Sylvia Wetzel

Sylvia Wetzel is a meditation teacher, author and publicist who teaches relaxation, meditation and Buddhism. She was born in 1949 and holds a state examination in Russian literature and politics. She has explored psychological and political paths to liberation since 1968, and Buddhism since 1977, when she first met Tibetan Buddhists in Dharamsala.

Her training is in the Tibetan tradition. She studied with Thubten Yeshe, whose course she assisted from 1979 and who gave her permission to teach in 1982. She also studied with Zopa Rinpoche, Geshe Tegchok, Ann McNeil and Rigdzin Shikpo, and she spent two years practising as a nun. Other important influences came from Rinzai Zen training with Gesshin Prabhasa Dharma Roshi and from the Indian Zen teacher Ama Samy, who authorised her to teach Shikantaza in 2008. She also draws on the Theravada teacher Ayya Khema and on the Tara-Rokpa process of Akong Rinpoche and Edie Irwin, which qualified her as a relaxation trainer in 2006.

Wetzel has taught relaxation, meditation and Buddhism since 1986, in German-speaking countries and in Spain. She has worked in Buddhist communities, in the German Buddhist Union (DBU), where she was spokesperson from 1985 to 1993, and at the magazine Lotusblätter, now Buddhismus Aktuell. Her reflection on cultural conditioning and gender roles has made her a pioneer of Buddhism in the West.

Her website offers books, articles, a podcast, audio and video. It also presents the Tara Libre seminars and the edition tara libre. It mentions a donation project that supports a nunnery in Kathmandu through the Taraförderkreis.