Ancient Wisdom Today

GOLDEN SHADOW RETREATS

Golden Shadow Retreat

Scottish Highlands 2027

September 1st to 11th 2027

Limited to 8 travelers

1 SPOT LEFT

Activating The Lion’s Roar:

A Contemplative Wilderness Retreat

Retreat Overview

Are you ready to claim your inherent spiritual power? Join Melanie Ryan and Karen Collins for an immersive meditation retreat in the peaceful highlands of Scotland. This unique retreat combines ancient Buddhist traditions with the natural rhythms of the land, a place alongside an organic kitchen, majestic mountains, and farm pastures. Guided by seasoned practitioners, you will journey through days of noble silence, sitting meditation, profound Dharma talks, wilderness vision questing, nature walks, and mindful basket weaving rooted in the earth.

The Teachings

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 challenging realities of the human experience. The Lion’s Roar is the sound of freedom. It cuts through fear, anger, hopelessness, 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 your inner power, and allowing all of life’s experiences to be the fuel for the opening of your heart - a genuine heart of love, compassion, and wisdom.

What You Will Experience

Highland Vision Questing: Solo time immersed in the raw, ancient Scottish wilderness to fast from modern distractions, listen deeply to the land, and your own direct personal insight.
Organic Farm-to-Table Living: Nourishing, sustainably grown organic ayurvedic meals harvested directly from local gardens to support your physical and energetic alignment.
Mindful Basket Weaving: Hands-on craft using the willow grown on the farm and other natural materials for a somatic meditation, weaving physical fibers together to mirror the integration of your own inner life.
Deepening Stillness: Extended periods of silent meditation inside a peaceful sanctuary to calm the nervous system and settle the racing mind.
Dharma Teachings: Insightful evening talks exploring fearlessness, emotional resilience, and the Mahayana teachings on emptiness and compassion.
Fun and Meaningful Excursions: visit Findhorn, local castles, artists and villages, walk the battlefield of Culloden, Inverness and more.

Who Is This For?

This retreat is open to both seasoned meditators looking to deepen their practice, and beginners with a strong call to explore their inner vision and sense of bravery in the world. If you are navigating a major life transition, working through limiting beliefs, or simply seeking an earthy, authentic way of living with an open heart, this retreat is for you. Come as you are and leave ready to meet the world with the fearless, open heart of the lion’s roar.

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Your Retreat Guide & Facilitators

Melanie Ryan

Melanie Ryan is author and founder of The Golden Shadow Method. She is a Tibetan Buddhist teacher in the Shambhala lineage of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Vajrayana Buddhist practitioner, psychotherapist, past life regression therapist, vision quest protector, and author of many books on elevating consciousness. Melanie has spent nearly 35 years studying the nature of the unconscious, through the lens of modern psychology and ancient wisdom. When her only child, Justin Bodhi Steigmeier, died suddenly in 2023 from an aneurysm, he came to her in deep meditation telling her to share the Buddhist teachings of the Lion’s Roar.

Karen Collins

Karen Collins is a farm owner, maker, and retired teacher of the Rudolf Steiner School in London. Her grandparents inspired her 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. She also worked in the Moray Steiner School of Scotland for over 10 years. Life events happened that reconnected her to care work for older generations. It was in this role that enabled her to explore the intimacy of sharing with someone who is reaching the end of their life journey.

What the Retreat Includes

Food & Accommodations

11 days 10 nights accommodations at Marcaisse Farm & Naturally Useful Farm
Daily Organic Farm Breakfast
Farm lunches and dinners
Programs listed below

The Lion’s Roar Buddhist Teachings

Shamatha and Vipassana Meditation.
Meditation Instruction and fundamentals of meditation practice.
Meditations for navigating fear and uncertainty.
Deepen your understanding of the causes of suffering and the causes of happiness.
Build a toolkit of meditation practices for working with difficult emotions and mental patterns.
Explore mindfulness as a way of cultivating stability and peace.
Teachings on waking up to impermanence; the physical death we will all experience. How turning toward mortality transforms fear into deep spiritual awareness and presence.
Study impermanence, building resilience through life’s biggest transitions, navigating loss, aging, illness, and death.
Learn about the 3 bardos of physical life and 3 bardos of the afterlife.

Other Practices

Breathwork and energy clearing
Creative art to express hidden energies
Past life group regression with Melanie
Karmic clearing practices
2 Basket weaving workshop with Karen
Sound bath with a local healer
Sacred ceremony
Relaxing downtime on the farm for journaling, drawing, rest, Ayurvedic massage, or private session with Melanie