Overview & Site Location
Off-Grid Retreats and Retreat Teacher Kirsten Rudestam are teaming up again to offer Deepening Presence in Nature, a nature-centered mindfulness weekend retreat.
This retreat will take place at Shelterwood Collective, a Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ-led community forest and retreat center, healing people and ecosystems through active stewardship and community engagement. In the summer of 2021, Shelterwood became the official stewards of a 900-acre forest and former church camp right above the Russian River in Sonoma County, California, on Unceded Kashaya and Southern Pomo territory. There are miles of hiking trails and a couple of streams that run through.
In this three-day meditation retreat we draw from Buddhist teachings, becoming more intimate with nature in our own minds while deepening our relations with nature in the more-than-human world. In so doing, we experience the mutuality of these ways in deepening our relationship with all of life.
Retreat Logistics & Schedule
Kirsten Rudestam is the Retreat Teacher during this Deepening Presence in Life Retreat. Kirsten works as an environmental educator, wilderness guide, and meditation teacher. She also has a PhD in Environmental Sociology. To learn more about her, please visit here.
Practitioners from any and all backgrounds are welcome. No meditation experience is required.
Check in is at 4 pm PT on Thursday, June 29th at Shelterwood Collective in Cazadero, CA. When you register, Off-Grid Retreats will email you more detailed driving directions, a recommended packing list and more. You may also sign up for our carpool email in the registration process.
The Participant’s Experience
This retreat supports the outer engagement and inner understanding as essential features of the movement toward a mutually beneficial human presence on this earth. During our days we will weave together silent meditation with instructions, group and individual practice discussions, and nature-based ceremony.
Most of this retreat will be held in silence; meditation instruction will be offered around the Buddha’s four foundations of mindfulness alongside a range of experiential nature-based practices that complement these foundations. Specifically, we will explore through ceremony and practice what it is to experience a deeper presence and connection with all of life.
Participants will also enjoy:
Sitting, walking, and exploring in a beautiful, wild and intentional community forest
Conversations with and/or a talk led by the Shelterwood team speaking to their mission and the current projects they're involved in
Delicious plant-based meals, tea and coffee - 3 simple and healthy meals each day from dinner Thursday night through breakfast on Sunday.
Significant use of silence
Time to relax / reflect and unplug from cell service and wifi
Sharing in meal preparation and cleanup
Sliding scale and dana (donation based) pricing
Various lodging options - Click the black button below for more images and details.
By clicking the Pricing & Registration button above, you may view our sliding scale pricing options. Our pricing is set to just cover the costs of camping at Shelterwood and the ingredients in our vegetarian meals.
The Retreat Teacher, Chef and Off-Grid Retreats are offering their teachings and services under a dana model. There will be an opportunity to donate towards each of them at the end of the retreat. To also learn about our Cancellation and COVID policies, please click the button above.
Lastly, are you interested in …
Learning more about this retreat?
Experiencing how Kirsten teaches?
Practicing meditation in community?
If your answer is yes to any of the questions above, then we encourage you to attend this ZOOM with us and Kirsten!