How to Embrace Suffering
4 - 10 Nov
Silent Retreat | Lama’s Home Village | Extension possible
Yuksom, Nambu
Limited to 6 places
The Flagship is my firstborn, the essence of Feels Like Om. It contains equal parts of community intensive and time in the mountains. You will get to know the family that took me in like one of their own, the villagers who helped me see life through their lens, and the mountains that held space for me every time I surrendered to them in stillness.
Not all of us have the luxury of time for slow travel, but The Flagship lets you have a taste of that. Ease yourself into how life is lived in Yuksom, the days are unhurried but your hands are busy and your heart is full. You will help out with butter churning, follow the village women out for foraging, sit by the campfire engaging in conversations about life and everything that matters.
Try not to cry on the last day when you have to say goodbye. Oh wait, there’s no goodbye in Sikkim, only see you again.
“You’re honouring the reciprocal relationship between nature and humans. The way everyone lives has such intentionality, in spirit, emotion, body and mind.”
Tang En (2026 April)
“A simple life being contented and intentional, focused lesser on what we do, but who we are and the good impact we leave on this world.”
Heather (2026 April)
“Community. Realising that choosing to love with a genuine heart is something that no riches can buy.”
Bing Ming (2025 & 2024 December)
“Sikkim has shown me how community and relationships are indeed the greatest currency in life.”
Amos (2025 December)
Retreat Schedule
Day 1: Welcome
Arrival
Group dinner with Tshampo
Group meditation
Settle in at Ejam Residency
Day 2-5: Silent Retreat
Group meditation
Breakfast
Discourse
Group meditation
Lunch
Rest / 1-1 sessions
Discourse at Dubdi Monastery
Individual meditation at Dubdi Monastery
Rest / 1-1 sessions
Dinner
Discourse
Group dedication & Metta meditation
Group conversations, Q&A
Day 6: Tshampo’s home village
Breakfast
Drive to Nambu
Gratitude puja
Explore Nambu village
Day 7: Farewell
Pheri bhetum / let’s meet again
Day 8: Trek rest day (▲3340m)
Sunrise & sunset in the mountains
Rest and stillness in the mountains
Deep conversations about life
Short walks from campsite
Day 9: Back to Yuksom
Break camp after breakfast
Descend back to Lamathang
Return to Yuksom by car
Day 10: Rest / Wildcard
Room for spontaneity
Cold plunge by the waterfall
Dip in a hotspring
Day 11: Farewell
Pheri bhetum | let’s meet again
Spring brings flowers, especially high-altitude rhododendrons, whereas winter brings clear skies and zero to low rainfall. Temperatures in spring range between 10-15℃. In winter, it’s around 5-10℃, sometimes 0℃ at night.
To be very honest, no weather forecast can predict the weather on the mountains — we’ve had rainfall in winter and snowfall in spring. We’ll see what the mountains bring us.
Your well-being is very important to us: A-frame tents, 4-inch thick mattresses, down sleeping bags, camping pillow, fleece blanket, hot water bag, dining tent with table and chairs, toilet tent with commode, and five-course meals three times a day. Everything else, the mountains shall provide.
Prior hiking experience would help you, but it’s not strictly necessary. We’ve had a dear guest who celebrated her 50th birthday with this being her first ever trek. A reasonable level of fitness and stamina is required.
Expect steep stretches for the majority of the way, but we will take short breaks from time to time. While technical climbing skills are not required, good balance, especially while walking downhill on rocky terrain is a huge bonus.
A pre-trip meeting and pre-trek briefing will be arranged to better prepare you mentally and logistically.
As a sign of respect, it’s important that we ask the mountains for permission before starting the trek, and thank the mountains for safe passage after the trek.
Accommodation
Ejam Residency is a three-storey home in Yuksom, and the Ejam family who built it stays on the second storey. You’ll know instantly the moment you step inside why I always insist on putting up Feels Like Om guests here.
Private bathrooms, hot showers, laundry, and WIFI — but past guests speak fondly of conversations shared with the family in the kitchen, mornings on the lawn, afternoons in the library, and one guest’s favourite morning ritual: taking huge mouthfuls of fresh air from the balcony.
Meals
Breakfast is usually on the lawn. Durga decides what you’re eating, it might be buckwheat pancakes one day and alu puri the next. There is always fresh fruit, hot tea and coffee, and the spread rotates daily.
Dinner is omakase. The cooking here isn’t what you find in restaurants. What is served on your dinner table might be cowrie, thentuk, iskus ko munta, or a pumpkin soup from their garden. Nettle soup. Fiddlehead ferns. Edible flowers.
If you want something to drink alongside your meal, there is homemade rhododendron wine, Sikkim-made rum, whiskey, or Tongba, a fermented millet drink, served warm in a bamboo cup, for you to sip from a bamboo straw.
Villagers’ time, energy, experience and knowledge
Exclusive cultural access built on years of relationship
7 nights of single/double accommodation at Ejam Residency
7 breakfasts
7 dinners
Guided village walk & introduction to medicinal plants
Street food tour
Organic butter churning and cheese making workshop
Organic homestay wood-fired lunch
Guided women-led foraging hike
Outdoor cooking experience
Bamboo basket weaving workshop
1 cook & 2 assistant cooks
2 trained trekking guides
Dzos & dzo guide
All kitchen & camping equipment, including toilet tent
Multi-course breakfast, lunch, dinner during trek
Personalised guidance for all visa and flight-related bookings, including a pre-trip meeting and direct access for all your queries
Cost Inclusions
Visa and insurance
Some lunches
Personal expenses, e.g. laundry, souvenirs, alcohol
Tips for homestay hosts, guides, porters, cooks, and drivers (recommended)
Exclusions
Other Journeys
Best of West
Way of the Yaks
Feels Like Home