COURSE

Tibetan Meditation on the Nature of Mind

with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

This ancient Tibetan Meditation practice helps you to enter a state of pure awareness that can bring you peace, joy, and ultimately, full realization. In this interactive course, renowned Tibetan teacher and author Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche guides you through five steps of a simple yet profound meditation practice. Each step permits you to progressively expand and deepen your state of conscious awareness, supporting you to let go of the conventional, ego-based identity that causes suffering and to discover and rest in your inner essence — the blissful reality of who you truly are.

Dzogchen, also known as the “Great Perfection” or “Great Completion,” is considered the path of self-liberation and the highest form of teaching and practice in the Bön Buddhist tradition. For practitioners, it offers the potential for ultimate realization during a single lifetime. Until the late 20th century these ancient teachings were kept secret and offered to very few students of any generation. For all these reasons, attending the teachings represents a unique and precious opportunity.

The Meditation of Great Bliss: The Fivefold Teachings of Dawa Gyaltsen. Dawa Gyaltsen, an 8th century dzogchen meditation master, directly introduced his own students to the nature of mind through these five simple lines, known as the Fivefold Teachings:

• Vision is mind
• Mind is empty
• Emptiness is clear light
• Clear light is union
• Union is great bliss

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche devotes each primary session of his teaching videos to explaining one line in depth, and each session concludes with a guided meditation that helps to transport you directly to the intended state of consciousness described by that line. For brief explanation of the Fivefold Teachings, see “Discovering the True Nature of Mind,” an article by Rinpoche at LionsRoar.com

Website: GlideWing (https://www.glidewing.com/twr/meditation_home.html)

FREE EVENT

24-Hour Full Moon Practice: Finding Refuge Within

On May 12, 2025, join us online for a 10 a.m. meditation guided by Alejandro Chaoul, followed by a 24-hour session of silent contemplation alternating with periods of guided meditation. Our online gathering offers a sacred space in which we acknowledge personal pain and societal challenges while abiding within the open, clear, warmth of presence — who we truly are. Discovering this space of inner refuge is the ultimate sense of protection and supports genuine compassion to emerge to meet the challenges we face individually and collectively.

Each month the 24-hour session begins with a guided meditation at 10 a.m. New York time on the day of the full moon and continues unbroken until 10 a.m. the following day. We are supported by Ligmincha International’s global community of practitioners. Unlike Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s CyberSangha® Facebook Live broadcasts, the 24-hour full moon practice takes place via Zoom. Its simple group meditation is open to anyone regardless of one’s religious or spiritual background. There is no cost to participate, but registration is required.

Learn more and register — click here

To stay informed of future 24-hour full moon practice sessions, subscribe to the CyberSangha Announcements email list.

Discover the transformative power of Dzogchen meditation in our immersive two-day retreat. Rooted in the ancient Tibetan Bön Buddhist tradition, Dzogchen, or the “Great Perfection,” is a profound practice that focuses on recognizing and resting in the natural state of mind, often described as naked awareness or luminous clarity. Dzogchen has the power to transform ordinary perceptions of the world and our self from a fragmented, stress-filled outlook to one of unity and tranquility. Integrating this form of meditation into one’s daily life can reduce stress and anxiety, improve our emotional resilience, and create a greater ability to remain present and centered amidst life’s challenges. Ultimately it is a path to complete realization, or Buddhahood.

Khenpo Nyima Rinpoche, the Abbott of the Dialectic School of Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India will guide us in ancient techniques designed to help transcend ordinary dualistic perception and tap into the inherent wisdom and compassion that is our true nature. Through a combination of guided meditations, teachings, and discussion, we will cultivate a state of non-dual awareness that is both expansive and deeply peaceful.

Serenity Ridge offers a scenic and supportive environment to reconnect to oneself and others. Whether you’re new to meditation or seeking to deepen your practice, this retreat is a special opportunity to unlock the transformative potential of Dzogchen meditation and carry its benefits into your everyday life.

Menri Shedrup Khenpo Geshe Nyima Dhondup Rinpoche is abbot of the Bön Dialectic School at Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India. He was born in 1978 in Delhi, India. His birth name, Tsering Dhondup, was bestowed on him by Tsondue Rinpoche, one of the greatest Bön masters of the 20th century. After completing more than 15 years’ study of Bön sutra, tantra, dzogchen and the five major and minor sciences of the Bön tradition, Nyima Rinpoche received his geshe Degree in the spring of 2006. In 2008 Rinpoche was enthroned as Menri Shedrup Lopon, the principal master of the Bön Dialectic School at Menri Monastery, where he has been teaching for more than 15 years. In February 2012 he was enthroned as the Menri Shedrup Khenpo, the Abbot of the Bön Dialectic School. Rinpoche has served as invited speaker for several major Bön and Buddhist conferences. He is author of three books covering the main philosophical teachings of Bön, and has contributed several articles to Bon-sGo, the journal of Menri Monastery in India; and the Himalayan Bön website in Tibet. He has taken on additional responsibilities as General Secretary of the Governing Council of Menri Monastery, and since 2011, as director of Menri’s official website, www.theyungdrungbon.com. In 2014 he visited Tibet and blessed many Bön followers and practitioners.

Have you been thinking about spending a day, a few days, or longer on a personal retreat? A personal retreat is an opportunity to deepen your meditation practice and relationship with yourself. Serenity Ridge is ready to support you by providing space to be silent, sacred spaces to practice, and experience nature through our walking trails.

The Garuda House shrine room will be available for use, or you can choose to practice in your room. Meals will be provided in the Kunzang Khang dining hall. Enjoy the peace and serenity of the sacred land and walking trails

Meals included: Saturday lunch and dinner and Sunday Breakfast and lunch.

Extra nights lodging without meals are available Friday and Sunday nights.

COURSE

Tibetan Dream Yoga

with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

“The practice of dream yoga is about understanding more about appearances and what they truly are. And ultimately, it is about understanding who we are, the true sense of self.”
– Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

We spend a third of our lives sleeping. Every night we participate in profound mysteries, moving from one dimension of experience to another, losing our sense of self and finding it again, and yet we take it all for granted. We wake up in the morning and continue in “real” life, but in a sense we are still asleep and dreaming. The teachings tell us that we can continue in this deluded, dreamy state, day and night, or wake up to the truth.

Through practice, we can cultivate greater awareness during every moment of life. If we do, freedom and flexibility continually increase and we are less governed by habitual preoccupations and distractions. Eventually we develop a continuity of awareness that allows us to maintain full awareness during dream as well as in waking life. When we fully develop this capacity, we will find that we are living both waking and dreaming life with greater ease, comfort, clarity, and appreciation.

Workshop Features:

• Four-week teacher-guided online workshop
• Step-by-step class video instructions (via streaming video), with available Spanish Subtitles and English closed captions
• New material released twice a week including eight all-new guided meditations
• Eight hours of video instruction, exercises, and downloadable meditations
• No set class times – review video instruction any time and as often as necessary throughout the workshop
• Continuous personal support and individual advice from Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche via workshop forums
• Easy to use and navigate course site

Website: GlideWing (https://www.glidewing.com/twr/dreamyoga_home.html)

Join us online this June for dzogchen teachings with Geshe Tenzin Yangton. Geshe-la will teach from the Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung by Dru Gyalwa Yungdrung, also known as the Chaktri. This text is a manual for dzogchen practitioners. In March, Geshe Yangton focused on the practice of Zhine (calm abiding). He is considering which section of the text to focus on for his June teaching. He will also share from his personal experience, and guide practice.

The Experiential Transmission has been a cornerstone of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s Winter Retreat teachings at Serenity Ridge for over 30 years.

All who have met Geshe Tenzin Yangton, or were blessed to study with him, know him for his gentleness, kind nature, and deep knowledge of the teachings. Whether teaching sutra, tantra or dzogchen, Geshe Yangton made the teachings approachable to all.

We hope you will join us and take advantage of this special opportunity to receive the wisdom of the Bön teachings and Geshe-la’s direct experience, a special gift for all who attend.

Video recordings will be available for viewing for 60 days, and audio recordings for download.

Schedule (New York Time)

link to your local time zone

June 21–22, 2025
10:00 a.m.–11:15 a.m. Teaching

Geshe Tenzin Yangton was born into the profound Yangton Lineage in 1974 in Chharka, Dolpo, Nepal. As a child he completed the customary three-year retreat at Yanggon Monastery. In 1990 he became a monk at Triten Norbutse Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, taking his vows from Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche. In 1992 Geshe Tenzin arrived at Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India, and enrolled in the Bön Dialectic School. There he studied sutra, tantra, and dzogchen. He was awarded the auspicious degree of Geshe in 2006.

For several years, Geshe Tenzin served as the resident lama at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center, the headquarters of Ligmincha International located in rural Nelson County, Virginia, U.S.A, until health issues led him to seek treatment and support in Asia.

After leaving Serenity Ridge and residing at Menri Monastery, Geshe Yangton, then went on an extended personal retreat. In November of 2024 he came out of retreat and returned to Kathmandu, Nepal, where he currently resides.

He is the coordinator of Yanggon Thongdrop Phuntsog Ling Monastery and Dolpo Tsaga Welfare Healthcare Clinic. He is putting his best efforts towards maintaining and developing facilities in Chharka in order to preserve the culture and teachings of Bön in general and of the Yangton lineage in Chharka in particular.

COURSE

Tibetan Dream Yoga

with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

“The practice of dream yoga is about understanding more about appearances and what they truly are. And ultimately, it is about understanding who we are, the true sense of self.”
– Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

We spend a third of our lives sleeping. Every night we participate in profound mysteries, moving from one dimension of experience to another, losing our sense of self and finding it again, and yet we take it all for granted. We wake up in the morning and continue in “real” life, but in a sense we are still asleep and dreaming. The teachings tell us that we can continue in this deluded, dreamy state, day and night, or wake up to the truth.

Through practice, we can cultivate greater awareness during every moment of life. If we do, freedom and flexibility continually increase and we are less governed by habitual preoccupations and distractions. Eventually we develop a continuity of awareness that allows us to maintain full awareness during dream as well as in waking life. When we fully develop this capacity, we will find that we are living both waking and dreaming life with greater ease, comfort, clarity, and appreciation.

Workshop Features:

• Four-week teacher-guided online workshop
• Step-by-step class video instructions (via streaming video), with available Spanish Subtitles and English closed captions
• New material released twice a week including eight all-new guided meditations
• Eight hours of video instruction, exercises, and downloadable meditations
• No set class times – review video instruction any time and as often as necessary throughout the workshop
• Continuous personal support and individual advice from Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche via workshop forums
• Easy to use and navigate course site

Website: GlideWing (https://www.glidewing.com/twr/dreamyoga_home.html)

with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and honored guest, His Holiness, the 34th Menri Trizin, Lungtok Dawa Dhargyal Rinpoche, Spiritual Head of the Bön Tradition of Tibet

Join us for one or both weeks for a transformative retreat focused on restoring and revitalizing our life force through self-realization. This retreat shares the teachings, transmission, and initiation of the Tsewang Jarima of Tsewang Rikdzin —an ancient longevity practice from the Bӧn tradition of Tibet.

This retreat includes:

• Transmission of ancient Tibetan wisdom in modern and accessible ways and with direct guidance on integrating these practices into daily life.
• Initiation into the Tséwang Jarima, the longevity practice of Tséwang Rikdzin – a powerful and ancient method to extend lifespan, deepen awareness and reconnect to our vital essence.
• Exploration of the stories and identities that restrict our ability to fully engage with life and how to work with them for personal growth and transformation.
• Transforming self-destructive behaviours into actions that promote well-being and positive outcomes.
• Opportunities for overcoming self-grasping by understanding how attachment leads to suffering, dis-ease, and constriction of one’s true self.

Core Teachings & Practices

• Cultivating longevity through inner clarity.
• Recognizing and resting in the ever-present nature of awareness.
• Cultivating resilience in body and  mind to break free from self-deception.
• Transforming the five poisons of anger, desire, pride, envy and ignorance into the wisdom of the five Buddha families  
• Restoring our life force through the five elements of space, air, fire, water and earth.

Through authentic initiation, direct transmission, practical instruction and guided practice, this retreat offers a rare opportunity to realize your true self, cultivate longevity, and live with greater awareness, vitality, and strength.

Special note: Saturday morning, July 19, His Holiness the 34th Menri Trizin Rinpoche will offer the Tse Drup (Long Life) Initiation for those attending in person and online.
We invite those who are registering for only the second week of the summer retreat to attend the Tse Drup (Long Life) Initiation July 19.  (Your accommodations at Serenity Ridge will begin the night of July 19, so if you are traveling from a distance and need accommodations for the night of July 18, you’ll need to make those separately. We will supply a list of nearby accommodations for you to consider.) 

Suggested reading in advance of the retreat: Indestructible: The Longevity Practice of Lama Tséwang Rigdzin, translated and annotated by Raven Cypress Wood

COURSE

Discovering Your Inner Wisdom: The Journey to Ultimate Liberation

with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

Formerly titled The Truth That Sets You Free

“The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.”
– Albert Einstein

This workshop is about becoming liberated from fear and other disturbing emotions so you may live more fully and genuinely in all aspects of life. Ultimately, it’s about achieving final liberation, or enlightenment.

Nearly all of us feel strongly attached to our physical body and to our sense of identity as a professional, a spouse, a son or daughter, for example. But our genuine self is far simpler, and more profound, than any of these. Through the practice of sleep yoga and other guided meditations, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche helps you to discover the truth of who you are: a sense of spacious awareness that is beyond the ego-based identity and which is eternal, changeless, indestructible, and serene. Realizing this truth is what liberates us from the fear and negative emotions that have trapped us in suffering. It can help us overcome fear even during the most challenging moments, including the time of our own death.

The meditations taught in this workshop include daytime contemplative practices from the Dzogchen, or “Great Perfection,” tradition of Tibetan Bön Buddhism; as well as sleep yoga practices of the night, from the Bön Mother Tantra, which offer helpful support for one’s dzogchen practice. Dzogchen is considered the path of self-liberation and the highest form of teaching and practice in the Bon Buddhist tradition. For practitioners, it offers the potential for liberation during a single lifetime and within a single body. Its practices transport the practitioner directly into the nature of mind, which is our true essence.

Workshop Features:

• Three-week teacher-guided online workshop
• Step-by-step class instructions via streaming video
• New material released twice a week
• Six hours of video instruction and guided meditations
• No set class times — review video instruction anytime and as often as necessary throughout the workshop
• Downloadable guided meditations for your practice
• Continual personal support and individualized advice from Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche via workshop forums and messenger
• Easy to use and navigate course site

Website: GlideWing (https://www.glidewing.com/twr/liberation_home.html)

COURSE

Discovering Your Inner Wisdom: The Journey to Ultimate Liberation

with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

Formerly titled The Truth That Sets You Free

“The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.”
– Albert Einstein

This workshop is about becoming liberated from fear and other disturbing emotions so you may live more fully and genuinely in all aspects of life. Ultimately, it’s about achieving final liberation, or enlightenment.

Nearly all of us feel strongly attached to our physical body and to our sense of identity as a professional, a spouse, a son or daughter, for example. But our genuine self is far simpler, and more profound, than any of these. Through the practice of sleep yoga and other guided meditations, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche helps you to discover the truth of who you are: a sense of spacious awareness that is beyond the ego-based identity and which is eternal, changeless, indestructible, and serene. Realizing this truth is what liberates us from the fear and negative emotions that have trapped us in suffering. It can help us overcome fear even during the most challenging moments, including the time of our own death.

The meditations taught in this workshop include daytime contemplative practices from the Dzogchen, or “Great Perfection,” tradition of Tibetan Bön Buddhism; as well as sleep yoga practices of the night, from the Bön Mother Tantra, which offer helpful support for one’s dzogchen practice. Dzogchen is considered the path of self-liberation and the highest form of teaching and practice in the Bon Buddhist tradition. For practitioners, it offers the potential for liberation during a single lifetime and within a single body. Its practices transport the practitioner directly into the nature of mind, which is our true essence.

Workshop Features:

• Three-week teacher-guided online workshop
• Step-by-step class instructions via streaming video
• New material released twice a week
• Six hours of video instruction and guided meditations
• No set class times — review video instruction anytime and as often as necessary throughout the workshop
• Downloadable guided meditations for your practice
• Continual personal support and individualized advice from Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche via workshop forums and messenger
• Easy to use and navigate course site

Website: GlideWing (https://www.glidewing.com/twr/liberation_home.html)

Rinpoche’s teaching will focus on the Dzogchen practices of trekchö and tögal in the Bön tradition. Rooted in the ancient Tibetan Bön Buddhist tradition, Dzogchen, or the “Great Perfection,” is a profound practice that focuses on recognizing and resting in the natural state of mind, often described as naked awareness or luminous clarity. Dzogchen has the power to transform ordinary perceptions of the world and our self from a fragmented, anxious outlook to one of unity and tranquility.

As in the Buddhist traditions, “trekchö” and “tögal” are both advanced meditation practices of the Dzogchen teachings. Trekchö serves as the foundational practice that cuts through mental elaborations to help recognize one’s innate awareness, while tögal relates to clear light and the visions that can arise from that state, supported by the practices of sky gazing, sun gazing and dark retreat. This Dzogchen teaching is open to all. Rinpoche will be teaching at Shambhala in lieu of teaching in Crestone, Colorado, where his Chamma Ling Colorado center has cabins available for solitary retreat including dark retreat.

Bringing the Soul Home: Soul Retrieval through Spiritual Practice & Ritual 

Taught by Lama Kalsang Nyima and Khandro Tsering Wangmo Khymsar

From October 2025 – April 2027, over four 5-day retreats at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center and montlhy zoom sessions, this is an opportunity not only to deeply commit to one’s personal healing and transformation, but an opportunity to benefit others. 

Drawing from the rich, ancient Yungdrung Bön tradition—the oldest spiritual tradition of Tibet—this two-year program offers a grounded, accessible path into the practice of Soul Retrieval. These teachings and practices offer powerful tools to those who feel called to help restore themselves and others to wholeness by working with the subtle energies of the soul. Join us for this special training program!

You’ll be guided step by step through traditional soul retrieval techniques that have been used for centuries in Tibet and Nepal to help people heal from trauma, reconnect with their vitality, recover from illness and  rediscover the power of living fully.

✨ No prior experience with Tibetan practices is required—just an open heart and curious mind.

Whether you’re a longtime practitioner, energy worker, or new to the Bön path, join a supportive learning community of kindred spirits in this deeply grounded training program of Bön healing methods for personal transformation and service to others. You will leave with the tools, confidence, and blessings to skillfully engage in this sacred work.

Training Program Dates*

*If you are staying at Serenity Ridge, registration & check in is at 4pm of the arrival day.
Session 1 October 1–5, 2025 (if staying at Serenity Ridge, arrive on September 30)
Session 2 April 8–12, 2026 (if staying at Serenity Ridge, arrive on April 7)
Session 3 September 30–October 4, 2026 (if staying at Serenity Ridge, arrive on September 29)
Session 4 April 21–25, 2027  (if staying at Serenity Ridge, the arrival day is April 20)

Monthly one-hour online sessions on Zoom

Dates to be announced.
2025: November, December
2026: January, February, March, May, June, July, August, September, November, December
2027: January, February, March

Click here for more details and application to register.