Feeding Your Demons®: Kapala Training Level II

COVID-19 Update – 04.06.20

Tara Mandala is closely monitoring the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Our planning is focused on ensuring the safety of our dharma practitioners, teachers and members of our staff.

At this time, this retreat will continue to be offered as planned. Please refer here to our novel coronavirus (COVID-19) official response.

This retreat consists of a deepening of the Prajña Paramita practice, an introduction to Jamgön Kongtrül’s text “Transmitting the Meaning of the Mother,” and Machig Labdrön’s method for cutting through discursive thoughts with sound. Feeding Your Demons® (FYD) work will expand through the mapping of family lineage demons, physical body demons, and hydra demons. 

Who Should Attend? 

• This is a required retreat for the Magyu Mother Lineage Program.
• Anyone who has completed the prerequisites

What are the Prerequisites?

• Completion of Kapala Training Level I
• 65 Feeding Your Demons® processes: 50 solo and 15 with a partner
  • For partner work, tracking forms from both partners equal one partner work process. This should not be done with clients. It is acceptable to work with gods instead of demons for some of these sessions.
• 108 hours of PrajñaParamita practice
  • A practice session is a minimum of 30 minutes. One hour is recommended. 30 minutes is just for those with very limited time. This 30 minutes includes the beginning and ending prayers.
•  Plant a tree or sponsor a tree to be planted.
  • This requirement came to Lama Tsultrim in a dream in which she was flying over Europe and saw that it was dry, parched and very hot. She heard a voice that said: “For Climate Change everyone should plant a tree before Kapala Training Level 2.” Planting a tree connects your practice to healing the earth and to Machig’s experience in the Serlag tree, overseen by the king of the Nagas, during her initiation from Sonam Lama. The tree is also considered a metaphor for individuation.

This retreat includes:

•  Making a full-sized body map
  • This entails tracking where the 65 demons/gods you did between Kapala Training Level I and II appeared in your body and reflecting on what you see in the body map.
• Extended Ally Process – solo and partner work 
• Male and female family lineage demon and ally maps
• Further refinement of the hydra map
• “Transmitting the Meaning of the Mother” practice
• “Supplication to the Great Mother” practice
• “Cutting the Four Demons Loose into Space” practice
• Teachings on excerpts from the “Grand Poem of Aryadeva the Brahmin” and “Machig’s Last Instructions”
• Taking and Waking practice

If you intend to get certified as for Feeding Your Demons® (FYD) Facilitator

This year we have launched the new FYD Online Program. Henceforth, in order to get certified, all prospective facilitators will have to complete the new Certification Level after Kapala Training Level II (or FYD Online Level II). The Certification Level includes experienced licensed therapists sharing their best practices and insights on how to incorporate FYD into a therapy practice, making certification more robust and providing better training for future FYD Facilitators.  

As a special dispensation for those who complete Kapala Training Level II this year in order to get certified as a FYD Facilitator we offer two options:

1. You can take the test for certification after completing Kapala Training Level II with an authorized Senior Teacher as before. This exemption will end on January 31, 2021. 

      You will have to fulfill the following prerequisites for certification: 

• Complete Kapala Training Levels I and II. 
• Provide documentation (Tracking Forms) showing that you have completed 
• 54 Solo Demon Feedings 
• 54 Partner Demon Feedings (tracking forms from both partners equal one partner work session)
• 10 Solo Extended Ally processes
• 10 Partner Extended Ally processes
• Pass a test with Lama Tsultrim or an authorized Senior Teacher showing that you can guide someone through the process by memory, without using the text.

2. You can register for the new Certification Level at a 33% discount. The Certification Level includes a 5-week online course and a 5-day onsite Capstone Retreat and will start in February 2021. If you choose this option please fill out the application for the Certification Level. Be sure to mention that you have completed Kapala Training Level II in the application form.

Please write an email to Ulli Jaklin, the FYD program coordinator, at ulli@taramandala.org to arrange for the details.

Suggested Dana Range: $180-$300

What is Dana?

• Dana is a Pali word meaning “generosity.” As one of the six paramitas or “perfections,” the practice of generosity is an integral part of the Buddhist path. Dharma teachings are traditionally offered on the basis of dana which is offered to a teacher in recognition of the precious gift that has been given. Tara Mandala compensates teachers by only covering their travel and room and board while teaching. Tara Mandala suggests a range of dana for each retreat, based on the number of days in which the retreat will take place. There is an opportunity to give dana upon registration directly to the teacher(s) or at the end of each retreat, which is a special time of honoring what has been given and what has been received. For more information about Dana, click here.