HE Gyalwa Dokhampa - Green Tara teaching 5 September 2026, London

During the Tara teaching in London on 5 September, organised by Drukpa UK, Gyalwa Dokhampa shared how Tara practice can become a practical way of working with our emotions and cultivating a healthier, more balanced mind. To illustrate this, Gyalwa Dokhampa shared a story. 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘰, 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯. 𝘏𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 “𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭” 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. The story raises an interesting question: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗮 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹? Many of our beliefs and values are shaped by our own concepts. As The Gyalwang Drukpa often teaches, our concepts are like a mirror, and our experiences are like reflections in that mirror. From a spiritual point of view, we can also understand the health of our mind by looking at how we relate to our emotions. An incident may have happened fifteen years ago and lasted only ten minutes, yet we can continue carrying the anger and resentment for years. We replay those ten minutes again and again in our mind, repeatedly experiencing the same hurt. The incident happened only once, but in our mind, we may allow it to happen thousands of times. When anger, hatred or resentment reaches a point where it continually disturbs our inner peace and affects the way we experience life, it becomes important to recognise and work with it. This is where 𝗧𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲. Tara practice is not separate from our emotions and daily experiences. Through awareness and mindfulness, we learn to recognise our anger, fear, attachment, jealousy and resentment rather than simply being carried away by them. Spiritual practice does not mean that difficult emotions will never arise. Rather, through practice, we gradually learn how to relate to them differently—without allowing them to dominate our mind or remain in our heart for years. In this way, Tara practice becomes not only a prayer or meditation, but a practical path of transforming our mind—cultivating greater awareness, compassion, wisdom and inner freedom. 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝗮𝗿𝗮’𝘀 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗱𝗼𝗺, 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀, 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺. 𝗢𝗺 𝗧𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗧𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝗵𝗮