What's New

Diane Breneman of Uniting the United States brought together diverse spiritual leaders from all over the United States on how we are so much more alike than we are different. Lama Tsomo is one of the leaders who joined Diane, discussing the metaphor of how we are all individual waves within the same ocean.

Lama Tsomo also shared a prayer for unity at the end. To watch the video and hear from these experts from all different spiritual backgrounds, visit the Uniting the United States YouTube channel.

Facilitated by Cindy Raiscot, Lama Tsomo had a conversation with Venerable Dhammananda about Buddhist archetypes, White Tara, Green Taras, and the different lenses that we use to view reality.

To watch the video of the full conversation, visit Cindy Raiscot's YouTube channel.

Are you passionate about growth and healing? Lama Tsomo is one of the speakers at the Collective Trauma Summit, an online gathering to share ideas and inspire action to heal individual, ancestral and collective trauma. With topics including Trauma-Informed Therapy, Social Resilience, Spiritual Trauma & Healing, Social Justice, Climate, Art, Music, Poetry, and more, this event allows participants to learn from experts and visionaries as you explore emergent approaches and solutions to collective trauma.

To register for the event or watch a replay, visit Collective Trauma Summit.

Lama Tsomo was featured as one of the four women Buddhist teachers who are shaping Buddhism in America. along with Doshin Mako Voelkel, Bonnie Duran, and Myokei Caine-Barrett, Shonin. These women all come from different backgrounds and bring their own personalities to their teachings. For Lama Tsomo, humor is a way to cope and to learn.

To read the full article and learn about these four unique teachers, visit the Lion's Roar website.

Love and compassion aren't just passing sentiments—they are capacities we all have and can grow! Anyone looking to expand their capacity for connection and compassion can join Lama Tsomo either online or in person in Missoula, Montana for this retreat. No meditation or previous experience is required.

During this intimate weekend retreat, meditation teacher and award-winning author Lama Tsomo will introduce you to these ancient teachings in a modern way. Participants will learn meditation practices focused on each of the four qualities as referenced in the Metta Sutta.

To learn more or sign up for the retreat, visit Namchak.org.

Lama Tsomo's Tricyle article talks about Giving Tuesday, the concept of "perfections" in Buddhism, and how generosity can be quite powerful.

"The perfection of generosity challenges us to identify our expectations, projections, and attachments—those things we think we need or don't need in order to have a “perfect” life—and find a way to release and go beyond them."

To read to the full article, visit the Tricycle website.

Lama Tsomo joins Mindrolling Podcast's host Raghu Markus for a discussion on becoming happy, cultivating compassion, and seeing between the frames of the movie of me.

Reflecting on how as a child her greatest wish was to be happy, Lama Tsomo notes how she follows this thread still today using and sharing practices and spiritual techniques learned through her personal dharma journey, and under the blessing of her teacher, Tulku Sangak Rinpoche.

To listen to the full episode, visit the Be Here Now Network's website.

Lama Tsomo hosted a community meditation on the Namchak Facebook page of Compassion for Ukraine. "We breathe for everyone. Breathing in the suffering. And then on the exhale, through the lens of our compassionate heart and the power of our compassionate intent in our minds, out to all and to everyone"

To see more community meditations and join the community yourself, you can follow the Namchak Community Facebook page.

Northwest Dharma Association discusses Lama Tsomo's new book, Wisdom & Compassion (Starting with Yourself), which breaks down three foundational Vajrayana meditation practices that complement each other to promote happiness and well-being: Shamata, Tonglen, and Cleansing the Stale Winds.

The book, with a forward by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, gives readers an opportunity to put Vajrayana wisdom into practice in an accessible way, guided by imagery of poses and positions.

To read the full article, visit Northwest Dharma Association.

In Tricycle magazine, Lama Tsomo explains why breaking the automatic chain reaction of our thoughts is the key to finding peace.

One thought arises, then tumbles into another, then another. We can experience the true nature of our minds, see to the depths, only once the waters have been stilled, but how can we still those waters?

To read the full article, visit Tricycle.

It’s no secret that the world needs more compassion right now. Join the Namchak Community and Lama Tsomo for an introduction to the Tantric visualization practice of the deity Chenrezi, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. In this short, simple, yet powerful practice, we will come together to generate compassion in our hearts and minds for all beings. (No experience necessary)

To sign up for this online event, visit EventBrite.

Love and compassion aren’t just feelings—they are capacities we all have the ability to cultivate. How can we open our hearts to experience an expansive sense of love, true connection, and lasting inner peace? Lama Tsomo will lead a retreat over Zoom on how to engage The Four Immeasurables (or Boundless Qualities).

To sign up for the weekend retreat, visit Namchak.org.

The view at Namchak is that the events at the Capitol highlighted the perceived divide between “Us" and "Them.” This mentality can keep us trapped in our own delusions of separation, fear and suffering. In this Facebook gathering, Lama Tsomo guides participants through Tonglen, a practice of compassion and connection.

You can watch the recording of this event from Namchak's Facebook page.

In the midst of the historic 2020 U.S. presidential election, Lion’s Roar reached out to Buddhism-informed leaders and teachers for their responses to both the election process and its result: the victory of Joe Biden. Roshi Joan Halifax, Lama Tsomo, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, Norman Fischer, and more provide commentary and look at what we can do moving forward.

To read the article and watch the video responses from these leaders, visit Lion's Roar.

Lama Tsomo joined prominent spiritual and religious teachers from multiple traditions for an election vigil with We Rise Now. These teachers shared how practices of meditation can renew and activate your life, no matter what the election brings. The vigil was streamed live on Facebook and is also available on YouTube.

To learn about We Rise Now and to watch the replays of the vigil, visit We Rise Now.

Moderated by Mariette Fourmeaux, Awakin brings together Jacques Verduin and Lama Tsomo for a timely conversation exploring insights, tools, and practices to support ourselves, our families, our work, and our communities during this year of confinement and constant, confusing, uncertain change.

Find more information or to listen to the call, visit Awakin.

Lama Tsomo spoke with the SF Dharma Collective, a community-led sangha, for this live conversation. We can’t go back to the way we have been doing things, so we are called on to create inner and outer change. Sangha is a vital piece of this necessary growth and change. She concludes with a Tonglen practice to increase our capacity for compassion for ourselves and others.

Watch the replay on YouTube to listen to their conversation and try this guided meditation for yourself.

In this teaching, Lama Tsomo discusses the connection between inner and outer work to help you to ride the waves of strong emotions and access your own compassionate wisdom. Explore time and lab-tested methods that will help you look at your current hardships (anxiety, depression, stress, etc.) and use them as opportunities for growth and perhaps even happiness.

Watch the replay on YouTube and try this guided meditation for yourself.

As our cities and states began to open, Lama Tsomo provided advice on how to move forward, to focus on the innerwork of your life, and to envision a new paradigm post COVID-19 without falling into the problematic stance of hope or fear, but rather to tune into our true motivation of compassion.

Go to the Namchak website to read her the full post on looking forward.

How do we cultivate compassion, especially in difficult times? Lama Tsomo led a live call to take people through how to get grounded in our practice, move from fear to love, and hold each other with care.

Watch the replay on YouTube and try this guided meditation for yourself.

Launch of the Compassion In Action student fellowship program. The Compassion in Action Fellowship is a yearlong inner & outer change program that supports college and university students in learning meditation practice, building community, and engaging in meaningful social change.

The fellowship integrates ancient and modern wisdom to support young leaders of today in addressing the interconnected challenges of the twenty-first century. To nominate a student (by March 31st) or to apply yourself (by April 15th), visit: namchak.org/fellowship

Lama Tsomo will be hosting two separate retreats covering The Four Immeasurables this February. The Four Immeasurables, known in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition as the path to cultivate a limitless heart, help us to experience a level of awareness in which isolation and the sense of separation dissolve and we are able to feel our natural connection to one another and to the world.

The first retreat will be held in New York City, from February 7th - February 9th. The second will be held in Berkeley, California, from February 14th - February 16th. For more information or to sign up and join the retreat, go to the Namchak website.

Awakin Call is a weekly global series of deep conversations with inspiring changemakers. Andy Smallman moderated an Awakin Call with Lama Tsomo titled "Sustaining Our Spiritual Practices in the Face of Frustration and Discouragement".

Listen to the call to hear a great conversation and to find out what makes Lama Tsomo come alive, some pivotal turning points in her life, and more.

Lama Tsomo wrote an article for SoundsTrue called "Coming Awake to Your Projections and Loving Yourself". In it, she discusses what projection is and her own experiences with projection. She then goes into detail on how to come awake to your projections via a Western lens and also through an Eastern lens.

"Imagine if a critical mass of people became fluent in these skills and capacities, bringing us closer together in camaraderie rather than causing us to build walls of protection and projection against each other."