Upcoming Trul Khor Part 1 Retreat and Graduate Training
Sessions Begin November 2 and November 3
Alejandro Chaoul-Reich teaching trul khor Two Tibetan Bön Yoga retreats – a retreat from the A-Tri Dzogchen tradition open to all and a training for graduates of previous Tibetan Yoga series – will be held concurrently at Serenity Ridge in November.
Beginners and experienced students alike are invited to join us November 2–5 for instruction in the ancient practice of Tibetan yoga (trul khor) from the Bön A-tri Dzogchen tradition, taught by Alejandro Chaoul-Reich. This course can stand alone and also will serve as the first in a series for training that will also include the foundational movement of Tibetan yoga from Oral Transmission of Zhang Zhung, also a Bön dzogchen tradition. An intermediate training program will be offered over the following two years, followed by an advanced training for two more years. All trainings will be held at Serenity Ridge.
In the past this training series began with the Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyü trul khor. Now, we will start with the A-tri Dzogchen trul khor, as condensed by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. All are welcome to attend.
Graduates who have done Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Tibetan Bön yoga from Ligmincha since 2002 can join Tibetan Bön Yoga, Postgraduate, Part 5, on November 3–5. In this retreat, participants will explore the body’s energetic dimensions and integrate the practice with everyday life. They will deepen their trul khor practice and also see how it connects with tummo (inner fire, heat, wisdom). Teaching with Alejandro will be Geshe Tenzin Yangton, Serenity Ridge resident lama, who has trained deeply in these practices in India and Nepal.
Tibetan yoga can serve as a powerful support for all spiritual practitioners, not only those with an interest in physical yogas. In the Tibetan spiritual traditions, body, speech/breath and mind are known as the three doors to enlightenment.The contemplative physical movements of Tibetan yoga (trul khor) enable us to enter all three doors at once through a single practice, offering a powerful, skillful means for clearing the obstacles and obscurations to openness and clarity in meditation practice.
Learn more about Tibetan Bön Yoga, Part 1
Learn more about Tibetan Bön Yoga, Postgraduate, Part 5
Alejandro Chaoul-Reich, Ph.D., has been teaching these retreats for more than 15 years at the request of Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. A senior student of Rinpoche, he has studied trul khor with many masters of the Bön Buddhist tradition of Tibet. He is an assistant professor and director of education at the University of Texas (UT) MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and adjunct professor in UT’s Medical School. He teaches meditation to cancer patients and their supporters and is involved in research using tsa lung trul khor with cancer patients and their caregivers. Alejandro received his Ph.D. in Tibetan religions from Rice University and is a senior teacher of The 3 Doors.
Geshe Tenzin Yangton is the resident lama at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center. Born in 1974 in Chharka, a remote village in the Dolpo region of western Nepal bordering Tibet, he is part of the ancient Yangton lineage. In 1990 he became a monk at Triten Norbutse Monastery in Kathmandu, taking his vows from Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche. He attained his geshe degree (similar to a Ph.D. in religious studies) from the Bön Dialectic School at Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India, in 2006. He has served as an assistant to His Eminence Ponlop Trinley Nyima Rinpoche, head instructor of Menri Monastery, and has been coordinator of Yanggon Thongdrol Phuntsog Ling Monastery, Dolpo Tsaga Welfare Healthcare Clinic and many other projects.
