This retreat is for anyone curious about the interrelationships between personal “spiritual” practice/meditation practice and ecological-social transformations. No prior experience or background is needed. It will be a full five day retreat, however, so there needs to be some commitment to relaxing into the schedule and periods of silence, inquiry, and elemental rituals. However, it will be gentle, and each step of every activity will be described.

You are welcome to sign up for just the afternoon of June 30-July 3 (the first 3 full days). In other words, it is fine to leave early on Friday and not stay for the weekend. We will make space for a good exit for those leaving early. We want to avoid a situation in which people are coming and going, which will make it more difficult to create a grounded space. We also want people to enter in with ceremony and communal connection. 

There will also be an opportunity to come for only the Saturday event, which will include a bearing witness site visit to Braddock, PA. So if you want to just check it out and not commit to the whole retreat, come just for Saturday.

This is not a retreat from the world, nor a training for heroic engagement. It is an experiment in collective support — one that allows encouragement, care, and action to arise spontaneously among people who recognize their shared conditions and are willing to stay present in them together.

Through meditation and inquiry, silence and dialogue, ritual, shared meals, ceremonial fires, and extended time with the more-than-human world, we will practice ways of being together that can hold fear and tenderness, grief and beauty, uncertainty, joy, and possibility—without rushing to closure. The Four Fields assist us to inquire into the extremes of urgency and complacency, attuning to what might be truly helpful.

We live within societies reckoning with a long history of ancestral, racial, gendered, and economic oppression. Within this reckoning, interpersonal dynamics arise which can feel intense. First, we are committed to weaving a relational field that is brave, genuine, and accountable, with clear community values and communication practices naming entrenched social hierarchies, and centering marginalized voices. Second, we are interested in the challenge of this work as part of our practice, not merely an obstacle to get beyond. This supports us in skillfully working with, learning from, and metabolizing or composting the heat of intensity so that it may become fuel for healing and learning. Third, we are curious about ways to face, heal, process, and end oppression, without furthering a culture of righteousness and cancellation. We want to call ourselves “in” to this ongoing work. This supports us in not re-traumatizing both marginalized communities and people in dominant social positions. We recognize this can be challenging and messy terrain, but we also know repair and healing can happen.

These are Seneca, Shawnee, and Osage lands, which have a long history of broken colonial treaties and industrial, petrochemical violence. We will also bear witness to the impacts of the steel, fracking, and plastic industry in our region.

A: This is a non-residential retreat which means there will be no sleeping accommodations provided. However, we want to help anyone coming from out of town find a good, affordable place to stay. For those coming from out of town:

• Some local friends are happy to offer spare bedrooms, couches, garden sheds, back yards….email……to connect

• there are many good Air Bnbs in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. We would love to help people share Airbnbs to save money. Email……to connect.

• https://www.tryppittsburgh.com/ is a nice hotel 9 minute drive to the venue, 45 minute walk, 15 minute bike ride

• https://www.ihg.com/hotelindigo/hotels/us/en/pittsburgh/pithb/hoteldetail?cm_mmc=GoogleMaps-_-IN-_-US-_-PITHB Is just slightly further away and in the East Liberty neighborhood

We will offer delicious, ethically-sourced, vegetarian meals with close to zero waste. Light breakfasts, coffee and tea, and full lunches will be served on July 1-5. There will be dairy-free, vegan, and gluten free options.

We have created a tiered payment plan. We are looking into the option of travel scholarships. And we wholeheartedly encourage those who can pay more to help support other participants to be able to participate.

Adam Lobel and some of the other fieldguides were deeply involved with the Shambhala tradition and do not want to deny, erase, or ignore the spiritual and psychological suffering caused by the patriarchal forms in that community. In fact, the Four Fields approach arises in part in direct response to the limitations of fixed hierarchies and insular spiritual cultures. In the Four Fields, and in this retreat, there are no gurus. The Fields themselves are our teachers and no one can be a master of these fields. We are committed to weaving a relational field that is brave, genuine, and accountable. We are committed to a policy of zero sexual relations between retreat leaders and participants. We are committed to a clear grievance process if any harms arise. We will turn towards and do our best to skillfully work with any communal ruptures that might arise; we see such communal challenge  as part of the retreat, not as something to be ignored.

Feel free to reach out to either Maggie at hello@davidbperrin.com, or Javin at javin.leelobel@gmail.com.