Programme

What we will do together, and when — from the first online exchanges to the conversations that continue after December.

When

Dates

Before December: Your RSVP, accessed through your invitation email; the registration form, accessed through RSVP; a personal invitation to MIND after registration; and two online sharing sessions.
11–13 December · Optional: Encounters and Immersion. Welcome dinner on 11 December.
14–15 December: Dialogue and Co-creation. The heart of the gathering.
16–18 December · Optional: National Day and Reflection.

The great Buddha statue at Buddha Point, gold against forested hills under a wide sky of broken cloud

Working together

How we will work together

GaME offers time to explore how our different roles could support the development of a mindful economy in GMC and beyond.

Experience and perspectives: Bring the work you are part of, the questions you carry and the knowledge you would like to exchange.
Emerging initiatives: Explore initiatives with fellow participants and consider what relationships, capabilities or support could help them develop.
Relationships and collaboration: Meet people whose work connects with yours and discuss possible collaborations and next steps.
Service and shared provision: Approach the gathering through care, fair remuneration and voluntary giving towards the conditions that make our time together possible.

A gathering about a mindful economy should work like one. Everyone who takes part also helps carry it — through the work each of us brings, through the service that holds our days together, and through freely chosen giving that provides the gathering’s shared conditions. In Bhutan, these ways of carrying things together have living names — Zhabtog, selfless service, and Jinpa, free-hearted generosity — and the Offerings page shows how they shape the week. Your decision to give, and its measure, are yours.

A forest trail in Bhutan with walkers on the path, in dappled light

Context

Bhutanese initiatives and perspectives

Bhutanese institutions, enterprises, and practitioners bring ongoing work and emerging ideas to this shared endeavour. GaME offers an opportunity to explore where those efforts connect and what collaborations could support them.

Before December, the online sharing sessions will introduce relevant initiatives and invite participants to consider where their experience and interests might contribute.

Public institutions: Policy, governance and institutional capabilities that could support this economy.
Enterprise: Entrepreneurs and enterprises exploring how their work can contribute to wider benefit.
Knowledge and education: Research, learning and capability development connected to this endeavour.
Civil society and ecosystem: Community organisations, networks and intermediaries whose work can connect people and support collaboration.

A covered market hall under a timber-beamed roof

A young woman in a blue and red robe painting a detailed thangka of a deity among flames and clouds

Taktsang monastery clinging to a sheer rock face, with the sun flaring above the cliff

The journey

Before December and beyond

The week offers different settings for a shared purpose. An introduction may develop into an institutional exchange, a conversation over a meal or a possible collaboration discussed in a working session.

The core gathering begins with a contemporary expression of Zhudrey Phuensum Tshogpa, guided by Bhutanese hosts. Each participant brings a small gift from home and the story that goes with it, so that we become acquainted through what we bring. Practical guidance will be shared before the gathering.

Before DecemberDiscovery and connectionMIND and two online sharing sessions connect participants.
Two facilitated online sharing sessions will bring Bhutanese and international participants into conversation before December. We hope to identify shared interests and consider how different roles could contribute to the ecosystem-building work.
Once you have completed your registration, you will receive a personal MIND invitation at your email address. This AI-guided conversation will invite you to share your work, interests and aspirations, including the connections and questions you would value exploring.
- What are you working on?
- Where could your experience contribute?
- What would you like to explore with others?
11–13 DecemberOptionalEncounters and ImmersionThimphu: institutions, enterprise, culture and nature.
The first days bring institutional and enterprise exchanges together with cultural visits, contemplative practice and time in nature. See options below. Bhutanese and international participants can share perspectives on the practical conditions and values that could support a mindful economy.
A welcome dinner on 11 December opens our time together. On 12 December, orientation is followed by institutional engagements, lunch and contemplation at Semtokha Dzong, and enterprise encounters at the startup centre. On 13 December, choose further institutional engagements and cultural, contemplative or nature experience.
- Culture and contemplative practice
- Nature and wellbeing
- Enterprise encounters
- Institutional exchanges
Practical details for each experience — timing, walking demands, costs and guidance for religious settings — follow in the registration form and your welcome packet.
Institutional exchangesThimphuMeet people working within Bhutanese institutions and explore how their work may connect with a mindful economy.
These exchanges invite discussion of policy, education, enterprise and the capabilities that could support GMC’s development.
Your interests will help shape your institutional engagements.
Enterprise encountersThimphuVisit the startup centre to meet Bhutanese social entrepreneurs and hear about the enterprises they are developing.
Entrepreneurs and fellow participants can exchange perspectives on the opportunities, capabilities and relationships that help enterprises develop.
Semtokha DzongThimphuJoin lunch and prayers with monks at Semtokha Dzong as part of the immersion days.
We invite you to encounter this spiritual setting with our hosts and take time to reflect within the rhythm of the day.
Wangditse and contemplative practiceThimphuChoose a hike to Wangditse, a monastery visit and guided meditation if you are drawn to movement, quiet and time outdoors.
Yoga and sound practices are also part of this experience.
The route also includes a visit to Takin Park.
Art and cultural encountersThimphuChoose a route through Changangkha Lhakhang, the craft bazaar, RTA and VAST for encounters with religious, craft and artistic settings in Thimphu.
These encounters invite attention to how cultural knowledge is practised, taught and shared.
Traditional painting and astrologyThimphuVisit Choki Painting School for an introduction to traditional painting through time with the people practising and teaching it.
This option also includes an encounter with the Institute of Astrology.
Druk Wangyel Tshechu13 DecemberChoose to attend Druk Wangyel Tshechu on 13 December and spend part of the day encountering the festival with guidance from Bhutanese hosts.
Reflection at Buddha Point13 DecemberLunch and a period of reflection or guided meditation at Buddha Point offer a pause before the journey to Paro.
We invite you to reflect on the encounters of the preceding days and the questions you would like to carry into our discussions.
14–15 DecemberDialogue and Co-creationThe heart of the gathering, in Paro.
We will gather in Paro to explore the ecosystem for a mindful economy in GMC. We invite discussion of emerging initiatives and the relationships, capabilities, finance and institutional support that could help them develop.
The programme draws on the pre-gathering exchanges and participants’ questions, bringing deep dialogue, leading voices, mindfulness immersion, and collaboration sessions focused on co-creating the future of GMC. Working sessions move from shared questions towards possible collaborations and next steps, alongside time for contemplative practice and reflection.
We hope to begin with a contemporary expression of Zhudrey Phuensum Tshogpa, guided by Bhutanese hosts. Bring a small, shareable gift from your home or community, together with its story. Practical guidance will be shared before the gathering.
What could we take forward together, and what would help it develop?
16–18 DecemberOptionalNational Day and ReflectionParo encounters and Bhutan’s 119th National Day.
Continue conversations through cultural visits, walks, wellness experiences and meals in Paro. Choose a Tiger’s Nest (Taktsang) hike or visits to Kyichu Lhakhang, the National Museum and Paro town. A hot stone bath, spa experience or time to rest offers another way to spend the afternoon, followed by a bonfire dinner on 16 December.
On 17 December, choose to join National Day celebrations, with travel from Paro to Thimphu and back. Attendance details will be shared in line with official arrangements. You may also remain in Paro, choose a personalised itinerary or depart according to your plans.
Departure arrangements on 18 December will follow participants’ travel details.
Tiger’s Nest (Taktsang) hikeParoChoose a hike to Taktsang if you would welcome a walking experience in Paro.
It offers a different setting for time together, with the journey itself leaving room for conversation and reflection.
Kyichu Lhakhang and the National MuseumParoA route combining Kyichu Lhakhang, the National Museum and a walk through Paro town offers another way to spend the morning.
We hope the visits can offer encounters with Bhutanese religious and cultural life, with hosts helping place what we see in context.
Wellness and time to restParoChoose a hot stone bath or spa experience during your time in Paro.
You may also prefer to leave time open for rest or a conversation begun earlier in the week.
An evening around the fire16 DecemberA bonfire dinner on 16 December offers time to gather again.
We hope to share reflections on the week and continue conversations about relationships and possibilities emerging from it.
National Day17 December · OptionalChoose to join Bhutan’s 119th National Day celebrations, convened by His Majesty the King, with travel from Paro to Thimphu and a return to Paro later in the day.
Attendance details will be shared in line with official arrangements.
After the gatheringContinuing the workRelationships, pilots and next steps.
We hope the relationships formed during GaME can support further ecosystem-building work. Participants may wish to continue an exchange, explore a pilot, develop a partnership or consider a shared research question.
We invite you to agree next steps with the people involved and let the organising team know where another conversation or introduction could help.
- Institutional relationships
- Pilots and projects
- Shared workstreams
- Research and knowledge exchange
- Enterprise partnerships

Masked dancers in brocade costumes and animal masks performing in a courtyard before a crowd at the Paro tshechu

Dancers in black and white winged costumes performing in a monastery courtyard, ringed by a large seated crowd

Your path to the gathering — RSVP, registration, stays and costs — lives on Plan Your Journey.

Continue: Plan Your Journey