Great News! We have dates for 2027… 4/21 - 25, 2027

“The retreat at Pomo Tierra these last two years has been a much needed respite in the midst of the crazy busy spring season. It’s short enough to manage getting away, but long enough to really drop in and savor the springtime on the land, and the spaciousness of slowing down and finding stillness. It is such a sweet, intimate, and unassuming gathering led by two of the most wonderful guides. Mary and Kirsten make an incredible team balancing the sitting and with walking, and gentle but profound movement. The teachings are deeply grounded in nature and practicing outside really supports the instruction. It’s been my only retreat experience and I’m not sure I would want any other. “  Sophia Bates, participant in 2025 and 2026.

This retreat will be an entirely outdoor retreat (unless it rains!) at Pomo Tierra, my collective home in Mendocino County. The meditation part will be led by Kirsten Rudestam, a wonderful Vipassana teacher, outdoor and eco enthusiast, and in previous lives a university professor in the environmental worlds. See below for more info. Yours truly will lead the yoga aspect with both of us exploring the natural world as guru in silence and movement, an embodied expression of the dharma.

Please note: This is not a fragrance free retreat! We ask all participants to not use fragrances however Pomo Tierra is a collective home, not an official retreat center and we cannot guarantee that all areas are free of fragrances. If you are fragrance sensitive, this is not the retreat for you.

An earth-based meditation yoga retreat…..

This is a silent, nature-based Buddhist Insight meditation and Hatha yoga retreat. It offers practitioners the opportunity to deepen their connection with the body, community and the natural world through meditation instruction, yoga sessions, and deep listening to the earth body internally and externally. We will be camping at Pomo Tierra, an 80-acre apple farm and collective with access to hiking trails, an oak grove, and natural waters. Meditation and yoga practitioners of all levels of experience are welcome. Practice periods include silent and guided sitting, walking meditation, yoga sessions, and Dharma talks. Sitting, walking meditation and yoga will be led outdoors, weather permitting.

Our wonderful chef, Sam Switzer, will be returning in 2027 to serve her amazingly tasty nourishing vegetarian fare and support our nutritional well-being.

The sponsor of this event is Off the Grid Retreats (OGR) whose mission is to provide opportunities in nature for all people to gather & practice. OGR envisions a future where humanity is motivated to heal our strained relationship with the environment. This is Kirsten’s and my intention also!

Registration will open in June 2027 through Off the Grid Retreats. Low income folks can apply to OGR for scholarships if appropriate. Please note the cancelation policy before registering.
A special Early Bird fee will be available for those registering by September 1, 2026.

This is a dana based retreat and the registration payment to Off The Grid (OTG) covers food, camping accommodation, insurance and basic supplies. After the retreat, participants will be invited to offer dana to the teacher/s and to OTG for admins expenses, if inclined to do so.

Kirsten Rudestam - https://www.kirstenrudestam.com is an environmental educator, wilderness guide, and meditation teacher. She has a PhD in Environmental Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz where she studied political ecology, sense of place, and environmental justice. Kirsten has fifteen years of experience teaching environmental field courses, nature-based meditation programs and guiding wilderness expeditions. She is trained as a vision fast guide through the School of Lost Borders and is a facilitator for Joanna Macy’s Work that Reconnects. Kirsten has been practicing vipassana meditation since 2001 and graduated from Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders Program in 2005.