The Eightfold Path with Kevin Courtney

DHYĀNA | March 9 - 16, 2025

An Immersive Retreat

With Special Guests | Kate Shela, Natalie Kuhn, Erin Rose Ward

In March 2025, The Eightfold Path community returns with an immersive one-week exploration of the seventh limb of yoga DHYĀNA—the art of effortless awareness and sustained meditation.

By today’s standards, living in a constant state of stress and overwhelm has seemingly become the norm. While short-term stress can be useful in motivating us to take action, chronic stress slowly erodes the balance and vitality of our body, mind, heart, and spirit.

The DHYĀNA retreat is an opportunity to intervene in our own status quo. By coming back to the body through movement and meditation and taking time to rest and nurture ourselves, we shift our attention back inward. In that return to Self, it doesn’t take long to restore balance and cultivate a renewed sense of clarity and stability.

Through thoughtfully curated program sessions that build day by day, move from the outer world of surface distractions to the inner realms and profound silence within. Experience the practices in a setting designed to redirect the mind’s energy inward and restore inner strength, resilience, and calm.

By harmonizing the body, breath, and mind, re-establish access to the inherent wisdom of the heart and create a bridge to the Infinite within. From there, come to see what you see as we turn our attention toward the emergent horizons of our lives.


The Eight Limbs of Yoga

Dhāranā, the sixth limb of yoga, focuses on deliberate concentration and is a willful act of focus. Dhyāna is the next step. It is the result of our efforts to focus and the revelation of what happens as our effort falls away.

Dhyāna, the seventh limb of yoga, is a spontaneous arrival point; when effort falls away, the mind no longer turns and churns in thoughts, and the mind begins experiencing the immersive absorption into its Source. Dhyāna is the fruit ripening on the vine.

It’s an emergent flow state, arrived at by design the moment the body, mind, heart, and soul enter into a state of coherence. As a state of being, it is a natural unfolding of a state of surrender and grace. From this fresh perspective, as we thread awareness through the lens of the heart, soul, and spirit, we inevitably gain insight, wisdom, and understanding.

The Team + The Community + The Invitation

We are blessed and excited to have last year’s entire teaching team returning this year to create and cultivate the magic. Our facilitators include Kate Shela, Natalie Kuhn, Erin Rose Ward, Kacey Rodenbush, and Erin Yee. Each teacher brings a unique mastery of their respective access points into the meditative state. As a community, we will co-create the space to explore them through breath, movement, meditation, contemplation, sound, scent, and stillness.

DHYĀNA is a refuge for you to take your own measure, whether in the solitude of your internal self or in connection with the community. The circle is open, and it is our privilege to have you join us for this penultimate Eightfold Path retreat. Just two more years to go, and we will have completed an incredible and incredibly unique journey through the eight limbs of yoga.

If you have questions about attending DHYĀNA or would like to set up a payment plan in order to attend, please email our retreat producer Nico Grae | Nico@thisisinsight.com

New to the EIGHTFOLD PATH RETREAT? Please fill out this request to attend form. This is required to book.

Past attendees, you may go directly to booking.

Current attendees, you may access the FAQ page below.

What is The Eightfold Path?

The Eightfold Path is a multi-year exploration into the eight limbs of yoga anchored in an annual week-long retreat and supported with seasonal digital and in-person events open to all.

The heartbeat of The Eightfold Path is a vibrant and diverse community brought together by a shared drive for a deeper understanding of the Self.

This steady and potent revealing of the nature of human consciousness harnesses the ancient power of Vedanta and Tantra, to offer a direct path to the wisdom within, with practices designed to integrate and flourish well beyond the mat.

The Sacred Practices we will Incorporate:

  • Meditation

  • Yoga Nidra

  • Pranayama

  • Restorative Yoga

  • Sound Alchemy

  • Tantric Hatha Yoga

  • The 360 Emergence

  • INSIGHT Self Inquiry

  • Ceremonial Breathwork

  • Somatic Movement

The Eightfold Path Creator, Kevin Courtney

Kevin Courtney, founder and CEO of INSIGHT, is a leading expert in meditation, mindfulness, and conscious leadership.

With a commitment to lifelong learning, Kevin has spent three decades immersed in the wisdom of Vedanta, Tantra, Taoism, Buddhism, Psychodynamics, and Psychology.

Grounded in these teachings, he founded INSIGHT in 2013—a one-on-one program designed to illuminate and awaken the body, mind, heart, and spirit.

Kevin and his family live in Santa Monica, CA, and he continues expanding his teachings’ reach through mentorship, online meditations, workshops, and retreats. His work is dedicated to guiding others toward a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them.

New to the EIGHTFOLD PATH RETREAT? Please fill out this request to attend form. This is required to book.

Past attendees, you may go directly to booking.

If you have questions about attending DHYĀNA, please email our retreat producer Nico Grae | Nico@thisisinsight.com

Meet Your Guest Teachers

  • Kate Shela

    Kate is a dynamic shapeshifter, a potent shamanic healer and seer. She brings transformational medicine to every dance floor. A catalyst with heart who creates life retrievals. She drops into the belly of listening and draws out the innate healer in each of us.

    Kate is the co-founder of The 360 Emergence that offers a range of in-person experiences from 1:1 mentoring, immersions & exploratory movement Labs to The 360 Apprenticeship.

  • Natalie Kuhn

    Natalie Kuhn, founder of "Make the Sun," is a multi-faceted public speaker, teacher, and artist who blends her expertise in mental health with a uniquely accessible approach to spirituality.

    Her poetic keynote addresses, handcrafted transformational pocket mirrors, and immersive workshops invite individuals and organizations to see themselves and the world with greater clarity and compassion.

  • Erin Rose Ward

    Erin Rose Ward is a guide on the path to wholeness and remembering. She is passionate about the human body and its capacity to escort us into a deep relationship with the sacred.

    Erin has been with The Eightfold Path retreat since its inception. Her work is a translation of wisdom traditions applied to our modern times through the lens of the heart.

About Menla Retreat

Menla is a hidden oasis set in a secluded valley beside an enchanting stream in the heart of the Catskill Mountains. A truly unique venue and a project of Tibet House US – the Dalai Lama’s cultural center in North America – Menla is a modern resort and destination spa surrounded by thousands of acres of unspoiled wilderness. Inspired by the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Tibet, Menla strives to keep alive knowledge handed down for centuries through its retreat offerings.

There is a selection of accommodations that will be booked first come, but we will also do our best to meet your rooming needs and preferences. If you are familiar with the property and want to have a specific type of room, PLEASE book your reservation as soon as possible.

All meals are included in your retreat registration and are made lovingly by the chef and culinary staff on site. The meals will be strictly vegan and vegetarian, but accommodations can be made for allergies.

New to the EIGHTFOLD PATH RETREAT? Please fill out this request to attend form. This is required to book.

Past attendees, you may go directly to booking.