Celebrating Blessings: Awareness, Lineage and Devotion
September 11–14, 2025
Buddhist Path, Meditation & Mindfulness, On Land Retreats
Program Start Date & Time: September 11th | Orientation at 5:30 pm
Program End Date & Time: September 14th | 1:30 pm
Whatever your connection is to the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya and Drala Mountain Center, we invite you to come together to practice and deepen connection to the community. The land is full of the blessings of generations of dharma practitioners, invoking the magic of the ancestral and lineage Dralas in our high mountain valley. The special focus of this retreat will be the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, celebrating the blessings of Tibetan Buddhism and the Shambhala wisdom tradition.
Stupas are architectural structures for community gathering and meditation practice, expressed in a perfect form from the pure nature of enlightened mind. They were built thousands of years ago in Asia and are said to have a positive influence on the power field of the whole universe by contributing to the preservation of peace in the world.
Our own Stupa is imbued with the energy of the dralas; the blessings of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche; the love and devotion of artisans and patrons, practitioners; the Ute, Arapahoe and Cheyenne indigenous traditions; and the many visitors from all over the world who naturally feel the power of this land. This is not just a place of practice. It is a living presence—a field of lineage blessings, a wellspring of clarity and peace.
In the morning, Judith Simmer-Brown will gather the community at the Stupa for supplications, circumambulation, meditation, and Lhasang smoke offering. With her exceptional scholarship that is based in her own practice and direct experience, Judith will teach us about the power of stupas and the how they invoke blessings for peace in the world.
In the afternoon, Gaylon Ferguson will teach and lead meditation in the formless tradition of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, opening to the blessings of lineage and land. Author of Welcoming Beginner’s Mind: Zen and Tibetan Buddhist Wisdom on Experiencing Our True Nature, Gaylon will guide us through the simple, challenging, and always new possibility of opening to exactly what’s occurring in our experience.
There will be time for socializing and reminiscing over meals. In the evening, there will special teaching events with a fundraiser on Saturday evening. All this will be held in the embrace of an inclusive practice container. Come and be nourished and transformed through the celebration of the blessings of the Great Stupa and Drala Mountain Center.
Program Schedule
Thursday
2:00 – 5:00 pm | Registration
5:30 – 6:00 pm | Orientation
6:00 – 7:00 pm | Dinner
7:00 – 9:00 pm | Program Session
Friday
7:00 am | Optional Early Morning Session
7:30 – 9:00 am | Breakfast
9:30 – 12:30 pm | Practice at the Great Stupa
12:30 – 1:30 pm | Lunch
1:30 – 3:00 pm | Free Time
3:00 – 5:00 pm | Practice at Ridgen Shrine Room
6:00 – 7:00 pm | Dinner
7:30 – 8:30 pm | Program Session
Saturday
7:00 am | Optional Early Morning Session
7:30 – 9:00 | am Breakfast
9:30 – 12:30 pm | Practice at the Great Stupa
12:30 – 1:30 pm | Lunch
1:30 – 3:00 pm | Free Time
3:00 – 5:00 pm | Practice at Ridgen Shrine Room
6:00 – 7:00 pm | Dinner
7:30 – 8:30 pm | Fundraiser at Red Feather Tent
Sunday
5:30 – 7:00 am | Optional Early Morning Session
7:30 – 9:00 am | Breakfast
9:30 – 12:30 pm | Practice at the Great Stupa
12:30 – 1:30 pm | Lunch and Departure
Retreat Faculty
Judith Simmer-Brown
Judith Simmer-Brown, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor of Contemplative and Religious Studies Emerita at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, where she has taught since 1978. As Buddhist practitioner since the early 1970’s, she became a student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1974 and served as an acharya in Shambhala from 2000-2022. Her teaching specialties are meditation […]
Gaylon Ferguson
Gaylon Ferguson, PhD, has led mindfulness meditation retreats since 1976. He has taught at Stanford, the University of Washington, and Naropa University. He is the author of three books: Welcoming Beginner’s Mind: Zen and Tibetan Wisdom on Experiencing Our True Nature; Natural Wakefulness (on the four foundations of mindfulness); and Natural Bravery (on fear and […]
