Retreats

BEING LOVE: A Weekend Retreat on the Heart of Who We Are

With Caverly Morgan and Latifa Till

May 17 - 19, 2024

Serenity Ridge (VA)

Have you ever longed for Love but felt as though it was out of reach? Do you ever feel that the busyness of your life gets in the way of the love you seek? Does your attachment to “being right” ever get in the way of simply Being?

Join Latifa and Caverly for this deep exploration of Love with a capital L. We’ll not only work with practices that support the remembrance of Love, but together we'll unpack what tends to get in the way. Given all that is going on in our world right now, remembering Love is more important than ever. 

This retreat will include time for silence, time to be relational, sitting and walking meditation, Sufi practices including the Dances of Universal Peace, and a Japanese Tea Ceremony. This retreat will be held in the container of “relational dharma” and on the cultivated sacred space of Serenity Ridge Bon retreat center during the breathtaking Virginia spring.

Note: This retreat will be a blend of silent and relational practice. As a collective, we will be observing silent hours from evening practice sessions through breakfasts. The remaining hours will be open to relational practice. However, everyone will have the option to be in silence throughout the entirety of the retreat.

Scholarships

We are offering a limited number of $100 scholarships for people who identify as BIPOC and/or are part of a marginalized community as well as for those experiencing financial hardship. You can learn more and apply HERE. Interested in contributing to the scholarship fund? Thank you! You can do so HERE.

Registration Note: You will need to select both a Lodging Package that includes meals ($280-$535 pp) AND a Sliding Scale Tuition option ($150-$200-$250 pp.)

THE ACT OF BEING: A Whidbey Island Summer Retreat

With Caverly Morgan and Zakiya Rhodes

July 22 - 28, 2024

Whidbey Institute (WA)

Our liberation is the act of being.

Our liberation is Love itself.

~Caverly

This retreat is about the act of being (a phrase that has been used to encompass many knowings and philosophies, from the Catholic philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas to Mullā Ṣadrā, an Islamic mystic, philosopher, and theologian). It’s about knowing a happiness you can’t explain because you have no reason to point to. The joy of pure being. Of knowing who you are, resting in presence, and acting in the world on behalf of this deep knowing. 

On this retreat we will explore the act of being in many ways. Honoring the various pathways that support us in remembering our true nature. Freed from the conditioned loop of seeking and resisting, we remember and move from our direct experience of awareness itself.

This summer, we invite you to remember the truth of who we are with us. We invite you to reconnect as we gather for our cherished tradition of retreat, to heal. To be nourished. To clearly see what tends to get in the way when something does. To let it go and return to presence. 

Our time together will be held in the container of the Whidbey Institute. Nestled amongst a 106-acre conservation forest campus on South Whidbey Island, WA, the Whidbey Institute is dedicated to nurturing the conditions for transformational learning and growth.

Our home for the week will be a community of farm houses and cabins dotting the meadow and forest, with delicious organic meals prepared especially for our group by the Institute’s chef. Our daily rhythm will include meditation, community discussion, and individual sessions with Caverly. This retreat experience will be deeply enhanced by the embodied movement practices offered by the gifted Zakiya Rhodes. 

There will be plenty of free time to explore the trail system, wander the gardens, as well as rest. Deeply rest. Rest the mind. Rest the body. Rest into the heart of awareness itself. 

The retreat will have extended periods of silence as well as time for connecting in other ways. It is a hybrid retreat–both relational and silent. Connecting with old friends, meeting new ones, all while connecting deeply with ourselves. Resting in true nature, together. Acting on behalf of the heart of who we are. Acting from being.

We hope you will join us, friends!

Scholarships

We are offering three types of limited scholarship: for people who identify as BIPOC and/or part of a marginalized community; for those experiencing financial hardship; and for Whidbey Island residents. You can learn more and apply HERE. Interested in contributing to the scholarship fund? Thank you! You can do so HERE.

NONDUALITY IN NATURE: The Direct Path of Beauty and Love

With Caverly Morgan and Johann Robbins

August 4 - 10, 2024

Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center (CO)

Our true nature is awareness and love. Peace and happiness, which we all long for, underly the strivings of the limited sense of self, or ego. When we relax into being, all is well.

Being in the natural world invites us into this relaxation, directly experiencing the beauty around us, and the appreciation, gratitude, and love that arise in response. Being in the mountains in the soft gentle time of high summer–with green meadows, alive forests, abundant wildflowers, high peaks adorned with snowy caps, the running creek, and all the birds, moose, deer, elk, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and others–is an ideal place and time to remember the heart of who we are. Here we are invited to return to our true nature, in nature. What a gift. 

As we meditate, walk, converse, and share retreat space together, a natural sense of ease and belonging can come to the forefront of our experience. The wanting and aversion, seeking and resisting, of the conditioned mind begins to quiet. Without effort or struggle, separation dissolves and we are free to drop into love and connection. This is the Direct Path–not an effort, learning, or set of practices, but a natural and effortless connection to our very being, to the heart of who we are, which always has and always will be here.

This retreat will be informal and relaxed with ample time for teaching, guiding, support and discussion, as well as free time to explore what is being offered in whatever way is right for you. The schedule will have times to be open and relational, allowing the love that naturally arises to flow as a conversation between and among participants in our human, social way. We will also have silent times to rest in the heart of who we are, together.

The Direct Path is not based on effort or technique, but is instead a relaxed falling back into our true nature, our being. If you have been practicing any form of Buddhism, Zen, or Mindfulness, have heard about the Direct Path or Non-Duality, or just feel drawn to a natural and deep approach to being in nature, this retreat will be a unique opportunity to explore, experience, love and enjoy. 

Save the Dates!

• Self-Compassion retreat with Caverly and Dr. Kristin Neff December 10-15, 2024 (WA)

• Annual Whidbey Summer Retreat July 28-August 3, 2025 (WA)