Winter Renewal Retreat (open to all community members)

Held during the first half February (in connection with Chinese New Year), this gathering is a wonderful introduction to Healing Cultures. It is also a beautiful opportunity to start the new year from a grounded space, connected to the elements of nature and a community of like-minded individuals.

The 2025 Winter Renewal Retreat will be held in Big Sur, California at Esalen Institue, which is blessed with natural hot springs overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

REGISTER HERE.

This is a very special retreat involving ritual and self-reflection and opening up a way to renew as you enter the new year. It is an experience that enables a deep journey of healing and gives you practices to take with you that can support you throughout the year ahead.

Each day of our retreat will include ritual, yoga, meditation, and working deeply with Esalen's natural hot springs waters.  For those returning participants, you will enjoy how each year offers the opportunity to peel off more onion layers while diving deeper into the space of healing and transformation. 

Retreat Schedule

The following is a general outline of the retreat schedule. Anytime we are not “in session” is essentially free time for participants to enjoy the hot springs, book a massage, explore the grounds, etc.

• You may arrive on the property starting at 2pm Friday.  

• Room keys will be available for you to pick up from Esalen staff starting at 4pm . 

• Please plan your travels accordingly so you will arrive in time for our first session at 7:15pm.

• A total of 9 meals, served buffet-style will be provided: starting with dinner Friday night through lunch on Monday.  

If you have any questions about this retreat please don’t hesitate to reach out to Sarah, our Director of Operations at:  sarah@healingcultures.org

Cultural Exchange and Sweat Lodge Ceremony (invitation only)

The Cultural Exchange and Sweat Lodge is offered each year at the beginning of May in conjunction with Keya Cickala Pejuta Winyan, Little Turtle Medicine Woman, an elder of the Oglala Lakota Sioux. It is held near Mount Shasta in Northern California. This event is a cross cultural exchange where participants meet the other cultural from a very grounded place of deep integrity and respect. Mukund offers prayers and teachings from his traditions in India and Japan in finding ways to build a bridge of mutual creativity and compassion, with the awareness of history and presence. Keya and her community of singers and drummers, offer two Sweat Lodge Ceremonies and a Give Away Blanket Ceremony in the Lakota tradition. In order to deepen the connection with Keya’s community, preference is given to people who have attended in prior years.

Paintbrush Point (invitation only)

The Paintbrush Point Retreat lasts five days and is offered in the second half of June every year. It is a deep opportunity – a unique journey – to transform oneself, to heal oneself and to awaken from within. We explore ritual and different forms of energy (and how to further receive and hold them) for developing awareness in the body and mind and search for ways that transformation becomes tangible.

We also incorporate the tools of mediation, group discussions, yoga, hiking, invocation, chanting, and journaling to expand our capacity to listen to the stories our body has to tell, to embody the incredible landscape around us, to trust the process of transformation, and to build our intuitive capacity to touch the source of healing energy. It is an intense and beautiful week in our nest at the base of the Grand Tetons.  

Healing Training Retreat (for current members of the Healing Training Program only)

This retreat is offered in the fall of each year where members of the Healing Training program deepen their journey into the world of healing. This becomes a special time in coming together as a community to learn with and from each other. Exact dates and location vary by year and will be announced to participants by May 1st.