The Mekong Delta journey is a tapestry of Dharma and natural beauty, offering participants a rare opportunity to walk the path of mindfulness along one of the world’s most storied rivers. Join us aboard the elegant barge, RV Toum Tiou II for a Sacred Journey; a transformative retreat through the heart of Cambodia and Viet Nam, where inner stillness and outer discovery flow together.

The quality of our experiencing is deeply influenced by how we understand and engage with what is continually arising in our awareness. From a non-dual view, our ordinary daily life is inseparable from always present open awareness. This simultaneity invites us to engage intimately in our messy human lives as they are. With practice we might become familiar with always finding ourselves in the groundless middle of irresolvable contradictory experiencing. We want the peace of acceptance and we want the benefit of improvement. We want to protect our vivid sense of being a significant self and we never find this objectively existing self…  Bruce Tift

I have been in private practice since 1979, for many years as an LMFT, and now as a consultant. I taught at Naropa University for twenty-five years, worked in a psychiatric ward and as a family therapist with social services. In my twenties, I traveled for two years by motorcycle in Europe, North Africa, and overland to India and Nepal, where I first discovered Tibetan Buddhist teachings. I have worked as a laborer, clerk, postal worker, longshoreman, painter, truck driver, paper mill worker, and miner. I am the author of Already Free: Buddhism meets Psychotherapy on the Path of Liberation.  

My teachers have been my wife, Reva, my three daughters, the people I have worked with, and reality, which has consistently refused to become my preferences. For the last fifteen years, cancer and my aging body have also taught me a lot. I have had the good fortune to have been a student of Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, and to have met a number of realized teachers.

I am an old person, and I have found it incredibly interesting and life-giving to be as intimate as possible with the experience of aging and moving towards death. I have worked as a psychotherapist for more than 40 years. My special focus for sometime has been helping people with their experience of grief and loss. I have found that engaging directly with our fears around aging and death actually frees us to live in the present with more openheartedness and gratitude.

Franco Marini is a professor at the Daniels College of Business and works with the University of Denver on several educational experiential projects. He and Kay created Peak Empowerment and developed a division of a travel-based company providing personal and professional growth through specialized travel offerings.  One of Franco’s strongest attributes is his ability and knowledge of how to empower human development as it impacts the enhancement of individual strengths and results of an organization. One of his primary focal points is working with the attributes and contributions of individuals and empowering each participant to effectively break through barriers to achieve a level of being their very best. 

Kay is the main organizer and logistics expert for this retreat. Her background in international trade and finance, along with her attention to detail, ensures a high-quality experience for all. She stays in communication with everyone involved, keeping all aspects of the program seamlessly aligned. Kay also oversees participant wellness, supporting each guest from registration through their return home. As co-owner and vice-president of Peak Empowerment, she brings extensive global travel experience and cultural insight. Born and educated in British Guyana, she has worked across multiple continents, offering a deep commitment to service, connection, and meaningful experiences.