What if meditation could help us feel our way back into a fully alive world?
This Buddhist retreat is a collective experiment in decentering the human and rediscovering our place as kin within a more-than-human world. Much practice will take place outdoors, opening channels of communication with creeks and dewdrops, beavers and birds, maples and goldenrod, breeze and boulders.
Drawing on animist elements already carried forward within Buddhist traditions, we will explore how the capacities we cultivate in meditation—stillness, deep listening, a receptiveness to being changed—can be oriented to re-enchant our relationships within the more-than-human world.
A felt sense of relationship with an animated world reveals the delusion of separate consciousness that reduces the Earth to inert matter, leaving devastated ecosystems, fractured human relationships, and the existential loneliness of living as subjects surrounded by endlessly extractable objects.
Together, we will create conditions for re-enchantment and for awakening to the vast, living web of relationships in which we are already held..
The Buddhist and animist practices explored in this retreat offer spiritual grounding for ecological engagement and a more Earth-aware contemplative practice for those comfortable meditating on their own.
Program Format: Because this retreat is oriented to the Earth as our main teacher and sacred space, most sessions will consist of an orientation where practice instructions are offered, followed by time for individual practice out on the land, complemented by group discussions, contemplative writing exercises, dharma talks, and opening and closing community rituals.
A significant portion of the time will be spent outdoors. Please note any access needs in the Comments section of the registration form, and bring a hat (with a bug net if possible), sunscreen, layers, a watch, waterproof footwear, and protection from insects and weather.
This retreat is funded by the BESS Family Foundation.
Note: To ensure participant commitment and attendance, a $100 registration deposit is required and can be refunded upon completion of the full program. To receive a refund after completing the program, please contact us. There is a $100 cancellation fee.