Garrison Institute

The Unburdening is a 3-day restorative retreat for BIPOC women to set down what has been carried for too long and reconnect with the wisdom of body, mind, and spirit.

From August 21–23, 2026 at the Garrison Institute, this expressive arts retreat will be led by Arisa White, Melissa Small Cooper, and Isabel Saez, LCSW. Together, they will guide participants through somatic attunement, contemplative practice, creativity, and rest. Through movement, poetry, painting, bookbinding, meditation, chanting, nature, and silence, we’ll create space to breathe, imagine, and remember that creativity is not extra. It is part of how we heal, align, and dream new futures.

No prior experience is needed. All practices are optional, trauma-informed, and accessible.
Learn more and register https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/event/the-unburdening-an-expressive-arts-retreat/

A WAY OF BELONGING This weekend Tricycle haiku columnist Clark Strand will guide us in writing small poems with big messages.

In his new reflection, “A Monastery and Us,” Dr. Angel Acosta writes about what became possible when Fellows from three Acosta Institute cohorts gathered at the Garrison Institute, not just to rest and learn together, but to experience what a healing-centered community feels like in the body.

What emerged was more than a retreat. It was a reminder that in a time of fragmentation and acceleration, sanctuary matters. So does gathering with intention, moving at the pace of trust, and creating spaces where people can be known beyond their titles and supported in their becoming.

Continue reading here https://drangelacosta.substack.com/p/a-monastery-and-us

“Stop setting fires to get warm.” This is from a caregiver who heard it in a session on a retreat.

She said it helped her understand, for the first time, that saying no isn’t selfish.

This is what the Garrison Institute’s scholarship fund makes possible: access to practices that help the people doing the hardest work stay in it sustainably.

We’re raising $30,000 this year to fund more of these experiences.

If you work in healthcare, climate, social change, or education, or know people who do, this work is for them.

Learn more and give here: https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/give

We’re gathering together in a special way this fall.

On Saturday, September 19, The Garrison Institute is hosting a daylong community event open to our donors and supporters: contemplative practice and breakfast in the morning, time in nature, lunch, and a keynote conversation between Co-Founder and Board Chair Jonathan F.P. Rose and author + podcast host Dan Harris. Early bird tickets: $90 through June 30.

This event is one of the ways we celebrate the community that makes the work possible, including the scholarship recipients whose stories we’ve been sharing this spring.

Register here https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/event/fall_community_gathering/

Join us on August 1, 2026 for Sound & Somatics: Be In Resonance & Listen To The Body, an in-person half-day retreat of sound, embodiment, and rest.

Through somatic practice, connection with the land, and an immersive sound bath, Orlando Villarraga and Maria Tan will guide a spacious experience of grounding, recalibration, and inner listening. This gathering is an invitation to slow down, settle into yourself, and attune to what becomes possible when you listen to the language of the body.

Learn more and register at the link in bio.

“Stepping away from the busy-ness of your life, into an environment that allows you to bear witness to all that has been (and is) churning inside of you... is more valuable than anything else in this world.”

Those are the feelings shared by a person who attended a Garrison Institute retreat on scholarship.

We’re working to make sure more people have access to that experience this year. Our goal: $30,000 in scholarship funding by the end of 2026.

Support a scholarship https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/give