In this retreat, Ken McLeod and Jeff Bickford offer a deep, embodied exploration of how power functions in our lives and practices, especially in relation to presence, intention, and internal conditioning. Through guided exercises, evocative storytelling, and group dialogue, participants learn to recognize power not as dominance, but as the ability to stay present and act clearly in the midst of complexity and challenge. (October 2008)

In this class, Ken McLeod invites students into a direct and sometimes disorienting encounter with the Diamond Sutra, using daily aloud recitation and in-person dialogue to shift attention from conceptual understanding to lived experience. Rather than explaining the sutra, Ken helps participants feel how its repetitive contradictions interrupt habitual mind and open a different kind of knowing. Over time, students discover the sutra isn’t something to figure out—it’s something that works on you. (July 2024)

In this retreat, Ken McLeod teaches how emotional reactions release when we stop resisting and start experiencing them fully. Through three distinct methods—breath-based attention, taking and sending, and direct awareness—participants learn to meet discomfort, uncover natural knowing, and stay directly in what arises, without separation. “The illusion is that we are separate from what we experience,” Ken says, pointing to a way of living in which emotion, emptiness, and awareness are not different—and reactivity releases through knowing experience directly. (February 2005)

In this retreat Ken McLeod guides participants into a direct and often unsettling encounter with the reality of death. Drawing on stories, meditation practices, and subtle shifts in perception, he shows how opening to the inevitability and unpredictability of death becomes a path to clarity, compassion, and freedom. (May 2004)

In this retreat, Ken McLeod guides participants through the full arc of Chenrezi practice, from foundational principles to the subtle refinements of visualization and mantra. Combining ritual, story, and direct instruction, he brings Vajrayana to life as a path for uncovering the lived experience of awakened compassion in every aspect of being. (October 2003)

In this retreat, Ken McLeod explores what it means to live with an unfettered mind—one that is open, responsive, and able to meet experience directly. Through clear, practical instruction and vivid examples, he shows how attention, understanding, and technique come together in everyday life. The teachings invite a deep kind of courage: to rest fully and to let no part of your life remain untouched by practice. (October 2006)

In The Warrior’s Solution, Ken McLeod offers a powerful map for transforming reactive patterns into presence, drawing on meditative ritual, internal inquiry, and direct experience. Each session explores a crucial step—intention, sacrifice, death, and rest—guiding practitioners to face the inner opponent, dissolve conditioned identity, and meet life with unshakeable clarity. These talks form a cohesive and practical path for living with integrity, awareness, and authentic freedom. (February 2004)

Ken McLeod unpacks the teachings of the Jewel Ornament of Liberation by Gampopa, bringing the wisdom of this classical text into a form that speaks directly to modern practitioners. While drawing primarily from Gampopa’s text, Ken also integrates insights from other great Tibetan masters as well as modern perspectives and his own experience, offering a well-rounded approach to the path of awakening. He explores key teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, including refuge, the six perfections, the bodhisattva vow,  and buddha nature,  showing how these teachings can transform daily experience and deepen spiritual practice. As Jamgön Kongtrül said, “Buddha nature is what is left when all the confusion of ordinary experience is cleared away,” pointing to the clarity and openness that emerge when we free ourselves from reactive patterns. (October 2007)

In this retreat, Ken McLeod invites participants to explore the deep insights that arise when we shift our perspective on conflict and opposition. Drawing from personal experience, teaching stories, and practical frameworks, Ken guides participants in redefining what it means to engage with resistance and challenges in life. Through these talks, he offers tools and perspectives to navigate relationships, dissolve opposition, and cultivate compassionate action. (October 2009)