries and spiritual paths. Over time, the group's focus expanded to include multiple ways of wisdom, as well as genders. The WoW study group continues to meet biweekly.
Lama Tsultrim at Herring Cove Park, Nova Scotia, May 2018, prior to leading a Wisdom Rising retreat at Cabot Shores, Cape Breton.
In parallel, some of us have developed an ongoing connection to Tara Mandala, a Buddhist retreat centre in Colorado that is a hub for an international network of practitioners and sanghas under the direction of Lama Tsultrim Allione. Tara Mandala is carrying forward the legacy and spirit of Machik Labdrön, an 11th-12th century Tibetan woman whose teachings and practices continue to be influential in all Tibetan Buddhist lineages.
Lama Tsultrim led retreats in Nova Scotia in 2016 and 2017, and Tara Mandala Lopöns Charlotte Rotterdam and Pieter Oosthuizen led Kapala Training retreats in 2018 and 2019. Most recently, Tulku Osel Dorje, the teacher-in-residence at Tara Mandala, introduced us to a special Green Tara practice in 2023.
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In November 2023, Lama Tsultrim encouraged Susan Lorraine (Szpakowski) to begin sharing some of the Tara Mandala practices with others in Nova Scotia, conferring the title Chögé, Virtuous Teacher of Dharma.