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In 1996, Chandra studied Buddhism and Tibetan language at the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives in Dharamsala, India, founded by H.H. Dalai Lama. She later received her degree from UCSB’s religious studies department at which time she co-translated Sublime Dharma, A Compilation of Two Texts on the Great Perfection, published by Vimala Publishing, 2012, with her teacher B. Alan Wallace under the guidance of the Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche.

From the very beginning of her Buddhist studies, Chandra recognized the profound need to bring forth the voice of the empowered feminine in Buddhism. Due to this, in 1999 during her first pregnancy, she met and then later began to study with Lama Tsultrim Allione, pioneering female Buddhist teacher, national best selling author, and founder of Tara Mandala Retreat Center.

In September of 2015, during the final day of the White Dakini Drubchen, Chandra was given the title of Dorje Lopön (Vajra Teacher) of Tara Mandala under Lama Tsultrim Allione and given the name Lopön Yeshe Dawa Zangmo by H.E. Gochen Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche who presided over the ceremony with Lama Tsultrim. Watch the ceremony here. Chandra was in the first cohort to complete Tara Mandala’s 10 year Gateway Program in which a traditional Tibetan Buddhist three-year retreat curriculum (traditionally done in solitary retreat) was adapted for lay practitioners. She helped to design this program under the guidance of Lama Tsultrim and H.E. Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche.

Chandra has had the good fortune to study with many Tibetan and Western Buddhist teachers such H.H. the 16th Karmapa with whom she took refuge at the age of four, H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama with whom she took her Bodhisattva Vow, Lama Tsultrim Allione, Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche, B. Alan Wallace, Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, Jennifer Welwood, Lama Pema Dorje Rinpoche, Drupon Lama Karma, Sogan Rinpoche, and A.dzom Paylo Rinpoche.

Chandra began studying Hatha Yoga in 1993 and started teaching in 2001 after training with Sarah Powers. In 2003, she began her studies with Shadow Yoga founders, Shandor Remete and Emma Balnaves and in the Spring of 2012, she completed a three-year teacher’s course with Shandor and Emma and taught Shadow Yoga until 2022. She studied Tibetan Yoga (Trulkhor and Tummo) with H.E. Gochen Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche and Lama Pema Dorje Rinpoche. She integrates these invaluable practices into her teaching to facilitate healing and ease for her students.

While her training is rooted in Tibetan Buddhism (Mahayana and Vajrayana) and Dzogchen (Great Perfection) in particular, her primary interest is in finding ways to make these traditional teachings relevant and accessible for our modern experience.

Chandra serves on Tara Mandala’s Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Council, Prajna Council (Tara Mandala Guiding Teachers), and Executive Council. She develops programs and curricula for Tara Mandala and she teaches nationally and internationally. She teaches classes and retreats at the San Francisco Dharma Collective, The Berkeley Alembic, Tara Mandala, Tibet House US, Esalen Institute, Menla, Mount Madonna Center, Maitreya Institute, and other venues around the world. She advises the Tara Mandala Bay Area Mandala Committee, through which she teaches and organizes events in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Her new book Embodying Tara: Twenty-One Manifestations to Awaken Your Innate Wisdom is available here. To learn more about her 21 Taras Collective project, click here.

Check out all of Chandra’s events here.

Check out Chandra’s weekly hybrid classes here.

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