I am beginning to think that we are going through a quiet Irish invasion at the Tara Rokpa Centre. It kicked off with a month-long retreat with Dónal Creedon in November and December, then we followed up with Brion Sweeney in April for a bit of mindfulness. In my ignorance (before coming to TRC) I [...]
We are happy to announce that Monica Burr has offered to take over the role of champion of the Friends of TRC. Friends of TRC is the new 'membership' option that we have been rolling out for the past few years. Monica will be keeping an eye on our Friends admin, as well as promoting [...]
I can’t believe it’s nearly November! The year seems to be flying by at great speed. We have had 2 nights with dramatic thunderstorms bringing much-needed rain to the parched land. It has been a high alert for fires for some time with all the dry grass and strong winds. There have been some devastating [...]
I’m sitting, gratefully basking in the warmth of my wood-burning stove on an unusually wet and cold May evening, with time to reflect on my semi-retired life here in Tara’s valley. I joined Alan’s recent retreat on the Buddhist foundation practices and really benefitted personally. He skilfully and with his usual humility, kindness, and [...]
The countryside and our little valley look immaculate and very green. We have been blessed with a lot of rain in recent months leaving us with overflowing bridges and a very active waterfall. This has prepared the soil for our tree planting activities at the centre. With the assistance of Alhyrian from the permaculture site, [...]
It’s a soggy Sunday keeping me indoors. This has been one of the wettest January I have recorded since arriving here 18 years ago. Nearly 300mm of rain which is half of our annual rainfall! Greenery is abundant and the grass and weed growth is phenomenal. It feels as if things grow as you look [...]
TO MY UNIVERSAL FAMILY AND FRIENDS A JOYOUS NEW YEAR – 2022 Paulo Senior and Paulo Junior joined us for the Compassionate Living in Difficult Times retreat with Alan and Pippa. This was their first visit to TRC, and hopefully not the last. One more challenging year has come to an end. But economic hardships [...]
A few weeks of spring rains have replenished the valley and brought welcome green growth. The weather is however unpredictable and is not following the usual early summer patterns. Layers of clothing seem to go on and off according to the ever-changing temperatures. For me, a recent highlight was attending our recent Green Tara practice [...]
1 September, Spring Day, in the southern hemisphere, was always the day the public swimming pools opened in Johannesburg when I was a child. I’m sitting on my lovely “stoep” catching the last warmth of the setting sun. I tried dipping my feet into my pool and they became completely numb, so no swimming for [...]
In mid-June the cold creeps in as the sunsets. I have just come in from the cold where I braved a bowl of soup while watching the sky colours change and the waxing sickle moon and Venus and Mars growing brighter as the darkness crept in. The welcome wood-burning stove is now glowing, bringing needed [...]
