Ati Yoga (Tibetan: Dzogchen) is the pinnacle of Buddhist Vajrayana practice. It takes the dedicated practitioner to Buddhahood, the bliss of perfect freedom that enables a buddha to compassionately connect to the healing of countless suffering beings. It is the most simple, direct and profound path to reveal the primordial wisdom which is our basic nature.

In this three-day practice-centered retreat, Dr. Nida offers Dzogchen Ati Yoga instruction according to Tibet’s great 12th century physician and meditation adept Yuthok Yönten Gönpo, widely acclaimed as an emanation of the Medicine Buddha, following his seminal teachings entitled “The Great Self-Liberation of Samsara-Nirvana of the Great Perfection of Yuthok”.

This program focuses on Ati Yoga preliminary practices and trekchöd, “cutting through hardness”, and includes the special blessing of the Yuthok Nyingthig (Heart Drop) cycle of teachings. The text we will study is Dr. Nida’s Mirror of Light: A Commentary on Yuthok’s Ati Yoga, along with his Weapon of Light.

The Yuthok tradition of Ati Yoga will be combined with the Tibetan science of medicine in this very special online offering, taking place just before Dr. Nida takes a 6-month teaching hiatus to go on personal retreat. Every Tibetan medical student is initiated in the Yuthok Nyingthig in order to embody in their practice the essence of the liberating wisdom and artful compassion of the Medicine Buddha, in whose honor Dr. Nida will introduce us all to the Medicine Guru healing garden mandala.