Introduction To Vajra Yoga
Summer Immersion at Menla - August 7 - 10, 2025
With Robert F. Thurman & Michele Loew
Join us for a weekend of yoga and inspiring meditations and dharma talks with Bob and Michele as we dive into the practices of Vajrayoga.
Vajrayoga is Tibet House US’s school of yoga and Indian inner science, teaching the physical and meditative practices common to both Hatha and Buddhist traditions and designed to open your body to ultimate health, vitality, and inner freedom. It sets yogic practices within the context of deep spirituality, the principles of enlightenment, and it deepens an understanding of the scientific basis of being ethical, to be evolutionary skillful, compassionate, wise, and joyous.
Retreat Details
In this retreat Michele will explore various practices from Hatha and Tibetan Yoga as a way to open your physical and subtle-body nervous systems in the context of our Vajrayoga school.
Bob will teach comparative Buddhist and classical Indian inner science, exploring Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Hatha Yoga scriptures, and the sutras and tantras of the Buddha.
All levels are welcome, and poses can all be modified to accommodate students with injuries or physical limitations.
Each morning we will enjoy meditation, pranayama, and Tibetan healing yoga, and then a dharma talk with Robert Thurman after breakfast.
The afternoons will be alignment-based Hatha Yoga.
We will end each day with sleep meditation/yoga nidra for deep rest and healing.
General Event Schedule
Arrival Day
Friday, August 7
3-6 pm: Arrival & Check-in
6-7 pm: Dinner
7:30-9pm: Welcome Program
Saturday, August 8
7-8 am: Meditation and Tibetan Yoga w/ Michele
8-9 am: Breakfast
10 am-12 pm: Philosophy & Dharma Talk w/ Bob
12:30-1:30 pm: Lunch
1:30-4 pm: Free time for Dewa Spa Healing Treatments or Time in Nature
4-6 pm: Yoga Asana Practice w/ Michele
6-7 pm: Dinner
7:30-9 pm: Yoga Nidra w/ Michele
Sunday, August 9
7-8 am: Meditation and Tibetan Yoga w/ Michele
8-9 am: Breakfast
10 am-12 pm: Philosophy & Dharma Talk w/ Bob
12:30-1:30 pm: Lunch
1:30-4 pm: Free time for Dewa Spa Healing Treatments or Time in Nature
4-6 pm: Yoga Asana Practice w/ Michele
6-7 pm: Dinner
7:30-9 pm: Yoga Nidra w/ Michele
Monday, August 10
7-11 am: Check-out of Rooms
7-8 am: Meditation and Tibetan Yoga w/ Michele
8-9 am: Breakfast
10 am-12 pm: Philosophy & Dharma Talk w/ Bob
12:30-1:30 pm: Lunch & Departure
Dive Into The World Of VajraYoga
This immersion is a great opportunity to meet Bob and Michele prior to the start of their Fall Yoga School.
Beginning Nov 14, 2025 we will start our comprehensive 300 hour Yoga Alliance certification course.
The 300hr course is perfect for those looking to go even deeper into the Buddha’s comprehensive inner science education, study of the Lamrim (stages of the path to enlightenment), meditation, yoga asana, and the comparative non-dual philosophies of India.
About Your Teachers:
About Michele
Michele Loew is the founder of The Yoga Space in Portland, Oregon, and is an inspiring Yoga teacher internationally known for her compassionate and down to earth style, expert hands on assists, and alignment based Yoga Alliance Teacher training programs. She is the co-founder of “Vajra Yoga” with Robert A.F. Thurman for Tibet House. Vajra Yoga is a School of comparative Buddhist and Classical Yoga Indian inner-science which aims to share the wisdom teachings of the Buddha and the Yogis to bring happiness to all.
Robert A.F. Thurman
Professor Emeritus, Padma Shri Robert “Tenzin” Thurman—Vajracharya in the lineage of H. H. the Dalai Lama, world renowned scholar & authority on Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Science, Indic spirituality, and world philosophy. He will elucidate the Buddha’s teachings and offer inner scientific, philosophical, and spiritual inspiration for our yoga practices.betan Tengyur the 5000+ originally Sanskrit works from India’s long lost “Library of Alexandria,” the Ratnodadhi Library of Nalanda University, into English and other modern Indian and world languages, creating a necessary database for the 21st century collaboration of the Indian and Tibetan Inner Sciences (adhyatmavidya) with modern, “outer,” materialist sciences.
