Body, Mind and Life Retreat 2024

We will arrange a pick-up for you at Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu.

Afterwards we will bring you to your hotel.
We are guest in the hotel of a Tibetan Kagyu Monastery.
The hotel is situated in the compound of the Monastery, so we are part of the monastic life.
The location of our hotel is around the famous and beautiful stupa of Boudhanath.
This is the largest stupa in Asia, and a very important Buddhist pilgrimage place.
The best time to visit the stupa is in the late afternoon, when the elderly Tibetan and Nepali Buddhist people stroll down to the stupa to do the Kora around the stupa. To light butter lamps, spin prayer wheels, chant mantras and socialize.
Around the stupa are also many shops where you can find more Buddhist orientated gifts.

In the evening we will have a welcome dinner on a nice roof terrace from where we are going to have a stunning stupa view.
The briefing of our education and our daily schedule will also be given after dinner.

We are not only going to experience monastic life but with our stay we also support a good cause.
Hundred percent of the profit of the hotel goes to support to the monastery. To provide the monks from little things — school supplies, healthy snacks, sports activities, a bed to sleep in, to the big things — shelter, clothes, healthy vegetarian food, clean water, medical facility and primarily basic education and Buddhist philosophy to spread Buddha dharma and to benefit society. At present, there are about 150 monks from age 9 to 65 in the Monastery.

Every morning we start the day with attending the morning rituals, praying, and chanting together with the monks.
These rituals start at 5 AM and end at 6:30 AM.

After our breakfast we start with our education we dive in the ancient knowledge of The Lu Jong, Tibetan Healing Yoga.
All our teachings take place in the gompa itself.
Today we learn the five element yoga movements space, earth, wind, fire, and water.
We learn also all the knowledge behind these exercises as the knowledge of the five elements in connection with the inner and secret body, and a basic knowledge of the Tibetan Medicine in connection with our yoga exercises.

After this inspiring morning we have time to refresh, and we will have lunch together.

After our lunch we will explore the area around Boudhannath Stupa.

We start with a walk from our hotel towards the stupa.
We start with an explanation about the history about the largest stupa of Asia as an explanation of the elements and the building of a stupa.

Afterwards we make a kora,  three times walking clockwise around the Stupa, while we recite the mantra 'om mani padme hum'.

Afterwards we take the stairs up to visit the first floor of the pavement path around the stupa.
From here we can have a nice overview of the how the Buddhist people performing their rituals and prostrations.
We will take time to learn ourselves how to do a prostration and learn all the symbolic explanation about this holly practice.
One prostration is equal as doing the five exercise of the Lu Jong.
We will perform twenty-one prostrations in front of Asia largest stupa. A very sacred moment.

Afterwards we will take the time to visit the most important monasteries around the stupa.
We will visit the Tamang monastery, Shechen Gompa, …

Every morning we start the day with attending the morning rituals, praying, and chanting together with the monks.
These rituals start at 5 AM and end at 6:30 AM.

After our breakfast we start with our second day of the education.
All our educations take place in the gompa.
We start with performing our exercise we learn the day before and today the essence of our education is the power of the breath.
We learn some breathing exercises and practice together.
In connection with the breathing exercise we learn how tantrayana view the body in gross, subtle, and very subtle body and mind.

After this inspiring morning we have time to refresh, and we will have lunch together.

In the afternoon we will take the bus to the second important Buddhist stupa in Kathmandu also called Swayambhunaath Mahachaitya (Monkey Temple).

We start at the backside of the stupa," The three golden Buddha statues at Swayambhu Amideva Buddha Park".

Here we have panels who show the different stages in the life of the Buddha.
This helps us to explain the live of the buddha in connection with his first teaching the four noble truths.

Then we take the bus until the halve and from their start walking up to the Manjushri (bodhisattva associated with wisdom) teaching place.

We take the time here to do our yoga and breathing exercises.
Then we walk further up until we reach the top of the stupa.
From the side we will explain the heart sutra mantra “Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!”
After our explanation we do the kora around the stupa singing the heart sutra.

Then you will have some free time to walk around the stupa - explore the area.
Before we go back to the hotel we take a stop at one of the Vajrayogini places.
Once we get back to the hotel we can enjoy our dinner together.

Every morning we start the day with attending the morning rituals, praying, and chanting together with the monks.These rituals start at 5 AM and end at 6:30 AM.

After our breakfast we start with our third day of the education.
All our educations take place in the gompa.
We start with performing our exercises and then continue our education. Today central in our education is the power of the mind.We start with a general explanation how our mind functions connected with the wheel of life.
The source of this knowledge is the Buddhist Psychology. Once we understand how our mind functions, we understand the necessity of meditation. We will explain the path of mindfulness in the nine stages of training the mind.
We explain and practice what we call the four yoga’s (important attitudes in our meditation), and we will experience the five mental stages in meditation.

After our education we have time to refresh, and then have lunch together.

In the afternoon we will take the bus to Patan, one of the three king cities.
Here we will visit the Mahabodhi temple.

This temple is dedicated to Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha. The temple is often called "the temple of a thousand Buddhas" because a Buddha image is engraved on every brick. It is modeled on the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodhgaya, the place where Buddha get enlightened. We will also do the Kora around this temple.

Afterwards we will visit one of the most sacred temples of Vajrayogini.
We will take time to do in this special energetic temple our meditation practice we learned in the morning.
In Buddhism they believe that powerful energy places can make our meditation experience stronger.

With our hearts filled with the energy of compassion and love we will return to Kathmandu.

We end this wonderful day with a dinner together.

Every morning we start the day with attending the morning rituals, praying, and chanting together with the monks.
These rituals start at 5 AM and end at 6:30 AM.

After our breakfast we start with our fourth day of the education.
All our educations take place in teh gompa.
We start with performing our exercises and meditation and then we continue our education.Today central in our education is the power of Kum Nye massage and relaxation positions. To release tensions of body means to release tensions of the mind.
We will explore the five element Tibetan massage and the five element body posture positions.

After our education we have time to refresh, and then have lunch together.

In the afternoon we will take the bus to Sankhu.
Sankhu is the very old Newari town which is situated 16 km. far from Kathmandu.

It takes one hour to be there. It was the old trade route from Tibet (Lhasa).
On our drive up, we will pass through a local village and observe the beautiful nature.
Once we reach the top, we can take time to explore the beautiful temples. and also the The Vajrayogini temple
On this place are also meditation caves where big practitioners as Nagarjuna meditated.
We will take our time to do yoga, breathing exercises and meditation here.

 Afterwards we will go back to Kathmandu where we make a stop at the Sowa Rigpa International College.
We will get in touch with the nerich wisdom of Tibetan Medicine.
We will see the therapy room, where they prepare the herbs, ...

After this visit we will stop at the local Men-Tsee-Khang, Tibetan Hospital.
Where we can have a check up and learn more about our own type concerning Tibetan Medicine.

After this very inspiring day we will take time to enjoy our dinner.

Every morning we start the day with attending the morning rituals, praying, and chanting together with the monks.These rituals start at 5 AM and end at 6:30 AM.

After our breakfast we start with our fifth day of the education.
All our educations take place in the gompa.
We start with performing our exercises and meditation and our relaxation postures and massage techniques.
In our education day today we will talk about Tibetan Buddhist principles.

After our education we have time to refresh, and then have lunch together.

In the afternoon we will take the bus to Parphing.We can have a guided meditation in the Phamting Vajrayogini temple.After this we climb up the stairs and visit the Azura Cave or the 'Upper cave of Yangleshö' where we also can have in the courtyard a guided in meditation.When we come down we can also have a view at the Self-­Arisen Tara.On the way back from Pharphing we can make a stop the lower cave of Yangleshö'
 Afterwards we will go back to Kathmandu to enjoy our farewell dinner.

After breakfast we are heading to the domestic airport where we take the flight to Pokhara.
The duration of the flight is around 25 minutes.

Once we arrive in Pokhara we will be pcicked and transfered to the lake,
There we will take the boat to transfer the phewa lake, the boat transfer takes about 30 minutes.
From there we need to hike 10 minutes up untill our nice hotel "THE PAVILIONS HIMALAYAS LAKEVIEW".

From here we have a nice view on the Himalaya Range.

After our breakfast with a stunning view on the Himalayas, we have will go to our next destination Pavilions the Farm.

We have the option to hike to our next destination.
The hike is steep up to the Peace Pagode and then down through local villages.
(for the people who don't walk to do the hiking it is possible to do the transfer with the boat and then a jeeep. The cost for the transfer is not included in the price - so ill be additional).

When we desend from the Pagoda we will walk through the forest and village.

After three hours we will arrive at our new destination Pavilions the Farm.

The place is perfect suited to integrate the Tibetan Yoga movements.
Additional we will focus here on breathwork (Tsa Lung in Tibetan).
Here we will spend 2 days untill 4 the of october.

Our main focus the next three days is "WEALTH OF YOUR BODY" - Your Health

In the first part of our retreat we focus on the Wealth of your Body, in other words on your physical health. We introduce you to unique body movement techniques that make your body stronger, healthier and more vital. At the same time these exercises balance your emotions, boost your energy level and reduce the physical symptoms of stress.

Our daily schedule will be:

7:30 - 8:15: morning practice in the nice yoga space
Breakfast
10:00-13:00: Learning methods and wisdom about the wealth of the body
Lunch and free-time
17:00 - 18:45: Integrate the methods by practicing together 

In the freetime you can explore the are around the farm.
This location is so unique - the hotel is situated in the middle of the local village.

What would be a better place in the world to learn about the wealth of the mind then Lumbini the place where Buddha was born.

After breakfast we will go to the airport of Pokhara to take our flight to the south of Nepal, Lumbini.
The flight is about 30 minutes.
Afterwards we will check-in at Buddha Maya Gardens Resort.

After our lunch we will visit the sacred garden of Maya Devi - the birthplace of the Buddha.
Here we also will meditate in the garden toghether.

In many ways, the story of Buddhism all begins in Lumbini, under a full moon more than 2600 years ago. It was on that night that Queen Mayadevi is said to have stopped here during her travels to give birth to a son, Prince Siddhartha, who would find enlightenment and become Buddha 35 years later.

Legend says Queen Mayadevi bathed in a pond and lay down under a tree in Lumbini Garden before the birth.

For visitors, Lumbini is an incredibly spiritual place, and the tranquility of the site is felt the strongest in the Sacred Garden that surrounds the central Mayadevi Temple. A large water feature, said to be the same pond where Prince Siddhartha was given his purification bath, reflects the trees of the garden. Prayer flags hang from the branches and gently sway in the breeze as worshippers sit below in deep meditation. For pilgrims who have made the long journey to get here, this is the moment they have been travelling towards.

After our visit to the sacred garden we come back to the hotel for our dinner.

In the evening we will have dinner together in the restaurant of our hotel.

After breakfast we will go the airport to take the flight back to Kathmandu.

We will arrive around lunch in our hotel, Dormaling Boutique hotel.

In the afternoon we will perform all our exercises one time more in the temple of the hotel.
We end our travel with a Kora around the stupa and a last meal toghether with nice stupa view.

If you want to extend your retreat with a travel through Nepal, we will be happy to help you.

If today is the day your flying home, we will take you to the airport.