The patterns that keep you stuck are often held as sensation, not as a problem you can think through. Two nights at Menla, in the Catskills. Direct somatic work. Apply for a place.
October 18–20, 2026 · Menla · Phoenicia, NY · Eastern Time
From $1,063 · Room, meals, and program included
-
Two-time graduate of Eckhart Tolle’s School of Awakening
-
Author of five books on practical presence
-
Featured on 50+ podcasts, including Mindvalley
-
Invited to teach at world-renowned centers including Omega, Kripalu, and Menla
What people say after a retreat with Cirak
My first retreat with Cirak was really, really magical. The workshops, the meditations, the food, the hospitality. And the people I met.
I was trying many things, yet I was not able to put them practically. This retreat gave me much-needed structure, a daily practice.
Feeling accepted was really powerful. Cirak’s mindfulness teachings will help me a lot in daily life.
Cirak’s teachings are thought-changing. He gives you a new perspective and shows you how to live without the old beliefs running you.
This was my first-ever retreat. We became a family. All the workshops, meditations. I’m really grateful for this experience.
Cirak’s talks help you understand meditation in simple terms. It takes away the complications so you can focus on the practice.
Hear Cirak, then decide
What you leave with
Meet what the body holds
Unfinished emotional patterns often sit in sensation, not in the story you tell about them. This weekend works there.
Complete what insight could not
You may already understand the pattern. Understanding is not the same as release. The work is to stay with sensation until it completes.
Stay present when emotion rises
When the charge comes up, there is a way to meet it without suppressing it or being run by it.
Leave with a practice
Somatic journeying, awareness meditation, Qi Gong, Conscious Release. Beginners welcome. Not more theory.
A weekend at Menla
Arrive Sunday afternoon. One full teaching day. Leave Tuesday after lunch. Concentrated, not padded.
-
Sun Oct 18
Arrive
Check-in 3–6pm. Dinner, then Cirak opens the retreat. Awareness meditation to close the night. All times Eastern.
-
Mon Oct 19
Full teaching day
Qi Gong at 7am. Somatic release and integration morning and afternoon. Evening: Conscious Release, Metta, and a sound bath.
-
Tue Oct 20
Depart
Qi Gong, breakfast, checkout by 9:30am. A last workshop and meditation, then lunch and leave.
A typical teaching day
This is Monday’s clock. Sunday and Tuesday are shorter. Meals and rest sit between the teaching blocks.
-
7–8am
Qi Gong
Awaken the body’s energy through movement, breath, and grounded presence. Nervous system first, before the mind starts managing the day.
-
8–9am
Breakfast
Eat in the quiet of the valley. Let the body settle before the first workshop.
-
9:30–11am
Morning workshop
Somatic release and integration. Meet unconscious patterns as sensation, and begin releasing what the body has been holding.
-
11am–12pm
Awareness meditation
Rest in awareness beyond the activity of the thinking mind.
-
12:30–2pm
Lunch and space
A meal, then a short stretch to walk, journal, or sit.
-
2–4:30pm
Afternoon workshop and Q&A
Deeper experiential work: emotional completion, embodied release, then open inquiry.
-
4:30–5:30pm
Awareness meditation
Return to presence after the afternoon work.
-
6–7pm
Dinner
Eat together. Let the day land before the last gathering.
-
7:30–9pm
Conscious Release and sound
Guided emotional release, then Metta and a sound bath for integration. Not another lecture.
The grounds
1 / 6
Meet Cirak
- Two-time graduate of Eckhart Tolle’s School of Awakening, and six years volunteering alongside him
- Taught user experience at UCLA
- Worked with Google, Nike, Adobe, Disney, and Mercedes
- Author of End of Illusion, Be You, and The Five Levels of Awareness
- Featured on 50+ podcasts, including Mindvalley
- Invited to teach at world-renowned centers including Omega, Kripalu, and Menla
- Menla is Tibet House, founded at the request of the Dalai Lama
- Retreats in Bali, India, Europe, and the United States
Menla invited Cirak to teach
Menla is a 330-acre private nature reserve in the Catskill Mountains, Phoenicia, New York. Tibet House US stewards the land. It combines Tibetan healing arts with a quiet valley, two hours from New York City. Cirak teaches Embodied Awakening here, over two nights.
You apply here so Cirak’s team can see if this week is a good fit. If it is, they write to you about next steps. From $1,063. Room, meals, and program included.
Questions before you apply
No. The retreat is open to beginners and has depth for people who already practice. All work is guided. You move at your own pace.
Apply for a place
This is an application, not a ticket purchase. Cirak’s team reads your responses to see if this week is a good fit. If it is, they write to you about next steps.