All are welcome to participate in our meditations (in-person and via Zoom). These practices are suitable for new and experienced practitioners alike. Please email us at office@kscashland.org to receive the zoom links, have your questions answered and sign up for our monthly meditation listing and special class announcements.

Meditations Requiring Empowerment & Instruction

The following offerings are available only to experienced practitioners who have received formal empowerment and instruction. To learn more about empowerment, click here.

PRACTICE GROUPS ARE 6-9 MONTH IMMERSIVE PROGRAMS TO DEEPEN YOUR PRACTICE

Practice groups are offered as a way to deepen sangha connection with meditation practice while studying with other dedicated practitioners. Groups meet monthly, for six or nine months, depending on the group. Group members commit to daily meditation, as well as readings and contemplations, to build a reliable meditation practice. Joining a practice group is a great way to create space for regular practice and to connect with a community of practitioners.

TRANQUILITY PRACTICE (November 2024–MArch 2025)

First meeting on Sunday, November 10th, 12:30 -2:30 pm

Tuition: $160

Payment plans are available.

No one will be turned away due to lack of funds.

Tranquility Practice Group focuses on foundational meditation theory and practice but is open to anyone who is interested in being part of a group to help support and inspire their ongoing meditation practice. We will work with variations of calm abiding meditation to increase awareness, wisdom, and compassion and our relationship to our heart/mind. Practitioners of all levels are welcome to join and this is a wonderful entry point for folks new to Tibetan Buddhism.

We will explore meditation through group and home practice, discussion, and by reading Mingyur Rinpoche’s book, Joy of Living.

The group meets for eight two-hour sessions on Sundays, beginning in November and concluding in March with a half-day retreat. We will meet at KSC in-person.

The group is led by Libba Coker. Libba has been an active practice member at KSC for over 15 years and done several long retreats. She has co-taught Tranquility Group with Lama Yeshe for 12 years. She earned a master’s degree at Naropa University in Buddhism and a master’s in Counseling Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute.

The group will close to new members after the second meeting and is limited to 15 members. If you have questions about the group, please feel free to contact Libba. 

INSIGHT I & II PRACTICE GROUPS
(OCTOBER 2024 – JUNE 2025)

The Insight Practice Groups work with the Calm Abiding meditation, but take it a step further with contemplating and exploring the mind. Prior empowerment & instruction required to attend. Permission of Lama Pema is required to attend either Insight group. Please contact her at lamas@kscashland.org.

JOYFUL EFFORT PRACTICE GROUP

(October 2024 - June 2025)

First Meeting: Sunday, October 27th, noon-2:30 pm

Fall-Spring Tuition: $160

Payment plans are available.

No one will be turned away due to lack of funds.

Joyful Effort Practice Group focuses on the Ngöndro or Preliminaries meditations. This series of Vajrayana (visualization*) practices prepares the mind to receive and integrate Mahamudra teachings, by deepening our connection to the resources of the path, clearing our mind of negativity, strengthening our natural generosity, and creating a strong bond with our teachers.

During this eight-month group, we will focus on each of the four practices, for two months at a time.

Joyful Effort meets monthly, with the first meeting on Sunday, October 27th (noon – 2:30 pm). At that meeting, the instructions for the first chapter, Refuge and Bodhicitta, will be given.

Preregistration is recommended, and it is necessary to secure a text before the first meeting. This can be done at KSC during weekly office hours, Wednesdays, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm., and on Sundays and Thursdays at the bookstore (hours to be announced).

*For further information about the Tibetan Buddhist style of meditation called “visualization,” please contact the KSC office for a written teaching to be emailed to you: office@kscashland.org

Registration is required, and the text will be needed for the first meeting.

RESIDENTIAL RETREATS

Meditation practice is an essential activity for every Buddhist. When we enter into a retreat of any length, we enter a sanctuary, a physical and mental refuge in which we can disengage from the activities that distract us from our goal of liberation. Retreat provides favorable conditions for our inner practice, which directly affects the realization of our limitless potential, and the resultant benefit to beings

A five-day Personal Practice Residential Retreat was held at Buckhorn Springs, Ashland, in May, 2025. These retreats are an opportunity to deepen personal practice with individual guidance from the resident Lamas. They include periods of silence, periods of personal practice and meditation, group meditations, and teachings by the Lamas. This retreat fills quickly, and is announced to those on our mailing list, as well as being posted on our homepage of the website, which lists current events.

NON-RESIDENTIAL RETREATS

Non-residential retreats are held at KSC throughout the year, and are led by either our resident Lamas, or a guest teacher. These are 1-2 day teaching immersives, held on a weekend in our sanctuary. Typically, there is a two hour morning session, a mid-day break, and then a two hour afternoon session. Topics vary, and are announced in advance of the retreat. 

Dharma retreat advise

Create your own dharma retreat. Please read on for information from Lama Yeshe:

The word retreat comes from the military world – meaning to step back, to withdraw from the border of one’s territory, to retire for a period of time. A dharma retreat may have a similar connotation, in that we may be pulling back from the borders of our life for a little while. Hopefully, we are not feeling under attack, but of course that analogy may feel completely fitting. We may NEED to take time for retreat because our lives may feel so out of balance.

For a dharma retreat, we choose to take space, to make space, to focus on non-worldly activities of studying the dharma and practicing meditation. Temporarily – for an hour, a few hours, a day, a weekend or longer – we drop all responsibilities. We put away all distractions, including ideally taking a media fast during this time. We  pare down to the basic rhythms of sustaining life. We ask the world to wait.

Important elements to provide for your retreat.

·         Have a schedule to start with, something to give direction to your time. (You can confer with the lamas to learn about recommended schedules if you have not done retreat before.)

o   Place meditation sessions at the times of day you will be most alert.

o   Build in dharma reading or study as an alternative to meditating.

o   Adjust your schedule if needed, based on how you feel and what you learn about yourself during the retreat period.

·         Select good dharma reading or study to have available during your retreat.

·         Have nourishing food on hand. Take joy in its preparation.

·         Build in exercise of some kind – yoga, stretching, walks (with little talking to others if possible).

·         Build is rest periods. You know your body’s needs, so sleep in if that’s best for you, or take a rest after lunch if that will help you be alert in the afternoon. Be sure to get plenty of sleep, as retreat usually reveals how tired we are.

·         If possible, perform some kind of service or contribution wherever you are doing retreat. In the Zen tradition, they recommend Chop wood, carry water. It can be any activity, so at a very minimum, take good care of the space you are inhabiting. (Practice washing dishes and sweeping floors with mindfulness.)

May your retreat hours or days bring new awarenesses, and a strong sense that you are supporting your own dharma journey.

Lama Yeshe