Roots of Liberation: Ancestral Wisdom Retreat

Since colonialism and industrialization, we have become more and more disconnected from Mother Earth, the Elements and our Plant and Animal companions. This has led to both ecological destruction and great human suffering. Each of us, no matter our racial identity, has a lineage of intergenerational trauma of some kind that relates to today’s systems of oppression. Reconnecting with our roots - with ancestral earth-based wisdom - can play a part in healing that trauma and grounding us as we strive to be of benefit in the world. This retreat will support you in deepening your relationship with the Elements and Mother Nature as you reconnect with your ancestors’ sacred cultural wisdom.

March 23 - 29, 2025
Lake Atitlán, Guatemala
7 days

What to Expect

Teachings on reconnecting with Earth and ancestral roots to heal at the inner, community and ecological levels.
Plant Meditations: Cultivate relationship with Cacao, Pericon, Blue Lotus, and other sacred plants.
Element Ritual Practices: Work with Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Space to heal conditioning from dominant culture.
Ceremonial song/prayer for Earth healing.
Small and large group discussions and reflections on cultural wounds of disconnection and collective liberation.

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Location & Cost

Accommodations:

The retreat will be held at a private property on the sacred Lake Atitlán. Three healthy meals a day will be provided. The property has a sauna, fire circle, pool, hot tub, and private lake access.

Cost:

A majority of the retreat funds are donated as reparations for the facilitators' ancestors' participation in systems of oppression and to contribute to justice initiatives today.

$2,300 for a private room (king or queen bed)
$1,600 for a queen bed in a room shared with one other person
$1,200 for a twin bed in a shared room (2-4 people).

Installment payment options and need-based scholarships available. A deposit of $500 is due February 15, 2025.

To apply/register, click here.

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Facilitator Bios

Betsy Gonzalez Blohm

Betsy Gonzalez Blohm, MAT, CLDE, is an educator specializing in culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy and mindfulness. She is the Director of Teacher Preparation at Friends School and faculty at Naropa University designing courses that integrate contemplative practices to support critical consciousness and collective liberation. She sees mindful education as a practice of freedom. She is a practitioner of Vipassana meditation and Plant, Animal and Earth reverence.

Carla Burns

Carla Burns, MDiv, is faculty at Naropa University teaching BA Contemplative Psychology courses, meditation practicums,  and in the MA Contemplative Psychotherapy retreat program. She is the Program Manager for the Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education and leads in the Compassion Initiative.  Her specialties include the integration of corporeal, elemental, and spatial knowledge to bring more dimension into our field of awareness, to cultivate the natural- receptive wisdom of the body that is inherently connected, wise, and spacious.

Caroline Leach

Caroline Leach, LPC, NCC, ACS, is a meditation instructor in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and a clinical psychotherapist in private practice specializing in somatic approaches to trauma healing. In recent years, her studies have taken her into more subtle and invisible realms of shamanism, archetypes, sound ceremony, intuitive energéticas, and medicinal plants.

She currently lives in Lake Atitlán, Guatemala.

Questions we'll explore

What are we carrying in our lineage due to our ancestors’ experience of or participation in colonization? Enslavement? Famine? War? Witch burnings? Assimilation? Land theft? Lynching? Genocide?

How does that trauma show up in us now and impact our ability to work for collective liberation?

How can we heal through reconnection with Nature, her Elements, and Plant and Animal companions?

A typical day

Cacao Meditation

Breakfast

Teachings on Healing Ancestral Wounds & Cultural Conditioning

Embodiment Practice

Lunch & Rest

Plant, Animal, Element & Ancestral Reconnection Exercises

Fire Ceremony/Sauna/Swim/Altar Practice

Dinner

Ceremonial Song/Prayer