Urban Vajrayoga™ Retreat with Professor Robert Thurman and Dr John Campbell

This will be a cheerful, hard-working weekend, exploring Indian and Tibetan spiritual sciences and yogic coarse and subtle body technologies. As well as transformative and insightful talks by Prof. Robert Thurman, you will experience restorative and revitalising asana practices led by John Campbell. You should also expect chanting, sound meditation, yoga nidra, and Tibetan sleep and dream yoga guidance practice for deepening rest and integration. 

This event is co-sponsored by Yogacampus and Tibet House US, (THUS), H. H. the Dalai Lama’s US Cultural Center in New York City and online globally, dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan culture as expressed in its spiritual sciences and mental and physical arts and technologies. The Vajrayoga™ Schools are THUS-generated innovative schools combining Indian and Tibetan yoga science (adhyātma-vidyā) and yoga technology (adhyātma-yoga-tantra-upāya).  Vajrayoga™ integrates the philosophical/scientific, meditative, and yoga tantric disciplines of both Indian and Tibetan inner sciences and lifeforce technology traditions. Rooted in nondualistic intuitive wisdom, these critical worldviews and transformative practices are designed to expand the outlook of the mind—realistically turning stress toward bliss—while enhancing the body’s vitality, ease, and poise.

Retreat Schedule

Morning session (Sat and Sun): 9:30-12:30 

Energising alignment-based yogic practices with John adapted to the range of levels of the participants, embodying the principles of such sources asthe hathayogic expert forms as elaborated by Shri Pattabhi Jois, and the Tibetan Nejang and Trulkhor energising experiential movements, as elaborated by the Tibetan spiritual teacher and physician, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang—both traditions integrated to enhance the body’s physical resilience and open a refined awareness of the subtle neural (nāḍivāyubindu) energy systems.

Lunch break (Sat and Sun): 12:30-14:00

Afternoon session (Sat and Sun): 14:00-17:00

Warm-up chant, meditation, yoga nidra, Tibetan calming and healing yoga, including Tibetan sleep and dream yoga guidance practice for deepening rest and integration.

Talks and guided meditations with Robert, drawing on passages from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Nāgārjuna’s Jewel Rosary, Swami Ātmarāma’s Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Shāntideva’s Way of the Bodhisattva, and selected writings of some of the Mahāsiddha adepts of India and Tibet. 

There will be plenty of opportunity for Q and A

Who is this for?

All levels and yoga traditions are welcome. Modifications will be offered to support those with injuries or physical limitations.

What will I need to bring?

Please bring your yoga mat, a blanket, and something to support you for your sitting practice (chairs will be available at the venue).

Location

The venue is The Studio Space, 2 Television Centre, 101 Wood Lane, W12 7FR

Meet the Teachers

Bob Thurman is the co-founder of the Vajrayoga™ brand of open-source yoga, as inspired by H. H. the Dalai Lama’s approach to spiritual science and technology as beyond any religious dogma. 

Bob is known in academic circles as Padma Shri Professor Emeritus Robert A.F. Thurman, is a teacher and practitioner of the Buddha’s teachings, having briefly been in his early twenties a Tibetan Buddhist monk ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  Bob taught academically for fifty years, the last 31 at Columbia University. A popular professor, students often felt his classes were “life-changing.” He is the co-founder and president of Tibet House US and also directs the American Institute of Buddhist Studies, dedicated to the translation and publication of the Tibetan Treasury of the long-lost Indian Nalanda University library’s artistic and scientific Sanskrit Buddhist treatises preserved in fine Tibetan translations. His books include The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti, Man of Peace: An Illustrated Biography of the Dalai Lama of Tibet, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, and his latest, Wisdom Is Bliss: The Four Friendly Fun Facts that Can Change Your Life. 

Inspired by his longtime good friend the Dalai Lama, Bob takes us along with him into an expanded vision of the world through the prisma of Tibetan Buddhism. He shares with us the sense of refuge in the Dharma, the reality that unfailingly helps us clear away the shrouds of fear and confusion, sustains us with the cheerfulness of an enriched present, and opens a door to a path of realistic hope for a peaceful, kind, and wise future.

John Campbell is a teacher of yoga, meditation, and philosophy. He began his own yoga practice in India over thirty years ago, becoming in 2002 one of the few Certified teachers of the Mysore-based Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute. He is currently certified E-RYT 500 by the Yoga Alliance. A scholar of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, he holds a PhD in Religion from Columbia University and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship for his research on the history of tantric Buddhist yoga systems in India. In 2012, while serving as a professor at the University of Virginia, he co-founded the Contemplative Sciences Center, the leading initiative of its kind dedicated to mind-body practices for well-being, transformative insight, and compassion at a major research university. After two decades teaching in academia, he now focuses on translation and regularly collaborates with his mentor Prof. Robert A. F. Thurman translating key tantric Buddhist works of the Nalanda University tradition from Sanskrit and Tibetan. He serves as a core faculty member with the Vajra Yoga center for the study and practice of Indo-Tibetan yogic sciences based at Tibet House US in New York City. A native New Yorker, he lives in Newburgh, NY with his wife, children, and assorted animal friends.

Bursaries

We are offering three bursaries (50% off the full price) to dedicated students with a demonstrated financial need and active involvement in a community that could benefit from these practices. 

To apply, please complete our online form before the closing date of 12 October 2025.