with Igor Berkhin
Dzamling Gar, Tenerife, 24 – 29 November 2026
by Alessandra Burali
The retreat “Initial Practices for Entering the Path of Dzogchen and Preparing for the Four Chogzhags” held by Igor Berkhin, 2nd level Santi Maha Sangha (SMS) teacher, was mainly an intensive practice retreat of 6 hours of practice per day and was attended by 346 registered participants, most of them online. The onsite participants during the course went between 20 and 30 participants.
The retreat was organized in two parts; the first two days consisted in an introduction to SMS and explanation of some practices of “inner Rushen” such as “the secret Rushen for body”, the secret Rushen of voice”, “the secret Rushen of mind”, the practice of “training the mind by observation and investigation” of the origin of mind, where it disappears to, who is traveling the mind and which is its destination etc. Besides this, Igor also explained the practice of Guru Yoga of Kunjed Gyalpo. After the explanations we also practiced to get familiar with the respective visualizations and positions.
The remaining four days consisted of intensive practice only; 3 hours in the mornings and 3 hours in the afternoons aimed ONLY for onsite participants. The duration of each practice was more or less 45 min (with a brief initial explanations included for the newcomers).
Generally, the morning sessions began with the practice of the “secret Rushen of body”, followed by the practice of the “secret Rushen of mind or voice”. Then, after a brief break, the sessions concluded with the practice of Guru Yoga of Kunjed Gyalpo.
The afternoon sessions alternated with the practices of “secret Rushen of mind or voice” (depending on what we did in the morning) followed by the “training of mind by observation and investigation” with the concluding practice of Guru Yoga of Kunjed Gyalpo. These sessions also lasted about 45 minutes (with initial explanations included for the newcomers).
During the last day, 29th of October, Igor explained a shorter, but not less intensive version, on how to practice “the secret Rushen of mind” which we repeatied several times. As a conclusion of the retreat, he explained the practice of Guru Yoga of Yeshe Zangthal, which we also practiced several times.
The retreat was an enormous personal enrichment for all onsite participants. It was a real success; everyone was very enthusiastic and satisfied with the results they obtained and Igor was an excellent guide in transmitting to us his experience to make it ours.
