Community
“We are birthed into sangha, into sacred community.
It is called the world.” Adyashanti
Renata Drtina
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I am a Gestalt psychotherapist and a many-year disciple of the Namgyal Rinpoche lineage of Eastern wisdom teachings and spiritual practices. I have been guiding clients through compassionate inquiry, gestalt processes and meditative tools to uncover the deepest truth of `self` and its magnificent potential for growth, fulfillment and awakening. I co-lead ongoing wellness retreats in India, and will offer others in beautiful parts of the world. I live in Madrid, Spain, after many years wandering, discovering, playing and working on five different continents. I teach in Spanish and English.
Evangelos Diavolitsis
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Evangelos Diavolitsis is a Dharma and meditation teacher, movement workshop leader, and behavioural money coach. He has been training in the Namgyal Lineage with Qapel and Sensei for 20+ years. His unique delivery of a universalist, inclusive approach makes ancient teachings digestible to anyone who is ready to move from an ordinary outer world to an extraordinary inner world. His compassionate and investigative nature encourages students to view life challenges and conflicting emotions as an opportunity for personal growth and liberation. He has a passion for integrating the path of awakening through somatic expression, art and business. His conscious leadership skills have led him to work with notable companies such as Google, Engineers without Borders, Findhorn Foundation, the Sameness Project and Fairtrade Canada. fourwaystofreedom.com
Lisa Feder
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Living and integrating into vastly different cultures from my own is an essential part of my dharma practice. In 2007 I received my Ph.D in cultural anthropology and the same month I became a certified yoga instructor. Six months later I heard Qapel Doug Duncan teaching Dharma and it was like water for my thirsty soul- the bare truth that I longed to hear. I have been a student of the Namgyal Rinpoche lineage since then. Throughout the same decade, I did intensive research in the Brazilian Amazon and in West Africa with griot musicians. Now living in Marseille, France, I organise cross-cultural musical productions and balafon (African xylophone) workshops that integrate dharma, meditation, and yoga. I also teach dharma and meditation to beginner students in French and in English. Aside from that, I love to be in the sea.
Jonathan Clifford
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I teach Meditation and Qigong, having a background in therapeutic bodywork and Internal Martial Arts. I've studied extensively in, and taught Movement Shiatsu, Tui Na and Chinese Medicine over the last twenty five years.
My root teacher was Namgyal Rinpoche, and I have trained in the Namgyal lineage since 1999 and over the last fifteen years under the wily guidance of Qapel (Doug Duncan) and latterly Catherine Pawasarat Sensei.
My interest in bringing the teachings on growth and unfolding, is on making them as directly experiential and as accessible as possible, with a touch of irreverent humour thrown in.
I divide my time between Maitreya House Retreat Centre on the Welsh borders, where I am teacher in residence and current chair, and my home on the Isle of Skye.
Zoe Moores
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My name is Zoe. I am a founding member of Dharma Europe, and, for the last few years, have been Dharma Europe Lead. My work has involved organising retreats and Dharma trips with our root teachers Qapel and Sensei, leading the group as we’ve grown and moved forward in changing times, and supporting our sangha community. I first met Qapel and Sensei over 20 years ago while living in Japan. I’d been interested in Buddhism for a long time, and wanted to explore it further. When I turned up at my first retreat and heard Qapel speak, everything connected. I’m currently based near London and I work as a subtitler, trainer and access provider. This work is one way that I channel my bodhisattva vow out in the world, though these different aspects of the mandala are increasingly merging. I see my work as helping to make these teachings more accessible and supporting people who are interested in attending and participating in what we do.
Brigid Maclachlan
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A meditator and Shiatsu Practitioner, I have sought to deepen experience and practice of both through exploration and study, firstly in Traditional Acupuncture, followed by many years Post Grad work with Movement Shiatsu and Inner Qigong founder Bill Palmer who had been a student of Namkhai Norbu in the Dzogchen tradition.
Latterly, training with Qapel and Sensei Catherine Pawarsarat for many years now - drawn to their universalist approach, their deep understanding and teaching which weaves together Eastern and Western traditions.
Nishta Prem Matarese
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I am a chameleon, a voyeur of human behavior and life long inquisitor of emotions, body and psyche. Nishta means “Nirvana”, the ultimate resting place. I have always had a keen and curious mind. Educated in Dharma, Transpersonal Psychology, Mysticism and the Moving Body.
I pay homage to all of my teachers in the Diamond Approach-Ridwhan School. From the illuminated teachings of Osho, my heart has been lit ablaze. Doug Duncan (Qapel) and Catherine Pawasarat (Sensei) are my mentors, they embody a living path for awakening.
I am a multi-disciplinary meditation retreat leader, an Open Floor International Conscious Movement Teacher, a Certified Behavioral Money Coach and co-founder of Conscious Dance Italy. I mentor students who seek truth and clarity. My teaching style is heartfelt, humorous, clear and transformative.
Transformation is what motivates my work. This process of being human IS the process of waking up. Experiencing everything in its totality is the precious gift of being alive.
Jutta Hamman
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I work as a journalist. In 2016 I was attracted to the teachings of Qapel and Sensei from Clear Sky B.C. when they were in Germany. Since then, I’ve been part of the Dharma Germany team, organising and participating in retreats in Germany and England. I realise that it takes a deeper understanding of the teachings than just doing them on the side. I can see the results almost every day, even in circumstances and situations that, at first glance, are not linked to the inner world at all.
Maya Lewandowsky
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A Dharma dancing dakini. I am a Meditation, Voice and Movement teacher offering a contemporary and accessible interpretation of ancient teachings. I grew up studying contemporary dance, ballet, ritual theater, and voice. I have been performing in and leading international retreats and workshops in Canada, France and Israel over the last 30 years. I founded La Caravan Dance Theatre in 2002, producing and choreographing innovative performances and also created the Free Your Natural Voice method. I have been studying under Doug Duncan (Qapel) and Catherine Pawasarat (Sensei) at Clear Sky Meditation Foundation in Canada since 2007.
My approach seeks to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, darkness into hope, uncertainty into vision. I invite you to feel the wonder and joy of this exploration beyond the self.
Willow Walker
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I am a freelance botanist and professional forager aspiring to a healthy low impact lifestyle in rural South Scotland.
I am deeply drawn to the weaving of the Western Mysteries with the Dharma offered by the Namgyal lineage and have been studying with Qapel and Catherine Sensei since 2016. I hope to bring nourishment to others through my love of the natural world, food, music and dance.
Martin Loxton
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I had the great good fortune to meet Namgyal Rinpoche, 48 years ago in 1975, when I was 22, when he was teaching a course in the UK. I studied with him until he died in 2003. In that time I was part of 2 caravans of 60-100 students travelling across Scandinavia, Western Europe, and Turkey, where Rinpoche would both teach and explore places; 2 crossings of the Atlantic by cargo boat, on one of which we studied the Teachings of Totality, by Garma C C Chang; and 2 crossings of the Pacific. One by cruise liner from Australia to Japan, where the group of 6 students focussed on completing their vajrayana empowerment mantras and trying out different cocktails, with Rinpoche, in the bar, and one across the north Pacific in March, through the Alaskan islands and Aleutian Islands, from Oregon to Japan. Not much study. Mostly hanging on for dear life.
I did a 6 month ‘silent’ retreat, whilst looking after Rinpoche’s house in Kinmount, Ontario. And attended 2 of the first 3 years of the first Kinmount Academy. A 3 year training programme for Teachers in Namgyal Lineage. Rinpoche was the primary teacher of this programme.
Since the death of my root guru, I have studied with Qapel, who was earlier a fellow student of Namgyal Rinpoche. And now with Catherine Sensei as well.
For more than 25 years, prior to my retirement last year, I worked with senior managers and leaders, in industrial and research organisations, across Europe, Scandinavia and North America. To help them transform themselves as individuals, and in their teams and in their organisations, to help them become more effective, more compassionate, more mature, and more profitable. Recognising that for most people, it is in their working environment, that they express their creativity and compassion, and have their greatest chance to improve the World. It was also in this world that I could myself have the greatest influence.
I have a son, and live in the countryside south of London, England.
Finally in the last 4 or 5 years I have at last felt I have sufficient insight and authority to be willing to offer to support others in their search for a life free of suffering, dedicated to helping others.
Andrea Netscher
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My name is Andrea Netscher and I was born in Darmstadt in 1963. I have traveled a lot in my life and lived abroad for a long time (Switzerland and Guatemala). I am the mother of two wonderful, now grown sons. One of my passions is paragliding. I'm not particularly good at it, but that doesn't stop me from getting better.
Questions that have accompanied me since my childhood are:
"Why are we humans on earth? What is the meaning of life?" Do you have an answer to that? And what is happiness ? What do people who feel happy have in common?
I love helping people realize their full potential and give their lives a new direction . To make the problems and worries that stand in your way tangible and thus to develop new perspectives.