Sitting at the Feet of the Glacier: Land-Based Practices, Meditation, and Grief Work

What does it mean to sit with a living elder whose time on Earth is running out? In this transformative five-day apprenticeship, the glacier becomes your teacher—a guide into slowness, deep attention, and the sacred act of bearing witness to loss. Held at the renowned Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, this unique retreat invites you into sustained inquiry alongside facilitators Ayana Young and Brontë Velez, whose collaborative land-based practices have been shaped through years of work in Southeast Alaska's Glacier Bay. Whether you're drawn to contemplative practice, environmental stewardship, or the courage required to grieve what we're losing, this program offers a rare opportunity to learn from the earth itself—and from the glacier's teachings about time, impermanence, and our collective responsibility to protect the living world.

This is not a retreat that bypasses difficult emotion or prescribes easy answers. Instead, it holds space for the full spectrum of human response to ecological transformation: grief, praise, wonder, and commitment. Over five days, you'll develop practices and capacities that ripple far beyond these Big Sur cliffs—tools for attention, resilience, and meaningful action in an age of change.

What to Expect

Each morning begins with storytelling that establishes a shared ethos of deep listening and presence. You'll practice daily meditation to inhabit the glacier's quality of stillness and temporal vastness, move slowly through Esalen's land to embody the earth's signature, and engage in grief-and-praise work that asks: what is the glacier calling forth from us now?

The group learns pattern recognition and landscape reading—attending to birds, tides, plants, and stones as living teachers. Through this attunement, you'll discover what the earth's nervous system might teach about your own. Writing practices and intimate council shares create space to explore which stories risk extinction and why speaking them matters—both as witness and as one who affirms life.

Led by experienced guides, the retreat cultivates a container of safety and authenticity where difficult emotions are honored, curiosity is nurtured, and land-based wisdom becomes embodied knowledge.

Venue & Logistics

Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA | December 7–11, 2026

Wear comfortable, weather-appropriate clothing for outdoor movement and meditation. Esalen's iconic clifftop setting offers natural hot springs, gardens, and direct access to the California coast—all part of your practice environment. The Institute provides meals and accommodation. Please contact the organizers with accessibility questions.