Our First Retreat at KDOL May 2025
Having successfully completed our first retreat in British Columbia at the spectacular KDOL retreat centre we wanted to share some of the amazing pictures we took as well as the testimonials from the participants. Such a nice group of seekers on the spiritual path!
Testimonials from the May 2025 Retreatants
This week of retreat was an amazing experience for me. I've been in the dharma for a while and received many teachings. I haven't been in retreat for a long time though and the setup of this retreat was very welcome in this period of my life.
I had the opportunity to deepen my practice tremendously in a very short time and at the same time having a growing insight about my personal habits and being in the world.
I'm absolutuly grateful to Lama Choga and his continuous effort to make this retreat work for all the attendants in a very authentic way. I'm grateful to my fellow practitioners who were a sincere and loving support.
And I'm so grateful to the donors without whom this whole event wouldn't have been possible. I rejoice in their merit.
May this dharma project continu to grow long into the future and be of benefit to countless beings.
Josine de Jong
The Netherlands
In May 2025 I had the good fortune to attend Lama Choga's one-week retreat at KDOL on Saltspring Island.
Having received many Dharma teachings over the years from different Tibetan Buddhist masters, I was inspired by the authenticity of the teaching and practice in this retreat, as well as by the care that was taken for all of us participants. I have full confidence in Lama Choga's motivation and deeply admire his aim of enabling students who aspire to experience and realize the truth of Buddha's teaching to enter into short and long-term retreats.
I am also very grateful to the sponsors of this retreat.
Among all the good causes out there that are worth supporting, enabling people to cultivate peace, compassion, and wisdom within themselves is probably the most important and a powerful cause for peace on Earth.
All the best,
Barry
Barry Cohen
The Netherlands
In May of 2025, I had the rare and precious opportunity to participate in the inaugural one week silent retreat of the Insight Sangha, led by Lama Choga, on Mt. Tuam, Saltspring Island, British Columbia.
I had been trying to develop a meditation practice in fits and starts for the previous year, with some success, but also a lot of frustration and lapses. This retreat acted as a sort of meditation boot camp for me. It was challenging, intense, clarifying, beautiful, and profound. I came away from the experience with a new sense of confidence and direction in my practice. I feel rooted in the methodology and lived experience of an authentic spiritual lineage that spans back in time for thousands of years. Lama Choga is a skillful instructor of both meditation and Buddhist philosophy, and he displays integrity and warmth in his conduct.
The facilitation of this retreat was modelled after the traditional economic arrangements between spiritual and lay communities in the lands where the dharma first flourished. There was no fee for instruction. All food and accommodation was provided. There was no financial barrier for earnest spiritual practitioners willing to devote themselves to meditating, studying, and contemplating in silence. This was made possible by the generosity of patrons who value the dharma so much, and who believe so fervently in the indispensable role that meditative practice plays in creating a healthy world, that they are willing to financially support aspirants who want to practice the Buddha’s teachings for the benefit of all sentient beings.
This kind of thing is unheard of in the west, where spirituality has, like all other wholesome pursuits, been largely subsumed by the imperatives of consumer culture—commodified, looted, and transformed into a venture for personal gain. Hopefully this retreat was the dawn of something new and influential: non-transactional dharma that is not dependent on or subservient to existing power structures and conventional values, available to all who wish to practice.
Clinton Smith
Canada
The silent retreat provided me with exactly the experience that I was capable of handling at that time. Due to certain food sensitivities, I was well-cared for and fed the appropriate foods to maintain a healthy digestion and support productive meditation sessions. My food was prepared with love and mindfulness, reflecting the care with which the entire program was organized. The yoga sessions were also prepared with that same standard and greatly helped me through the week; sitting for many hours daily can be physically demanding if the body is not properly conditioned. I highly recommend that anyone attending retreats participate in the yoga sessions. Lama Choga also prepared a series of teachings that enabled us to dive into the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva, integrating them seamlessly with our meditation practices. I had a wealth of material to work with throughout the retreat. We were provided with so many crucial insights that really stuck with me. I am still processing what I learned and trying to integrate everything into my practice and how I experience my everyday activities in the world. Being my first retreat, this was an invaluable gift. I felt both cared for and challenged to push my boundaries. I met wonderful and sincere people, and I am grateful to have shared this retreat with them all. They each helped me learn important things about myself, and I hope to meditate with them again someday.
Mary Nudibranch
USA
My experience in the Salt Spring Island retreat at KDOL with Lama Choga was amazing, not just because we were out in this beautiful natural forest but also because it was so important for my practice of meditation and life in general. It was exactly what I needed to be able to remember that I can sit for two hours meditating, that I can simply stop drinking coffee and I don't have to be on the phone all the time, nor watch TV. Things that in daily busy life we tend to get caught in, the retreat helped me get rid of it. The lesson I got was: do not let things dampen your potential! And that is what I am trying to follow now that I am back again in Samsaric life. Anyone that needs this reset, this disconnect and this mental cleanup should go to such retreats, and to think that I was sponsored by another Sangha member just makes me think that, yes, good things do happen and there are still good people. Thank you so much, love from Brazil! May this practice benefit all beings!
Arthur Olimpio
Brazil
How can I summarize an experience such as was this retreat? Profound, beautiful, difficult. It was all of these things, and so much more. I can honestly say it was a gift.
I deeply appreciated Lama Choga’s focus on imparting not just knowledge, but the path to wisdom. As someone coming to the retreat with no formal background in Buddhism, I valued how he always paired the ‘how’ with the ‘why.’ The emphasis on gaining insight through direct experience resonated with my own personal practice, but this retreat gave me a clearer understanding of the methods and imparted resilience to continue them at home.
Being in silence amidst the beautiful environment of Mount Tuam on Salt Spring Island offered space for deeper contemplation. As I turned inward, observing the thoughts and emotions that shape my cognitive processes, my perception of reality began to shift. This insight will continue to carry my spiritual practice forward long after the retreat.
Throughout the week, I witnessed Lama Choga’s sincere care and compassion for his students. His blunt, straightforward manner was refreshing, especially in contrast to the often confusing spiritual culture in the West, one sometimes clouded by empty platitudes and the promise of wisdom behind a paywall. I’m deeply grateful to have had this opportunity and for Lama Choga’s commitment to offering this path to others.”
Thank you for everything you do!!!
Kelly Reynolds
USA
Despite my lack of knowledge about vajrayana Buddhism, Lama Choga accepted me the way a true practitioner would. There is nothing forced about him as a practitioner or teacher. I never felt like I had to prove anything while participating in the silent retreat. While I do maintain a very basic level of practice at home, I was definitely ill prepared for the intensity of multiple hours of daily meditation while remaining completely silent. I seriously considered leaving in the middle of the night on the second day, but Lama Choga noticed my struggle and his gentle encouragement gave me enough strength to persist.
By the end of the retreat my entire disposition towards the experience has reversed, and I was quite sad to leave it behind. If I wasn't told that I participated in Lama Choga's first ever retreat, I would have assumed he had lead many in his lifetime. Everything was very seamless and comfortable. The accommodations were perfect, the food was excellent, and Choga is a treasure trove of knowledge in regards to Dharma. It's not easy to create an environment so appropriate for true self reflection, and that's exactly what Lama Choga provided. To say I recommend the experience is an understatement. You won't regret it.
I offer a sincere thanks to Lama Choga and everyone else involved in my retreat. While I may not have achieved final liberation this time, I learned a lot about myself, and that's more than I expected. Thank you.
Carl Livingston
Canada
Lama Choga very skilfully designed a schedule that would allow everybody to dive bit by bit deeper into meditation to investigate his or her own mind. That is what is lacking in the West - meditation is not only sitting still and clearing out all the garbage, but also about generating insight and trying to experience for oneself what is written in the old texts. That - bit by bit - can help to see the world through different eyes, understanding phenomena in an unexpected and profound way and starting to sense that there is something behind all that veils - something that has no beginning and no end.
Jeannette Stowasser
Germany
The week I spent here was a genuine life changer. My mind was opened to whole different modes of operation. I was challenged, so much so that I really felt under prepared. The meditation and teaching sessions were demanding of intense focus. I spent 10 hours a day sleeping in recovery. I am glad for the incremental approach to the length of sessions. Choga has a gentle but firm attitude and a good sense of humor. Highly recommended
Casey Albright
USA
