Love & Mourning
Creativity and Ritual for a World in Transition
June 12-14, 2026
“There is no human flourishing without Mother Earth flourishing.”
During this weekend retreat, participants will experience renewal through guided connection with the land, one another, and the living world around us.
Our journey draws on the Work That Reconnects (WTR) and deepens our relationship with ourselves, community, and the Earth.
Core practices include the Truth Mandala, a ritual space for honest expression of difficult feelings, and the Council of All Beings, a ceremony in which participants imaginatively give voice to other species and elements of the natural world.
Together these practices support a felt sense of belonging to something larger than ourselves, while creating room to process ecological grief and cultivate metta — the Buddhist practice of loving-kindness.
“If the world is to be healed through human efforts, I am convinced it will be by ordinary people, people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear. People who can open to the web of life that called us into being, and who can rest in the vitality of that larger body.”
— Joanna Macy
Our work will be further enriched by Awake in the Wild meditations and contemplative tools drawn from Buddhist eco-chaplaincy, deepening the sense of shared presence and trust within our group.
Please note that lodging for this retreat is exclusively camping. The registration fee does not include transportation to / from the center or camping gear. We will create a carpooling signup sheet prior to the retreat, and also a gear-sharing list for those in need of / with extra camping equipment.
Dates
June 12-14, 2026
Tiered Program Fee:
Bloom: $460
Root: $370
Seed: $290
This retreat is being offered at or below cost to ensure access for all. In particular, our chef will be offering her services at a reduced rate, and we are asking participants to budget additional support for her through Dana (Generosity, Giving) at the end of the retreat.
Participants will have to opportunity to support the retreat via Yogi jobs, such as chopping vegetables, cleaning dishes, etc.
Portions of this retreat will be spent in Noble Silence.
Scholarships are available. Please message alex@mbei.org for more information.
Location
645 Toll House Gulch Rd, Felton, CA
This retreat is part of a larger initiative by Alex Julie and Marga Laube called Rites of Remembrance: Praise & Mourning.
This unique ritual form invites moments of awakening and insight that arise during a Council of All Beings and channels them into creative expression, culminating in a public processional.
By making visible our collective love and grief through art and ritual, this offering invites a broader cultural conversation about what it means to care for the living world.
Teachers
Supplementary Material
These materials are not mandatory, but you may enjoy a deeper dive into the ideas and practices.
Ananda, Aravinda, Brown, Molly Young, & Kuhwald, Kurt A. (2025). Coming Together in the Great Turning: Collective Liberation and Work That Reconnects. New Society Publishers.
Guy Armstrong, “You Don’t Exist. But You Actually Do. Wait, What?” 10% Happier Podcast, 270.
Rochelle Calvert, Healing with Nature: Mindfulness and Somatic Practices to Heal from Trauma.
Yuria Celidwen, “Indigenous Wisdom,” Mind and Life Institute Podcast, Oct. 21, 2022.
Yuria Celidwen, Why We Need Indigenous Wisdom, Mind and Life Institute, Insights.
Yuria Celidwen, Flourishing Kin: Indigenous Foundations for Collective Well-being.
Yuria Celidwen and Dacher Keltner, “Kin Relationality and Ecological Belonging: A cultural psychology of Indigenous transcendence,” Frontiers in Psychology 14 (2023).
Dekila Chungyalpa, “Mother Wisdom: Learning to Embody Interdependence,” Mind and Life Institute, Insights.
Paul Condon, “Nurturing a Relational Mindset,” Mind and Life Insights.
Elissa Epel, Jyoti Mishra, Eve Ekman, Coryna Ogunseitan, Elena Fromer, Lucy Kho, Jillian Grialou, and Philippe Goldin. "Effects of a Novel Psychosocial Climate Resilience Course on Climate Distress, Self-Efficacy, and Mental Health in Young Adults." Sustainability17, no. 7 (2025): 3139.
Shaun Gallagher, “Dislocating the Self.”
Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet.
Dacher Keltner, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Serviceberrry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.
Patty Krawec, Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future.
David Loy, Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis(Wisdom Publications, 2019).
Joanna Macy and Molly Young Brown, Coming Back to Life.
Chris Johnstone and Joanna Macy, Active Hope.
Christy Wilson-Mendenhall, “Emotions in the World,” Mind and Life podcast.
Shelbi Nahwilet Meissner, “Climate Crisis as Relational Crisis: Centering Indigenous Feminist Conceptions of Responsibility in Environmental Discourse,” Feminist Philosophy Quarterly, 10.1/2 (2024).
Jyoti Mishra, “Mindfulness and the Climate Crisis,” Mind and Life Institute, Insights(2023).
Naima Penniman, “Mama Nature told me,” naimainfinity video.
T. N. Ray, Scott A. Franz, Nicole L. Jarrett, Scott M. Pickett, “Nature Enhanced Meditation: Effects on Mindfulness, Connectedness to Nature, and Pro-Environmental Behavior,” Environment and Behavior 53 (2021), 864–890.
Gabrielle Roth, Sweat Your Prayers: The Five Rhythms of the Soul - Movement as Spiritual Practice.
Gabrielle Roth, Maps to Ecstacy: The Healing Power of Movement.
Anita L. Sanchez, The Four-Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times(2017).
Jeff Sebo, Saving Animals, Saving the Planet.
Daniel Wildcat, Indigenuity: Learning the Lessons of Mother Earth(2023).
Daniel Wildcat,Red Alert: Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge (2009)
C. Wolwode, N. Schäpke, O. Bine, S. Vecianaz, I. Kunze, O. Parodi, P. Schweizer-Ries, C. Wamsler, “Inner Transformation to Sustainability as a Deep Leverage Point: Fostering New Avenues for Change through Dialogue and Reflection,” Sustainability Science16 (2021), 841–858.
