Hello friends,
I'm writing not with an essay or newsletter but with an invitation to a gathering I'm facilitating with my good friend and long-time co-guide, Tina. We would be delighted for you to join us. In times of great uncertainty, one of the few things I know how to do is gather generous people and have a soul-enlivening time together.
The spring season this year unfurled like so many have before. Bird parents ushered double clutches of babies into the air. Elderberries were crowned with tiny white jewels. Mycelial networks fed each other and their plant and animal kin. And for many of us, this has been a season of prolonged turbulence. The rise of authoritarianism, escalating violence, and wildfire smoke enveloping great swaths of the lands we love leave our systems overwhelmed and our minds bending toward forgetfulness of our innate goodness.
In times like these, we turn toward the people and places where (to invoke the great poet Mary Oliver) we can let the soft animal of our bodies love what they love. We rest in the lap of Nature so that we may return whole-hearted, with energy to tend to what comes next. We sing together so the echo of our chorus shakes loose the ashes from the oak tree. We tell stories of grief and praise to conjure the spirits of our interrelatedness.
And this, my friends, is what we're offering. A place for soft bellies and strong backs to rest and remember our belonging in the great turning of things. I would love for you to join us in connecting with our oldest kin, “Nature,” with fellow lovers of wild things, and with your own noble soul. It’s an invitation to expand when the voices of fear push for contraction.
Join us this autumn in a beautiful, contemplative retreat center nestled amongst the pines in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. We’ve been convening nature-based, system-soothing gatherings for a decade. We know there’s an open seat here for your favorite self to sit on. If you can't join our gathering but know someone who might resonate, please share the invitation with them. The gathering is open to all.
Deepening Kinship & Sharing Wild Wisdom: A Weekend of Ecospiritual Nature Connection
September 18–21, 2025
Drala Mountain Center, Colorado
Learn more and register here
I’m happy to answer questions through email, text, and phone. We hope you’ll join us!