As members of HCN, many of you have read news of a new direction for us all within HCN. The full message from the Board circulated 16 July is posted below. You’re welcome to join the community call this week as we navigate the transition.
Over the last year I’ve been studying for an Inner MBA, along with a few other HCN friends, and it was a gift last week when the module focused on ‘How are you dealing with change?’ The framework offered by Jeremy Hunter during the Inner MBA, will be woven into the call including the three basic ways human beings meet change and the journey along the transition curve.
Retreat Finder is seeking a new Visionary Steward
After almost 19 years the owner of RetreatFinder.com is seeking to hand off the site to a new visionary steward. If you are looking for a new home for your passion for retreats, this may be what you have been looking for.

The Creation of Retreat Finder
[Read more…]Webinar: Online Retreats and Collaborative Prosperity
Online programming remains a key area of focus and in our webinar today we invite you to join an open dialogue with Gene Keys founder Richard Rudd and his Creative Team.
Specialising in online courses and virtual Retreats, the Gene Keys creative team have developed a highly successful model of interactive, online engagement with a truly global reach. The team has further increased this through collaboration with like-minded organisations and networks through affiliate programs.
I was introduced to the Gene Keys path many years ago through a friend and colleague at Findhorn and really value this approach to spiritual growth. The insights help integrate the potential and transform the shadow within us all, and it’s been fascinating to see the Gene Keys online community grow and evolve.
[Read more…]Sharing the Path for Couples at Home (Online)
Enjoy this special ‘first-time’ virtual program being offered by Robert Gass and Judith Ansara. They are beloved long-time teachers at Hollyhock and are also well-known/loved by other legacy centres in our network. Join a profound journey for a lifetime of loving. The magic and aliveness of our loving connection is too often lost in deadening habits, competing priorities and the pressures of daily life. Rekindle and profoundly deepen your love and partnership by learning the attitudes and skills of conscious partnership.
[Read more…]Collective Healing from Trauma and Fire
Conversation with Thomas Hübl, contemporary mystic and collective trauma expert
Thursday, 3 June
11am – 1pm PT | 2 – 4pm EST | 7 – 9pm BST | 8 – 10pm CEST
The call is for the whole Findhorn Foundation Community, local and global, along with centers in the Holistic Centers Network and Retreat Center Collaborative, along with other communities through the Global Ecovillage Network and Foundation for Intentional Communities who bring their solidarity and witnessing capacity. In compassion for all communities impacted by fire, we invite you to join us in a practice of Global Social Witnessing as we mindfully attend to the recent fires in the Findhorn community with an embodied awareness, and explore possibilities for integration and learning.
[Read more…]Update from Breitenbush Hot Springs after the Fire
By Peter Moore
It’s a busy time, but that’s not new news. To begin, some background, for this is how my mind works. It starts with words that have definitions that develop principles that then give meaning to direct experience.
I have focused recently on 3 “e” words, all related, having distinct meanings. “Efficiency” is the first one. We have to be efficient just to get through this difficult situation we’re in. To me it means using the least inputs (resources—money, time, labor, emotional turmoil, etc.) to derive the most outputs. Efficiency is a driving force here at BHS these days, and not just for me. It enters into all our planning and implementation.
[Read more…]Reflections from the Virtual Gathering 2021
For over 35 years the annual Holistic Centers’ Gathering has been taking place and in 2021 we met for the second time in the virtual space, focusing on the theme of Emerging Resilience. 64% of attendees were previous participants and 36% were attending an HCN Gathering for the first time. Nearly 250 registrants represented 50 different organisations and we celebrate online tech making it easier for staff in each center to engage in the various sessions.
60% of folk were from the US and we also welcomed friends from Canada, UK, Bolivia, Brazil, China and the Philippines. The session offered by the HCN JEDI Pod and the keynote with Rhonda Magee were both strongly embraced as awareness grows around the importance of social justice work within holistic centers. The Business of Impact session where money and spirituality meets was also a highlight as more centers recognise themselves as purpose driven organisations. 62% of centers describe themselves as non-profit or non-taxable, 12% as a mission-impact organization, 6% for profit and 20% other (eg. emerging centers). Wisdom and innovation were freely shared in the heartfelt conversations with 72% of participants from established centers and 28% from emerging centers.
Creating Spaces that Breathe
As we prepare for the Virtual Gathering, commencing on Monday, and engage once again via zoom rather than in person, we continue to reflect on the role and contribution of our place based centers. We know ourselves, and from the many guests that traditionally visit, there is a ‘transformational field’ that supports inner growth in these environments. However, the way we’ve been able to plan our travel has changed profoundly and uncertainty over the future remains. Will people feel safe to travel again? Have their priorities changed? How can we best support wellbeing, spiritual growth and activism that can have the greatest impact in these times? What are the elements that are supportive both on retreat and at home? Join us as we work together for the development of a more conscious and ecological world.
Building Spaces that Breathe:
A Designer and Meditator’s Reflections on Creating Transformational Atmosphere
By Armand Graham
You can meditate anywhere, but retreats are special: a pause from the everyday that nourishes body, mind and spirit. As a meditator, architectural designer, and co-founder of ATMOS, I enter retreat centers for my own spiritual growth and also to learn how spaces can support people to turn inward and gain insight. Having practiced meditation for many years, I’ve had the opportunity to explore this question at several retreat centers, such as the Garrison Institute, Insight Meditation Society, the Omega Institute, and others.
[Read more…]Linking the Virtual Gathering and Latin America
In our outreach to centers we’re grateful for our deepening connection with Nazare Uniluz in Brazil and Sacha Runa Shamanic Community in Bolivia. Friends from both communities will be joining us for the Virtual Gathering 3-6 May as together we serve the personal and global transformation that the world calls forth. We invite you to join us in conversation with anthropologist Wade Davis as we explore the roles our centers play within the global north and south. As we collectively expand our awareness around the injustice in the world and the ways we can engage and educate around inner and outer action, we’ve also invited mindfulness teacher Rhonda Magee and environmentalist Bill McKibben.
[Read more…]Earth Day Decolonized: 22 April Free Program
KRIPALU AND HOLLYHOCK’S LIBERATION SERIES
Join renowned speakers Karen Mahon Carrington, Melina Laboucan-Massimo, and Nick Demeris in the next program of our Liberation Series, a collaboration between Kripalu and Hollyhock. Spend time online in this live program unpacking our current climate crisis and how we can collectively move forward in liberation.
The pandemic has been a long haul. We are slowly starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we know we are not quite there yet. We know you’ve had to demonstrate a lot of resilience this year, and that this pandemic has affected some people more than others. The pricing options on the program below have been updated to offer you the option of joining this virtual program free of charge.
[Read more…]