In this four-day intensive based on his popular book, Ruling Your World, the Sakyong will teach us how to move through life with windhorse—the innate ability to attain success that comes from acting with compassion and wisdom.

In these turbulent times, our lives often seem out of control and overwhelming. But what if we could approach every part of our lives—from the smallest decisions to life’s biggest setbacks—with confidence and clarity instead of stress? In this four-day intensive based on his popular book, Ruling Your World, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche will teach us how to move through life with windhorse—the innate ability to attain success that comes from acting virtuously.

How we use our minds and live our lives determines whether windhorse increases or diminishes. Sakyong Mipham will reveal the secrets of four symbolic creatures—tiger, lion, garuda and dragon—whose powers we can count on to continually strengthen it.


Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is the head of the Shambhala lineage. An incarnation of Mipham the Great, he is also the dharma heir and son of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Shambhala Mountain’s founder. He is the spiritual director of Shambhala, a global network of meditation and retreat centers, and the author of the best-selling books Turning the Mind Into an Ally and Ruling Your World. Rinpoche’s background embraces both Eastern and Western cultures. Born in Bodhgaya, India, the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment, he grew up in Boulder, Colorado, and received his spiritual training from his father and other distinguished lamas.

Acharya Eve Rosenthal has been part of the Shambhala community since 1973. The resident director of Shambhala Training in New York City in the mid-’80s, she has taught many Shambhala and Buddhist programs in North America and Europe. Eve is a long-time practitioner and instructor of Tai Chi Ch’uan.

Shambhala Yoga will be taught by Dana Strong throughout this program. She will also be offering a separate program, The Yoga of Shambhala: Embodied Enlightenment, July 11 - 13.
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche will also be teaching another program Running with the Mind of Meditation on July 7

Extend Your Stay. We are offering a 25% housing discount for additional nights. Come early and relax before your program starts or stay an extra day or more after this program to savor your retreat experience.

Please arrive between 2 and 5pm on Thursday, July 13. Program ends with lunch at 12:30pm on Sunday, July 16. View Detailed Program Information.

From <i>Ruling Your World</i> by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

As a worldly path, Shambhala is grounded in doing what is best for society. The best thing for society, even in an everyday situation, is the complete fulfillment and happiness of the individual. If we want a world that generates love and happiness, we need to start watering the seeds of peace and stability in our own mind. By ruling our mind and using it to generate compassion, we can rule our economy and our future. The enlightened king and queen regard wealth as a measure of success, but to this they add the cause of true happiness. They know that happiness is never going to come just from physical forms, because happiness is a state of mind. With the wish-fulfilling jewel of wisdom and compassion as the basis of our life, we can develop this consciousness of happiness.

The enlightened kings and queens of the past, as well as the ascetics meditating in caves, have all said that the secret to creating stability is to put the welfare of others before our own. Some may consider this approach unrealistic. But the ruler knows that getting off the “me” plan is the most expedient and practical element in any economic system. An economy based on compassion infused with wisdom will not self-destruct. Trying to create stability without the foundation of these qualities will only condemn us to perpetual friction and we will continue to pollute our world with the fumes of self-interest. The wish-fulfilling jewel is the best pollution control, because it brings spaciousness to the mind, which allows windhorse to arise.

Riding windhorse is how we use our worldly life as a spiritual path. We nurture heaven by developing certainty in basic goodness. We bring heaven down to earth by having the courage to act with compassion. Then we can live in the world as a ruler no matter what we are doing. We can be married, have children, and own a house. How we live our mind and our life determines whether windhorse increases or diminishes. To rule our world is to live in a way that continually strengthens windhorse.


From Ruling Your World: Ancient Strategies for Modern Life, by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. Published in October 2005 by Doubleday Books.