Rocky Mountain

Ecodharma Retreat Center

A Home for Meditation in Nature

Retreats

The RMERC Retreat Schedule

RMERC will offer a full season of in-person retreats in the summer of 2023. We do our best to offer a broad and diverse selection of retreats. Most retreats are dana-based, meaning that teachers are supported by donations at the end of the retreat, which keeps our costs low; a few retreats are tuition-based (see Registration FAQs for details). All dana-based programs offer scholarships to allow persons with limited funds to participate. Please email [email protected] with any questions. For leaders interested in holding a retreat at RMERC, click here.

Click the title or photo for more information.

Please check back in early-mid January for postings of 2023 retreats

Buddha Nature/Human Nature/Nature’s Nature

With Jon Aaron and Gulwinder “Gullu” Singh

June 5 – 10, 2023
We embody nature and nature embodies us and in this way, Buddha Nature the liberation which is available to all of us can shine through. This five-day silent meditation retreat will primarily take place in the forests and meadows on the magical 180 acres of RMERC land. As we practice walking meditation, sitting meditation and other mindfulness practices in these beautiful and peaceful surroundings, we begin to quiet and naturally reconnect with the wonder of nature both internally and externally. Spending time in our natural world, we realize more fully that we are not outside of nature and that we are subject to the same natural laws.

Awake in the Wild – Cultivating Awareness, Wisdom and Love in Nature

With Mark Coleman

June 11 – 18, 2023
In the spirit of the Buddha meditating in the forest, this serene silent retreat will be spent entirely outside in beautiful meadows, forests and mountains or Rocky Mountain Eco Dharma Center.  
Meditating outdoors helps awaken our sensitivity to the beauty of the natural world. It also opens our appreciation of nature as our teacher, and invites a wakefulness in every moment. 
By cultivating Awake in the Wild nature meditation practices we open our senses to the rich sensory world around us. By doing so, the heart opens to an intimate connection with life while sensing the sacred in every living thing. During our time together, we will use immersion in nature to cultivate a receptive, embodied quality of attention where states of joy, awe, wonder and love are easily accessible. The integration of awareness in nature will increase your capacity for well-being and inspired action and, deepen your connection with the web of life.

Freeing the Heart, Engaging the World

With Peter Williams and Carla Brennan

June 19 – 25, 2023
This retreat explores the rejuvenating power of deep connection with nature through meditation. When we connect with the simplicity of our senses in outdoor meditation, our minds get quiet and we marvel at the ordinary wonders around us – the spray of colors in a field of mountain flowers, a dewdrop on the tip of an aspen leaf, clouds scudding across the high peaks. Practicing in nature connects us with our care for the world. As a group, we will explore our gratitude for the natural world, our grief for our impact on it, and how to make engaging with our troubled world a part of our spiritual path. This retreat completes the circle of practice, joining the silence and joy of nature meditation with the bodhisattva activity of compassionate and courageous responsiveness to the world. The retreat will be held in silence, with some group interaction during its later days.

BIPOC Yoga Nidra Immersion

With Lakshmi Nair and Asia Dorsey

June 26 – 29, 2023
What is yoga nidra? Yoga Nidra is the ancient Indian science of total relaxation that systematically unlocks the self revelatory potential that resides within our inner peace. Yoga nidra releases the source of tensions, unsupportive behaviors, acquired conditioning and self-limiting beliefs through deep physical, mental and emotional rest. It is through the deep receptivity of rest, that we can imprint new patterns that resonate and generates new thoughts and actions. And you don’t have to “work for it” You rest towards it. And this rest, is the reparations that you deserve, right now. How does it work? My teacher, Dr. Kamini Desai explains, “Every night when we sleep, we must do one thing; let go of our thoughts. In Yoga Nidra we consciously enter the twilight zone between waking and sleeping, enabling us to rest more and more as the space of being beyond the mind, and less and less as the mind itself. This unlocks the mystical, integrative powers of the subconscious, as well as your higher centers of consciousness, to effortlessly erase your most tenacious, self-destructive habits and behavior patterns. It is said by yogis that 45 minutes of Yoga Nidra is as restorative as three hours of…

Nature + Mindfulness + Joy

With Joshua Ellis, Satya Larrea and Frederic Wiedemann

July 3 – 9, 2023
This will not be your typical meditation retreat – not fully silent, a lot more fun, camping only, held entirely outdoors, and focused on JOY … in glorious mid-summer, at 8600 feet, in the Rockies. The main goal? To foster joy through connection – connection with Nature, with the community, and with your truest self.  On this uniquely fun, in-person retreat, we combine an extraordinary wilderness setting with mindfulness and embodiment experiences that will help to bring joy into your life.  We will weave together periods of silent meditation, with heart-opening experiential exercises, conscious community building, an overnight solo, and play, laughter and movement in nature. Ultimately, nature will be the guiding teacher on this retreat.  After two days of getting acclimated, you will embark on a powerful journey — a full-day and overnight SOLO, on this beautiful land, in silence, alone (more on this below). You will have our guidance, support and expertise every step of the way. Then on Saturday morning, we meet as a community again — for integration, celebration and dance.

The Path of Service

With David Chernikoff

July 11 – 16, 2023
Compassionate action plays a central role in all of the world’s great wisdom traditions. Given the experience we’ve all lived through in the past several years and the current state of our beautiful blue-green planet, an inner imperative to serve is burning brightly in a lot of hearts. In this retreat, each participant will be invited to explore a simple and powerful question: How can I help? The practices of sitting and walking meditation in silence will be a major part of our time together. There will also be dharma talks, experiential exercises, and opportunities for discussion. In a caring, supportive learning environment, we’ll each tap into our intuitive inner guidance about how to be instrument of benefit in a world that is desperately calling out for love and wisdom.

NEW RETREAT!! Nonduality in Nature: The Direct Path of Beauty and Love

With Johann Robbins and Caverly Morgan

July 19 – 23, 2023
Our true being is awareness and love. This peace and happiness, which we all long for, underlies the ceaseless striving of the limited sense of self, or ego. Being in nature allows us to easily relax, and come into presence with the beauty around us, and the appreciation, gratitude and love that arises 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 realize this. As we sit and walk, a natural sense of ease and belonging starts to quiet the wanting and aversion of the mind, and without effort or struggle, we drop out of separation 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 true nature, which has and will always be there. Our innate appreciation, love and connection with being in nature allows this process to be more accessible and enjoyable. This retreat will be informal and relaxed, with ample time for…

Inner Nature/Outer Nature: Love and Awareness Nature Retreat

With Johann Robbins, Sylvie Rokab, Cornelia Santschi and Liz Reynolds

July 24 – 30, 2023
This retreat is open to everyone. The focus is on silent nature practice, immersion in the natural world, connecting our inner nature with outer nature, and dissolving separation. Each day includes plentiful time for sitting, hiking/walking meditation, as well as nature meditation instruction, dharma talks, and individual and group practice discussions. There will be a one night solo during the retreat. The overall intention is for deep silence, practice, and the joy and healing that comes with a profound connection with nature, and then integrating that into one’s life. Spiritual practice will be supported by instruction in a variety of nature meditation practices. There will be nightly dharma talks, exploring how being-in-nature can be an important part of our spiritual path by helping to ground us in personal experience of non-separation from the natural world. The emphasis is not on meditative technique so much as developing direct awareness that can lead to a new integration of the internal (spiritual) and external (activity). There are no prerequisites for this retreat, and beginning meditators or first time retreaters are welcome and will be fully supported.

Ecodharma Training and Nature Retreat for Experienced Practitioners, Dharma Leaders and Teachers

With David Loy, Johann Robbins, Rochelle Calvert and Cornelia Santschi

August 3 – 13, 2023
This retreat is for Dharma Teachers, Leaders and Experienced Practitioners: if you are not sure about your readiness for it please ask.  The ecological crisis is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced.  In looking for appropriate ways of being and responding amid the fires of our world, how can we offer support, guidance and grounding through Dharma? Ecodharma is the emerging understanding of this that encourages us to work with the immensity of adversity that faces us all as part of nature. Ecodharma starts with the realization that human beings’ self separation from nature is at the root of the ecological crises facing civilization. We are experiencing the catastrophic results of centuries of attempted ‘mastery’ over the lands, air, animals, waters and plants to which we owe our lives. Reconnecting ourselves to the beautiful kinship of ecological systems is one of many ways that spiritual practice can inform and facilitate deeper healing, both for ourselves as individuals and for our interdependence with plant beings, animal beings and human beings. As we experience more deeply our lived interconnection, we are pointed towards our shared being with all animals, plants, waters and lands. This eleven-day Ecodharma nature immersion is both workshop and…

Belonging to Each Other: Falling in love with Mother Earth Together – An Ecodharma Retreat for People of Color

With Kritee (Kanko), Kaira Jewel Lingo, Imtiaz Rangwala, Ramon Gabrieloff-Parish and Asia Whitlock

August 28 – September 3, 2023
People of Color Retreat Do you self-identify as a person of color and are a changemaker? Do you feel burnt out and/or overwhelmed and need to recharge in an emotionally safe space where we witness and honor each other’s experience? Can we build a movement that is rooted in our deepest spiritual values and emotional truths? Can we engage in advocacy such that it is an integral part of our spiritual and emotional growth? Do you feel yoga, meditation, and trusting, empathetic emotional connection with others can help release internalized white supremacy and other stresses lodged in our bodies? If yes, come join us at the stunningly pristine and healing Rocky Mountain Ecodharma retreat center (RMERC) for a retreat designed for empowering self-identifying people of color involved in change-making work.

Presence, Relationship and Belonging in Nature

With Peter Williams and Janet Surrey

September 5 – 10, 2023
Book now and get $60.00 off listed prices. Offer valid until Jun 11, 2023.
The truth of interdependence means that relationship is the fundamental reality of life. Our well-being depends on how well we relate to everything in our lives – ourselves, our loved ones, the world and nature. This retreat will cultivate deep relationship with community and nature through mindfulness meditation, Insight Dialog and outdoor practice. Meditation in nature quiets the mind and gladdens the heart, leading to clarity, ease and joy. Insight dialog practice explores how to mindfully interact with others in spiritual inquiry. Dialog with nature, a deep listening and speaking to the earth, help us feel that we belong to all of creation. The retreat will be held in silence, interspersed with periods of meditation in conversation through Insight Dialog. Bring appropriate dress and gear to be outside for extended periods. There will some periods of hiking, no more than 1 – 3 miles in a day.

Deepening Your Practice: An Insight Meditation Retreat for Experienced Practitioners

With David Chernikoff

September 11 – 17, 2023
Book now and get $65.00 off listed prices. Offer valid until Jun 27, 2023.
This retreat is for those who want to deepen their practice and to listen to what the Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah called “the one who knows.” Ultimately, spiritual maturation involves learning to trust our own inner guidance and resting in the felt realization that we already have what we seek and we already are what we wish to become. In a caring, supportive environment, we’ll practice sitting and walking meditation in silence. There will be dharma talks on the retreat theme as well as guided meditations and some interactive exercises that highlight the transformative power of the teachings. This retreat is designed for people who have had a regular meditation practice for at least four years and have attended a minimum of three previous residential retreats. If you are unsure whether this retreat is appropriate for you, please contact David Chernikoff at david[email protected] or 303-499-7592 to discuss your situation.

Gratitude, Grief and Grace in the Face of Global Suffering: A Women’s Retreat

With Jean Leonard and Sarah Heffron

September 19 – 23, 2023
Book now and get $50.00 off listed prices. Offer valid until Jul 5, 2023.
Within the beauty of this mountain refuge and the teachings of the Dharma, we will co-create a safe and nourishing community of women in which to deepen our connection with ourselves, the Earth, and the more-than-human world. We will take an embodied pause to drink in the majesty of the natural world of which we are a part.  In both meditation and ritual space, we will open and lean in to the losses and suffering of this moment in order to discover boundless space and compassion to hold it all.  We will emphasize equality, acceptance, and belonging as we learn from and support one another.   Drawing from our innate wisdom and imagination, we will shape new stories of resilience, finding our unique contribution to the great paradigm shift toward a world in balance.

Zen Intensive (Sesshin)

With Kritee (Kanko) and Imtiaz Rangwala

September 24 – October 1, 2023
— Do you feel burnt out and/or overwhelmed and need to recharge in a quiet and emotionally safe space where we gently witness and honor each other’s experience even as we stay verbally silent most of the time?  — Are you feeling ready to deepen your meditation practice in a community that is rooted in the Buddhist lineage of Rinzai Zen, takes a trauma/grief informed approach to healing and incorporates lessons from Kingian/Gandhian Nonviolence?  — Are you curious about how we can build a rigorous spiritual practice that supports our collective movement for justice and peace in the times of climate breakdown and innumerable social injustices?  If yes, come join us at the stunningly pristine and healing Rocky Mountain Ecodharma retreat center (RMERC) for a Zen and Ecodharma retreat. Each day will include indoor zazen (seated meditation), outdoor meditation (by trees, bonfire or flowing water), kinhin (group walking meditation), deep abdominal chanting, opportunities to share our experience with other participants, a talk at the interface of Zen and Ecodharma teachings, rest periods, samu (silent work periods to prepare food) and dokusan (private interview with the teacher). We will have time in the afternoons for personal extended time in nature. Food preparation will be…

SoulFire for Intergenerational Women – a Nature Based Retreat

With Carol Kortsch and Laurie Adams

October 12 – 15, 2023
Rocky Mountain Eco-dharma Retreat Center
Book now and get $35.00 off listed prices. Offer valid until Jul 18, 2023.
Bring your learnings, your longings, your grief, and your stories to a woman’s circle for all ages. We will fan that sacred fire that Mother Earth continues to birth from within us. This retreat is intentionally intergenerational – for all persons who identify as women and are being taught by Mother Nature about your true essence and identity as a relational way of belonging to Earth community. We will consider the developmental soul tasks of both youth, mature adulthood, and aging, listening to the visionary, imaginative young one inside us as she learns from the elder inside who longs to know her Earth place in community and offer her fiery gifts back into the world. Our time will be together in large group, small groups and much solitary wandering on this beautiful land in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. Appropriate Covid safety measures as necessary for that time. Shared indoor housing and a few private rooms available. Healthy vegetarian meals provided. We together will co-create a trustworthy circle in which we can listen beyond human conversation to the dream of Earth, learn from our Ancestors who still speak, and from our own personal and communal deep wisdom.

Metta: The Practice of Loving Kindness

With Barry Gillespie

October 16 – 22, 2023
Book now and get $60.00 off listed prices. Offer valid until Jul 22, 2023.
The Metta Sutta is the Buddha’s teaching on Loving Kindness Meditation. Metta is the practice of literally filling the mind with wholesome thoughts, leaving no room for unwholesome thoughts, emotions and moods. This practice also takes great concentration, making it both heart opening and mind expanding. During the six days of this retreat we will look in detail at these teachings and how they can be directly put into practice, using a traditional Theravada Buddhist form.

Healing Yourself: Healing the World – A Mindful Path through Grief

With Donna Roe Daniell LCSW

October 25 – 29, 2023
This retreat is for women looking for an opportunity to deepen their relationships with themselves and to learn tools to stabilize and heal through major changes or shifts happening in their lives.   Transitions and change can ripen our hearts to new yearnings and experiences, awaken the opportunity to heal old pain, and open our doorway for calls to service.  As women in the current world, we have feminine gifts that need to be unleashed, and this retreat can help you find your deepest wisdom and assist you in taking it forward into your life.

Being Outside

With Shinei Sara Monial & Soten Danney Lynch

October 30 – November 6, 2023
Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center
We all live on, and as, this wild, ancient earth, spinning continuously within the vast, magical sky. The deep mystery from which this all arises is profound and serene. Yet often in our lives we do not recognize this great beauty, the deep peace and profound freedom of our own Being. The mental and physical boundaries we construct help us feel safe and comfortable – but at what cost? The loss of contact with our own precious radiance, and that of our very universe. In this retreat we will emphasize Being Outside. Who are we before our constructs? The pre-constructed world, ‘Nature’, can remind us. This retreat will be held in silence using the Zen form of Sesshin; six to eight hours of meditation daily including both group and solo-sitting. Further, group and solo hiking, guided body practice, devotional song, dharma talks, Q & A, and one on one meetings with a teacher will all be included in the schedule. Sleeping outside will be available for those who wish. This retreat is designed for people ages 18-35. The food provided will be 100% vegan.

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Buddha Nature/Human Nature/Nature’s Nature

With Jon Aaron and Gulwinder “Gullu” Singh

June 5 - 10, 2023
We embody nature and nature embodies us and in this way, Buddha Nature the liberation which is available to all of us can shine through. This five-day silent meditation retreat will primarily take place in the forests and meadows on the magical 180 acres of RMERC land. As we practice walking meditation, sitting meditation and other mindfulness practices in these beautiful and peaceful surroundings, we begin to quiet and naturally reconnect with the wonder of nature both internally and externally. Spending time in our natural world, we realize more fully that we are not outside of nature and that we are subject to the same natural laws.

Awake in the Wild – Cultivating Awareness, Wisdom and Love in Nature

With Mark Coleman

June 11 - 18, 2023
In the spirit of the Buddha meditating in the forest, this serene silent retreat will be spent entirely outside in beautiful meadows, forests and mountains or Rocky Mountain Eco Dharma Center.  
Meditating outdoors helps awaken our sensitivity to the beauty of the natural world. It also opens our appreciation of nature as our teacher, and invites a wakefulness in every moment. 
By cultivating Awake in the Wild nature meditation practices we open our senses to the rich sensory world around us. By doing so, the heart opens to an intimate connection with life while sensing the sacred in every living thing. During our time together, we will use immersion in nature to cultivate a receptive, embodied quality of attention where states of joy, awe, wonder and love are easily accessible. The integration of awareness in nature will increase your capacity for well-being and inspired action and, deepen your connection with the web of life.

Freeing the Heart, Engaging the World

With Peter Williams and Carla Brennan

June 19 - 25, 2023
This retreat explores the rejuvenating power of deep connection with nature through meditation. When we connect with the simplicity of our senses in outdoor meditation, our minds get quiet and we marvel at the ordinary wonders around us – the spray of colors in a field of mountain flowers, a dewdrop on the tip of an aspen leaf, clouds scudding across the high peaks. Practicing in nature connects us with our care for the world. As a group, we will explore our gratitude for the natural world, our grief for our impact on it, and how to make engaging with our troubled world a part of our spiritual path. This retreat completes the circle of practice, joining the silence and joy of nature meditation with the bodhisattva activity of compassionate and courageous responsiveness to the world. The retreat will be held in silence, with some group interaction during its later days.

BIPOC Yoga Nidra Immersion

With Lakshmi Nair and Asia Dorsey

June 26 - 29, 2023
What is yoga nidra? Yoga Nidra is the ancient Indian science of total relaxation that systematically unlocks the self revelatory potential that resides within our inner peace. Yoga nidra releases the source of tensions, unsupportive behaviors, acquired conditioning and self-limiting beliefs through deep physical, mental and emotional rest. It is through the deep receptivity of rest, that we can imprint new patterns that resonate and generates new thoughts and actions. And you don’t have to “work for it” You rest towards it. And this rest, is the reparations that you deserve, right now. How does it work? My teacher, Dr. Kamini Desai explains, “Every night when we sleep, we must do one thing; let go of our thoughts. In Yoga Nidra we consciously enter the twilight zone between waking and sleeping, enabling us to rest more and more as the space of being beyond the mind, and less and less as the mind itself. This unlocks the mystical, integrative powers of the subconscious, as well as your higher centers of consciousness, to effortlessly erase your most tenacious, self-destructive habits and behavior patterns. It is said by yogis that 45 minutes of Yoga Nidra is as restorative as three hours of…

Nature + Mindfulness + Joy

With Joshua Ellis, Satya Larrea and Frederic Wiedemann

July 3 - 9, 2023
This will not be your typical meditation retreat – not fully silent, a lot more fun, camping only, held entirely outdoors, and focused on JOY … in glorious mid-summer, at 8600 feet, in the Rockies. The main goal? To foster joy through connection – connection with Nature, with the community, and with your truest self.  On this uniquely fun, in-person retreat, we combine an extraordinary wilderness setting with mindfulness and embodiment experiences that will help to bring joy into your life.  We will weave together periods of silent meditation, with heart-opening experiential exercises, conscious community building, an overnight solo, and play, laughter and movement in nature. Ultimately, nature will be the guiding teacher on this retreat.  After two days of getting acclimated, you will embark on a powerful journey — a full-day and overnight SOLO, on this beautiful land, in silence, alone (more on this below). You will have our guidance, support and expertise every step of the way. Then on Saturday morning, we meet as a community again — for integration, celebration and dance.

The Path of Service

With David Chernikoff

July 11 - 16, 2023
Compassionate action plays a central role in all of the world’s great wisdom traditions. Given the experience we’ve all lived through in the past several years and the current state of our beautiful blue-green planet, an inner imperative to serve is burning brightly in a lot of hearts. In this retreat, each participant will be invited to explore a simple and powerful question: How can I help? The practices of sitting and walking meditation in silence will be a major part of our time together. There will also be dharma talks, experiential exercises, and opportunities for discussion. In a caring, supportive learning environment, we’ll each tap into our intuitive inner guidance about how to be instrument of benefit in a world that is desperately calling out for love and wisdom.

NEW RETREAT!! Nonduality in Nature: The Direct Path of Beauty and Love

With Johann Robbins and Caverly Morgan

July 19 - 23, 2023
Our true being is awareness and love. This peace and happiness, which we all long for, underlies the ceaseless striving of the limited sense of self, or ego. Being in nature allows us to easily relax, and come into presence with the beauty around us, and the appreciation, gratitude and love that arises 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 realize this. As we sit and walk, a natural sense of ease and belonging starts to quiet the wanting and aversion of the mind, and without effort or struggle, we drop out of separation 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 true nature, which has and will always be there. Our innate appreciation, love and connection with being in nature allows this process to be more accessible and enjoyable. This retreat will be informal and relaxed, with ample time for…

Inner Nature/Outer Nature: Love and Awareness Nature Retreat

With Johann Robbins, Sylvie Rokab, Cornelia Santschi and Liz Reynolds

July 24 - 30, 2023
This retreat is open to everyone. The focus is on silent nature practice, immersion in the natural world, connecting our inner nature with outer nature, and dissolving separation. Each day includes plentiful time for sitting, hiking/walking meditation, as well as nature meditation instruction, dharma talks, and individual and group practice discussions. There will be a one night solo during the retreat. The overall intention is for deep silence, practice, and the joy and healing that comes with a profound connection with nature, and then integrating that into one’s life. Spiritual practice will be supported by instruction in a variety of nature meditation practices. There will be nightly dharma talks, exploring how being-in-nature can be an important part of our spiritual path by helping to ground us in personal experience of non-separation from the natural world. The emphasis is not on meditative technique so much as developing direct awareness that can lead to a new integration of the internal (spiritual) and external (activity). There are no prerequisites for this retreat, and beginning meditators or first time retreaters are welcome and will be fully supported.

Ecodharma Training and Nature Retreat for Experienced Practitioners, Dharma Leaders and Teachers

With David Loy, Johann Robbins, Rochelle Calvert and Cornelia Santschi

August 3 - 13, 2023
This retreat is for Dharma Teachers, Leaders and Experienced Practitioners: if you are not sure about your readiness for it please ask.  The ecological crisis is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced.  In looking for appropriate ways of being and responding amid the fires of our world, how can we offer support, guidance and grounding through Dharma? Ecodharma is the emerging understanding of this that encourages us to work with the immensity of adversity that faces us all as part of nature. Ecodharma starts with the realization that human beings’ self separation from nature is at the root of the ecological crises facing civilization. We are experiencing the catastrophic results of centuries of attempted ‘mastery’ over the lands, air, animals, waters and plants to which we owe our lives. Reconnecting ourselves to the beautiful kinship of ecological systems is one of many ways that spiritual practice can inform and facilitate deeper healing, both for ourselves as individuals and for our interdependence with plant beings, animal beings and human beings. As we experience more deeply our lived interconnection, we are pointed towards our shared being with all animals, plants, waters and lands. This eleven-day Ecodharma nature immersion is both workshop and…

Belonging to Each Other: Falling in love with Mother Earth Together – An Ecodharma Retreat for People of Color

With Kritee (Kanko), Kaira Jewel Lingo, Imtiaz Rangwala, Ramon Gabrieloff-Parish and Asia Whitlock

August 28 - September 3, 2023
People of Color Retreat Do you self-identify as a person of color and are a changemaker? Do you feel burnt out and/or overwhelmed and need to recharge in an emotionally safe space where we witness and honor each other’s experience? Can we build a movement that is rooted in our deepest spiritual values and emotional truths? Can we engage in advocacy such that it is an integral part of our spiritual and emotional growth? Do you feel yoga, meditation, and trusting, empathetic emotional connection with others can help release internalized white supremacy and other stresses lodged in our bodies? If yes, come join us at the stunningly pristine and healing Rocky Mountain Ecodharma retreat center (RMERC) for a retreat designed for empowering self-identifying people of color involved in change-making work.

Presence, Relationship and Belonging in Nature

With Peter Williams and Janet Surrey

September 5 - 10, 2023
Book now and get $60.00 off listed prices. Offer valid until Jun 11, 2023.
The truth of interdependence means that relationship is the fundamental reality of life. Our well-being depends on how well we relate to everything in our lives - ourselves, our loved ones, the world and nature. This retreat will cultivate deep relationship with community and nature through mindfulness meditation, Insight Dialog and outdoor practice. Meditation in nature quiets the mind and gladdens the heart, leading to clarity, ease and joy. Insight dialog practice explores how to mindfully interact with others in spiritual inquiry. Dialog with nature, a deep listening and speaking to the earth, help us feel that we belong to all of creation. The retreat will be held in silence, interspersed with periods of meditation in conversation through Insight Dialog. Bring appropriate dress and gear to be outside for extended periods. There will some periods of hiking, no more than 1 – 3 miles in a day.

Deepening Your Practice: An Insight Meditation Retreat for Experienced Practitioners

With David Chernikoff

September 11 - 17, 2023
Book now and get $65.00 off listed prices. Offer valid until Jun 27, 2023.
This retreat is for those who want to deepen their practice and to listen to what the Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah called “the one who knows.” Ultimately, spiritual maturation involves learning to trust our own inner guidance and resting in the felt realization that we already have what we seek and we already are what we wish to become. In a caring, supportive environment, we’ll practice sitting and walking meditation in silence. There will be dharma talks on the retreat theme as well as guided meditations and some interactive exercises that highlight the transformative power of the teachings. This retreat is designed for people who have had a regular meditation practice for at least four years and have attended a minimum of three previous residential retreats. If you are unsure whether this retreat is appropriate for you, please contact David Chernikoff at david[email protected] or 303-499-7592 to discuss your situation.

Gratitude, Grief and Grace in the Face of Global Suffering: A Women’s Retreat

With Jean Leonard and Sarah Heffron

September 19 - 23, 2023
Book now and get $50.00 off listed prices. Offer valid until Jul 5, 2023.
Within the beauty of this mountain refuge and the teachings of the Dharma, we will co-create a safe and nourishing community of women in which to deepen our connection with ourselves, the Earth, and the more-than-human world. We will take an embodied pause to drink in the majesty of the natural world of which we are a part.  In both meditation and ritual space, we will open and lean in to the losses and suffering of this moment in order to discover boundless space and compassion to hold it all.  We will emphasize equality, acceptance, and belonging as we learn from and support one another.   Drawing from our innate wisdom and imagination, we will shape new stories of resilience, finding our unique contribution to the great paradigm shift toward a world in balance.

Zen Intensive (Sesshin)

With Kritee (Kanko) and Imtiaz Rangwala

September 24 - October 1, 2023
— Do you feel burnt out and/or overwhelmed and need to recharge in a quiet and emotionally safe space where we gently witness and honor each other’s experience even as we stay verbally silent most of the time?  — Are you feeling ready to deepen your meditation practice in a community that is rooted in the Buddhist lineage of Rinzai Zen, takes a trauma/grief informed approach to healing and incorporates lessons from Kingian/Gandhian Nonviolence?  — Are you curious about how we can build a rigorous spiritual practice that supports our collective movement for justice and peace in the times of climate breakdown and innumerable social injustices?  If yes, come join us at the stunningly pristine and healing Rocky Mountain Ecodharma retreat center (RMERC) for a Zen and Ecodharma retreat. Each day will include indoor zazen (seated meditation), outdoor meditation (by trees, bonfire or flowing water), kinhin (group walking meditation), deep abdominal chanting, opportunities to share our experience with other participants, a talk at the interface of Zen and Ecodharma teachings, rest periods, samu (silent work periods to prepare food) and dokusan (private interview with the teacher). We will have time in the afternoons for personal extended time in nature. Food preparation will be…

SoulFire for Intergenerational Women – a Nature Based Retreat

With Carol Kortsch and Laurie Adams

October 12 - 15, 2023
Rocky Mountain Eco-dharma Retreat Center
Book now and get $35.00 off listed prices. Offer valid until Jul 18, 2023.
Bring your learnings, your longings, your grief, and your stories to a woman’s circle for all ages. We will fan that sacred fire that Mother Earth continues to birth from within us. This retreat is intentionally intergenerational – for all persons who identify as women and are being taught by Mother Nature about your true essence and identity as a relational way of belonging to Earth community. We will consider the developmental soul tasks of both youth, mature adulthood, and aging, listening to the visionary, imaginative young one inside us as she learns from the elder inside who longs to know her Earth place in community and offer her fiery gifts back into the world. Our time will be together in large group, small groups and much solitary wandering on this beautiful land in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. Appropriate Covid safety measures as necessary for that time. Shared indoor housing and a few private rooms available. Healthy vegetarian meals provided. We together will co-create a trustworthy circle in which we can listen beyond human conversation to the dream of Earth, learn from our Ancestors who still speak, and from our own personal and communal deep wisdom.

Metta: The Practice of Loving Kindness

With Barry Gillespie

October 16 - 22, 2023
Book now and get $60.00 off listed prices. Offer valid until Jul 22, 2023.
The Metta Sutta is the Buddha's teaching on Loving Kindness Meditation. Metta is the practice of literally filling the mind with wholesome thoughts, leaving no room for unwholesome thoughts, emotions and moods. This practice also takes great concentration, making it both heart opening and mind expanding. During the six days of this retreat we will look in detail at these teachings and how they can be directly put into practice, using a traditional Theravada Buddhist form.

Healing Yourself: Healing the World – A Mindful Path through Grief

With Donna Roe Daniell LCSW

October 25 - 29, 2023
This retreat is for women looking for an opportunity to deepen their relationships with themselves and to learn tools to stabilize and heal through major changes or shifts happening in their lives.   Transitions and change can ripen our hearts to new yearnings and experiences, awaken the opportunity to heal old pain, and open our doorway for calls to service.  As women in the current world, we have feminine gifts that need to be unleashed, and this retreat can help you find your deepest wisdom and assist you in taking it forward into your life.

Being Outside

With Shinei Sara Monial & Soten Danney Lynch

October 30 - November 6, 2023
Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center
We all live on, and as, this wild, ancient earth, spinning continuously within the vast, magical sky. The deep mystery from which this all arises is profound and serene. Yet often in our lives we do not recognize this great beauty, the deep peace and profound freedom of our own Being. The mental and physical boundaries we construct help us feel safe and comfortable - but at what cost? The loss of contact with our own precious radiance, and that of our very universe. In this retreat we will emphasize Being Outside. Who are we before our constructs? The pre-constructed world, ‘Nature’, can remind us. This retreat will be held in silence using the Zen form of Sesshin; six to eight hours of meditation daily including both group and solo-sitting. Further, group and solo hiking, guided body practice, devotional song, dharma talks, Q & A, and one on one meetings with a teacher will all be included in the schedule. Sleeping outside will be available for those who wish. This retreat is designed for people ages 18-35. The food provided will be 100% vegan.

For other contact information, see Contact Us.

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