GAIA MANDALA

Meditation of the Sublime Mother Gaia
with Cynthia Jurs

The spiritual practice of the Sublime Mother Gaia (formerly known as Tara Gaia) is a new meditation or “sadhana” that invites us to form a direct relationship with Gaia through recitation, visualization, offerings and mantra.

Cynthia Jurs, a dharmacharya in the Order of Interbeing of Thich Nhat Hanh and an honorary lama in the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition, is offering the teachings and transmission of Mother Gaia for the fourth year. 

We invite you to receive these inspiring teachings, deepen your relationship to Mother Earth.

Once receiving the teachings, you will be welcomed into our monthly online practice group where you can deepen your experience of the practice within the context of a dedicated and supportive community. 

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GUIDING TEACHER:

Cynthia Jurs met her root teacher, Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh in the early 1980s, and in 1994 received his transmission of Dharmacharya, becoming a teacher in his tradition, the Order of Interbeing. In 1990 she traveled to a remote cave in Nepal to meet the 106-year-old Lama Kushok Mangden Rinpoche, from whom she received the practice of the Earth Treasure Vases. In 2018 she was given the honorary title of Lama at Tolu Tharling Gompa in Nepal by Ngawang Tsultrim Zangpo Rinpoche. Today, Cynthia is forging a new path of dharma in service to Gaia, deeply rooted in the feminine, honoring indigenous traditions, and teaching an embodied, engaged, sacred activism dedicated to global healing and collective awakening. Cynthia teaches meditations and leads pilgrimages and through her nonprofit, Alliance for the Earth, works with former combatants in Liberia to build peace through mindfulness. Cynthia lives at the base of the Sangre de Christo mountains in northern New Mexico where she is often found walking in the wilderness with her dog or gardening with husband.  You can find her offerings and join the global healing community she founded at www.GaiaMandala.net

MONTHLY PRACTICE GROUP LEADERS:

Rick Jansen is passionate about the transformation and healing needed to wake up to the deeper interconnected reality of our lives and to find one’s true and authentic purpose in service to the ‘’Great Turning’’. His spiritual path started in 2013 trekking in Nepal where he met Tibetan Buddhism and his first spiritual teacher, Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. Currently Rick practices mainly within the Plum Village Tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Since spring 2022, Rick works closely with Cynthia and the core-team at the heart of the Gaia Mandala. He leads one of the monthly online Arya Gaia Practice Groups, facilitates one of the Earth Treasure Vase Stewardship Support Groups and is co-creating a program specifically for Young Adults. Rick also works as a nature and soul-oriented Purpose Guide™ in his private practice and as a mentor with Purpose Guides Institute. For the future, Rick holds a strong intention to work with young men, out-in-nature on pilgrimage, helping them to discover their own innate gifts and unique calling. Born in the Netherlands, at the moment, Rick lives as a long-term resident in the Mindfulness Practice Center of Plum Village in France. You can find his offerings at www.naturesoulpurpose.com

Rasul Luisa Bravo’s life is rooted in the tender yet wild remembrance of our oneness with creation. In the journey backwards and forwards to this recognition, she has been shaped by studying intuitive plant medicine, regenerative agriculture, non-violent communication, and rituals for communal grief tending. She is dedicated to cultivating the power of communication through writing and narration, song, ritual, prayer and through creative collaboration. Weaving all these threads, Rasul serves as host at the virtual home for the Earth Treasure Vase Global Healing Community on The Mandala. She also co-facilitates practices offered within the Gaia Mandala Sangha including the Monday Mindfulness Meditation and the Arya Gaia Sadhana to which she has developed a deep connection. Inspired to learn more about the Vajrayana Buddhist Tradition, Rasul is also participating in the Ösel Nyingtig program offered through Tara Mandala. Rasul is dedicated to stewarding an Earth Treasure Vase for the restoration of the waters of the world which has led her back to live in her native land of Colombia, where the “paramos”, ecosystems that offer a vital source of water, reside.