Application for Belonging, Connection, and Nature: Coming Home Together
With Erin Treat, Solwazi Johnson and Louije Kim
July 25 - 30, 2024
This retreat emerged from the relationship between its teachers as a result of many years of being together in dharma practice, teaching, and spiritual friendship. And this retreat invites the participants into relationship — with themselves, each other, the land, and all beings everywhere without exception.
Awakening from the delusion of separation through practice and inquiry, we will explore belonging, connection and nature to reveal what supports us in coming home to our hearts, coming home to interdependence. Grounded in foundational Dharma teachings, we will offer traditional sitting and walking instruction as well as daily opportunities to practice in wild nature together. This is a silent retreat but we will also engage in inquiry and sharing through structured, guided relational practice as part of the context of the retreat.
*Please note, the make up of this retreat will be a maximum of 45% white identified people.
APPLICATION PROCESS: (Please read until the end.)
Registration for this retreat is by application. Within the application review process we are curating additional variables to encourage greater equity, diversity, inclusion, and access for our many popular retreats. To create an optimal retreat container, some of these factors include affinity group membership, age, gender balance, and experience level.
Registering for a lottery or completing an application does not ensure a space in the retreat. Applications received after February 5th are automatically placed on the waitlist and will be notified of availability on a rolling basis. Notifications often move quickly so we recommend checking your email regularly. Please note that you will be asked to complete your registration details and pay your retreat fees within 48 hours of your offer to attend. If you are in need of financial assistance to attend, you will be invited to complete a scholarship application once you have been accepted and completed your registration.
We recognize that this is an imperfect system and we have carefully considered valuable feedback from many of you in designing our registration system for this year. If you have questions about this new registration process, please contact Jan at refuge@vallecitos.org or by calling 505-469-9017.
COVID Safety Measures: Please review our current COVID Safety Measures, which are subject to change.
Teachers
Erin’s love for wild nature, her passionate commitment to serving collective liberation, and decades of working as a bodyworker are all palpable in her Dharma. Erin is Guiding Teacher at both Vallecitos and the Durango Dharma Center, and is a Core Teacher at Spirit Rock. She served as core faculty of the sixth Community Dharma Leaders (CDL) Program, and is a graduate of Thanissara and Kitissaro’s Dhammapala Training, designed to bring forth an embodied bodhisattva ideal within the lineage of Theravada Buddhism. Erin was born and raised in the prairie of Fargo, North Dakota to a family of Irish and British heritage.…
Learn more about Erin Treat
Solwazi has been practicing and teaching Buddhism and mindfulness meditation for over 20 years, with a focus on Vipassana since 2003. He has studied/practiced in Thailand, Burma, India, and South Africa. He is certified as a Community Dharma Leader by Jack Kornfield and Spirit Rock Meditation Center and a graduate of the four-year Spirit Rock Teacher Training Program. Solwazi worked for over 20 years as a health educator and national trainer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. He leads mindfulness meditation classes and retreats in the Denver metropolitan area. He…
Learn more about Solwazi Johnson
Louije Kim, LMFT, is a San Francisco Bay Area based dharma practitioner, teacher, and licensed psychotherapist. They have completed dharma study programs including Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioners and Community Dharma Leader programs, and graduated from Spirit Rock’s four-year Teacher Training in 2020. Louije has taught in various dharma centers locally and across the US. They were a part of the Asian American Buddhist Working Group, a grant-funded project seeking to promote connections between Asian American sanghas. They have been working in community mental health settings for over a decade, providing therapy to communities that are impacted by collective, political, and…
Learn more about Louije Kim