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The Academy is The 3 Doors’ signature program. This immersive training provides participants with the opportunity to engage deeply in the process of self-discovery in the warmth of community. It is rigorous in the sense that all are asked to make an active and ongoing commitment to self-reflection and meditation. It is challenging at times, since facing yourself can be humbling and disorienting. And it is frequently joyful, since the freedom of going beyond perceived limitations and experiencing the abundant resources of one’s true nature is transformative.
A great strength of the program is that it draws upon the collective power of the group for support in transforming personal limitations. The trainee participates in six residential retreats, shares experiences in monthly online small group gatherings with a mentor, and draws upon the mentor relationship for individual guidance and direction. The Academy environment is one of complete confidentiality, support, and the genuine warmth that emerges when people openly share their journeys with one another. The Academy program concludes with a formal graduation ceremony.
We offer this program internationally with Senior Teachers and Teachers in North America, Europe, and Latin America. Participation involves both online and in-person retreat commitments with monthly group Zoom sessions, individual teacher-mentor sessions, personal retreats, and weeklong, in-person, group retreats.
May – June 2025
Online via Zoom
Open to All
English & Spanish
Learn each of the core 3 Doors practices with our Senior Teachers in four transformative online half-day retreats.
“The 3 Doors Academy program helps you unleash your full potential and truly transform your being. As you transform, you can see the impact on others—your family, coworkers, friends, relatives, and society.“
Frank Jeri
North American Academy 7: April 2024 – October 2026
In progress online with retreats in Virginia, USA
Sign up for updates about the next North American Academy
European Academy 3: November 2024 – March 2027
In progress online with retreats in Belgium
Sign up for updates about the next European Academy
Latin American Academy 3: September 2025 – March 2028
Scheduled to begin in September in Brazil and online
Learn more and apply
Each retreat offers the opportunity to go deeper into your practice with the support of your teachers and peers. These retreats are followed by six months of online support and self-directed coursework including readings, videos, practice and written assignments.
The first group retreat introduces the abiding practice of the inner refuge. Through focusing and resting your attention on the stillness of the body, silence of inner speech, and spaciousness of mind, you discover the unbounded spaciousness of your nature, the light of awareness, and spontaneous, genuine warmth. The inner refuge is the foundation of the Academy training and your capacity to abide within it is deepened and strengthened in all subsequent retreats.
You will explore the practices of the Nine Breathings of Purification and the Tsa Lung (exercises of breath and movement). These practices enable you to increase your awareness of the subtle energy channels and centers in the body in order to clear limiting patterns of reactivity, discover fresh and open awareness, and express yourself in a more authentic way. These practices are presented in Awakening the Sacred Body by Tenzin Wangyal.
The focus of the second group retreat is to rest more deeply in the inner refuge and experience the gifts of spaciousness, awareness, and warmth. In addition to continuing with the previous practices of the body, you will learn the practice of the Five Warrior Syllables, a practice which explores the power of sound and silence to release subtle obscurations and support the emergence of authentic presence and creative expression. This practice is presented in Tibetan Sound Healing by Tenzin Wangyal.
You will be introduced to the Fivefold Practice, a contemplative practice using five lines of pith meditation instruction through which no experience is rejected, and instead becomes the doorway to truly seeing, self-liberating, and discovering the generative power of awareness. The book used to clarify these teachings and practices is Tenzin Wangyal’s Awakening the Luminous Mind.
The theme of the fourth group retreat is deepening the recognition and experience of the collective healing power of the inner refuge. You will look at how familial, ancestral, cultural, and world pain lives within you and engage your practice within the support of the group to become aware of this collective pain, to host and embrace it, and to explore what becomes available in so doing. As communal pain releases, you are inspired to act from a greater sense of kindness and compassion for the welfare of others.
The theme of the fifth group retreat is discovering the spontaneous positive qualities that arise from open awareness. Meditation is not a passive process. As you abide in inner refuge, limiting patterns of ego release, enabling you to experience the emergence of inspiration and creativity. In this retreat you will practice allowing fresh insights and expressions to manifest from the clear and open space of your practice.
The focus of the sixth group retreat is to deepen the recognition and experience of the spontaneously arising fruit of one’s practice, to celebrate the benefits of your practice, and to dedicate the merit of your practice to the welfare of others. We examine what blocks and what supports the spontaneous expression of compassion in our lives. This retreat includes the formal graduation ceremony in which Senior Teachers confer the transmission of the inner refuge and welcome the graduates into the worldwide community of 3 Doors practitioners.
Senior Teacher Marcy Vaughn discusses the power of reflection and practice within the support of community.
The 3 Doors Academy is a 2.5 year commitment of focus and energy. You will be invited to fulfill these requirements:
Upon completion of the Academy you will join a rich, international community of fellow graduates. There is value and joy in continuing to come together to refresh your practice, renew past relationships, and foster new ones.
There will be opportunities to organize with your own Academy for further gatherings as well as come together with the larger graduate community for guided practices, sharing experiences and learning.
None scheduled at this time.
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