Celebrating the Beauty of Darkness: Mindfulness for BIPOC

IDEAL FOR: Individuals who identify as BIPOC

Join us for a nourishing weekend retreat designed for individuals who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color). Inspired by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel’s profound teachings from “Opening to Darkness,” this retreat will offer a sacred space to delve into the depths of our beings, honor Darkness and Blackness, restore a sense of beauty, and cultivate compassion and resilience in unsettling times. Through mindfulness practices rooted in indigenous wisdom and the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, Arturo Escobar, African Ubuntu, and Abya Yala’s reciprocity, we will embark on a journey of self-discovery, honor our ancestry, cultivate wellbeing, and embrace the beauty within. 

Together we will: 

• Delve into Zenju Earthlyn Manuel’s “eight gateways” to understand the nature of Darkness and ways to navigate its terrain—including childhood fears, dwelling in Darkness, and celebrating Darkness of Death and Birth. 
• Explore the symbolism of the Wood Dragon in the Chinese lunar calendar and its correlation with the Buddhist Eightfold Path.  
• Explore concepts such as compassion, love, sympathetic joy, and equanimity through mindful movement and writing. 
• Understand how mindfulness can positively transform our lives and help us express deep feelings. 
• Create communal support and explore inner and outer resources 
• Use discernment to explore issues related to racial trauma 
• Create new vistas and guidance to spiritual activism for the global majority 
• Look at the global south and its empowered communities as archetypes toward liberation 
• Explore new ways of telling our personal stories and discern between big history and personal narratives. 

 “How can we bear dark times or, more explicitly, horrifying times, with the skill of an awakened one?  Misery, struggle, and sorrow are not the sole intentions of this life. Yet we can respect our interrelationship with everything in the world, including the suffering in, around, and between us. Is there a way to live in unsettling times that we have forgotten?”  Zenju Earthlyn Manuel-Opening to Darkness