Michael G. Burbank

Michael G. Burbank

Director of Administration

Michael has been a student of Robert Thurman and HH the XIV Dalai Lama for 20 years, since his undergraduate years at Columbia University. In February of 2002 he was invited to help the Thurmans and Tibet House start the newly acquired Menla retreat. Over the years, he worked variously as Menla’s dishwasher, housekeeper, Front of House Manager, and Assistant Director, and since 2013 he has served as Menla’s Director of Administration.

Michael received the Kalachakra Tantra initiation from His Holiness the Dalai Lama twice–in 2003 and 2017–in Bodh Gaya, India. An avid life-long student and practitioner of Buddhism, Michael teaches weekly classes at Menla and occasionally co-leads Menla retreats. He is also working in conjunction with a team of entrepreneurs and mindfulness teachers to launch the Mindforce Institute, a for-profit mindfulness training company intended to further the efforts of Tibet House US/Menla nationwide. In his spare time, he works on spiritually-based graphic novels, including most recently as letterer and co-author of Man of Peace: the Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama with William Meyers and Robert Thurman.

I just returned from an over-night stay at the Menia Retreat Center. During that time, I was very fortunate to have had four services at the beautiful Dewa Spa.All of them were amazing, but I really have to take a few minutes to write about Sarite Sanders who did Craniosacral Therapy and Nicole Bernhardt who provided Extended KuNye Massage.

Both of these women are gifted practitioners who clearly are dedicated to their healing modalities. Sarite is not just a healer but a teacher–a very powerful combination for a true wellness practitioner. She even suggested movement exercises that I could do at home to help with an old injury–one I had not told her about, but that she “felt” as she worked on my body. Both of these women took time to explain what and why they were doing certain things and thus were able to create a very safe environment for healing. Thank you for a truly lovely experience.

Virginia Giordano

“The speakers and yoga instructors were giants in their fields, and people came from Holland, Germany, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, NYC, Brooklyn, Missouri… Being around friendly and happy people with positive attitudes interested in understanding and enjoying life in all it’s vicissitudes, curiosity, and making a better world was intoxicating…”

Anne R.

“Please thank all the staff for the kindness and care of service to us. It was felt by ALL. It allowed us to provide a nourishing container to the women who came to our retreat, all of whom are doing some form of service work out in the world be it in the arts, in social justice, in climate change,in philanthropy, in healing trauma, and in caring for people’s physical and emotional well being. We all need time to replenish!”

Jean Esther

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