ONLINE: Empowering Womxn: Compassion Training

October 9th- 11th, 2026

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Program Times:

Saturday, October 10th: 9:00 – 10:00 am MT and 3:00 – 4:00 pm MT

Sunday, October 11th: 9:00 – 10:00 am MT

Tuition: $75 for all three talks

Meals & drinks included
Inc. V, VG, GF

Add extra nights at 50% off

Tuition: $75 for all three talks

Meals & drinks included
Inc. V, VG, GF

Add extra nights at 50% off

This registration page will allow you to register to virtually attend the three guided practices and talks offered throughout Empowering Womxn: Compassion Training from home. If you’d like to register for the on-land program instead, please follow this link: Empowering Womxn: Compassion Training, October 9th – 11th, 2026

About the Retreat

How do we bring a compassionate presence and response to a world in turmoil and suffering? This training is a deep dive into Buddhist compassion practices and the theory and science behind them. We will explore the building blocks for practicing and teaching compassion and discuss moving from practice to community service through compassion in action.

This training is tailored specifically to womxn*—inclusive of cis-gender, non-binary, and trans femme—to reflect on how to embody compassion for self and others beyond a patriarchal framework. How can we cultivate a courageous and compassionate heart at a time when empathy is deemed a weakness and war, discrimination, and incarceration are on the rise?

You are invited to deepen in compassion practice through the three talks and guided practices over the weekend. This includes self-compassion, the Four Immeasurables (loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity), and Tonglen (“Sending and Taking”).

This program is funded in part by a grant from the Lenz Foundation.

These tools offered in these teachings will deepen your ability to develop a compassionate presence and response from a place of ease and simplicity without demand and entanglement. This can enhance your ability to engage in community service in a way that is liberative for all.  

Schedule (all times Mountain Time)

Saturday, October 10th

9:00 – 10:00 am

3:00 – 4:00 pm

Sunday, October 11th

9:00 – 10:00 am

Who is this retreat for?

This program is for new or aspiring meditation instructors and dharma teachers, and we encourage younger practitioners to join. We welcome womxn—inclusive of cis-gender, non-binary, and trans femme—from any and all Buddhist traditions. 

It is recommended that participants have a strong grounding in meditation practice including a minimum of one week or ten days of solitary or group retreat and a foundation in basic Buddhist teachings. Dedication to service in this world and/or the Bodhisattva Vow are strongly encouraged.

* To define womxn:

  • cis-gender: individuals designated female at birth who currently identify as women
  • non-binary: gender fluid, outside the male/female binary
  • trans femme: individuals assigned male at birth, but with a feminine identity and/or gender expression 

Retreat Faculty

Carla Burns

Carla Burns is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Naropa University, where she leads the MA Contemplative Psychotherapy residential retreat programs. She also consults for the Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education, designing and facilitating programs and trainings, and contributes to Naropa’s Compassion Initiative. Specializing in the integration of corporeal, elemental, and spatial knowledge, [...]

Holly Gayley

Holly Gayley is a scholar and translator of Buddhist literature in contemporary Tibet and associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research explores gender and sexuality in Buddhist tantra, literature by and about Tibetan and Himalayan women, ethical reform in contemporary Tibet, and theorizing translation, both literary and cultural, in the transmission of Buddhist [...]
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