Elizabeth Monson, PhD
Espiritual Co-Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship and the Managing Teacher at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH.
In addition to running Buddhist meditation retreats, Lama Liz is engaged in an ongoing exploration of the potential of combining Buddhist meditation and indigenous plant medicines and psychedelics as portals for accessing and resting in a natural estate.
Lama Elizabeth Monson, PhD, is the Spiritual Co-Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship and the Managing Teacher at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH. She was authorized as a dharma teacher and lineage holder in the Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism after over 30 years of studying, practicing, and teaching Tibetan Buddhism in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages. In 2015, Liz completed a doctorate at Harvard University, and was a Visiting Lecturer at the Harvard Divinity School in 2015-16.
Lama Liz is the author of two books: More Than a Madman: The Divine Words of Drukpa Kunley (2014) and Tales of a Mad Yogi: The Life and Wild Wisdom of Drukpa Kunley (2021).
She is currently writing her next book on Buddhist Tantra for publication with Shambhala Publications (forthcoming 2025). Her articles have appeared in Tricycle, Lion’s Roar, Buddhadharma, Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, and other periodicals.
At present, Liz writes, guides meditation retreats, leads pilgrimages to Bhutan, and develops curricula for people interested in reconnecting with the natural world and in responding to contemporary social and spiritual issues as a path for liberation. She is engaged in an ongoing exploration of the potential of combining Buddhist meditation and indigenous plant medicines and psychedelics as portals for accessing and resting in the natural state.
Liz teaches around New England and online, helping people to access their innate awakened energies and open awareness and to discover tools for how to become free in everyday life. She focuses her teaching on developing diverse methods for incorporating the Buddhist teachings into this human life through the practices of kindness and compassion and on recognizing the natural state in every moment of our lives. She derives inspiration from the teachings of Anam Thupten, Mingyur Rinpoche, and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. She finds deep solace and healing in the teachings that have long been held by native peoples around the planet. They are teachings that are continuously streaming towards us from the natural world.