We at One Earth Sangha are honored that the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies has asked us to lead a retreat for Dharma teachers, leaders, and facilitators. We are writing to you to invite you to be part of this powerful in-person retreat and to ask you to share this invitation with like minded fellow dharma leaders, teachers, and facilitators.

Our world is undergoing dramatic changes, ecologically and socially. The next decades will radically challenge every aspect of our society, including how we teach meditation. Through our EcoDharma Teacher Development Program, we aspire to support Buddhist leaders in offering Dharma that is uniquely and powerfully attuned to these changes in ways that liberate the heart and guide wholesome responses.

The title of this retreat and training is Discover your EcoDharma: Provocations and Possibilities for Dharma Leaders. The retreat will be from August 30 — September 4th, facilitated by Kristin Barker and Adam Lobel. Supported by the natural landscape in forested Massachusetts, this will be a deepened, in-person version of our successful online training.

Who is this for? Anyone who cares deeply about ecological issues and leads meditation, mindfulness, offers contemplative therapy, teaches a sangha, or works in dharma leadership. If you or someone you know fits any of these categories, they are welcome to apply to join us!

Together, we will explore teachings, resources, and practices in response to four guiding investigations:

• How are you personally relating to the ongoing violence towards the more-than-human world?
• What are some best practices to face eco-anxiety, climate trauma, and environmental distress within yourself and in response to your students or clients? In particular, how do we inspire and engage our communities without spreading more guilt, dread, blame, and fear? And how do we wisely work with apocalyptic predictions for collapse and extinction?
• What role can Dharma and Dharma leadership play in addressing socio-economic and racial injustices embedded in ecological violence?
• What is the EcoDharma we can cultivate together for the coming decades of fires, floods, climate refugees, and possible social collapse? How do we listen for and give voice to a powerful expression of an Earth–based dharma from within our diverse Buddhist and secular mindfulness lineages?

If you sense the potential for your leadership in linking complex climate/ecological challenges and mindfulness or Buddhism in any context, this program is for you. We have worked with some of the leading Buddhist teachers of our times as well as new and aspiring teachers who are just beginning. You are welcome to be part of a growing network of inspired, informed, modern ecodharma teachers and leaders.

Supported by one another and the land, we will reflect on our personal questions, fears, and longings. Our program will provide inspiration and guidance on approaches to teaching ecodharma in modern Buddhist and secular contexts, including dharma centers, classrooms, and therapeutic spaces. We hope it will also be a deep contemplative experience and an opportunity for building mutually supportive spiritual friends.