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Letter from the Editors

Happy Losar!

Serenity Ridge Blizzard FlagsDear Friends,

We wish you all a Happy Losar! Let's celebrate the Tibetan New Year and practice together with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche by tuning into his free, live webcast on February 13, during Losar celebrations! This webcast is the first in a NEW six-part series on Transforming Your World Through Service. The topic to begin the series is "The Value of Enlightened Leadership" and is also the focus for the annual Spring Retreat at Serenity Ridge. Read Rinpoche's letter explaining more about what's ahead for us in 2016 – how we can improve our ability to help others in the most compassionate and wise ways.

We hope you enjoy the teaching excerpt for this issue from Rinpoche's book The True Source of Healing. He encourages us to ask ourselves: "How much is your life guided by light and awareness, and how much is it driven by reactivity and denial? The inner refuge is your unfailing support in any moment. Let it be your best friend." 

In last month's webcast on "Soul Retrieval as a Lifetime Practice," Rinpoche reminded us all of the importance of three guiding principles: notot to drain your energy, recharge and connect to yourself, and integrate in everyday life. To learn more about these principles you can view (and review!) last month's January 9 webcast. You can access the archives from the yearlong series here. See, too, the article below detailing the deadline for downloading the support materials for last year's free course on the Ligmincha Learning website.

The new year brings many new and exciting announcements and retreats. Learn about the annual Spring Retreat on Enlightened Leadership at Serenity Ridge April 1–3, and the work retreat scheduled just prior to that. Find out about the ceremonies to be held in India and Nepal in April for His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche and His Eminence Yongdzin Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche. Find out details about Lishu Institute's second year program, starting in fall 2016 near Dehradun, India, with a focus on the Ma Gyud. (And be sure to read our April issue, which will contain an in-depth interview with Sangmo Yangri, Ph.D., resident teacher at Lishu and the first Tibetan woman to receive a Ph.D. in Bon philosophy.)

The next four-week online GlideWing workshop on Tibetan Dream Yoga, beginning March 5, offers an opportunity to learn more about dream practice prior to the Summer Retreat. See the article by Alejandro Chaoul-Reich about bringing Tibetan Meditation into hospitals and check out the new Tibetan Wellness retreat, June 3–5 at Serenity Ridge with Alejandro Chaoul-Reich and Rob Patzig. Stay tuned for details to be announced soon about a special weekend retreat, May 21–22, at Serenity Ridge, with Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche, the abbot of Triten Norbutse Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Also of interest: read the excellent Tricycle magazine interview with Anne C. Klein on the transmission of Tibetan Buddhism the the West; and be sure not to miss the latest issue of Ligmincha Europe Magazine for Winter 2015–2016. Finally, you'll find the links for the translations in Spanish and Portuguese of the December issue of the Voice of Clear Light.

Tashi Delek!

Aline and Jeff