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ICON 2026: Dharma Trip to Denver
May 28 - May 31
ICON 2026: Dharma Trip to Denver
May 28 - 31, 2026Join Catherine Sensei & Sangha at the Integral Conference of North America (ICON)
Where Buddhist Dharma Meets Integral Vision
What happens when ancient wisdom traditions meet cutting-edge frameworks for collective awakening?
In May 2026, Catherine Sensei and Planet Dharma sangha will gather in Denver, Colorado for ICON 2026—the Integral Conference of North America. This isn’t just an opportunity to attend another conference. It’s an opportunity to be part of a living conversation between Buddhist Dharma and Integral philosophy, two powerful streams that share a vision of conscious evolution and collective transformation.
What to Expect
Triple Gem: Catherine Sensei and sangha will continue, as always, to use each moment on this Dharma Trip as an opportunity for teaching, growth, and connection together.
New Connections: Meet fellow practitioners, Integral enthusiasts, and change-makers from around North America.
Collective Exploration: Experience what emerges when Dharma practitioners gather within the Integral space.
Fresh Perspectives: Discover how Buddhist wisdom and Integral maps illuminate each other.
Why This Matters
We’re living in a pivotal moment. The challenges we face—from climate crisis to social fragmentation—can’t be solved by individual awakening alone. We need frameworks that honor both the wisdom of contemplative traditions and the complexity of modern life.
The Integral approach, pioneered by Ken Wilber and expanded by thinkers worldwide, offers a map for navigating this complexity. Combined with the liberating insights of Buddhadharma, it becomes a powerful catalyst for both personal and collective evolution.
Along with Qapel, Catherine Sensei has been an active voice in the Integral community, bringing Dharmic perspectives to conversations about conscious community, shadow work, and the path forward for humanity. Planet Dharma students are even helping to organize ICON 2026—a testament to the deep synergy between these approaches.
Building on Momentum
In 2025, Sensei and sangha attended the Integral European Conference (IEC), where Sensei offered her vision for redefining conscious community through an Integral lens. The response was profoundly positive—confirming that this “marriage” of Buddhadharma and Integral philosophy is exactly what our times are calling for.
Video: Catherine Sensei on Integral Evolution
Watch this introduction to Integral Evolution and why it matters for dharma practitioners today.
Want to understand more about Sensei’s Integral approach? Read her deep dive:
Join Us in Denver
Whether you’re deeply familiar with Integral Theory or completely new to it, you are welcome. Whether you’ve been practicing Dharma for decades or are just beginning to explore, there’s a place for you on this adventure with us.
This is an invitation to be part of something larger—a movement toward collective awakening that honors both the timeless and the timely.
Conference Details:
- Event: ICON 2026 – Integral Conference of North America
- Location: Denver, Colorado
- When: May 28-31, 2026
- Who: Open to all—Dharma practitioners, Integral enthusiasts, and the curious
You can register for the event here, using Planet Dharma’s affiliate link:
Want a taste of these conversations?
Watch Catherine Sensei in dialogue with Layman Pascal, a key voice in the Integral community, as they explore the intersection of Buddhist practice, shadow work, and collective awakening:
This rich exchange gives you a window into how Dharma and Integral frameworks illuminate each other—and why bringing these perspectives together at ICON 2026 matters.
Questions
Questions about joining the ICON 2026 Dharma trip? Contact [email protected]
Catherine Sensei & Layman Pascal: Buddhism Meets Integral
About Dharma Trips
How is a Dharma Trip different than a holiday?
It’s easy to mistake a dharma trip for a holiday somewhere exciting. However, dharma trips are not really about what you might see or do. Sure, sightseeing is great (and we will do a bunch of that), but dharma trips are really about bringing your growth and unfoldment to the road and to new environments. These trips are an opportunity to spend precious time with your dharma teachers and community in a new environment. It might be exciting, challenging, joyful and exhausting – all in one day, but whatever happens, we have an opportunity to practice and grow more conscious.
What are some ways to approach the trip?
- The trip is an opportunity to practice Meditation on the Fly
- Stay focused on the teachers, as they teach 24/7.
- Practice being in conscious community with sangha, as they are indispensable mirrors for our unfoldment. You might say that we can learn from ‘group guru’.
- An open mind and heart, and a spirit of adventure are excellent things to bring. It’s human to have some apprehensions about doing something new, meeting new people, or going to a new place. Particularly when all three happen together.
- Attention to details and schedules – always arrive early, 10 minutes before the teachers to keep the group moving as planned.
- Arrive with a spirit of generosity and a constant state of question – how can I grow? How can I support and engage with my Teachers and community as a bodhisattva in training?
Meet the Teacher
Catherine Pawasarat Sensei
Catherine Pawasarat Sensei is a contemporary Dharma teacher, consort, and co-founder of Planet Dharma and Clear Sky Retreat Center. In addition to Buddhist philosophy and its applications to daily life, Catherine also draws on generative living and universal spiritual tools including transpersonal astrology and Japanese arts.
She trained daily with Acariya Doug Duncan from 1998 until his passing in 2024, in an intensive spiritual apprenticeship that is rare in the modern West. She received lay ordination from Namgyal Rinpoche in 2003.
Past Dharma Trips Photo Gallery
Here are a selection of photos from 2019’s trip to Mexico (courtesy of Ava MacLean) and 2008’s trip to Bhutan (courtesy of Sarah Brayer):
Mexico trip 1
Mexico trip 2
Mexico trip 3
Mexico trip 4
Mexico trip 5 Lamas Boat
Bhutan trip 1
Bhutan trip 4
Bhutan trip 2
Bhutan trip 3
And, it is a tradition…
Namgyal Rinpoche’s Dharma Trips
Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche spent a great deal of time travelling with students, often on ships (usually freighters). They would sail from port to port, on an unpredictable schedule. The ship provided retreat-like conditions – a contained environment with nowhere to run (!), alongside opportunities to see new and interesting countries.
Doug Duncan Sensei speaks fondly of the many travel experiences he had with Namgyal Rinpoche:
I was on many of Namgyal Rinpoche’s freighter trips, at least 5 or 6 – the freighter’s job was to deliver goods, so you weren’t going to Paris, you went to unusual, obscure places in Africa, India, remote islands… While on the boat, there wasn’t a lot of distractions. Your meals and housekeeping were taken care of by the boat crew. There was no entertainment. There was no internet. You were there to do your dharma work, to study and meditate.
When we arrived at port we’d get off and do a tour or some exploration for a few days or a week, depending on how long the ship needed to be there unloading. The contained environment with no more than 15 students made for an intense ongoing day in day out experience. Everyone who had that experience came away more awakened than when they got on the boat.
Rinpoche later graduated from freighter style transport – he got involved with more exotic places and ways to travel. He took dive trips off the coast of Thailand and the South Pacific, he was on one of the first commercial trips via the North West Passage to the North Pole, he visited Antarctica. This was all by way of getting students away from their home country and typical engagements, getting them meditative, quiet, exploring and discovering.
–Doug Duncan Sensei, November 4, 2020