In 2023, Nature’s Heart became part of Eugene Insight Meditation Community, 501c3. As a combined organization, we hosted 50 Sunday evening sessions, offered meditations in the park and at hikes at Mt Pisgah, conducted two self-compassion retreats at Mandala Sanctuary, and two wilderness retreats. In collaboration with Rachelle Cornelius of Creative Spirit Collaborative, we hosted a new retreat in the wilderness, combining eco-somatic therapy with mindfulness and self-compassion practice. Thank you to all the folks who attended these offerings!
Unfortunately, our 5-day and 6-day wilderness retreats were finally interrupted by smoke from nearby wildfires (we were lucky for the first five years). The late Springs of the last two years have also led to bad mosquito seasons. Moreover, negotiating with the Forest Service has been challenging and slow. All this has led us to change the date and location of the wilderness retreats in 2024.
We’ll be practicing together in early June, thirty minutes outside of Ashland, OR. We’ll be on the banks of Baldy Creek, at the edge of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. In June, we shouldn’t have wildfire smoke or mosquitos, and there’ll be lots of water still in the river! (We also have a self-compassion retreat in April.)
In related news, we are also in conversation with the Forest Service about Nature’s Heart facilitating a meadow-restoration project in the Cascades. In exchange for helping return beaver dams to the North Santiam, we may be able to use a pristine meadow for our retreats in 2025! Stay tuned for updates and volunteer opportunities.