Lopön Pieter Oosthuizen

Lopön Pieter Oosthuizen is a Senior Teacher in Lama Tsultrim Allione’s lineage, Director of The Feeding Your Demons Institute, and co-author of Skymind: The Radical Path of Open Awareness. His journey arcs from the wild edges of apartheid-era Johannesburg to the heart of contemplative practice. As a boy, he roamed the veld with a slingshot and a longbow; by 19, he was an Intelligence Officer in the Angolan war. Afterward, he slung on a backpack and wandered east to a life-shifting encounter with a serene Tibetan porter in the Himalayan foothills, followed by the Dalai Lama in India and Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche back in South Africa – the first of many esteemed Buddhist teachers. After earning his Law Degree, Pieter again crossed continents to the U.S., where he served as Assistant VP for Academic Affairs at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and as Co-executive Director at Tara Mandala Retreat Center. He recently served as President of the Board at Tara Mandala for six years, and is currently on the Upaya Council. Somewhere along the way, Pieter also founded CELSUS Bio-Intelligence, a skincare company rooted in alchemical principles and modern science. These days, Pieter leads retreats internationally on meditation, Feeding Your Demons, Skymind, and a variety of Vajrayana Buddhist practices and writes about the non-dual nature of reality. Through all his work lives a single thread: How do we meet life with radical awareness and embodied courage?