Join us for our Annual Summer Retreat!
Monday, June 22 - Sunday, June 28

In-Person at Wisdom River Meditation Center and Online via Zoom

Medicine Buddha Retreat:
Healing, Practice, and Deepening Connection

with Lama Palden & Lama Döndrup

This weeklong retreat offers an immersive opportunity to engage deeply with the practice of Medicine Buddha, both as a path of personal healing and as a way of cultivating a responsive, compassionate presence with our loved ones and in the world.

Participants will receive the Medicine Buddha empowerment (wang), along with the reading transmission (lung) and teachings (tri) that support a grounded and meaningful connection to the practice. These transmissions provide not only access to the formal practice, but also a living sense of connection to the lineage from which it emerges.

A significant portion of the retreat will be dedicated to direct engagement with the practice itself. Through repeated sessions of meditation, mantra recitation, and visualization, participants will have the opportunity to become increasingly familiar with the felt sense of the practice, allowing it to move from something we do into something we begin to embody.

The retreat will also include teachings on the practice of Sür Chöd, an evening ritual of offering that expresses generosity in its most expansive form. This practice supports the release of grasping and invites a widening of perspective, as we relate not only to our own experience of difficulty, but also to unseen dimensions of suffering and need, particularly those navigating the bardo between this life and the next. Participants will both learn about and actively engage in this ritual during the retreat.

Throughout the week, teachings will be offered to support:

  • A clear understanding of the view and intention behind the practices

  • A sense of confidence and familiarity in engaging them

  • The integration of these practices into daily life

Participants will also engage daily in Lujong (Tibetan yogic movement) and either Chenrezig or Niguma’s Extraordinary Tonglen practice.

This retreat is suitable for both those who are newer to Vajrayāna and those with prior experience who wish to deepen their connection to Medicine Buddha practice. The emphasis will be on making the practices accessible, experiential, and workable, while also honoring their depth and integrity.

In a time when many feel the impact of uncertainty, illness, and collective strain, this retreat offers a space to reconnect with a source of healing that is not separate from our own awareness, one that can be accessed, cultivated, and shared.

See full schedule below.

RETREAT DETAILS

DATES

Retreat Begins:
Monday, June 22 at 10 AM

Retreat Ends:
Sunday, June 28 at 12 PM

LOCATION

Wisdom River Meditation Center
7110 Redwood Blvd, Suite B., Novato, CA or Online via Zoom

FEES

$800: Full Retreat Fee*
$700: Full Retreat - Sukhasiddhi Member*
$650: Online only participant
$600: Online only - Sukhasiddhi member

FULL PAYMENT DEADLINE

Thursday, June 19, 2025

REGISTRATION DEADLINE

Thursday, June 19 at 8 PM Pacific

PRE-REQUISITES

Participants should have some familiarity with Buddhism and meditation.

LODGING

*The Retreat fees DO NOT include lodging or meals.
A list of local food and dining options will be provided at the retreat.

RETREAT SCHEDULE*

*schedule subject to change

MONDAY

10:00 AM - 12:30 PM Medicine Buddha Wang & Lung (open to public)
12:30 - 2:00 PM Lunch
2:00 - 5:00 PM Medicine Buddha Teachings with Lama Döndrup (includes a 20-min break & 20-min stretch)
5:00 - 6:00 PM Dinner
6:00 - 8:00 PM Chenrezig

TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON

8:00 - 8:30AM Silent Sit
8:40 - 9:40 AM Lujong
10:00 AM - 12:30 PM Teachings & Practice with Lama Döndrup (includes a 20-minute break)
12:30 - 2:00 PM Lunch
2:00 - 5:00 PM Teachings & Practice with Lama Palden (includes a 20-min break & 20-min stretch)
5:00 - 6:00 PM Dinner
6:00-8:00 PM Evening Pujas

PUJA SCHEDULE

Monday: Chenrezig
Tuesday: Chagdukpa & Tonglen
Wednesday: Sür Chöd, Chagdrukpa, & Chenrezig
Thursday: Sür Chöd, Chagdrukpa, & Tonglen
Friday: Sür Chöd, Chagdrukpa, & Chenrezig
Saturday: Tsok (KTGR Mahamudra Tsok)

SUNDAY

8:00 - 9:00 AM Lujong
9:00 AM-12:00 PM Closing Circle
12:00 PM Retreat Closes

Meet the Retreat Leaders: Lama Döndrup & Lama Palden

Lama Döndrup Drolma, Resident Lama

Lama Döndrup has practiced and studied in the Buddhist tradition for over twenty years. In 2005, she completed the traditional three-year retreat and was authorized as a lama. In addition to her Buddhist practice, Lama Döndrup has trained in the Diamond Approach for seven years and has an MFA in piano performance. She is an active classical pianist and teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Lama Palden Drolma, Senior Lama

Lama Palden Drolma is a master of Mahamudra transmission—the teachings and practices that enable one to reach complete awakening in this lifetime. She has been teaching since completing the traditional Tibetan Buddhist three-year retreat in the Shangpa and Karma Kagyu lineages in 1985, and becoming in 1986 one of the first Western women to be authorized as a lama in the Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhist) tradition.