Memory Bridge Asia Training Retreat

We’re excited to announce the first ever Memory Bridge Asia Training Retreat at Bodhi Heart Sanctuary in George Town, Malaysia. The Retreat will be held October 20-25, 2026.

 

We will cover all of the expenses of the selected participants, except for travel. Applications are open to all residents of Asia who share their lives, professionally or personally, with one or more persons with dementia. Participants in other retreats have included CNAs, therapists of all kinds (e.g., art, music, and occupational), activity directors, social workers, nurses, chaplains, medical students, artists, teachers, residential and home healthcare administrators, and family carers.

The Retreat is based on our “I Am a Bridge” training that positions people with dementia in the roles of teacher, guide, and companion. The central experience of the five-day retreat is the daily meetings with the elders with dementia who live in a nearby residential community and participate in the program.

 

In addition to the one-to-one and group visits with people with dementia, the experience incorporates daily meditation and extensive reflection to aid participants in connecting with themselves and with others on a profound level. The retreat includes presentations, facilitated discussions, videos, literature, breath work, yoga and movement, sound resonance healing, and many hours of informal conversations with the other participants.

Interested in Participating? 

Applications for the 2026 Asia Training Retreat are now closed. If you submitted an application and have not received a confirmation email, please contact us.

While the retreat schedule for this year has not yet been set, you can click below to see what we’ve done in years past during our annual US retreat.

Memory Bridge Retreat Video

Retreat Setting

Located in the Mount Erskine neighborhood of George Town, the capital of the Malaysian state of Penang, Penang Bodhi Heart Sanctuary is a non-sectarian Buddhist meditation centre. Established in 2006, it is open to people of all backgrounds and religious as a place of reflection and renewal.

The centre is surrounded by 8.4 acres of lush gardens and greenery, its buildings constructed to exist in harmony with nature. While you are there, you’ll have the opportunity to wander its paths, discovering statues, fountains, and courtyards, as well as two tea houses. The grounds border the Botanical Forest Reserve, part of the Penang Hill UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Retreat participants will be housed in the Bodhi Heart Sanctuary dormitories. The cost of housing and meals will be covered by the scholarship.

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  • Patricia Lichtenberger with Gytha Von Aldenbruck, a long-time Memory Bridge advocate, in a scene from the documentary Love Is Listening: Dementia Without Loneliness.
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  • Sometimes I feel like my decision to work in an assisted living facility for people with dementia isolates me from a certain "normal" world that is going on without me. The retreat, however, allowed me to feel like I am right where I need to be, in terms of mattering as an important part of society.

    Joshua Crane, West Hatfield, Massachusetts

  • I often feel alone at work as I try to change the culture of the places where I work to recognize the humanness, the person who remains with the dis-ease of dementia. Having been at the Memory Bridge Retreat I now feel that I have hands and hearts holding me in my work. The experience has changed me as an OT [occupational therapist].

    Nancy Dubuar, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • This once in a lifetime experience was beyond anything I could have imagined; I arrived with an open heart and mind, hoping to learn, to grow, and to expose myself to new opportunities and challenges. The treasure I left with was a bounty so rich I was both fulfilled and overwhelmed.

    Angela Christie, Clinton, Connecticut

  • The impact of the retreat is with me daily. At some moment each day some piece of what we talked about comes to the forefront and sits with me as I make decisions on how to move my organization further and do the best I can for my residents.

    Rebekah Levit, Waltham, Massachusetts

  • In this room of accomplished, dedicated, educated, experienced dementia practitioners, we were open to wonderment and continually amazed at the human spirit. How wonderful spending a week being cared for. The retreat center was the perfect place.

    Nancy Sondag, New York City

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