Prerequesite: Completion of a 500-hour massage therapy program and professional massage therapy experience.

During the Five Dakini Mandala Retreat, we will offer an additional training for massage therapists interested in applying the teachings of the five Buddha families to their professional practice. This method, called Mandala Massage, allows physical, emotional and mental tension to transform. You will learn how to guide your clients through this transformational experience using sound, color and aromatherapy.

Premium quality aromatherapy body oils and mists have been handcrafted for this technique by master herbalist Julie Williams under the guidance of Lama Tsultrim Allione. These proprietary blends are raw, organic and ethically wild-crafted to preserve their vital healing properties.

Mandala Massage promotes wholeness through balancing the five elements, transforming difficult emotions and encouraging the integration of body, speech and mind. You will find that this practice is healing and beneficial for both you and your clients. In this way, your work can become your spiritual practice, fulfilling the bodhisattva ideal of helping to relieve the suffering of all beings. On completion of this training with instructor Jessica Stevens, participants will be certified to practice this meditative style of massage.

Fees: Sliding scale fees allow participants to pay according to individual means. Your payment above the low end directly benefits our scholarship fund.
Double: $1,195 - $980
Queen Double: $1,280 - $1,060
Single: $1,470 - $1,195
Camping: $920 - $770
Suggested Dana: $200 - $340
Prices include Mandala of the Five Dakinis retreat; Mandala Massage is woven into Mandala of the Five Dakinis.

Accommodation descriptions can be found here.

Sliding scale fees allow participants to pay according to individual means. Your payment above the low end directly benefits our scholarship fund.

Sustaining Sangha discounts range from 10%-20% based on your membership level and are calculated at registration.

Detailed information about retreats at Tara Mandala
Travel Information (booking flights, shuttles, hotels)
Download registration form (PDF)
Register securely online: 100% of course cost due at registration
Financial aid available

Jessica Stevens, CMT, is a Vajrayana practitioner studying the atiyoga path in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. She teaches Mandala Massage as a path of transformation and healing. Massage has been her primary spiritual practice for over 14 years. She received her training at the Utah College of Massage Therapy in 1995 and became a prominent instructor there, teaching many of their core classes including Acupressure, Advanced Massage Therapy, and Professional Development as well as electives in Yoga and Body Awareness. She is currently the senior therapist at MassageSpecialists.com in Boulder, CO.

Lama Tsultrim Allione, author and international teacher, founded Tara Mandala in 1994. Inspired by the vision of a Western retreat center while living in the Himalayas in the 1970s, Lama Tsultrim founded Tara Mandala with her husband David Petit, where she is now the spiritual director and resident teacher.

Lama Tsultrim was one of the first American women to be ordained as a Tibetan nun in 1970 by the 16th Karmapa. At the age of 26, after four years as a nun, she returned her monastic vows, married, and raised a family of three. Lama Tsultrim earned a Master’s degree in Buddhist Studies and Women’s Studies from Antioch University. She is the author of Women of Wisdom, a groundbreaking book on the lives of great female Tibetan practitioners.

Lama Tsultrim also authored the recently published Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict, which connects the knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism with the modern psyche, addressing major cultural issues and the roots of our suffering. This National Bestseller is based on Lama Tsultrim’s pioneering technique using five steps to nurture the parts of ourselves we usually fight.

Lama Tsultrim has for many years focused her teachings on the lineage of Machig Labdrön, the 11th century Tibetan yogini who founded the Chöd lineage. In 2007, while leading a pilgrimage to Tibet, she was recognized as an emanation of Machig Labdrön by the resident Lama of Zangri Khangmar (Machig’s monastery in Tibet). In 2009 she was selected by an esteemed committee of scholars and practitioners to receive the international Outstanding Woman in Buddhism Award given in Bangkok, Thailand.

Lama Tsultrim’s teachings arise from the blessings of her many wonderful Tibetan Buddhist teachers, her 40-year dedication to the Buddhist teachings, and her experience as a Western woman.