Dzogchen Community Practices

About Dzogchen Practices

The Vajra Dance

In the Dzogchen Teaching, sound and movement are very important, because they are the means to integrate oneself into the state of contemplation. The Vajra Dance is principally a practice to harmonize the energy of the individual. If one has a more profound knowledge of the meaning of the dance, it becomes a method for integrating the three existences of body, voice, and mind into the knowledge of the state of contemplation. This integration is one of the most important aims of a Dzogchen practitioner. The Vajra Dance is practiced on a mandala which represents the correspondence between the internal dimension of the individual and the outer dimension of the world.

The Eight Movements of Yantra Yoga

An ancient Tibetan Tradition

YANTRA YOGA, the yoga of movement, is an ancient system of Tibetan yoga based on the text The Union of the Sun and the Moon, written in the 8th century by the master and translator Vairochana. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu wrote a detailed commentary on the root text and started to transmit this teaching in the West at the beginning of the seventies. Yantra Yoga is a fundamental method to integrate the profound essence of the Dzogchen Teaching in the three doors (body, voice, and mind) of the practitioner. Through positions and movements combined with breathing, one’s energy is coordinated and harmonized, so as to let the mind relax and find the authentic balance which is the basis for getting into contemplation.

Santi Maha Sangha Essential Study and Practice

The Santi Maha Sangha Training was started in 1993 by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu to help his students to develop a more structured, deeper understanding and experience of Dzogchen Semde, Longde, and Mennagde, and to ease their way towards total liberation. The preliminary essential training text, which explains the theory & practice of Sutra, Tantra & Dzogchen, is transmitted by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu in his book named "The Precious Vase, Instructions on the Base of Santi Maha Sangha".

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu always puts much emphasis on the fact that the study of the Base of Santi Maha Sangha is important for all of his serious students. For those who decided not to proceed to further levels with the SMS Studies (or teach others), it is very valuable to have studied the Base.

SMS Base study groups have been organized in many different countries. It is practiced in informal groups with the help of senior students. For some practices, more specific knowledge is needed, and two SMS specialists, Adriano Clemente and Jim Valby, travel and lead retreat groups at various locations.

Please check our web site for exact times and location of Santi Maha Sangha practices.