Upcoming External Events
Over the course of a year, our core teachers are invited to be guests at various retreat and Buddhist study centers around the country and beyond.
The section below contains listings and links for retreats that Willa is offering through other venues outside of Natural Dharma Fellowship.
Scroll through the gallery below to see upcoming events and click through for more information & registration.
PLEASE NOTE:
These retreats are held outside of Natural Dharma Fellowship and will not show up on our regular schedule.
Please contact the individual venues for information and registration.
Tech Tip: See more events using the green arrows below.
Publications
The Wakeful Body
Somatic mindfulness is informed by one very simple observation: the mind is distracted but the body is not. The body is not thinking or ruminating. It is just feeling and being present, aware, and vibrant. (2021)
The Arts of Contemplative Care
Powerful and life-affirming, this watershed volume brings together the voices of pioneers in the field of contemplative care--from hospice and hospitals to colleges, prisons, and the military. (2012)
Everyday Dharma
In The Everyday Dharma, Willa Blythe Baker, an authorized Lama in the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition, reworks ancient Buddhist techniques and adapts them for western readers seeking personal transformation. (2009)
Essence of Ambrosia
Essence of Ambrosia: a guide to Buddhist meditation, composed by prolific Tibetan scholar and practitioner Jonangpa Tāranātha ("Liberating Protector of Jonang,"). Translated by Willa Blythe Baker. (2009)
Articles & Interviews
Embodiment– While the way we live as humans has—for many of us—become less embodied, there is much the body can teach the mind.
Podcasts & Video
- Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris
- Mind and Life with Wendy Hasenkamp PhD
- Noble Mind with Katerine King PsyD
- Spirit Matters Talk with Philip Goldberg and Dennis Raimondi
- Middle Way Initiative with Elizabeth Mattis Namgyal – Lama Willa Part I – Deep Dive with Lama Willa
- Middle Way Initiative with Elizabeth Mattis Namgyal – Lama Willa Part II – A Students Sacred Outlook
- Sit, Breathe, Bow – The Body is the Divine Door to Wakefulness
- MIT News: Buddhist Lecture Series – Lama Willa Baker challenges MIT audience to look beyond technology to solve the climate crises
- Sangha Live Sunday Sangha Teaching – Rewilding: Dharma as a Journey Home to Wildness, Wonder and Ancestral Ground
- Council for the Uncertain Human Future (CUHF)
- Yab Yum Symbolism, Heteronormativity, and Translating Sexual Yoga – Lama Willa Baker participates in a panel during the fall 2022 Lotsawa Translation and Transmission Conference
Biography
Willa Blythe Baker
Lama Willa is the Founding Teacher and Spiritual Co-Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship in Boston, MA, and its retreat center Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH.
She was authorized as a dharma teacher and lineage holder in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism after twelve years of monastic training and two consecutive three-year retreats. She also has trained in the Nyingma and Shangpa lineages. In 2013, Willa completed a doctorate at Harvard University and was Visiting Lecturer in Buddhist Ministry from 2013 to 2017.
She is a contemplative faculty member with the Mind and Life Institute, Sangha Live, One Earth Sangha, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, the Omega Institute, and Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. She is a member of Clark University’s Council of the Uncertain Human Future and sits on the advisory board for One Earth Sangha.
At present, Lama Willa writes, teaches, guides meditation retreats, and develops a curriculum for people interested in cultivating a deep meditation practice in daily life. Her teaching interests include the wisdom of the body, eco-dharma, non-dual awareness, and compassion.
Willa is the author of four books:
- The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom (2021)
- The Arts of Contemplative Care: Pioneering Voices in Buddhist Chaplaincy and Pastoral Work (2012)
- Everyday Dharma: Seven Weeks to Finding the Buddha in You (2009)
- Essence of Ambrosia (2005)
Her articles and translations have appeared in Tricycle, Lion’s Roar, Buddhadharma, Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Tibet Journal, and other periodicals and anthologies.
Willa lives in a cabin on a lake in New Hampshire.