“In the Flow of Being”
A pilgrimage to Nepal with Tanya Piven
10–20 November 2020 · Kathmandu, Nepal
Who is this pilgrimage for?
For beginners in yoga and for experienced practitioners alike. For those who are already on the path or are still scanning the space in search of meaning, teachers and essential practices. For those who need healing (physical, emotional, mental or spiritual). For those interested in Buddhism or already practising it. For those who want to learn authentic practices and experience pujas (liturgies) in monasteries surrounded by monks and nuns. For those who have long dreamed of it but were afraid to travel to Asia or Nepal alone — your experienced guide will show you the holy lands that will stay in your heart forever.
Boudhanath Stupa
Pashupatinath
Pharping
Neydo Monastery
I invite you on an unforgettable pilgrimage to the holy places of Kathmandu
After 8 years of living in Kathmandu and earning a bachelor’s degree in Buddhist studies (yes, there is such a thing) at Kathmandu University, I will show you the most vibrant and interesting places: Buddhist monasteries, Newar temples, the Swayambhu and Boudhanath stupas. We will visit important Buddhist and Hindu sites (some complexes and open-air museums are UNESCO-protected) and take an easy trek in Shivapuri National Park. You will experience a very dense flow of impressions that you will be unpacking, revisiting, absorbing and understanding in your life long after the trip. It may change you deeply or give you a substantially new perception of life and what happens in it.
We will stay both in monasteries and next to the sacred Boudhanath Stupa. I will share my knowledge and experience so that you can touch, see, hear and feel Nepali and monastic life from the inside.
Price of the trip: 11 days — 1180 €
based on a double room
Included
Accommodation (incl. taxes) in a double room and meals (3 times a day) in Nepal (arrival 9 November, departure 20 November in the evening), all transfers and entrance tickets to all complexes, parks and sights
750 €
Seminar (yoga, meditation, lectures, Q&A)
400 €
Meeting at Kathmandu airport and help with check-in on the first day, organisational costs and guide
30 €
Not included
- flights Kyiv – Kathmandu – Kyiv (base price 555 €)
- Nepali visa (40 dollars on arrival)
- insurance (at your discretion)
- early or late check-in
- hotel laundry and other extras
- tips in restaurants
- donations in temples and monasteries, individual pujas
- days before and after the seminar
- shopping
- extra meals
- anything not listed under “Included”
Registration requires a preliminary interview and a deposit (30 € — non-refundable if the trip is cancelled for any reason).
Payment schedule
- Booking at registration — 30 €.
- Buy your flights as soon as possible (555 € for now!).
- By 15 October — accommodation deposit, 100 €.
- By 1 November — prepayment for the whole seminar, 400 €.
- 10 November, when we meet in Kathmandu — 200 €.
- 13 November — 300 €.
- 16 November — 150 €.
- 10% discount for those who attended my seminars in 2016–2019.
- 10% discount for those willing to help me bring books from Nepal to Kyiv on the way back (details on request) — 3 people only.
Day-by-day programme
| Date | Plan | Night |
|---|---|---|
| 09.11 | Departure from Kyiv and other cities. | in transit |
| 10.11 | Arrival. Check-in at Boudha; in the evening, introductions, opening of the seminar and practical matters. | No. 1 — Boudha |
| 11.11 | Morning yoga and meditation. After breakfast we go to Kopan Monastery for a lecture and meditation at its magical stupa (I will tell you about it there). Evening meditation and lecture. We walk and do kora around the Stupa, living close to it, immersed in the atmosphere of Tibet. | No. 2 — Boudha |
| 12.11 | Morning yoga on the roof and meditation. It is a full-moon day, so monasteries perform pujas, accumulating even more merit and dedicating it to the benefit of all beings. On this day we will visit the White Gompa (Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling) and, if our group is lucky, receive blessings from the abbot, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. I will give a tour of the monastery and show where and how students study (monks and lay people from all over the world). Lunch and a lecture at the Shedra restaurant (the Buddhist university on the monastery grounds). Then free time to walk around the stupa and rest. In the evening we will visit Pashupatinath, a Hindu pilgrimage site (Shiva temple), where we will watch the evening puja and fire offering on the bank of the sacred Bagmati River. There we will also visit Buddhist shrines (the caves of Tilopa and Naropa). | No. 3 — Boudha |
| 13.11 | Morning yoga on the roof and meditation. Transfer to Neydo Tashi Choeling Monastery, where we will rest and enjoy a wonderful view of the Kathmandu Valley and the mountains around it. We will meditate in the gompa (temple), and in the evening there will be yoga, meditation and a lecture. | No. 4 — Neydo |
| 14.11 | Morning yoga and meditation with a wonderful view. After breakfast we go to Pharping and meditate at our monastery’s retreat centre (Padmasambhava’s cave, the Asura cave) and make an offering to the sangha. Pharping has many places worth immersing yourself in, places that fill you with blessings. The number of monasteries, the depth of exploration and the walk in the hills will depend on how the group feels. A lecture and evening meditation, of course. Where? We will see in Pharping. | No. 5 — Neydo |
| 15.11 | Morning yoga, breakfast, and then we go to Patan (the city of craftsmen), where we will visit several temples and have free time to buy souvenirs. Many craftsmen live and work in Patan. It is the centre of Newar culture. You may fall in love with its unique courtyards, carved roofs and ancient streets. We walk, rest, and in the evening meditate at home in the monastery (by then it will feel like home, believe me). | No. 6 — Neydo |
| 16.11 | After morning yoga with a wonderful view of the valley and breakfast, we set off to Namo Buddha (a monastery complex and holy place). On the way we will stop in a park by a huge statue of Shiva and take a walk there. Then we check into a hotel and see the monastery, followed by free time to walk in the hills and enjoy the breathtaking view (if the sky is clear, the view is simply magical; if it is not very clear, it still takes your breath away). Namo Buddha Monastery stands where Buddha Shakyamuni, in a previous life, gave his body to a hungry, weakened tigress and her cubs, saving them from starvation. It was after this deed that he was reborn as our historical Buddha. In the evening there will be a meditation or a lecture (depending on how the group feels after crossing the whole valley and beyond). | No. 7 — GH near Panauti |
| 17.11 | Only meditation in the morning (by now fatigue from all the impressions may build up, and even the most “charged batteries” may not feel like yoga). On this day we will walk around Panauti, a small but ancient town where two sacred rivers meet (some say three, but only realised yogis can see the third — we will find out who is who). Back home at the monastery we will meditate and continue getting to know Buddhism. | No. 8 — GH near Panauti |
| 18.11 | Morning yoga on the guesthouse roof, and after breakfast we set off on a pilgrimage around three stupas: it is believed that circling three special stupas in one day guarantees future births only in the three higher realms and closes the possibility of birth in the lower ones. Whatever their philosophical and religious views, people usually feel drawn to do kora (the sacred circumambulation of the stupa). In the evening we will return and check in again at the hotel near Boudhanath Stupa. | No. 9 — Boudha |
| 19.11 | A special day! It is called Lhabab Duchen — one of only 4 days a year when all karma, good or bad, is multiplied ten million times. So it will be very auspicious to do kora in the morning and then attend a special puja at the monastery. I will guide and instruct you. I will also offer an alternative for the evening (for those flying out on the 22nd): you can visit Thamel (the tourist district), where you can find everything for shopping. There you can also walk around Durbar Square, where ancient temple complexes have survived and you can see quite old buildings in which modern Nepalis live. | No. 10 — Boudha |
| 20.11 | The last day of the seminar — early in the morning we leave for Nagi Gompa (a nunnery). On the way we will visit the Sleeping Vishnu at Budhanilkantha (a pilgrimage site for Hindus and Buddhists). We will take an easy trek in Shivapuri National Park and stay there until evening. We will definitely meditate in Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche’s room (there will be a lecture and meditation), and if we are lucky we may see Yangsi Rinpoche (Tulku Urgyen’s reincarnation). You will see how the nuns live and be able to talk with them (by the way, you can bring them small gifts). We will sum up our journey and close the seminar with a ritual. In the evening, a festive dinner together in Boudha. | No. 11 — Boudha |
| 21.11 | Some people fly home on the 21st. For those who can stay longer and go, for example, trekking, I will help with organisation, choosing a route and finding a driver, porter and so on. So you can plan to stay a few more days if time and means allow. And for those who want to stay for the Buddhist teachings given by my Teacher, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, this is possible from 21 to 28 November. |
