GOLDEN SHADOW RETREATS
Golden Shadow Retreat
Scottish Highlands 2027
Exact Date TBA
Limited to 8 travelers
Email if interested
Activating The Lion’s Roar
In Buddhist tradition, the Lion is the symbol of courage. True courage is not about avoiding suffering. It is about having the bravery to completely embrace the raw, vulnerable, and painful realities of the human experience. The Lion’s Roar is the sound of freedom. It cuts through fear, anger, and self-doubt. By going against negative patterns and limiting beliefs, we remember our inherent goodness. This retreat is a call to action to awaken that inner power, allowing all of life’s experiences to be the fuel for the opening of your heart, a genuine heart of love, compassion, and wisdom.
The Golden Shadow Method
Using ancient Tibetan Buddhist techniques, this retreat focuses on purifying heavy blocks of fear, grief, and illusion. Guided by The Golden Shadow Method, you will safely explore the dark and golden shadow. Through meditation and purifying breathwork, vision questing and ceremony, you will transmute fear into courage and wisdom. We will also laugh, play, and be creative doing fun excursions and basket weaving.
Our Sacred Sanctuary
In 1959, following the invasion of Tibet, many spiritual teachers fled to the Scottish Highlands, finding a peaceful refuge that mirrored the tranquility of their homeland. Among them was the young lama Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who preserved Tibetan culture by founding Samye Ling, the first Buddhist monastery in the West. He also spent his honeymoon just five miles from our retreat site. Following in the footsteps of these lamas, you will find your own refuge on a beautiful, 60-acre organic farm, immersed in ancient Buddhist teachings of the Lion’s Roar.
Your Retreat Guide & Facilitators
Melanie Ryan, LCSW, is author and founder of The Golden Shadow Method. She is a psychotherapist and Buddhist teacher in the Shambhala lineage of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. She is a Vajrayana Buddhist practitioner, past life regression therapist, vision quest protector, and writer of many books on consciousness.
Karen Collins, farm owner, maker, and retired teacher of the Rudolf Steiner School in London. My grandparents inspired my love of the natural world and creating things by hand. This early creativity was nurtured by an inspirational handwork teacher at Jacob Cramer Art College in Leeds. An innate sense of curiosity about what ‘found’ natural materials could offer meant I explored other hand made skills. Working in the Moray Steiner School took me and my family to the Northeast of Scotland where I taught hand work for over 10 years. Life events happened that reconnected me to care work for older generations. It was in this role that enabled me to explore the immense value of connection and the intimacy of sharing with someone who is reaching the end of their life journey. These experiences were the starting point of a unique service that I now offer alongside my work at Naturally Useful.
This retreat includes:
3 nights in Inverness
7 nights on organic farm
Breathwork and energy clearing
Dharma talks and meditation practice
One day vision quest
Past life group regression
Karmic clearing practices and ceremony
Basket weaving workshop
Day visit to Culloden Battlefield and local cairns
Day visit to Findhorn and local castles
Farm Meals included:
Daily Organic Farm Breakfast
Some dinners on the farm
Inverness Meals included:
Daily Hotel Breakfast
Price: TBA
