Kundalini Retreat
Strengthening the core, the breath and unblocking the energetic channels is just the beginning of this basic Kundalini programme. You can choose from four nights all the way to seven. This is for those wanting the foundations of Kundalini Yoga, taught by an ordained monk, American psychotherapist, Jungian dream analyst and certified Kundalini Yoga instructor, Todd Peyton. US$1,350 for four nights, US$2,100 for seven.
- Intensity
- Pace
- Social
- Comfort
- Approach
Retreat highlights
- Sadhana at five every morning, before anyone speaks, the way the tradition sets it
- Two full practice sessions a day, each closing with gong relaxation, and the kriyas taught so you can run them on your own
- Pranayama and mantra as their own classes, not folded into the yoga
- One silent morning on the four-night stay and two silent days on the seven
- One massage on four nights, two on seven, scheduled, not left to you
- A forty-day practice set on the last morning, with a printed card and a group that keeps going after you leave
- One sitting with Todd on your own, to set the practice to you
- Yogic food, three meals a day, no caffeine or alcohol for the stay
- Sixteen places, shared teak rooms, both airport transfers
About this retreat
You have done a class. Maybe a lot of classes. You know what the breath of fire feels like at minute three and you have had the moment in deep relaxation where the room went quiet inside you. And you still do not have a practice. You have a class you go to when you can.
This stay is built for that gap. Four to seven nights in the hills above Hang Dong, up before the sun, with the whole system taught in order: the kriyas, the pranayama, the mantra, the relaxation, and the discipline of the same practice at the same hour every day. By the last morning you will have one practice, chosen with Todd for where you are, and the forty days to make it yours start the day you get home.
Nothing is advanced and nothing is watered down. The basic programme is the whole programme. The seven-night stay adds the silent days and the second massage and gives the practice time to settle before you leave.
The shape of the days
Sadhana at five
The cold shower first, if you take it, then two and a half hours: the opening prayer, a kriya, deep relaxation, the mantra meditations. It is the spine of the stay and the only thing that is not optional.
Breakfast, then rest, the pool or the trails
On a seven-night stay the silent days hold this quiet through to the evening.
The teaching, an hour
What the kriyas do and why the order matters, how the breath works on the glands and the nerves, how to build a practice that survives a Tuesday.
The second session, ninety minutes
Closing with the gong. Then dinner and an early night, because five comes round.
Schedule
The shape is fixed. Silent days keep the same shape with nobody speaking between sadhana and dinner.
Who this is for
- You have met Kundalini in a class and want the whole system, in order
- You want a daily practice and have never managed to keep one
- You are coming off a hard year and want something that works on the nervous system without talking about it
- You did the Asclepius Method and want the second strand on its own
- You are a yoga teacher who has never been taught this lineage properly
Who it is not for
- You want to sleep past five. Sadhana is the stay
- You are pregnant, or managing a heart or blood pressure condition without your doctor's clearance, because breath of fire and the cold shower are part of this
- You want a yoga holiday. This is a practice, with a pool
Accommodation
Shared teak rooms, two to a room, same gender unless you book together, with your own bathroom and a balcony on the garden. A room to yourself adds US$60 a night.
Shared teak room
Two to a room, same gender unless you book together, with your own bathroom and a balcony on the garden.
Room to yourself
The same room, with nobody in the other bed. Adds US$60 a night to the shared price.
Every room: air conditioning, hot water, fresh linen, a kettle.
Venue and amenities
Insda Wellness Resort sits on the Hang Dong to Samoeng road, twenty-three kilometres out of Chiang Mai and far enough into the hills that your phone stops mattering. Twenty-nine teak rooms, gardens, a pool, and a long open hall where the sessions are held. You are met at the airport and driven in.
Meals
Yogic food: vegetarian, whole, cooked on site, three meals a day with fruit between. No caffeine and no alcohol for the stay, which is harder on day two and gone by day four.
Dietary needs catered with notice on the intake form.
What is included
Included
- Four to seven nights at Insda in a shared room
- Sadhana every morning and a second session every evening, both with gong relaxation
- The daily teaching and the pranayama and mantra classes
- One silent morning on four nights, two silent days on seven
- One massage on four nights, two on seven
- One sitting with Todd to set your practice
- The forty-day practice, printed, and the group that runs it
- Three meals a day
- Both airport transfers
- The screening call before you book
Not included
- Airfare into Chiang Mai
- Travel insurance, which is required
- Visa, where your passport needs one
- A room to yourself, which adds US$60 a night
- Extra bodywork beyond what is scheduled
Your guide
Psychotherapist · Dream Analyst
Todd Peyton
Todd B. Peyton, MA, LPC, KYI, is an American psychotherapist with more than twenty years of practice in depth-oriented psychotherapy, Jungian dream analysis and somatic and energetic work. He is a certified Kundalini Yoga Instructor and his practice is based in Hang Dong, outside Chiang Mai. He trained at Pacifica Graduate Institute, taking a master's in counselling psychology with a focus in depth psychology, and spent extended periods ordained as a Buddhist monk at Kyiatisaung Monastery in Thaton, Myanmar.
Certified profileGetting here
Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX), then twenty-three kilometres south west to Hang Dong and up the Samoeng road. About forty-five minutes, longer in rain.
You are met at arrivals on the first day and driven straight to the resort. On the last day you are driven back with time to spare. If you are flying long haul, arrive the night before and sleep in the city, because the first sadhana is at five.
Do not book flights until the screening call is done and your place is held.
Select your options
Book before 31 October and take 15 per cent off; we apply it on the call. Bring somebody and the second person pays half. Nothing is charged until the screening call. After it, a US$500 deposit holds the place and the balance is due a fortnight before you arrive.
- 4 nights: Wed 9 to Sun 13 Dec 2026; Wed 17 to Sun 21 Feb 2027. US$1,350 per person, shared room
- 5 nights: Wed 9 to Mon 14 Dec; Wed 17 to Mon 22 Feb. US$1,600
- 6 nights: Wed 9 to Tue 15 Dec; Wed 17 to Tue 23 Feb. US$1,850
- 7 nights: Wed 9 to Wed 16 Dec; Wed 17 to Wed 24 Feb. US$2,100
- New Year, 4 nights: Sat 26 to Wed 30 Dec 2026. US$1,450
- New Year, 7 nights: Sat 26 Dec 2026 to Sat 2 Jan 2027. US$2,250
- A room to yourself adds US$60 a night.
Shared teak room
Change the dates or the room in the panel and this updates with them. Your selection travels with the enquiry, so the first reply already knows what you asked for.
Questions people actually ask
I have never done Kundalini. Can I come?
Yes. The basic programme starts at the beginning. You will be tired by day two and fine by day four.
Is five in the morning real?
Yes. It is the practice. The lights go out at nine so it is reachable.
Do I have to take the cold shower?
No. It is offered every morning and nobody checks.
What is the forty-day practice?
One kriya and one meditation, chosen with Todd on the last morning, done every day for forty days at home. Miss a day and you start again. The group chat keeps the count.
Is there chanting?
Yes, every day. Nobody is good at it on day one.
Can I share a room with my partner or friend?
Yes, and the second person pays half.
Refund and cancellation
Nothing is charged until the screening call. After it, a US$500 deposit holds the place and the balance is due a fortnight before you arrive.
