Liberation Spirituality: A Dharma Gathering for Our Times

Open to experienced and new practitioners

Registration closes on September 27, 2026. If joining after this date, please contact us.

This retreat and collective inquiry––a living Dharma laboratory in motion––is the culmination of a year-long Rhizome Fellowship Culture Hack training (toward post-capitalist futures), which is an evolving experiment in weaving Dharma, inquiry, and systemic visioning into a collective field of practice.

Rooted in the Sacred Mountain Sangha approach, our days will flow with a rhythm of inner practices in the mornings, like Kuan Yin bowing, insight meditation, chanting, ritual, and Dharma sessions to ground us in silence, awareness, and compassion. Afternoons will open into interactive inquiry, healing modalities, and creative processes exploring how contemplative practice can inform strategies for engagement and cultural transformation in this time.

Through this gathering we will integrate the learnings of our 2025/26 Culture Hack training and implementation through the unfolding work of Liberation Spirituality, a shared inquiry into how the Dharma responds to the converging crises of genocide, fascism, and climate collapse, while envisioning pathways of justice and regeneration––ways of being that re/member our belonging to one another and to the living world.

Our intention is to help shift the window of discourse: from paralysis and despair toward embodied, emergent participation. Together, we’ll articulate the narratives, frameworks, and curricula that can guide us, as Dharma and spiritual practitioners, sanghas, and movements, through this time of profound transition; bridging a multiplicity of perspectives and practices into a greater coherence that honors difference while cultivating collective strength.

By the time we meet at Big Bear Retreat Center, many of us will have been working together within the Rhizomic field through a year-long 2026 initiative at SMS cultivating new ways of collaborative practice, learning, and informing our engagement and activism. This retreat offers a space to harvest those insights and anchor them in real-time Dharma embodiment.

We warmly invite you to join us for this week of deep practice, reflection, and co-creation through listening, healing, imagining, and relational participation from the heart of Liberation Spirituality.

GENEROSITY: Retreat Costs and Fees

Registration fees for this retreat support the cost of developing and offering BBRC programs, which include lodging, meals, and staff compensation. Teacher compensation is not included in your registration fees. We price fees to make programs as financially accessible as possible.

As part of this tradition, many meditation teachers (including the teachers of this retreat) offer their teachings without set fees or compensation. As a practice of generosity from the heart, participants are invited to offer “teacher dana” (donations-generosity) to the teachers at the end of the retreat. It is encouraged but not required. Learn more about dana here.

Is cost a barrier? Nobody is turned away at Big Bear Retreat Center due to finances. We ask that financial assistance be prioritized for those who self-identify as BIPOC, hold marginalized identities, or are in financial need. For more information, please contact us at guestservices@bigbearretreatcenter.org.

SIMPLE YET COMFORTABLE, NESTLED IN NATURE

Accommodations

We offer several lodging choices nestled in nature for each retreat.

Meals

Our meals are freshly prepared to support your retreat experience.

Preparing for your retreat

We offer several resources and information to best help you plan your time on retreat with us.

Getting to BBRC

We have several resources to support your travel. Visit Getting to BBRC & Rideshares and Shuttles for more.

FEEL WELCOME AND INCLUDED: A PLACE TO BELONG

Our intention is to be as accessible as we can, even in ways that we may not be aware of yet. We hope this is a space of inclusivity where people feel welcome and held. For us, it is a practice of consistent attunement, presence and care to our community. However you identify – race, gender, sexuality, disability, mental health, and so on – it is our wish to meet your needs for belonging.

Please consider this about our environment:

– The center is on a hill with outdoor walkways between dining, gathering, and residential spaces.

– We are located at an elevation of 6,500 feet altitude in a ski town in the mountains of Southern California.

– We experience weather of all four seasons.

– We are located about 2 hours from Los Angeles and near 3 major airports. Learn more about getting here.

– We have a commitment to everyone’s mobility needs. Please contact us about ADA accessibility.

Visit our Planning Your Retreat page to learn more about accessibility and other resources. Contact us if we can support ahead of time.

HEAR MORE ABOUT BIG BEAR RETREAT CENTER

Big Bear Retreat Center is exceptional in every way. The accommodations are outstanding, food exceptional, staff very responsive and helpful and the teachers are always so loving and knowledgeable. Just a top notch retreat experience!! – Sheila

I love Big Bear Retreat Center. It’s my dharma home away from home. Everything about it – staff, teachers, food, accommodations, setting – is exceptional. A true gift to the community!!

Big Bear Retreat Center is indeed a refuge. A safe space to open your heart. – Laura