RADIATING 2027: The Light of the Compassionate Heart

RADIATING 2027: The Light of the Compassionate Heart is a five-day kirtan retreat at Menla Retreat & Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York, held over the turn of the new year. It is for anyone who wants to welcome the year with devotional chanting, yoga, Qi Gong, meditation and teachings in the company of a community, and it is led by Krishna Das and Nina Rao, with a team of teachers who bring movement, sound and astrology into the days. This is the 19th year of the tradition among friends of Tibet House US | Menla.

What to Expect

The retreat opens on the first evening with arrival, dinner and a welcome, followed by a kirtan with Krishna Das, Nina Rao and friends. Kirtan returns on the evenings that follow, and Krishna Das also teaches an afternoon class.

Days have a steady rhythm. Early morning begins with Vajrayoga asana with John Campbell, then breakfast. Late mornings hold classes and labs, including Pamela Kalechofsky's Play Lab and Movement Lab, a class with Michele Loew, and prayers to the goddesses Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Tara with Nina Rao. After lunch there is free time for spa treatments, astrology consultations and rest. Qi Gong with Paul Bloom runs most afternoons, and Arjun Bruggeman leads a rhythmic sound journey. Afternoon sessions also include a teaching with Nena Thurman and Nina Rao, and storytelling and music with The Remembers.

Alexander Mallon presents his astrological forecast for the coming year in an evening session, and offers public chart readings on New Year's Eve morning. On New Year's Eve there is a special dinner, a group sound bath with Sage Academy of Sound, and a countdown dance party at the Nalanda Conference Center that runs until 1 am. The last morning brings Qi Gong, yoga, and brunch before departure. A virtual offering of 108 Hanuman Chalisas, streamed from Tibet House US in New York City, runs through that day. The schedule may change.

About the Teachers

Krishna Das is a Grammy-nominated chant artist who has sung with people around the world for over 35 years. His music centers on mantras mostly from the Indian tradition, with some Buddhist and Gospel influences. He came to kirtan through the bhakti yoga teachings of Neem Karoli Baba.

Nina Rao learned traditional chants from her grandfather in a village in south India at the age of nine. She rediscovered chanting with Krishna Das in New York in 1996 and has long worked alongside him.

Arjun Bruggeman is a world percussionist, drummer and composer, known for blending Eastern and Western rhythms. He has toured with Krishna Das worldwide for the past decade.

John Campbell is a Dharma and yoga teacher and a senior certified teacher in the Ashtanga Yoga lineage of southern India. He is also an initiate of senior Tibetan Lamas and a Columbia University Buddhist Studies graduate.

Paul Bloom studied Chinese philosophy and history at Harvard and Columbia, and has practiced Classical Qigong with Kwan Sai-hung for over 30 years.

Michele Loew teaches Hatha and Tibetan yogas and co-directs the Vajra Yoga School of Comparative Buddhist & Indic Yogic Studies, where she teaches with Professor Robert A.F. Thurman.

Alexander Mallon is an astrologer and intuitive with over 45 years of practice and a long-time amateur astronomer and telescope builder.

Pamela Kalechofsky is a dance educator, choreographer and RYT-500 yoga instructor, and founder of UPLIFT Festival. Her labs weave movement, sound and play.

Nena Thurman is Executive Chairwoman of Tibet House US and its Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa. Before becoming a psychotherapist, she worked as a successful fashion model.

Lea Garnier, founder and director of Sage Academy of Sound in Woodstock, has worked in the healing arts for over 25 years and is a craniosacral therapist.

The Setting

Menla sits in the Catskills near Phoenicia, in what the retreat calls the valley of the Medicine Buddha. Guests stay in guest rooms, with check-out on the final morning, and meals are shared as listed in the schedule. The Dewa Spa offers treatments during the afternoon free time.

Before You Go

Space is limited, and early registration is encouraged. Included are the morning yoga, scheduled teaching sessions, evening kirtans, listed meals including the New Year's Eve dinner and New Year's Day brunch, the sound bath and the countdown celebration. Individual astrology consultations are booked separately by appointment, and spa treatments are not included.