Loving Awareness in the Living World (Hybrid)

This Hybrid retreat is offered in person at Wonderwell (Residential option) and Live via Zoom (Online option). 

Join us for NDF’s core summer retreat, a 10-day silent immersion dedicated to remembering who we truly are. Guided by the “way” of nature, and in collaboration with the Council on the Uncertain Human Future, we will explore pathways to access and rest in the underlying awareness beneath our self-conceptions and judgments—reconnecting with the living web of our world and cosmos.

Together, we will explore five experiential gateways—Allowing, Prayer, Recognition, Nature, and Love—offering direct access to our deepest essence and supporting the rewilding of heart, mind, and body. Daily practices will include meditation, movement, journaling, small group inquiry, Dharma reflection, and Council, cultivating a spacious, compassionate awareness that naturally dissolves separation and reveals our belonging within the living world.

Please join us to:

• Deepen connection to the ground of your being
• Slow down, come present, and listen deeply through Council practice
• Learn the ways of Allowing, Prayer, Recognition, Nature, and Love
• Rewild the soul through nature-based practices that support ease and embodiment
• Reconnect with the living web of our world and cosmos

Loving Awareness in the Living World is Natural Dharma Fellowship’s core summer retreat. This year, we emphasize remembering who we truly are through the “way” of nature, and celebrate our ongoing collaboration with the Council on the Uncertain Human Future and our practices of rewilding. In this silent 10-day meditation retreat, we will explore multiple ways to access and rest in our deepest essence—the substrate of our being that lies beneath all self-conceptions and judgments—through practices that unite us with the living web of our world and cosmos.

When we connect to this deepest sense of being, a greater field of love becomes visible, one that includes compassion for the more challenging parts of ourselves and others. This retreat takes us through five gateways for knowing and experiencing ourselves and our inseparability more deeply: “The Way of Allowing,” “The Way of Prayer,” “The Way of Recognition,” “The Way of Nature,” and “The Way of Love.” We will practice these ways of being through daily sitting meditation, movement, meditation journaling, small group inquiry, Dharma reflection, and the profound practice of Council.

Practicing these five ways helps us see beyond the thinking mind, to the one who witnesses. We come to understand that this witness is not a “self” in the conventional sense; it is innate awareness—vivid receptivity, a loving gaze on all experience—capable of dissolving the sense of separation into a felt sense of oneness with the whole living world. 

Please join us for this unique event in the summer mountains of northern New Hampshire, or from the living landscapes on your side of the Zoom screen—whether a front porch, backyard, nearby natural space, houseplants, or simply the sky seen through a window.

Council is a shared contemplative practice of deep listening and authentic expression, held in a small group setting. Rooted in presence and mutual respect, Council invites us to sit with complexity rather than resolve it, allowing insight, connection, and a sense of shared humanity to emerge naturally.

Visit the Council on the Uncertain Human Future’s website to learn more about this profound practice.

This Hybrid retreat is offered in person at Wonderwell (Residential option) and Live via Zoom (Online option). To view pricing, please choose one of the options in the YELLOW panel. Online registration is open. Residential registration will open on Monday, April 27 at 7:00 pm ET.

Typical Retreat Schedule

(All times are Eastern time zone)

First Day — Hybrid evening session begins around 7:00 pm.

Full-Day Schedule — Morning meditation 7:00 am; Breakfast break 8:00-9:30 am; Lunch break 12:00-2:00 pm; Dinner break 5:30-7:00 pm.

Last Day — The closing session typically ends by 12:00 pm.

These times are just for reference. An expanded schedule will be provided in pre-retreat information emailed during the week prior to the event.

Natural Dharma Fellowship Full Calendar