In this retreat, Ken McLeod presents chö as a practice that cuts through the conceptual overlays we impose on experience—what he calls “the thickets of thinking.” Through visualization, ritual, and raw attention, he shows how to meet suffering and disturbance without relying on beliefs or emotional strategies. “I know from my own practice,” says Ken, “when you actually encounter your anger or your desire head on, that’s actually pretty frightening, and many of you have expressed the same thing.”

Ken McLeod invites students to explore the profound and transformative themes of death, impermanence, and letting go. Through guided meditations, group discussions, and personal reflections, the retreat examines how embracing mortality can lead to a more authentic, present, and meaningful life. Each session delves into unique aspects of this journey, offering practical insights and tools for navigating life’s uncertainties and transitions.

Ken McLeod offers a fresh, experiential perspective on the eightfold path. He reframes this foundational teaching by emphasizing personal attention, clarity, and balance in practice, moving beyond rigid interpretations. Topics covered include view, intention, speech, action, effort, attention, and absorption, offering practical ways to integrate these principles into daily life. Through relatable examples and thought-provoking insights, Ken invites practitioners to explore their own direct experience and cultivate a more natural, grounded approach to the path.

In this retreat, Ken McLeod presents the five elements—earth, water, fire, air, and void—as a mythic language that maps the formation and transformation of reactive patterns. Drawing on guided meditations, personal stories, and elemental exercises, he shows how each element reflects a distinct way reactivity plays out in experience. “That knowing quality is the fire element of mind,” he explains—pointing to the non-conceptual awareness that arises when we meet experience directly.

Ken guides an exploration of the four immeasurables—equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion, and joy—showing how these practices transform emotional reactivity into direct engagement with life. “All spiritual work is a process of transforming reactive, conditioned energy into natural free-flowing energy,” he says. Topics covered include recognizing emotional patterns, cultivating resilience through loving-kindness and compassion, distinguishing discernment from judgment, and experiencing joy as a natural expression of wholehearted living.

In this class, Ken McLeod brings Tilopa’s Ganges Mahamudra to life by translating each verse into clear practice instructions and engaging participants in penetrating inquiry. He encourages students to rest in experience just as it is, using practices like “open your heart to everything you experience” and “what experiences this?” to reveal the mind’s natural clarity. “As long as you’re trying to do something with your experience, you can’t just experience what arises,” Ken says—a reminder that even subtle effort can block what is already present.

In this retreat, Ken McLeod explores guru, deity, and protector as three powerful expressions of the Vajrayana path—relationship with what is true, awakening through presence, and the raw energy that cuts through resistance. Students explore devotion without dependency, step into awakened qualities as lived experience, and engage fierce inner forces—like Mahakala—that dismantle deeply rooted patterns. “He’s not really particularly interested in your welfare,” Ken says. “He’s only interested in you being awake.”

Ken McLeod turns the Heart Sutra into a lived experience, guiding participants through meditations and inquiries that dissolve the usual boundaries of self and knowing. He emphasizes two modes of practice—resting and looking—teaching how to stay in experience and look within it, rather than stepping back to observe. As students learn to rest in the messiness of their own lives, they discover that “things start to take care of themselves.”

In this series, Ken McLeod explores the stories of three great teachers—Sukhasiddhi, Niguma, and Khyungpo Naljor—drawing out the deeper lessons hidden within their biographies. These accounts are not just historical records but metaphors for the challenges and transformations we face in spiritual practice. Rather than presenting fixed models to follow, these stories point to the moments when something shifts—when the structures we rely on fall apart, when we see through the illusions we take as real, and when we stop looking outside ourselves for answers.

This Mahayana Mind Training retreat invites you to explore practices that cut through reactive patterns and transform how you relate to life. In each session, Ken McLeod uncovers ways to cultivate presence, transform energy, and approach challenges with compassion. Rooted in centuries-old wisdom, this series offers fresh relevance for modern life and are suitable whether you’re new to mind training or have been practicing for years.

Making Things Happen is about transforming intentions into reality with clarity and presence. In these four sessions, Ken introduces frameworks and practical tools for effective action, explores the inner blocks that hinder progress, and emphasizes mindful engagement with each step of the process. Through insights, exercises, and group discussions, students learn to align action with authentic purpose and navigate life’s complexities with greater awareness and skill.

In this retreat, Ken McLeod brings the mind training teachings of The Great Path of Awakening to life, using each line as a doorway into direct experience and personal transformation. The central practice is taking and sending, which students use to dismantle reactive patterns, meet emotional difficulty directly, and rest in unconditioned presence. “You’re holding on to nothing at all. The amazing thing is it works.”

In Money and Value, Ken McLeod explores how deeply our relationship with money influences our perceptions, decisions, and sense of self. Across these four sessions, Ken invites practitioners to question societal and personal assumptions about wealth, security, and well-being. Through guided reflections and group exercises, he offers insights into creating a life that balances financial needs with inner clarity and purpose.

Monsters under the bed—reactive patterns—are always with us, shaping our reactions to the situations life throws at us. In this six-part retreat series, Ken McLeod, Claudia Hansen, and George Draffan explore how these patterns keep us stuck, and reveal ways to see them clearly and let them go. With humor, candor, and practical wisdom, they delve into the power of the breath, the six realms, and practices for moving beyond habitual struggles. The retreat is focused on ways to navigate reactivity, deepen presence, and live with greater freedom.

In this retreat, Ken McLeod presents pointing-out instructions as direct invitations to rest in the clarity of experience and see whatever arises as it is. He challenges the usual emphasis on attainment or understanding, encouraging students instead to look, rest, and trust what they know. “You can’t make a thought or an emotion empty because it is empty,” Ken says. “You can’t make something into what it is already.”