Being Present to the Moment of Death

How can spiritual practice guide us through the dying process, both as caregivers and as companions?

This October, Serenity Ridge welcomes spiritual teachers and healthcare practitioners from Buddhist and Christian traditions for a five-day retreat exploring the mystery of death and dying. Together, we’ll share practices, insights, and wisdom to support the journey of consciousness beyond death.

What You’ll Experience

• Morning teachings and practice with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche on powa—the transference of consciousness at the time of death.
• Dialogues with international experts on end-of-life spiritual care, advanced meditation after death (tukdam), and the rainbow body—the dissolution of the physical body at death.
• Practical tools and practices to help you navigate the dying process with clarity, awareness, and peace.

Who Should Attend

This retreat is open to everyone, whether you’re preparing for your own transition, supporting a loved one, or simply curious about the death and dying process.

An Opportunity to Deepen Your Journey

These will be Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s final teachings of 2025. For a deeper journey, consider pairing this retreat with the 5-day silent Dzogchen meditation retreat immediately preceding it—an ideal preparation for heart and mind.

This retreat will be recorded. Recordings will be available for 30 days post retreat. 

About Our Special Guests

Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is a celebrated teacher and author recognized for his profound knowledge of the Bon Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Born in Amritsar, India, and trained by respected masters, Rinpoche established the Ligmincha Institute to share the transformative teachings of Bon. Known for making ancient spiritual practices accessible to the modern world, he guides students towards self-realization and healing through meditation and mindfulness. With a warmth and clarity that resonates globally, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche empowers individuals to unlock their inner potential and embrace a life of joy, compassion, and wisdom. ​

Dr. Leslie Blackhall

Dr. Blackhall is the section head for Palliative Care at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. She is a nationally known expert in cross-cultural, ethical and clinical aspects of end-of-life care. She did her undergraduate degree at Yale University, went to New York University for medical school and residency training at Boston University. Her involvement in Tibetan medicine spans her career. In medical school Dr. Blackhall received a fellowship in Philosophy and Medicine where she compared Tibetan and Western views on health and illness and later spent a month in Dharamsala, India studying Tibetan Medicine with Dr. Yeshe Dhonden. Following her residency she received a Masters in Theologic Studies at Harvard Divinity School where she studied medical anthropology, the history of medicine, bioethics and Tibetan language. She works with the largest group of Tibetan Physicians in China, and has brought several to UVA as visiting professors. She has served as a visiting professor at the TsoNgon (ch: Qinghai) University Tibetan Medical College.

Dr. Nikki Mirghafori

Dr. Mirghafori is a Buddhist teacher and Artificial Intelligence scientist. She is a lineage holder in the Theravada tradition, empowered by the Burmese meditation master Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, with whom she practiced the jhanas and detailed analytical (Abhidhamma-style) vipassana.  She also received empowerment from the Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Insight Meditation Society, Insight Meditation Center, and is a Stanford-trained compassion cultivation instructor.  

Additionally, Nikki has been a researcher and inventor in AI, holding multiple patents and co-author of 40+ scientific research articles.  She has directed international research programs as the Principal Investigator, mentored post-docs and PhD students, taught graduate courses at UC Berkeley, and been a scientific advisor to Silicon Valley technology startups.

Nikki serves as a Stewarding Teacher and on the Board of Directors at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA and as a Teacher at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA. Nikki is Iranian-American, has taught contemplative practices internationally, and aspires to serve as a champion for wisdom and compassion, as well as ethical AI in our zeitgeist.

Dr. Tenzin Namdul, TMD, PhD

Dr. Tenzin Namdul, an Assistant Professor and Director of Tibetan Healing Initiative of the Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota, is a medical anthropologist and a Tibetan Medicine doctor, driven to understand mind-body relationship in studying healthy aging and memory, cognitive resilience, and end-of-life-care through the lens of biocultural and Tibetan medical paradigms. He incorporates his wide array of training into translational science to examine how cultural values and practices shape the ways in which individuals age and die and care for others who are dying. His doctoral research examines how Tibetan medical doctors, Buddhist practitioners, and lay people’s perspectives about death and dying translate into their care for dying individuals and their own dying process. Specifically, he explores the Tibetan Buddhist contemplative practice called tukdam—a meditation an adept practitioner indulges in after a clinical death—through ethnographic study and shows how it informs and shapes both the sociomoral fabric of life and the sense of wellbeing at the time of dying among Tibetan refugees in southern India.

Dr. Namdul’s current research investigates factors associated with cognitive and physical resilience and how they influence aging and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias among Tibetan Buddhist monks in southern India.

Father Francis Tiso

Father Francis Tiso holds the A.B. in Medieval Studies from Cornell University, a Master of Divinity degree (cum laude) from Harvard University and a doctorate from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary where his specialization was Buddhist studies. Fr. Tiso translated several early biographies of the Tibetan yogi and poet, Milarepa and has led research expeditions in South Asia, Tibet and the Far East. His teaching interests include Christian theology, history of religions, spirituality, ecumenism and interreligious dialogue.

Father Tiso was Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2004 to 2009, where he served as liaison to Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Sikhs, and the Reformed (Calvinist) Churches. Since 1988, Father Tiso has been a priest of the Diocese of Isernia-Venafro, Italy, where he now serves as chaplain to the migrant communities in the Province of Isernia. Father Tiso is the author of Liberation in One Lifetime (2014) and Rainbow Body and Resurrection (2016). He is the recipient of grants from the American Academy of Religion, the American Philosophical Society, the Palmers Fund in Switzerland, and the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, CA.

Alejandro Chaoul, PhD

Alejandro “Ale” Chaoul (moderator) is a scholar, researcher, author, teacher, and educator, with a PhD from Rice University focusing on Tibetan mind-body practices and applications in contemporary health environments. He serves as director of research for Ligmincha International and has studied in the Tibetan traditions since 1989, and for over 30 years in the Bön Tradition with Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche, and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.

For over twenty-five years, Ale has researched and taught mind-body techniques to help relieve stress and support wellbeing, including at MD Anderson’s Integrative Medicine Program, UT Health, and other educational, health care, and nonprofit organizations. He is a Contemplative Fellow at the Mind & Life Institute, and is the author of over 25 papers and three books: Chöd Practice in the Bön Tradition (Snow Lion, 2009), Tibetan Yoga for Health & Well-Being (Hay House, 2018), and Tibetan Yoga: Magical Movements of Body, Breath, and Mind (Wisdom Publications, 2021).

There will also be a Silent Dzogchen Practice Retreat led by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche from September 30th to October 5th. This option includes both the Practice Retreat and the Dialogues.