FREE ONLINE PROGRAM: Tonglen: The Courage to Breathe in the World

December 8th | 6:00 - 7:30 pm Mountain Time

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Program Time: Tuesday, December 8th 6:00 – 7:30 pm Mountain Time

Tuition: The Drala Online Practice Series is offered free of charge in the spirit of generosity. In the Buddhist tradition, dāna is a heartfelt act to express appreciation, support the teachings, and give from the heart. An opportunity to make a tax-deductible donation of any amount is provided at registration. Thank you for supporting this time-honored tradition of generosity.

Program Time: Tuesday, December 8th, 6:00 – 7:30 pm Mountain Time

Tuition: The Drala Online Practice Series is offered free of charge in the spirit of generosity. In the Buddhist tradition, dāna is a heartfelt act to express appreciation, support the teachings, and give from the heart. An opportunity to make a tax-deductible donation of any amount is provided at registration. Thank you for supporting this time-honored tradition of generosity.

Kali is teaching on-land from February 5-7, 2027. Learn more about this offering here: Healing the Heart: A Silent Yoga and Zen Retreat 


About the Program

Our instinct in the face of suffering is often to turn away—to protect ourselves, fix what hurts, or create distance from what feels unbearable.

Tonglen, the Tibetan Buddhist practice of “sending and receiving,” asks us to move in another direction.

Rather than armoring the heart against pain, Tonglen offers a radical practice of staying present. We breathe in what is difficult and breathe out relief, spaciousness, compassion, and care. In doing so, suffering becomes not something that separates us from one another, but a doorway into our shared humanity.

In this free online class, Kali Basman introduces Tonglen as both an ancient Buddhist mind-training practice and an embodied method for cultivating a heart spacious enough to hold the full spectrum of human experience.

What to Expect

Together we will explore:

  • The traditional Buddhist practice of sending and receiving
  • Working skillfully with our instinct to resist or turn away from suffering
  • Compassion without collapse, fixing, or overwhelm
  • Using the breath and body as anchors for staying present
  • Expanding personal suffering into a recognition of our shared humanity

Through meditation, breath, contemplative inquiry, and gentle embodied practice, we will explore what it means to remain tender in a world that gives us countless reasons to close.

This class is open to beginners and experienced practitioners alike. No previous meditation experience is necessary. Come prepared to breathe, feel, and discover that an open heart can be both tender and tremendously strong.

Retreat Faculty

Kali Basman

Internationally celebrated Dharma teacher of teachers, Kali Basman, intermingles Buddhist Psychology & Internal Family Systems Therapy into the living discipline of Yin Yoga Kali’s work intermingles the outer constructs of anatomy & Traditional Chinese Medicine with the inner methods of mind training and trauma healing. She is a certified Internal Family Systems coach, holds an [...]

This program is part of the Drala Mountain Online Practice Series, a collection of tuition-free online offerings. The series takes place on select Tuesdays from 6:00 – 7:30 pm Mountain Time.

To see more offerings in this series, check out the Drala Mountain Online Practice Series here. 

Register Now