Ani Tsondru is a nun ordained by Tai Situ Rinpoche in the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. She met Buddhism in the 1995 through Louis van Loon at the Buddhist Retreat Centre near Ixopo. After working as a molecular biologist, lawyer and environmental scientist, she left for Spain for a traditional closed Kagyu three-and-a-half-year retreat, followed by a second retreat of four years.

In order to learn The Work That Reconnects, Tsondru later travelled to San Francisco for an intensive retreat with Joanna Macy, engaging with Macy’s Work That Connects.  Tsondru offers this WTR work along with traditional meditation practice and Buddhist teachings. Her approach finds its home in Eco-dharma, especially Thich Nhat Hanh’s approach of Engaged Buddhism, the practice of Buddha Dharma in the widest context. Our practice thus reaches out in protection of the Earth and all other beings. The teachings of Buddha become transformational and healing not only for our personal situation, but also for the economic and social systems in which we all are embedded. In addition to teaching in groups, Tsondru leads wilderness retreats in the Umfolozi wilderness area and other wild places.