Yoga and Nature: Gifts of the Season
Yoga and Nature: Gifts of the Season
Drala Mountain Center, Shambhala Way, Red Feather Lakes, CO, USA
Up to 200 in group
Jan 9 - 11, 2026
Retreat Highlights
- Drala Mountain Center retreats center on: yoga, health and wellness; meditation and mindfulness including silent meditation; Buddhist studies and dharma teachings; nature and the natural world, and creative expression. Our venue is also available for facility rental and/or self-guided retreats.
About this Retreat
Adrienne Chang has studied in the tradition of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche for over fifteen years, helping co-lead Shambhala and Buddhist meditation retreats and study courses in Europe, North America, and online. Adrienne is currently a member of the Milinda program, a ten-year, inter-sangha, shedra-styled Buddhist teacher training program under the guidance of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, which brings her to Asia for three-months of intensive study and practice each year. Adrienne has been teaching and publishing in the fields of Buddhist philosophy and history, as well as of gerontology, meditation, and aging and spirituality. She currently splits her time between her home in Luxembourg and Limoges, France, near Dechen Choling, Shambhala International’s land center in Europe.
Carla Burns is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Naropa University, where she leads the MA Contemplative Psychotherapy residential retreat programs. She also consults for the Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education, designing and facilitating programs and trainings, and contributes to Naropa’s Compassion Initiative. Specializing in the integration of corporeal, elemental, and spatial knowledge, her work explores how these practices can enhance everyday awareness. Carla’s research and teaching focus on embodied practices that connect personal and collective liberation, aiming to transform expansive views of enlightenment into practical, everyday freedom.
Holly Gayley is a scholar and translator of Buddhist literature in contemporary Tibet and associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research explores gender and sexuality in Buddhist tantra, literature by and about Tibetan and Himalayan women, ethical reform in contemporary Tibet, and theorizing translation, both literary and cultural, in the transmission of Buddhist teachings to North America. She is author of Love Letters from Golok: A Tantric Couple in Modern Tibet (2016) and editor of Voices from Larung Gar: Shaping Tibetan Buddhism for the Twenty-First Century (2021). Her most recent book is Longing to Awaken: Buddhist Devotion in Tibetan Poetry and Song (2024), co-edited with Dominique Townsend. For more than two decades, she has regularly led meditation workshops and retreats.
Details of this retreat
Replenish your body, mind, heart and spirit and bring it into harmony and balance with the seasons through yoga and spending time in the natural world. Many of us spend more time staring into screens, and less time than we would like being present in our bodies, contemplating our deepest values, and connecting to the natural world. Without synchronization between body, mind, and environment, dis-ease of all kinds arise.
Through yoga, breath-work, contemplation, inquiry, reflecting on the gifts of each season, and connecting to the wildness surrounding Drala Mountain Center you’ll return to center, where you can reconnect to the simple magic and miracle of being alive.
As Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist teacher, writes, in Our True Home, “Around us, life bursts forth with miracles—a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere.”
These retreats are correlated with the unfolding seasons of the Rocky Mountains. Each one will have a seasonal theme. You can enjoy them together in any order or as stand alone retreats.
[su_divider top="no" text="Click here" divider_color="#fbaf19"]
Level: All levels welcome!
Note: Our program will begin with orientation on Friday evening at 5:30 pm, and it will end on Sunday at 12:30 pm. Participants are welcome to stay for lunch and enjoy the land.
What to bring for the program?
Yoga mat (optional), journal or notepad, pen or pencil, walking shoes, water bottle, and a mug with a closed top for tea (optional).
Testimonials:
“Melissa’s warm, inviting presence welcomes her students to show up as they are—and in the simple act of showing up, to discover compassion for self and for others. Her work uncovers and strengthens resilience in body and spirit.” —Jenna Carson
“Melissa is a great teacher. I always left her classes feeling both muscles and mind opened a bit more than when I arrived.” —Matt Blumberg
“The yoga experience with Melissa has not only changed my body but her insight and perspective has changed my mindset—a true blessing.” —Nadia
Through yoga, breath-work, contemplation, inquiry, reflecting on the gifts of each season, and connecting to the wildness surrounding Drala Mountain Center you’ll return to center, where you can reconnect to the simple magic and miracle of being alive.
As Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist teacher, writes, in Our True Home, “Around us, life bursts forth with miracles—a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere.”
These retreats are correlated with the unfolding seasons of the Rocky Mountains. Each one will have a seasonal theme. You can enjoy them together in any order or as stand alone retreats.
[su_divider top="no" text="Click here" divider_color="#fbaf19"]
Level: All levels welcome!
Note: Our program will begin with orientation on Friday evening at 5:30 pm, and it will end on Sunday at 12:30 pm. Participants are welcome to stay for lunch and enjoy the land.
What to bring for the program?
Yoga mat (optional), journal or notepad, pen or pencil, walking shoes, water bottle, and a mug with a closed top for tea (optional).
Testimonials:
“Melissa’s warm, inviting presence welcomes her students to show up as they are—and in the simple act of showing up, to discover compassion for self and for others. Her work uncovers and strengthens resilience in body and spirit.” —Jenna Carson
“Melissa is a great teacher. I always left her classes feeling both muscles and mind opened a bit more than when I arrived.” —Matt Blumberg
“The yoga experience with Melissa has not only changed my body but her insight and perspective has changed my mindset—a true blessing.” —Nadia
Schedule
Sunrise Meditation
Sunrise Hike
Breakfast
Instruction
Group Meditation
Lunch
Walk to Great Stupa
Tour of Great Stupa
Yoga
Dinner
Evening Social Event
Journaling
Guided Nature Walk and Hiking
Painting and Drawing
Photography
Silent Reflection
Sunrise Hike
Breakfast
Instruction
Group Meditation
Lunch
Walk to Great Stupa
Tour of Great Stupa
Yoga
Dinner
Evening Social Event
Journaling
Guided Nature Walk and Hiking
Painting and Drawing
Photography
Silent Reflection
Note: Schedule is approximate and may change
Getting Here
Drala Mountain Center, Drala Mountain Center, Shambhala Way, Red Feather Lakes, CO, USA
Directions
Drala Mountain Center is a two hour drive from Denver International Airport.
Start out going north on Pena Blvd.
Turn slight left toward Terminal West
Stay straight to go onto Pena Blvd.
Take the E-470 TOLLWAY N exit, EXIT 6B, toward Boulder/Fort Collins
Merge onto E-470 N (portions toll; electronic toll collection only) for 17.5 mi.
Merge onto I-25 N/US-87 N via Exit 47 toward Ft Collins for 41.2 miles
Merge onto CO-14 W/E Mulberry St via EXIT 269B toward Ft Collins for 3.5 mi
Turn slight right onto Riverside Ave. (Riverside Ave is 0.3 miles past S Lemay Ave)
Riverside Ave. becomes Jefferson St. You are on Riverside/Jefferson for about 1 mi
Turn slight right onto N College Ave/US-287 N/CO-14 W. Follow US-287/CO-14 W for 3.4 mi.
Turn slight right just past N Shields St to stay on US-287 N for .5 mi
Follow US-287/CO-14/La Porte Bypass for 16.6 mi
Turn left onto CR-74E/Red Feather Lakes Rd/Jackass Rd/Livermore for another 12.8 mi
Turn left onto CR-68C/Boy Scout Rd just past the blue and white sign “Drala Mountain Center 5 miles”
Follow CR-68C/Boy Scout Road 5 miles (unpaved)
Turn left at the entrance to Drala Mountain Center, 151 Shambhala Way
Start out going north on Pena Blvd.
Turn slight left toward Terminal West
Stay straight to go onto Pena Blvd.
Take the E-470 TOLLWAY N exit, EXIT 6B, toward Boulder/Fort Collins
Merge onto E-470 N (portions toll; electronic toll collection only) for 17.5 mi.
Merge onto I-25 N/US-87 N via Exit 47 toward Ft Collins for 41.2 miles
Merge onto CO-14 W/E Mulberry St via EXIT 269B toward Ft Collins for 3.5 mi
Turn slight right onto Riverside Ave. (Riverside Ave is 0.3 miles past S Lemay Ave)
Riverside Ave. becomes Jefferson St. You are on Riverside/Jefferson for about 1 mi
Turn slight right onto N College Ave/US-287 N/CO-14 W. Follow US-287/CO-14 W for 3.4 mi.
Turn slight right just past N Shields St to stay on US-287 N for .5 mi
Follow US-287/CO-14/La Porte Bypass for 16.6 mi
Turn left onto CR-74E/Red Feather Lakes Rd/Jackass Rd/Livermore for another 12.8 mi
Turn left onto CR-68C/Boy Scout Rd just past the blue and white sign “Drala Mountain Center 5 miles”
Follow CR-68C/Boy Scout Road 5 miles (unpaved)
Turn left at the entrance to Drala Mountain Center, 151 Shambhala Way
Accommodation
Car Camping/Van Life = 5 primitive parking spots; includes food and access to bathhouses. Earth Dorm = non-gendered rustic cabin with 8 beds. Red Feather Double = 3 rustic cabins with 5 double rooms each, outfitted with 2 twin beds. Lodge Dorm = two same gender dormitories, each with 7 twin beds and access to same-gender bathrooms Lodge Double = 2 full size beds, a desk, walk in closet and private bathroom Lodge Single Monk Room - full size bed, desk, closet, access to same-gender bath Lodge Single = full or queen-size bed; private bath, desk and closet. Fireplace lounge on the first floor and outdoor patio with beautiful views. Lodge Junior Suite = queen-size bed topped with a cozy comforter, a desk, dresser, closet and private bath with bathtub, plus a sitting area.
Car Camping
Lodge Dorm
Lodge Single
Lodge Junior Suite
Venue & Amenities
A/C in Rooms
Free Wifi
Spa
Sauna
Pool
Towels
Free Parking
Kitchen
Tour Assistance
Hot Tub
Coffee/Tea
Cafe
Restaurant
Fitness Center
Yoga Studio
Housekeeping
Bicycles For Rent
Sacred Studies Hall: Seating for 150; 1,254 sq ft: sunlit hall featuring bamboo floors and a multitude of windows.
Rigden Shrine Room: Seating for 80; 875 sq ft: bright, spacious hall floored with bamboo and encircled by windows, beautiful views.
Red Feather Conference Center: Seating for 90; 1,150 sq ft; secluded and quiet meeting space, away from the center of campus
Shotoku: Seating for 95; 1,900 square feet over two rooms.
Rigden Shrine Room: Seating for 80; 875 sq ft: bright, spacious hall floored with bamboo and encircled by windows, beautiful views.
Red Feather Conference Center: Seating for 90; 1,150 sq ft; secluded and quiet meeting space, away from the center of campus
Shotoku: Seating for 95; 1,900 square feet over two rooms.
Meals
Menu Types
Vegan
Vegetarian
Pescetarian
Ayurvedic
Includes Meat
Organic
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Nut Free
Drala Mountain Center provides Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner to all guests. Tea, coffee, milk, plant-based milks, fresh fruit and toast are available throughout the day. The Gift Store carries treats.
What's Included
- Lodging
- All meals
- Expert-led instruction on topic or practice
- Access to all campus facilities
What's Not Included
- Airfare
- Ground transportation to Drala Mountain Center (though we can arrange it for participants)
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