Your gift supports this 106 acre forest and our mission to nurture the conditions for transformational learning.

Donate

Events

Events by Category

Creativity & Community

Ecology & Nature

Mindfulness & Movement

Social Justice & Equity

Leadership

Free Programs

Cohort Programs

Youth Programs

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Teacher Training Intensive

February 29 - March 6, 2020
Presented by UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an empirically-supported 8-week psycho-educational group intervention that teaches mindfulness meditation as a health intervention. Created by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979, MBSR offers participants the possibility to develop a different relationship to stress resulting from chronic physical and psychological illnesses. Research outcomes have demonstrated positive improvements in physical and psychological symptoms, as well as changes in health attitudes and behaviors. This 6-day teacher training intensive will provide health care professionals and educators the opportunity to study and experience the foundational underpinnings, mindfulness meditations and specific exercises that are the framework…

Transform Your Boundaries Immersion Weekend

With Sarri Gilman

March 6 - 8, 2020
You use your boundaries in every interaction, and in every relationship, for your entire life. In this retreat you will discover your boundary life lessons. You will tune in and listen to your inner boundary compass—when it is telling you “No” and when it is telling you “Yes.” This is a unique nurturing weekend immersion specifically designed to offer you generous healing and retreat space, with Whidbey Institute’s 100-acre woods and incredible meals, as we take a deep dive into developing a significant understanding of your boundaries.  Through story-telling, writing, drawing, clay, and theater, you'll:  Tune in to your inner compass …

Tender Wild Writing Retreat

March 13 - 15, 2020
Join us as we explore the wild parts of writing, the tender stories that must be told, and ways to engage yourself and others in writing practices that bring life back. Join Bethany Bylsma, Tyler Dunning, and fifteen of your newest soul-friends on this 3-day writing retreat exploring the therapeutic benefits of writing. Earlybird pricing: Registration Rate, solo lodging: $750 Registration Rate, shared lodging: $700 Registration Rate, commuting: $450 All photos by Rachel Morell. Click image to view gallery. [gallery columns="4" size="large" ids="564,565,566,567"] Join us for a journey into these ideas:  Friday / Writing in the Wellness of Everyday There is a fallacy to creativity…

Daylong Mindfulness Retreat

With Sarah Manchester

March 14, 2020
Storyhouse
Take time and gift yourself a day of mindfulness with Sarah Manchester! Learn why it is important to meditate Learn mindfulness meditation or enhance your existing practice Take meditative walks on exquisite trails Enjoy a delicious meal (lunch provided) Write, collage, draw, and contemplate (art materials provided) Spend time in reflection and discussion Come for one day or build on your practice and come to all three days. Each daylong retreat will focus on a specific mindfulness meditation. See the brief descriptions below: March 14th: Mindfulness of Body. What is mindfulness of Body? With an emphasis on the posture of meditation, we…

Thriving Communities Gathering

March 19 - 21, 2020
THRIVING COMMUNITIES believes in sharing stories to support a deeper understanding of ourselves and each other. This year, we explore the theme of BELONGING. The Thriving Communities Gathering gives us all an opportunity to connect about the power and spirit of community in our lives and the world. Please join us in for our 9th annual Gathering of Thriving Communities at Whidbey Institute, March 19 to 21, 2020. In our time together, we'll create rich relationships and engage in dialogue that inspires us all to do the work. This year's stories focus on resilient communities through exploration on the topic of invisibility. We'll watch compelling films about…

Spring Garden Wisdom

With Kumudini Shoba

March 28, 2020
Westgarden
Join us in the sweet, woodsy Westgarden at the Whidbey Institute to learn about supporting health with Ayurveda practioner Kumudini Shoba. This class will explore using nature to support cleansing the body and re-setting for spring, and will focus on using plants and herbs from the garden and surrounding forest. This is the first class in a series of three that will run through fall of 2020. This class will be hands on and will take place in the garden and greenhouse. The class will be held on Saturday, March 28 from 1:00-4:00 pm. 

Drought Tolerant Flower Gardening

With Mara Grey

March 29, 2020
Appletree Garden
Join us from 10 am to noon in the Appletree Garden for this class with Master Gardener Mara Grey. Add color and drama to your water-wise garden with drought-tolerant plants from a rapidly expanding list of bulbs, perennials and small shrubs.  This two-hour, hands on class is open to gardeners of all ages and experience levels.  Tickets are $40 or $25 for Whidbey Institute volunteers. 

Whidbey Island Intensive Retreat

With Wendy Palmer

March 30 - April 2, 2020
WAITLIST ONLY Join Wendy Palmer for a 4-day retreat. You must have completed a Level 1 and Level 2 before attending a retreat. All retreats are limited in size and include lodging and meals. Total cost is $1,025. This retreat is now fully booked. Please let Leadership Embodiment know if you wish to be added to a waitlist.

Powers of Leadership (3 of 4)

April 2 - 4, 2020
Whidbey Institute
The Powers of Leadership retreat series convenes a diverse cohort of people across strategic fields to gain perspective on the currents of change moving in these times.

Rewilding Retreat

With Mary DeJong

April 4, 2020
Storyhouse
Learn and Practice Seasonal Rhythms & Rituals for Sacred Guidance Through the Natural World to Grow an Earthen and Elemental Guidance How are your spiritual practices changing in the face of climate change? How does your faith flourish as our forests burn? How do you engage the wild edges of your life, not as a place of chaos, but as a place of profound creativity? How do our prayers hold the ecological grief that howls within our hearts? A response to these probing inquiries demands a return to a whole-relationship with creation and re-membering, or rewilding, ourselves to a profound…

Kindling Words West

With Karen Boss

April 5 - 12, 2020
Kindling Words is a retreat for published authors, illustrators and editors of children's books. For more information, go to KindlingWords.org.

Invitas Alumni Weekend

April 17 - 19, 2020
A weekend open to all alumni of the Invitas Foundations of Conversational Leadership program. This is an alumni-led retreat. Facilitation support will be offered by Jafer Patterson, Sue Fort White, David Cotson, and Gayle Karen Young Whyte.

Daylong Mindfulness Retreat

With Sarah Manchester

April 18, 2020
Storyhouse
Take time and gift yourself a day of mindfulness with Sarah Manchester! Learn why it is important to meditate Learn mindfulness meditation or enhance your existing practice Take meditative walks on exquisite trails Enjoy a delicious meal (lunch provided) Write, collage, draw, and contemplate (art materials provided) Spend time in reflection and discussion Come for one day or build on your practice and come to all three days. Each daylong retreat will focus on a specific mindfulness meditation. See the brief descriptions below: March 14th: Mindfulness of Body. What is mindfulness of Body? With an emphasis on the posture of meditation, we…

Training of Facilitators: a Personal Leadership seminar

With Tatyana Fertelmeyster and Marie Sheffield

April 20 - 26, 2020
This Training of Facilitators Seminar (ToF) is an opportunity to learn how to facilitate Personal Leadership (PL) learning events. This is intended for experienced designers and facilitators, and is a prerequisite for joining the PL Facilitator Program. This seminar creates a community for examining the dynamics of facilitating PL and making a world of difference. This seminar will help you navigate PL depths and respond with confidence to the complexities of facilitating. Hosted by Connecting Differences, LLC. Register here for meals and lodging only. To learn more or register, visit the program information page. The seminars consist of: One six-day…

Awake and Alive: Mindful Living with Cancer Retreat

With Erica Rayner-Horn and Wendy Halowski

April 20 - 24, 2020
We warmly invite anyone ever diagnosed with cancer to our annual 5-day rejuvenating, healing retreat. Join us for this unique transformative opportunity and discover how to navigate the emotional, psychological and spiritual challenges of illness with more ease and joy – and leave refreshed, inspired and renewed.

VORTEXT: a women’s writing salon

April 30 - May 3, 2020
Use this form for lodging registration only. To register for Vortext, visit this link. VORTEXT is an extraordinary weekend salon at the famed Whidbey Institute, led by renowned women writers. The program, now in its ninth year, gives women writers the opportunity to connect in diverse and powerful small-group workshops. Writers also enjoy dynamic keynotes and discussions about opportunities and challenges for women who write, as well as several open mics over the course of the weekend. Join us to share meals, conversation and community in a stunningly beautiful setting. Hedgebrook is a global community of women writers and people who…

Ourselves, Growing Older with Mary Holscher

May 7 - 9, 2020
We begin Thursday at 1 pm (after lunch) and end Saturday at 2:30 pm (after lunch). Our maximum size, including facilitators, is eleven.  All sessions will be in the Farmhouse. We will have a spacious structure to continue our solitary and communal exploration of growing older. We’ll have time in silence with ourselves and with nature as means to deepen our reflections. We’ll read poems aloud, as we do every year. And we’ll share thoughts, memories and experiences, and, of course, write poems or short prose pieces to share or not share at each person’s discretion. We will share delicious, organic meals…

Daylong Mindfulness Retreat

With Sarah Manchester

May 9, 2020
Storyhouse
Take time and gift yourself a day of mindfulness with Sarah Manchester! Learn why it is important to meditate Learn mindfulness meditation or enhance your existing practice Take meditative walks on exquisite trails Enjoy a delicious meal (lunch provided) Write, collage, draw, and contemplate (art materials provided) Spend time in reflection and discussion Come for one day or build on your practice and come to all three days. Each daylong retreat will focus on a specific mindfulness meditation. See the brief descriptions below: March 14th: Mindfulness of Body. What is mindfulness of Body? With an emphasis on the posture of meditation, we…

Divine Happiness, Creative Gift of the Soul

With Carolyn Berry and Micki O'Brien

May 15 - 17, 2020
Whidbey Institute
Happiness is not a frivolous feeling. It is a powerful state of being! Growing happiness is a movement to help heal the world. During this profound event, Divine Happiness: Creative Gift of the Soul, you will realize your connection to your happiness, how to expand it, and shine it out into the world to help activate a happier humanity. Based on her book, From Misery to Happiness, Carolyn Berry, LMFT The Go Shining Coach, and Micki O’Brien, M.A., Greatness Teacher/Coach, plus special guest, Dara Wagner, Reiki Master, will guide you on an experiential journey to your inner happiness. By weaving…

Next Stage Collaboration

With Rebecca Colwell

May 21 - 24, 2020
Welcome to the Next Stage Collaboration hosted at the Whidbey Institute.   Whidbey Institute is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit and a home for transformational learning. Whidbey Institute is a place-based learning center in a rural community on  South Whidbey Island in Western Washington's Salish Sea. Our 106 acre conservation forest campus includes four miles of public trails, a stone labyrinth, and two educational gardens. During your stay at the Whidbey Institute, you'll be nourished with delicious, healthy, and sustainable food cooked with love by Chef Christyn Johnson and her team and housed in one of several woodland homes and cabins. As part of Whidbey…

Powers of Leadership (4 of 4)

June 11 - 13, 2020
Whidbey Institute
The Powers of Leadership retreat series convenes a diverse cohort of people across strategic fields to gain perspective on the currents of change moving in these times.

Unplug. Reconnect. Restore. A Digital Fast and Mindfulness Retreat

With Christina Malecka

June 12 - 14, 2020
Whidbey Institute
Looking for a one-of-a kind mindfulness retreat? Imagine yourself totally unplugged from technology and held in community at the Whidbey Institute for a weekend of meditation, rest, community building, self-discovery and empowerment. Put away your phone and deeply engage with yourself and others. Rediscover play to reclaim the joy and excitement of childhood. Leave with tools and practices to help you find tech/life balance in the real world. Treat yourself to this weekend of digital detox, deep self-care and mindfulness to: LEARN how mindfulness is the opposite of distraction - and the key to a healthier relationship with technology CONNECT…

Igniting Change: Cultivating Leaders Ready to Face Wicked Complexity

With Anthony Back and Larisa Benson

June 14 - 16, 2020
Accelerating the development of internal leadership capacity necessary to catalyze social change for a more sustainable human and global future.

Realization Process Retreat

With Judith Blackstone

June 17 - 21, 2020
Judith will teach all aspects of the Realization Process: nondual meditation, embodiment, relational attunement and the release of trauma-based constrictions from the body.  This is a chance to do deep, intensive practice of the Realization Process in this beautiful natural setting. The Realization Process is a direct path to embodied nondual awakening. It is a series of powerful but gentle, precise attunement practices for realizing your own nature as fundamental consciousness– an undivided expanse of luminous transparency, pervading your body and environment as a unity. Pervading your body, fundamental consciousness is the basis of your sense of existing as an…

Summer Garden Wisdom

With Kumudini Shoba

June 27, 2020
Westgarden
Join us in the sweet, woodsy Westgarden at the Whidbey Institute to learn about supporting health with Ayurveda practioner Kumudini Shoba. This class will explore using nature to support cleansing the body, with a focus on using plants and herbs from the garden and surrounding forest. This is the second class in a series of three that will run through fall of 2020. While the spring class looked at the cleansing properties of nettles, this class will focus on the abundant healing energy of summer! Kumudini Shoba, Ayurvedic practitioner, will help us explore an assortment of medicinal flowers that will…

Healing Ourselves with Flowers

With Mara Grey

June 28, 2020
Appletree Garden
Join us from 10 am to noon in the Appletree Garden for this class with Master Gardener Mara Grey. Inviting nature’s support into our lives by making and using flower essences. All supplies will be provided! The class will include learning, writing, and product-making, in the beautiful Appletree Garden at the peak of early summer's beauty. Tickets are $40 or $25 for Whidbey Institute volunteers. 

Speaking Music to the Land

With Mara Grey

August 23, 2020
Appletree Garden
Join us from 3 pm to 5 pm in the Appletree Garden. Speaking directly to someone has power. Nature responds—often in subtle, almost imperceptible ways—when we speak in music. Join Mara Grey, Celtic harpist, for a time of stories, personal experiences, lore from traditional cultures, and free time to wander and find your own ways to speak to the land. Instruments are welcome, but not necessary. Humming, singing, even softly chanted words are just fine . Tickets are $40 or $25 for Whidbey Institute volunteers. 

Autumn Garden Wisdom

With Kumudini Shoba

September 19, 2020
Westgarden
Join us in the sweet, woodsy Westgarden for this final class in a series of three 2020 Ayurvedic herbal workshops at the Whidbey Institute with Kumudini Shoba. New registrations are welcome. When we wake to a chill in the air and see the setting sun a bit earlier in the evening, we know Autumn is upon us. At this time, we transition from the expansive energy of summer into the quiet world of fall and winter. Plants echo this process as their leaves and fruit fall away and they concentrate their energy into their core system, roots. This makes Autumn…

Test

February 13 - 15, 2022