Michael has been a student of Robert Thurman and HH the XIV Dalai Lama for 25 years, since his undergraduate years studying Eastern religions and cultures at Columbia University in the 90s. In early 2002 he was invited to help the Thurmans start up the newly acquired Menla retreat for Tibet House US. 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.
Michael received the Kalachakra Tantra initiation from His Holiness the Dalai Lama twice–in 2003 and 2017–both in Bodh Gaya, India. An avid student and practitioner of Buddhism, Michael sometimes teaches Intro to Indo-Tibetan Buddhism classes and occasionally co-leads retreats at Menla. In his spare time, he works on renovating his family home in Woodstock and writing spiritually-oriented screenplays and 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.
“My favorite retreat center in the East coast. A real abode of the Dharma.”
Nitzan Blouin
“Menla sits on an energy vortex that is said to be the oldest known meteor crater in the world, and you can feel it. Maybe it’s electromagnetic, or maybe it’s the amazing energy of the people here, but Menla is a powerful and nurturing place that draws you like a giant magnet…. Menla is a deeply spiritual, restorative place, where you can reconnect with your higher self, ponder life’s true meaning.”
Rona Berg, Organic Spa
“The experience I’ve had as a volunteer here at Menla has been a unique one. I had recently experienced the loss of a number of friends, and of my father, before coming up for a retreat, and then coming back as a volunteer. Not only was the work I did up in these gorgeous mountains an amazingly cathartic experience, but the support I received from the community that exists here was unlike anything I had previously experienced.”
Reina de Beer