What stands out for me about practicing within the Ear Whispered Lineage, which Khandro-la carries and guides us into, is the capacity it has to be incredibly inspiring and energizing while at the same time grounding and stabilizing. Whether I am riding a high where it feels like anything is possible, or seeking protection from some form of inner or outer suffering, I feel like I can always rely on the lineage Masters and their teachings and blessing. 

After 25 years of practicing and studying Buddhism, I find myself joyfully reconnected with the great fortune of a beginner’s mind.   Dakini’s Whisper has a distinct freshness that arises from the ancient and unique traditions of the Machik Dakini and the Ganden Ear-Whispered Lineage of Cho, and due to the special kindness of our teacher Khandro-la.

I have never found a single melody or practice that conveys the heartfelt nature of bodhicitta and the self-revealing mystery quite like the Ear-Whispered lineage. Only now in the past few decades has it begun to be disseminated more openly by great masters like HH the Khalkha Jetsun Dampa and our own Choying Khandro.  The haunting melodies in our Cho lineage practice have been kept orally between master and disciple up to our present time. I feel I am truly embodied as a disciple within the lineage connected to all the masters back to Je Tsongkhapa and the Buddhas themselves.  

My path led me to the Dakinis, with their magnificent, enlightened energies and activities, to Dakini’s Whisper, Khandro-La and the Ear-whispered lineage — and now particularly to the profound practice of Vajrayogini with this sangha. I’m grateful to have been gifted this practice through the blessings of Khandro-La and the lineage and to have the opportunity in this lifetime to learn the transformative power of the Vajrayana to feel ever more deeply the deity within me. 

Taking refuge at a different place on the path, I was drenched in warmth from the crown of my head to the bottoms of my feet. When I received my refuge name, my breath deepened and my mind ‘brightened’. I know how fortunate I am to be on the path with you all and to have arrived here in the presence of my teacher, Khandro-La. Joyfully and gratefully, I begin to live into my refuge name.  

I’ve tried all week to find words about last weekend’s Chö Monlam Prayer Festival and it’s a feeling I have... ... I am ‘cradled’ in ancient practice, prajna, prana, love, and spaciousness.  Touched deeply.  And still reverberating.  

 It was my grief, pain, and suffering that brought me to Buddhism. Here I found my teacher and my sangha. I am humbly grateful. Khandro-La frequently asks, "What brought you here?" It was my heartache. When here, my longing was uncovered, as well as awareness of suffering beyond me. Then this path to awakening began to unfold.

I went into the Cho Monlam Prayer Festival with a fresh and open mind. After the festival, I felt a lightness in my body that I haven't felt in about 1 1/2 years. A re-connection with the preciousness of my soul & those around me.  This feeling still lingers with me now.

My habitual pattern during times of great turmoil is to focus inwardly on my spiritual practice to the point, sometimes, of losing the essence of bodhicitta. Today’s public teaching on, Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower, brought me back to this expansive, joyful and vast possibility of reconnecting with all people with no hope, no fear. Thank you.

I very much enjoyed the Supplication to Machik Five Dakinis practice. It was a beautiful way to set the tone for the day here and as a prelude to other morning practices. I would like to include it in my daily practice and see/feel what arises from there. It feels to be such a profound practice calling to my heart.

The teachings at the Fall Retreat were so rich and beneficial.  This is my third time through this book (Naturally Liberating Whatever Arises).  The impact now is almost like I never really heard most of these teachings before!  That is a result of Khandro-la's wonderful teaching in this retreat, but just as much because I understand more from what she has been teaching us all along.

Thank you again for your generous outpouring of teachings last weekend during the Facing Turmoil with Mahamudra, Pith Instructions, Retreat. I am digesting all that was received and am aware of the ways it has deepened my meditation, awareness of the subtle body, and capacity to be with what is.

This Chö Healing with Khandro-la practicing CHÖ IN A SINGLE SITTING, Dentok Chika was wonderful. I felt a sense of giving away a burden, a light feeling of emptiness on the edge of vastness.  It felt comforting and freeing. I hope we benefited all beings everywhere!

It has been a really transformative time since I joined Dakini's Whisper and I am so grateful for you, for Khandro-la, for the community, for the dharma and for being set upon such a beautiful path with such a beautiful lineage.

I found the Subtle Body Training with Mahamudra Practice very informative and I learned a lot. Khandro-la, I appreciate how you are teaching us experientially - so rich and rare! I really treasure your emphasis on embodiment. It would be so easy to remain just intellectual about these teachings. Thank you again for this wonderful experience!

Khandro-la’s commentary on Guru Yoga of Machik Labdron was a beautiful practice. These shorter practices feel open and doable to those who are busy yet are cultivating the energies and Dharma in their own way and may not yet be able to go into a full-length sadhana.