Mahāprāṇa Dhyāna Śivira

A 7-Day Meditation Retreat amid the Himalayas

Date: 9 -15 May 2026

Place: Innerview Apartments, Kathmandu, Nepal

About the Retreat

Mahāprāṇa Dhyāna Śivira is a seven-day residential meditation retreat to be held in Kathmandu, Nepal. Kathmandu continues to be one of the world's oldest inhabited spiritual landscapes — being a valley shaped over millennia by the convergence of various spiritual traditions. This had been a home to rivers, forests, and sacred sites that have long served as a bank for practice and inquiries.

The retreat addresses a condition that is, in many ways, particular to the modern age: the experience of anxiety, fear, and a persistent sense of disconnection — not from the world, but from oneself. The premise of this retreat is a simple but serious one — that the problems we carry are not external impositions but conditions arising within us, and that they are therefore workable from within. The purpose of these seven days is to give participants the conditions, the practices, and the guidance necessary to begin that work.

Meditation sessions will be held three times daily at the meditation hall at Innerview Apartments. Detailed daily schedules will be provided to participants in advance. The practice, however, is not confined to the hall. Morning sessions will take place along forest walking trails in and around the Kathmandu valley — including walking meditation and active practices in a natural setting. We will visit sacred caves and shrines -- Some of these sites hve been places for enlighemtment, some also associated with the lineages of great yogis, including Milarepa and Naropa. This will be a unique experience to being able to meditate at these places.

The meditations will be led by Suvvidhi, a monk rooted in Indian classical traditions of philosophy and spirituality. Over many years of walking barefoot across India and living in close contact with its diverse spiritual cultures, Suvvidhi developed active meditation methods suited for the modern mind — techniques that work through the body to quieten the mind and allow genuine inner experience, even for those who find stillness difficult. Know more about Suvvidhi here.

The retreat is open to beginners as well as experienced practitioners.

The Practices

The practices include both active and silent meditations.

ACTIVE MEDITATIONS

The active practices taught in this retreat work through breathwork, specific movements of the body, and catharsis — engaging the body as a means of drawing the restless energy of the mind downward and inward, until the mind, no longer running on its own momentum, arrives at stillness.

SILENT MEDITATIONS

This is the first movement: from mental restlessness to bodily presence. Once a participant has arrived in the body and the noise of the discursive mind begins to settle, the practice turns deeper — toward the self that exists beneath thought, habit, and accumulated tension.

GROUP PRACTICE

The human being, however, does not exist in isolation. We are, by nature, social creatures — formed in relation to others and meant to live among them. This reality is not set aside during the retreat but made use of. Group practice forms a central part of the programme. When many people chant together, sit together, or move together in practice, something beyond the individual begins to be felt — a coherence, a resonance, that is difficult to arrive at alone. These group sessions are not incidental to the retreat; they are part of the teaching.

MEDITATIONS IN EVERY WALK TO THE DAY

This is not a retreat where you meditate for an hour and return to ordinary life. Meditation here is not an activity — it is a way of moving through each day. From the morning cup of tea to the last moment before sleep, from eating to walking, from speaking to simply watching — everything becomes a practice, and every step in Nepal brings you closer to yourself.

During the seven days, participants will visit Swayambhunath Temple, Boudhanath Stupa, Pashupatinath Temple, and Kathmandu Durbar Square. Further sites are being added and will be confirmed with participants ahead of the retreat.

RESIDENCIES OPTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM

Two options are available at Innerview Apartments for the participants. Both include your stay, three meals a day, and transport for all retreat activities.

COMMON AREA DORM - 26,000 INR / $ 280
PRIVATE ROOMS - 36,000 INR / $ 386

Daily meals are included in this.

THE INNER VIEW APARTMENT