A Buddhist community dedicated to the joy of awakening

Natural Dharma Fellowship and Wonderwell Mountain Refuge

Updates & policies as Wonderwell reopens this fall

Here are some guidelines for the return to Wonderwell, including updates on masking and other Covid-related policies.

Tales of a Mad Yogi—Book Released

We celebrated the publication of Lama Liz Monson’s book at Wonderwell recently. Read about the book and a glorious day at Wonderwell.

WHO WE ARE

Natural Dharma Fellowship

Natural Dharma Fellowship is a Buddhist community that supports the cultivation of contemplative and ethical practices for a better world.

Lama Willa Miller

Founding Teacher, Spiritual Co-Director

Lama Liz Monson

Spiritual Co-Director, Managing Teacher

OUR RETREATS & COURSES

Explore Meditation, Awareness & Awakening.

Where are “WE” now?

Bill Morgan, Susan Morgan

October 22, 2021 - October 24, 2021

The Dharma Dialogues: Women in Buddhism

September 26, 2021

Monday Night Meditation — The Power of Prayer

Lama Liz Monson

September 27, 2021

Reading and Writing Buddhist Poetry as Transformative Practice

William Edelglass

November 5, 2021 - November 7, 2021

Onsite at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge

Come deepen your practice in solitary retreat.
Experience the peace and tranquility of Wonderwell and explore your inner nature amidst the spacious beauty of mountains, sky, and forest.

Come Practice with Us

In addition to our Retreats and Courses, here are other some ways to learn, study, meditate and participate.

Open Practice Sessions

Monday Night Meditation

Weekly, 5:00-6:30 pm ET. Guided meditation, Dharma talks, and time for conversation, led each week by NDF Dharma Teachers. Open to all—please join us for inspiration and community.

Tuesday Night Meditation

Weekly, 7:00-8:30 pm ET. Everybody welcome! Guided meditations, Q&A, and discussions offer an opportunity to find connection and support for natural meditation practices.

Weekly, 10:00 am–12:00 noon ET. Led by both senior NDF Dharma Teachers and by visiting teachers, weekly sessions to gather for guided meditation, Dharma teachings, Q&A, and contemplation. Everyone is invited.

Our Programs

Margha Program

A thorough distillation of traditional Tibetan Buddhist training, you will learn a series of contemplative practices to deepen in love, self-compassion, compassion for others, wisdom, sympathetic joy and equanimity.

Vajrayana Program

These practices work with the principal of pure vision, in which we embrace ordinary thoughts and emotions as the unlikely catalysts to recognizing that our nature, and the nature of others, is love and wisdom inseparable.

EcoSattva Council

This council considers the issue of planetary climate change. As a practice, it builds insight, trust, and community between participants, and the potential for creative collaboration and action.

A Welcoming Community

We recognize that all people hold unexamined beliefs, assumptions, fears and prejudices about others, and especially those who seem different from themselves. These beliefs are a great source of suffering for individuals and societies. We welcome people of all races, cultures, ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, classes, religions, abilities and ages. We are committed to providing a safe place for all people to explore the dharma and awaken to their true nature.

A Statement on Racism in America

Silence in the face of oppression is complicity.

The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Aubrey, Eric Garner, and many others are part of a systemic injustice in our country that is rooted in centuries of white supremacy, slavery, segregation, and white privilege.

This is a collective trauma that affects us all. No one is more affected by this trauma than People of Color.

We stand by those peacefully protesting this injustice.
We affirm that Black Lives Matter.

Latest Dharma News

A Glorious Day

September 20, 2021 No Comments

We were thrilled to welcome old friends and new visitors to Wonderwell yesterday (September 19) for our first Dharma Sunday since the pandemic began. It was a glorious perfect day

September 2021 Newsletter

September 2, 2021 No Comments

Click here to read the September 2021 Newsletter. Contents: Book Release: Tales of a Mad Yogi, by Elizabeth Monson Our first Hybrid Dharma Sunday is September 19, both Onsite and

Tales of a Mad Yogi — Lama Liz’s book is published!

August 31, 2021 No Comments

Congratulations to Lama Liz Monson on the publication of her book, Tales of a Mad Yogi: The Life and Wild Wisdom of Drukpa Kunley. To celebrate and learn more, please

Get “Behind the Scenes” at Wonderwell & NDF

August 19, 2021 No Comments

Volunteer Opportunities with NDF and Wonderwell Volunteering is a beautiful way to enhance your own spiritual development while generating benefit for others. Helping with retreats and other events supports the transmission

What People Are Saying

Lama Willa and the Sangha have created a beautiful and secure outer refuge where one can find the inner refuge to realize the secret refuge. Actually what has really happened at Wonderwell is incalculable and inconceivable.

Wonderwell is emerging as one of the leading retreat centers in the United States, with great natural beauty, a caring and capable staff, deep programs of contemplative training, and thoughtful engagement with the environmental and social issues of our time.

Wonderwell’s commitment to an embodied approach to Buddhism resonates so deeply with what I’m trying to share with the dharma community. It’s a special place, a refuge in the increasingly disembodied world we all live in, a sanctuary for real sanity.

I had a threshold experience while staying on solo retreat over Halloween 2019. Spending suspended time while gazing at the mountains and sky, exploring the books in the library and sitting, just sitting, either in the meditation room, porch, or private suite. There was a shift in the old reality, and what an elegant place to experience that.

Excellent retreat. Went for five days. It was my first retreat and other more experienced people told me later that they also thought it was excellent. Beautiful meditation room and thoughtful teachings. Well organised with good food, accommodation and lovely staff.

I never imagined that a remote workshop over multiple days could be as impactful, energetic, and engaging as an in person event. But this is exactly what happened with the Natural Dharma Fellowship retreats this summer with events that were forced online. Having my teacher projected on a screen, as if looking at me directly, relaxes and opens my heart up.

Become a Member

Membership in Natural Dharma Fellowship is an expression of deep gratitude, commitment, and support for our ongoing work and mission.

NDF Members:

For more information or to become a member:

Make a Donation

Your generosity makes a difference!

A gift to Natural Dharma Fellowship and Wonderwell contributes to our important work – providing access to Buddhist teachings, connecting people with their innate wisdom and compassion, and cultivating ethical behavior for healing in our fractured world.

Please consider making a donation today.
The amount of your gift is unimportant – it is the spirit of generosity that matters.