Date: Friday, August 6, 2021 – Sunday, August 15, 2021

Location: Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center, Jamestown, Colorado

Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center is an ideal location for nature meditation retreats. The area is extraordinarily beautiful, pristine and peaceful, with a wide variety of trails, wildflower-covered alpine meadows, creeks, and rocky crags. The mountains, forests and river naturally work to settle the mind, while living and practicing together creates personal connections and mutual support.

The Combined Retreat, which includes the Ecodharma Training Retreat and the Silent Meditation Retreat, is for Dharma Leaders and Experienced Practitioners.

Part 1: Ecodharma Training Retreat, August 6 – 15, 2021

The ecological crisis is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced. And now it has spawned the Coronavirus. Are you feeling overwhelmed? How does modern dharma help us understand and engage with all of this? New teachings and practices are now emerging in response to the realities of the current situation: ecodharma.

This is a ten-day experiential immersion into ecodharma, specifically for dharma teachers, leaders, and committed practitioners. Our sense of separation from nature is at the root of the ecological crises our civilization faces, and ecodharma is a path of deconstructing that separation, reuniting our inner nature with outer nature. Ecodharma practice is about healing our relationship with the rest of the natural world, so that an appropriate and authentic response can arise, which unifies our personal and spiritual transformation with social engagement. In this time of pandemic, and ecological and social crisis, the earth calls upon us to do what we can in response.

In the first few days we will connect deeply with the natural world, grounding ourselves in the joys of being and practicing outside, while building a supportive but safe sangha. Then we will begin to explore the dark side of our relationship with nature: the grief, fear, anger, and guilt we feel while watching the earth’s climate and ecosystems deteriorate, along with increasing social, economic and political unraveling. Together we will touch into eco-trauma and eco-grief, including the trauma and grief of the pandemic; working with them while supported by deepening nature practice and sangha relationships. Then, after detailed preparation, there will be a two and a half day/two-night solo, in which solitude and silence increase our individual capacity to see, hear, and feel the connections between our inner and outer nature. Afterwards we gather together again for integration and finding our ways forward.

This training retreat is not about teaching or learning a prescribed method, and a lot of the program and forms are experimental and flexible. Both individually and collectively, we will respond appropriately to the situation at the time we gather. Our goal is to support and catalyze deep personal learning that you can apply to your own dharma leadership and teaching, in order to develop ecodharma in your own way. The uniqueness and authenticity of our own experience shapes how each of us practices, leads and teaches dharma, and this training will incorporate into that process as well. Our hope is that this experience informs, motivates, and empowers you to bring ecodharma into your dharma and your life.

The daily schedule will include instruction and practice in both sitting and walking meditation in nature, Q&A, discussion and sharing, a dharma talk, individual one-to-one meetings with the teachers, and open practice time as well. The intention is to co-create an ecodharma lab, where we are all experientially learning together and discovering the best ways to do this crucial work.

There will be a one day solo on Sunday, August 15th.

If you would like to do a longer retreat, you can stay for a silent retreat for the second week. Find more detail on RMERC.