I started this path with an eight week program at Karmê Chöling. It was a transformative experience, particularly the dathün or monthlong meditation intensive in the middle. The transformation was simply a moment of direct experience. After three weeks of sitting with a nonstop, churning mind, I suddenly experienced a full gap in my thoughts and I clearly and vividly saw the room I was in. It was such a profound difference, that when the gap closed up, I spent the last week trying to being full present in that room again, to no avail. Still that glimpse of unfabricated openness was unforgettable, and my path began in earnest.