The Retreat Experience
“How many times have we met in conference centers and resorts to talk about
the land? This was completely different. This is where we walked our talk,
if even for just a week. We all saw a different view of how the world can
be.”
-- 2007 retreat participant
Each Whole Thinking Retreat is six days long and brings together up to 20 individuals from organizations and communities connected to the land and people: leaders of urban and rural land trusts, environmental justice advocates, community development practitioners, farmers, businesspeople, faith-based activists, wilderness and farmland advocates, biologists, food security activists, writers, educators, and elected officials. (Learn more about who is invited.) Together, we develop a shared vision for how the relationship between people and the land can become a more effective force in creating a truly healthy American culture.
The retreats provide participants with tangible tools to bring change into their organizations and communities. Chief among these tools is the process of dialogue, in which participants create a safe place to speak the truth, to understand the transformative power of whole thinking to our on-the-ground work, to seek shared values as well as to respectfully hold the tension of difference, and to test the language and stories that most effectively reflect our visions for the world.
“[The retreat was] a gathering of kindred spirits with a united interest in doing good for the world that you didn’t know existed before; and then you realize that this same group exists everywhere, with a million different faces, and is awaiting that same purpose.” --2007 retreat participant
Communication during the retreats is enriched by facilitated conversations and presentations, and by the leadership of our teachers: Roberto Chené, Anushka Fernandopulle, Peter Forbes, Steve Glazer, Toby Herzlich, Wendy Johnson, Melissa Nelson, Kavitha Rao, Enrique Salmón, Scott Russell Sanders, Kaylynn TwoTrees, and Tom Wessels.
We spend part of each day in silence, renewing our ability to listen and respond deeply and learning the practice of contemplation. We learn from one another as we work together on the land, spend time by the pond or in the kitchen, or gather around the campfire at night. The retreats provide participants with a time and place for sanctuary, to be creative, to nurture intuition, and to be in community. Nearly everyone leaves with renewed commitment and clarity about their shared values and fundamental purpose, and with new personal and professional relationships.