Next Retreat: Nov 6-11, 2026 | From $3,800 USD [Bhutan 2026]
The Gross National Happiness Retreat
Bhutan | 6 Days, 5 Nights | Paro & Thimphu
A retreat for sustainability, climate, and social impact professionals: reset your nervous system, reconnect with your sense of purpose, and return home with the energy and clarity to keep going.
Six days in Bhutan, the world's only carbon-negative country and a society built around Gross National Happiness.
Your days begin with morning yoga, breathwork, and intention-setting. From there, you'll move through cultural excursions to sacred monasteries. Between the adventures, there's space for 1:1 coaching, quiet reflection, and simply being.
Facilitated workshops throughout the week focus on themes that matter to anyone doing this work: visibility and influence, navigating challenging stakeholders, and sustaining yourself through the long game of systemic change. You'll return home rested, reconnected to what drew you to this work in the first place, and carrying embodied practices and a deeper community to sustain you through the hard days ahead.
You got into the field of sustainability because you believe in it. You still do. This retreat is the space to remember why.
Each phase of this retreat is built around an arc: from grounding into exploration, through challenge and perspective, toward integration and purpose. Between the cultural excursions, there's space for facilitated workshops, 1:1 coaching, and group conversations. Each participant gets a 1:1 coaching session during the retreat (sign up for your preferred slot on arrival). All evening programming is optional. This retreat is designed to reset, recharge, and inspire you, not exhaust you.
Day 1 & 2Arrive & Ground
Permission → Relief → Release → Lightness
You land in Paro: one of the most dramatic airport approaches in the world, a descent through the Himalayas into a narrow valley that only a handful of pilots are certified to fly. Your guide meets you at the airport with a traditional khadar welcome ceremony. From the moment you step off the plane, everything is taken care of.
The first two days are about arriving - not just in Bhutan, but in yourself. You visit Kyichu Lhakhang, one of Bhutan's oldest and most sacred monasteries, for a quiet, grounding encounter with a place that has held spiritual practice for over 1,200 years. A forest bathing walk through the Himalayan landscape and a bonfire dinner under the stars with guided Trataka meditation set the tone: slow, intentional, present.
On the second day, you travel to Thimphu with a mindful stop at Chuzom - the sacred confluence of Bhutan's two rivers. In Thimphu, you experience the Simply Bhutan Living Museum (an interactive immersion into Bhutanese heritage and village life), the National Memorial Chorten, a traditional farm-to-table lunch at the Folk Heritage Museum, and the Buddha Dordenma overlooking the valley. A private sound healing session and time exploring the handicrafts bazaar close the day.
Day 3 & 4Explore & Challenge
Perspective → Hope → Presence → Peace
The heart of the retreat. These two days move between creative spaciousness and the physical challenge that becomes the emotional peak of the journey.
Day three is built around water: fluidity and creative expression. You visit Paro Dzong and the Ta Dzong (National Museum), then travel to Shaba for a riverside day: a gentle river therapy walk, riverside lunch, creative pebble painting, and a prayer flag blessing ritual by the water. This is the most spacious day of the retreat, intentionally unhurried. The river is the teacher: flow, don't force.
Day four is the day you've been hearing about. The hike to Tiger's Nest (Paro Taktsang) is Bhutan's most iconic pilgrimage: a guided trek through pine forests toward the legendary monastery clinging to a cliff 900 metres above the Paro Valley floor. It's moderate-to-challenging (5–6 hours round trip at altitude), and every step is worth it. Midway, tea and snacks at the Taktsang Cafeteria with views of the monastery above. At the top, the monastery itself - its spiritual history, its serene atmosphere, its reminder that sacred things are rarely easy to reach. After descending, a traditional hot stone foot soak therapy for tired muscles, followed by a cultural performance of Bhutanese dance and music and a celebratory dinner.
Day 5 & 6Integrate & Carry Forward
Renewal → Purpose
The final days are about weaving it all together. You visit Thimphu's living heritage sites and experience a Sowa Rigpa healing session - a traditional Bhutanese medical practice rooted in Buddhist philosophy. There's an optional traditional Bhutanese attire experience (Kira for women, Gho for men) with views of Paro Dzong - a playful, joyful way to close the cultural immersion.
There's space here for a final facilitated session: integration, reflection, what you're carrying home. The closing circle brings the group together one last time: an honest sharing about what you're leaving behind and what you're committing to. This is where the community becomes real - not just people you travelled with, but people who understand what your work feels like and what it costs.
After a light breakfast and mindful check-out, departure transfers take you back to Paro International Airport. You leave Bhutan with a restored sense of energy, embodied practices, and a deeper connection to a community that gets it.
How It Works
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Fill out the short form below to let us know you're considering it. No commitment, no payment - just a way for us to keep you in the loop as details are finalized.
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Once we have enough interest to confirm the retreat, we'll reach out with confirmed dates, final pricing, and next steps. You'll get early access before we open registration publicly.
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When registration opens, a deposit of $1,500 CAD secures your place. Group size is capped at 20 participants to keep the experience intimate.
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We'll provide a detailed travel guide including recommended flights to Paro, visa processing support (included in your retreat fee), and packing suggestions for Bhutan.
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Your guide meets you at Paro International Airport. From that moment, everything is taken care of - accommodation, meals, excursions, and transfers. All you have to do is show up.
About Your Hosts
Tiffany Wong
Tiffany Wong is a sustainability consultant, certified coach, professional engineer, and yoga teacher working at the intersection of sustainability and wellbeing. Over the past decade, she has advised companies like Google and Nestlé on first-of-their-kind sustainability strategies, published in the Oxford Academic Journal, and worked across industries from oil and gas to consumer goods to help organizations navigate complex environmental challenges. On this retreat, Tiffany leads morning yoga and breathwork, facilitated workshops, and 1:1 coaching sessions, creating a container for participants to rest, reflect, and come home to themselves.
Founder, Raising Potters
Yoenten
Serenity Retreats Bhutan is a wellness-focused tour operator founded by Yoenten, who Tiffany & Onyx met in India during their kundalini yoga teacher training. That connection sparked the vision for this retreat. Born and raised in Bhutan, Yoenten brings deep local knowledge and a lifelong commitment to wellness, meditation, and holistic living to every experience he curates. Serenity Retreats weaves traditional healing practices and authentic cultural immersion into journeys that go far beyond typical tourism, giving you access to sacred spaces, local traditions, and a side of Bhutan most travellers never see.
Founder, Serenity Retreats Bhutan
Onyx Trixie is a Kundalini Yoga & Beyond Addiction Instructor, Therapist, & Photojournalist. She is also a founder of Menjadi Sadar, a Mental Health & Wellness Circle based in Jakarta, Indonesia. A yoga instructor certified by Saibhang Institute and Kundalini Research Institute, Onyx is also a certified Yoga Children Instructor, Yin Yoga Instructor, Rhythmic Movement Training International and Beyond Addiction Trainer. On this retreat, Onyx runs group sessions focused on wellbeing, including a session integrating trauma with Biodynamic Craniosacral therapy.
Founder, Menjadi Sadar Indonesia