Karmê Chöling : Meditation Retreat Center

Chi is the breath of life that flows through all things. The ancient Taoists taught that each season of the year has its own energy. In the spring green or wood chi is strong. You see it in new leaves budding on branches, flowers popping up in the fields, and waves of fresh green grass. Our bodies have a springtime ebb too, bringing life back into our senses after the long winter. We can help reconnect to the brilliant energies of nature through the practice of Tai Chi Chuan.
Often described as ‘moving meditation’, this ancient Taoist alchemical practice generates a profound sense of well-being, physical and emotional balance, and greater resilience to the stresses of daily life.
This workshop will focus on cultivating wood Chi through the Tai Chi form ‘Sowing the Seed of Awakening’. This form gathers, circulates, and discharges green Chi through the wood meridians, tonifying the liver and gallbladder, as well as invigorating the tendons, and returning vividness to the eyes.
We will begin by grounding ourselves in the fundamentals of Tai Chi, emphasizing proper body mechanics, alignment, and intention to create a unified flow between body and mind. Then, we will explore the energetic basis of these forms, integrating aspects such as color, direction, time of day, the senses, and the corresponding internal organs and pathways.
Led by teacher Joseph Pascutazz, this program is a part of a seasonal Tai Chi series— an ongoing exploration of the five elements and their correspondences between the human body and nature through the practice of Tai Chi Chuan.

Late spring is the threshold season before summer, when energy begins to rise and life often accelerates. As the world gathers momentum, this retreat offers a rare opportunity to step out of that busyness and into sustained stillness.
This is a true immersion. A weekend of noble silence creates a powerful container for quieting the mind and reflection. Free from conversation, digital distraction, and external demands, the mind naturally settles into a profound rhythm of presence. Awareness becomes more spacious and clear. The heart can gently open.
Join us for a weekend of silence and simplicity, surrounded by the emerging beauty of May in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Reconnect with your inner clarity and a grounded confidence that you can carry back to your daily life, far beyond the retreat itself.

The Sadhana of Mahamudra was written by Chögyam Trungpa Rinopche, with the intent of overcoming the physical, psychological and spiritual obstacles that materialism poses to us in this modern age.
Through relating with the vibrant imagery presented in the Sadhana, as well as actively participating in the chanting, visualization, and recitation of mantras, we invoke a basic sense of sanity and clarity. When we commit to this wakefulness it profoundly impacts not only our meditation practice but our everyday lives and the broader world around us.
Join the Karmê Chöling household for the Sadhana of Mahamudra during our evening practice session on the new moon. The sadhana takes most of the hour with an abbreviated list of closing chants at the end.