Parvati and the Phoenix Area Tara Sangha resumed our traditional Fall Retreat with an extended weekend of dharma, meditation, music and dance, including the Mandala Dance of the 21 Praises of Tara. The retreat was held at a spacious, comfortable and well-appointed AirBnB home with a beautifully landscaped backyard garden and heated pool, within walking distance to the Phoenix Mountain Preserve and its excellent desert hiking trails. Parvati and several of the local Taras arrived in advance to arrange, stock and set up the space, transforming it into a beautiful Tara Temple that would serve as both a welcoming home away from home for out-of-town Taras and a sacred gathering place for all retreatants.
The event was crafted to be restorative in nature and the schedule was well-balanced and perfectly paced. There was plenty of focused time for diving deeply into the heart of the practices as well as expansive free time for rest, exploration, and connection with each other and all that the Phoenix area has to offer. We moved purposefully, deeply and joyfully into and through the practices, with each session building upon the last, culminating in an intimate and powerful private offering of the full Mandala Dance. Everyone danced with Wisdom, Compassion and Power, manifesting as Tara in their own unique and beautiful way – supported by the golden spiral of light moving through the hearts of the dancers in the Mandala, a few close friends and sangha members joyfully receiving the offering, and a small cohort of noble Protectors, holding a safe and sacred container for it all.
We closed the retreat with hearts full of love, joy and gratitude, sending our aspirations and prayers out into the world with a wish that any merit, blessings, inspiration or power generated from this joyful gathering be for the highest benefit of all beings.
Other highlights of the retreat include:
- Celebrating Parvati’s birthday with a shared potluck dinner and a beautiful, decadent and delicious catered vegan dessert.
- Slowly and gently starting our days with skillfully guided morning chi-lel and tantric meditations.
- Exploring Tara’s Qualities as expressed through the Dakini energies of the Five Wisdom Families and moving with these energies through free-form sacred dance, accompanied by live music by Dashmesh Singh.
- Embarking on an educational, inspiring and fun field trip with Carey to the Musical Instrument Museum where we had the opportunity to explore, admire and enjoy their diverse collection of over 8,000 instruments played everyday by people from over 200 countries worldwide.
- Sharing the love, energy and togetherness of our in-person retreat with the global sangha during Tara Dhatu Zoom Daily Practice on Friday morning (it was also particularly poignant and sweet to dance Daily Practice in-person with our newer Tara dancers who have only ever danced these practices with us on Zoom).
- Waking up for the full lunar eclipse in the wee hours Monday night/Tuesday morning to slip outside and dance under the scarlet moon, then sit in silence as the Moon’s bright face slowly returned to full (just before sunrise), and joyfully and ecstatically dance together again to greet the dawn.
- Spending time outside in nature, hiking the mountain preserve, enjoying the back garden and/or taking a cool refreshing dip in the pool.
- Crafting collages together and sharing hearts, conversations, and connections during breaks and mealtimes.
This retreat was nourishing, inspiring and deeply restorative, and we are immensely grateful for the precious opportunity to come together in this way. May we continue to meet again and again in the light of the Wisdom Goddess Tara for years and lifetimes to come, and may it be for the benefit of all.
Om Tare!
