Pilgrimage Journey to Nepal
6th – 19th March 2019
With Alex d’Artois & Sisse Budolfsen
This Pilgrimage Journey to Nepal will begin at a beautifully located Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the area called Pharping, in the South Western corner of the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. In this beautiful monastery, surrounded by rice fields and pine tree forest and with big views overlooking the Kathmandu Valley, is where our sessions of mediation and yoga will take place. After having settled in for the first few days, we continue our journey to Namo Buddha, another sacred site in the Kathmandu Valley. We stay at a lovely resort in the area of Namo Buddha where we can enjoy fresh vegetables from their organic farm. After spending a few days here, the pilgrimage journey continues to Phablu in the foothills of the Himalayas. We spend the first few days in Phablu, doing a one day hike up to a stunning Tibetan Buddhist onastery, tugged into the cliffside outside of Phablu.
After this, we begin our hike through the upper valleys of Solo until we reach the Buddhist nunnery on a hill nestled into pine tree forests and prayer flags. Here we spend three days, taking part in the lives of the nuns, before making a loop back to Phablu during our 6-day hike. If weather permits, we will get a glimpse of the majestic Himalayas from Phablu. The following day, we travel back toward Kathmandu Valley by flight if the weather permits. We spend the last days of the yoga pilgrimage in Boudha where we have a free day to do the last shopping and simply observe the people around the Boudha Stupa.
The yoga and meditation theme will be weaved into our days, both in Kathmandu and in the mountains, as we embark on an inner and outer journey through Nepal.
Introducing the Facilitators
Sisse Budolfsen and/or Alex d’Artois will be the meditation instructors and guides on these 4-Day Pharping Pilgrimages in the Kathmandu Valley. For more information on Sisse & Alex, please go here.
We start the day by exploring the inner experience of awakening through meditation practice, and in the afternoon sessions we enhance the experience by becoming pilgrims and yogis by visiting and paying homage to the many local shrines, temples and meditation caves in the Pharping Valley.
Daily Schedule
- 8:00 – 8:30 Meditation
- 9:00 – 10:00 Breakfast
- 10:30 – 12:00 Morning session on Tibetan Buddhism & Meditation Practice
- 1:00 – 2:00 Lunch
- 2:00 – 3:30 Free time
- 3:30 – 5:30 Visiting sacred places
- 7:00 – 8:00 Dinner
- 8:15 – 8:45 Evening meditation
Info on Meditation
There is no prerequisite for joining the pilgrimage, or to have in-depth knowledge or experience with the practice of meditation. Simply, to have the wish to go deeper with one’s mind, and to have curiosity regarding its functions is enough. There is nothing religious about the practice of meditation, or to visit sacred places and shrines. In fact, there is nothing even Buddhist about it. The practice of meditation is simply a tool to bring your mind back to a place of naked awareness, to a place of basic space with yourself. In fact, it is simply put a technique with which to uncover all the layers of hope and fear, grasping and expectations that are all such strong habits of the mind. With the practice of meditation we can learn to come back to ourselves, and to become familiar with the groundless and raw quality of reality.