Cultivating Inner and Outer Peace in Times of Climate Disruption

RETREAT TO THE RAINFOREST TO REFILL YOUR CUP!  

Join mindfulness teachers and activists, Lisa Brown, Lody Levy and Suzie Brown, for a 3-day mindfulness and nature retreat for climate and environmental activists and conservationists to experience deep rest and emotional support.

As activists, change makers and earth protectors, we are passionately committed to protecting the earth and spend most of our time doing this. We can sometimes feel overwhelmed with the huge responsibility of this work as we face the accelerating climate and ecological crises unfolding before us.

Many complex and difficult emotions like fear, anxiety, grief and anger will naturally arise and we may notice tension, anxiety and pain in our bodies and it can be hard to justify taking time out for self-care.  Self-compassion can feel like a luxury and we often struggle to experience joy. This can lead to burn out where we lose our enthusiasm for life.

Coming into retreat we have the opportunity to reconnect: with the natural world, with our bodies and our emotional world, and with a community of supportive people. In doing so we can feel whole and alive again and this will rejuvenate the essential work we are doing in the world.

The retreat will offer opportunities for silent reflection, walking in nature, mindful movement, mindful sharing and dialogue with others to: 

Develop emotional resilience - so we can know and accept all our feelings including fear, grief and anger

Embody self-compassion practices - to sustain us for now and into the future

Open to love and joy: through reconnecting with our bodies, with nature and with community we find we are able to access a love and joy that we’ve been cut off from.

Connect to nature: Author Robin Wall Kimmerer said “It is a radical act to reclaim your own attention and turn it to the natural world.” Reconnecting to nature is the portal to deep belonging, which we all crave and reminds us of who we are and why we do this work

Our venue will be the beautiful Springbrook Rainforest Retreat: https://tsretreat.org/

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

The retreat runs from Friday 1st November 5pm (dinner served at 6pm) until Monday 4th November 2pm (after lunch).

The retreat fee includes all meals and beverages plus accommodation in either a private room or camping - all with shared bathrooms. 

The retreat fee does not include payment for the teachers. The teaching is provided by Lisa, Lody & Suzie on a dana basis - the ancient Buddhist practice of dana - this means that we offer the teachings generously and ask for a monetary offering from you to the teachers according to your means.

The registration fee includes a $100 non-refundable deposit. If you need to cancel your booking, you can do so up until 7 days before the retreat and we will issue you a refund minus the $100.     

ARE YOU AN EXPERIENCED MEDITATOR?

If you have experience with silent retreats, we invite you to stay on after this 3 day retreat for an additional 3 days where we will be doing silent sitting and walking meditation together and some sharing practices. If this additional 3 days of meditation is of interest to you please email us to apply: suziebrown@iinet.net.au

TEACHERS

Lisa Brown is a Registered Psychologist, Insight Meditation Dharma Teacher, Yoga Teacher, certified Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Teacher (Brown University, USA) and trained Mindful Self-Compassion Facilitator. As an Adjunct Lecturer at Charles Sturt University, Lisa taught mindfulness and retreats for post-graduate students and has a deep interest in the conjunction  of western science, Buddhadharma and earth-based wisdom traditions in health, healing and trauma recovery. Lisa works in private practice, facilitating retreats, groups and workshops on Gumbaynggirr Country, Coffs Harbour. For more information see www.mindfulnesspsychologywellbeing.com

Lody Levy is a buddhist psychotherapist, art therapist and meditation teacher. She has worked for many years supporting people to connect and embrace their feelings in response to their own suffering and the suffering in the world. Lody has a passion for the natural world and has been inspired by Joanna Macy for many years. She has always had a strong sense of social and ecological justice and is active in the climate justice movement.

Suzie Brown has been teaching Insight meditation and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for over a decade. She has also worked as a climate and environmental activist for two decades and was the founder and former CEO of Parents for Climate. Working with activists and the community, she teaches nature connection practices and mindful approaches to dealing with climate anxiety and grief. She also works as a Mentor in the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) taught by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, and is a teacher in their online dharma platform, Banyan.