An exciting experiment…..
This retreat will be an entirely outdoor retreat (unless it rains!) at Pomo Tierra, my collective home in Mendocino County. The meditation part will be led by Kirsten Rudestam, a wonderful Vipassana teacher, outdoor and eco enthusiast, and in previous lives a university professor in the environmental worlds. See below for more info. And yours truly will lead the yoga aspect with both of us exploring the natural world as guru in silence and movement, an embodied expression of the dharma.
Knowing Our True Nature – An earth-based meditation yoga retreat
This is a silent, nature-based Buddhist Insight meditation and Hatha yoga retreat. It offers practitioners the opportunity to deepen their connection with the body, community and the natural world through meditation instruction, yoga sessions, and deep listening to the earth body internally and externally. We will be camping at Pomo Tierra, an 80-acre apple farm and collective with access to hiking trails, an oak grove, and natural waters. Meditation and yoga practitioners of all levels of experience are welcome. Practice periods include silent and guided sitting, walking meditation, yoga sessions, and Dharma talks. Sitting, walking meditation and yoga will be led outdoors, weather permitting.
The sponsor of this event is Off the Grid Retreats whose mission is to provide opportunities in nature for all people to gather & practice and envisions a future where humanity is motivated to heal our strained relationship with the environment. This is Kirsten’s and my intention also!
Registration is opens - Registration will be through Off the Grid at this link: lower prices for those bringing their own camping equipment.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/knowing-our-true-nature-an-earth-based-meditation-yoga-retreat-tickets-1054511063979?aff=oddtdtcreator
This is a dana based retreat and the registration payment to Off The Grid (OTG) covers food, camping accommodation, insurance and basic supplies. After the retreat, participants will be invited to offer dana to the teacher/s and to OTG for admins expenses, if inclined to do so.
Kirsten Rudestam is an environmental educator, wilderness guide, and meditation teacher. She has a PhD in Environmental Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz where she studied political ecology, sense of place, and environmental justice. Kirsten has fifteen years of experience teaching environmental field courses, nature-based meditation programs and guiding wilderness expeditions. She is trained as a vision fast guide through the School of Lost Borders and is a facilitator for Joanna Macy’s Work that Reconnects. Kirsten has been practicing vipassana meditation since 2001 and graduated from Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders Program in 2005.