Preparing for Death, Learning How to Live Retreat

September 4, 2026October 8, 2025 by Reyne House

Preparing for Death, Learning How to Live

3 Day Immersive Retreat | October 3 – 5, 2026

About the Retreat

Join Venerable Tsapel for a three-day retreat exploring living well to die well.

Drawing on classic Buddhist teachings and guided meditation, this retreat offers a supportive space to reflect on impermanence, the process of dying, and how mindfulness of death can become a remedy to fear and attachment at the time of death. The retreat will include discussion and meditation with the aim to explore the nature of the body and mind, and how the mind transitions as the body is unable, in stages, to support the mind. That knowledge can inspire one to training in mindfulness, compassion and loving kindness which can build confidence and resilience at the time of death.

The course is open to buddhist, new and experienced, and to non-buddhists who would like to explore these topics from a Buddhist perspective. While grounded in traditional teachings, that are equally relevant today, the emphasis will be on how to integrating any helpful techniques into your daily life.

meet our retreat leader

Venerable Tenzin Tsapel met Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa in 1979 at Chenrezing Institute in Qld. and was later ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In the 90’s she helped establish Chenrezig Nuns Community, Chenrezig Institute’s Basic Program and studied and taught there for 16 years. In New Zealand she was resident teacher at Chandrakirti Meditation Centre, and later served in Darkhan, Mongolia. Venerable Tsapel led many group retreats and completed a number of solitary ones, including a two-year retreat at Detong Ling, Kangaroo Island. Last year, with Tsapel’s guidance over many years, Machig Labdron Nunnery’s major building project was completed. It is on the site of The Great Stupa and Atisha Centre, in Bendigo VIC, and is now home to six nuns.

residential options

Deepen your retreat experience by staying at Vajrayana Institute.

Immerse yourself in the unique atmosphere of Vajrayana Institute, where comfort, convenience, and mindfulness merge seamlessly.

Accommodation for the retreat is limited. Be sure to get in quick and book your stay today!

retreat package

$ 375

guidance and support from our experienced retreat leader
catered lunch
retreat materials

$ 575

guidance and support from our experienced retreat leader
light breakfast
catered lunch
retreat materials
2 nights shared accommodation

$ 675

guidance and support from our experienced retreat leader
light breakfast
catered lunch
retreat materials
3 nights shared accommodation

get your ticket

Depth & Balance: A Weekend of Iyengar Yoga

September 4, 2026September 26, 2025 by Reyne House

2-Day Immersive Retreat | 26-27 September 2026

About the Retreat

Join internationally respected Iyengar Yoga teacher Henryk Liskiewicz for an immersive two-day workshop exploring asana, pranayama and restorative practice.

Drawing on more than four decades of Iyengar Yoga practice and over 30 years of teaching, Henryk brings exceptional depth, precision and experience to his teaching. Across the weekend, participants will move between focused asana practice, the subtle work of pranayama, and deeply restorative sessions—creating an opportunity to explore the breadth and richness of the Iyengar Yoga method.

meet our retreat leader

Henryk began practising Iyengar Yoga in 1984 and has studied extensively at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, India. The most senior Iyengar Yoga teacher in Poland, he has taught internationally across Europe, Asia and Australia and is deeply committed to passing on the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar with authenticity and clarity.

residential options

Deepen your retreat experience by staying at Vajrayana Institute.

Immerse yourself in the unique atmosphere of Vajrayana Institute, where comfort, convenience, and mindfulness merge seamlessly.

Accommodation for the retreat is limited. Be sure to get in quick and book your stay today!

retreat package

$ 180

guidance and support from our experienced retreat leader
retreat materials

$ 280

guidance and support from our experienced retreat leader
retreat materials
1 nights shared accommodation

$ 380

guidance and support from our experienced retreat leader
retreat materials
2 nights shared accommodation

get your ticket

Medicine Buddha Retreat

November 26, 2025May 20, 2025 by Reyne House

medicine buddha retreat

3-Day Immersive Retreat | October 4 – 6, 2025

About the Retreat

“Normally, people think that Medicine Buddha is for healing but it’s not only that! You can use the Medicine Buddha practice for ANY purpose, ANY problem, ANYTHING. The Medicine Buddha practice is so precious.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

This retreat is the perfect opportunity to spend time developing a relationship with the Medicine Buddha deities and their qualities in ourselves. The retreat will include teachings and meditations on:

awareness of suffering and its causes;
how to develop compassion for self and others;
and visualising healing energy.

The main part of the retreat consists of the Medicine Buddha sadhana practice with mantra recitation sessions for visualizing healing, as well as positive outcomes, for ourselves, others, and the environment.

Benefits of the Medicine Buddha Practice

Our Spiritual Director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, explains: “Any living being who hears the name of Medicine Buddha never gets reborn in the lower realms – that’s the benefit of just hearing the name, the mantra of Medicine Buddha. This is due to the great compassion of the Medicine Buddhas.”
It is very powerful for purification – it purifies any broken vows or precepts.
It is very powerful for healing sickness.
And not only that, it is also very powerful for success.

meet our retreat leaders

Venerable Dekyi

A very popular teacher at Vajrayana Institute, Venerable Dekyi met the dharma in 1992 and realised immediately that there was no other way for her to live. She was ordained a year later. Ven Dekyi has studied the Buddha dharma in depth, taught at a number of FPMT centres including Tushita, Dharamsala. She has a broad understanding of secular life and the dharma. She completed many of the topics of the Basic Program at Chenrezig Institute before moving to Vajrayana in 2019.

Wai Cheong Kok

Wai Cheong Kok is from Singapore. He has been teaching meditation and Buddhism since 1996, with a special interest in making available the benefits of meditation to a wider audience. From 2006-2015 and starting from 2020, he has served as a senior teacher at Vajrayana Institute, a Tibetan Buddhist Centre affiliated to the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). After studying Dharma for several years, Wai Cheong set out to deepen his understanding of spiritual practice by finishing the FPMT Masters Program at Istituto Lama Tsong Khapa in Italy from 1998-2004 completed with a four-month solitary retreat in New Zealand.

residential options

Deepen your retreat experience by staying at Vajrayana Institute.

Immerse yourself in the unique atmosphere of Vajrayana Institute, where comfort, convenience, and mindfulness merge seamlessly.

Accommodation for the retreat is limited. Be sure to get in quick and book your stay today!

retreat package

$ 375

guidance and support from our experienced retreat leader
catered lunch
retreat materials

$ 575

guidance and support from our experienced retreat leader
light breakfast
catered lunch
retreat materials
1 nights shared accommodation

$ 675

guidance and support from our experienced retreat leader
light breakfast
catered lunch
retreat materials
2 nights shared accommodation during retreat
1 night accommodation the evening prior

get your ticket

calm abiding retreat

October 9, 2024June 23, 2024 by Reyne House

calm abiding retreat

3 Day Immersive Retreat | 5 – 7 October 2024

About the Retreat

Meditative concentration, also known as calm-abiding, is a state of mind where all the disturbances due to dysfunctional reactions of body and mind are pacified and we find our attention abiding blissfully on whatever object of meditation we focus on.

Contrary to popular beliefs, great effort and willpower are not necessary to accomplish it. Rather, the skillful and wise application of our mindfulness, coupled with the attitude of kindness and letting go, transforms our usual effortful struggle in meditation to an effortless process of settling deeply into concentration.

In this retreat we will look into creating the different conditions that facilitate the settling down of our body and mind, freeing them from the unnecessary tensions and agitation that disturb our peace and wellbeing.

Through applying simple techniques in our meditation practice we can readily enhance the release of physical tensions, the experience of pleasant sensations coming from our meditation, and the calming of our mental processes so much so that both body and mind can actually abide in a state of blissful engagement in meditation.

This in turn can benefit our life outside of meditation as we bring that sense of peace, calmness and mindful awareness into our daily interactions.

meet our retreat leader

Venerable Tenzin Tsapel was inspired to become a Buddhist after she met Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa in 1979. She was ordained five years later by H.H. the Dalai Lama. Tsapel served as a resident teacher at FPMT Centres in Sydney, New Zealand and in Mongolia. She also taught and/or tutored at the Chenrezig Nuns Community in QLD for seven years. Venerable Tsapel has led many group retreats and completed a number of solitary retreats including a two-year calm abiding (mindfulness) retreat on Kangaroo Island after attending a group retreat led by Alan Wallace. Currently, she is establishing a nunnery in Bendigo, Victoria.

residential options

Deepen your retreat experience by staying at Vajrayana Institute.

Immerse yourself in the unique atmosphere of Vajrayana Institute, where comfort, convenience, and mindfulness merge seamlessly.

Accommodation for the retreat is limited. Be sure to get in quick and book your stay today!

retreat package

$ 375

guided and silent meditations, with explanations on the practice and time for Q&A or discussion
catered lunch
retreat materials

$ 575

guided and silent meditations, with explanations on the practice and time for Q&A or discussion
catered lunch
retreat materials
2 nights shared accommodation

$ 675

guided and silent meditations, with explanations on the practice and time for Q&A or discussion
catered lunch
retreat materials
2 nights shared accommodation
Extra night accommodation evening prior