A CONTAINER FOR SLOW DHARMA
Yangti offers two forms of residential retreat on the 66 acres of Buckland, Massachusetts: dark retreat — a completion stage thögal practice held in complete darkness — and personal retreat, a supported space for intensive individual practice in a light-accessible cabin setting. Both are held within a container of lineage, teacher oversight, and the quiet presence of the land itself.
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We also hold occasional group retreats centered around particular teachings and group practices, bringing Sangha together on blessed land toward one purpose.
Retreat at Yangti is not a product to be purchased. It is a practice to be undertaken — in relationship with a teacher, in alignment with one’s own path, and in the spirit of the Rimé tradition that holds this place.
Yangti Yoga · Thögal
Available Durations: 1 Day · 3 Days · 1 Week · 2 Weeks · 3 Weeks · 49 Day
Dark retreat — Yangti Yoga in Sanskrit — is the signature practice of this center and the living heart of our lineage. Entering a condition of complete darkness, the practitioner engages the ground of appearance directly: luminosity arises, the bardo is met in waking life, and the nature of mind becomes available in ways that ordinary conditions do not readily afford.
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All dark retreats at Yangti are held within a framework of authentic lineage transmission and ongoing teacher support. Practitioners are received individually, with duration and practice schedule determined through the application process in consultation with their teacher.
Individual Practice Retreat
Light-accessible · Flexible duration · Self-guided to fully supported
Yangti’s personal retreat offering provides a dedicated space for practitioners to undertake intensive individual practice in a light-accessible cabin on the land. The structure of your retreat is entirely your own — from fully self-guided, in which you arrive with your own practice and require simply the space and silence to do it, to fully supported, with meals, Sowa Rigpa-informed care, and teacher guidance from Lama Justin woven into your days.
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Personal retreat is open to practitioners of any tradition who are engaged in serious contemplative practice. The land, the cabins, and the quiet of the Berkshires provide the outer container. What you bring fills it.
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Duration is flexible and determined in conversation with our team. We welcome inquiries from practitioners at all stages of the path.
Apprentice Retreat
Work-exchange · Flexible duration · Community-supported
Yangti's apprentice retreat offering provides an equitable pathway for practitioners to undertake personal retreat on the land in exchange for supporting those in dark retreat through meal preparation and service. These apprentice retreats not only make retreat accessible to those navigating financial constraints but develop a container of the living reciprocity of sangha, where practitioners sustain one another through genuine mutual aid.
To serve a retreatant is itself a practice. The merit generated through this offering is profound and the opportunity to participate in supporting fellow sangha in their intensive practice allows the community to grow and support one another. Apprentice retreatants outside of meal prep and service have the spaciousness to engage in their own intensive retreat practice alongside this service.
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Duration is flexible and determined in conversation with our team. We welcome inquiries from practitioners at all stages of the path.