We’re not offering solutions to the challenges you might be facing or answers to the questions you’re puzzling over.

We’re offering something  much simpler:

Time and space to hear your own wisdom and truth.

We believe that every one of us is our own best authority. Somewhere inside us we have the answers, the ideas, and the solutions to the challenges we face and chase. We all have an “inner teacher.”

Many things can stand in the way of hearing that inner voice: external events, worries, obligations, distractions, and just plain busyness. What we’ve learned to do is create a space where you can put those things aside for a few moments and listen calmly to your own inner teacher.

Our work is grounded in the Courage & Renewal Approach ® developed by Parker J. Palmer and The Center for Courage & Renewal. At the heart of this approach are some simple, profound principles and practices.

No fixing. 

One of the first guidelines we invite participants to follow is to commit to no fixing, no advising and no correcting each other. This helps create a space where we are free from external judgement, and that in turn allows us to engage more honestly with ourselves and hear that inner teacher.

Solitude and Community. 

Solitude is essential to inner work and hearing the voice within. All our retreats offer time for quiet, private, uninterrupted reflection. That reflection can take many forms: writing, drawing, singing, gazing out the window – whatever helps you tune into your own thoughts and feelings.

Paradoxically, Community is also critical to inner work. Every retreat also allows time for conversations with one or two other participants. These conversations allow us to bring the thoughts arising within us to emerge into the world outside. As we speak we hear our own thoughts in a fresh way. And as we listen to and witness others we become more aware of how we are connected.

Invitation.

Perhaps the most important principle we follow is this:

everything that is offered in our retreats is an invitation and that’s all. Each person participates to the extent and depth they choose.

Ultimately, our retreats are a space for self-care in service of ourselves,  each other, and the planet we inhabit. Parker Palmer puts it this way:

“Self-care is never a selfish act – it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer others. Anytime we can listen to true self and give the care it requires, we do it not only for ourselves, but for the many others whose lives we touch.”

― Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation

This is our invitation to you to join us. We won’t ask you to set aside your doubts and fears, bring them along. We’ll welcome you just as you are and we’ll invite you to do the same. We’ll follow gentle guidelines that create a different way of being together, nurturing trustworthy space for reflection, contemplation and dialogue. Participate to the extent that’s comfortable for you.

Come with a problem, or don’t. You’ll find a calm, open space where you can set aside the noisy world and your busy thoughts, and engage with whatever matters most to you – a question, a dilemma, a next step. Or, maybe, a simple moment of peace.