Touching Ancestors, Joy and Liberation
A Retreat for Women of Color
with Dharma Teachers
Dr. Marisela Gomez, Kaira Jewel Lingo and Valerie Brown
This retreat is a sacred space for cis-gender and trans women of color to come together in community, honoring the fullness of who we are. Rooted in the themes of the book Healing Our Way Home, we will explore the wisdom of our ancestors, the power of joy, and the deep possibilities of liberation.
Together, we will create a refuge of belonging—where our stories, identities, and journeys are held with care. Through practices of mindfulness, we will nurture our collective healing and strengthen our capacity to show up with resilience, love, and freedom in our lives and communities.
Each day will include:
- Dharma teachings on healing, joy, ancestors, and liberation
- Guided meditation (both sitting and gently moving) to ground and restore us
- Mindful walking and movement to connect with the body and the earth
- Mindful eating to nourish body and spirit
- Singing and chanting to open the heart
- Dharma writing and reflection to deepen insight and creativity
- Small-group sharing to witness and be witnessed in community
We encourage participants to read Healing Our Way Home before the retreat, as it will help enrich our time together.
This retreat welcomes the full diversity of women of color—including trans women, gender-expansive people, and anyone who self-identifies as a woman of color, regardless of gender role, expression, or physiology.
TEACHERS
Marisela Gomez MD PHD is a mindfulness practitioner in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing, public health scholar activist, preventive/alternative medicine physician. Of Afro-Latina ancestry, she lives in Baltimore involved in social justice activism and community building/research and co-facilitates mindfulness gatherings with Baltimore and Beyond Mindfulness Community for BIPOC and Social Activists. She is the author of Race, Class, Power and Organizing in East Baltimore, Healing our Way Home, and numerous book chapters in popular and scholarly publications. She has blogged at Huff Post and mariselgomez.com on the intersection of wisdom justice and mindfulness. Dr. Gomez is also a co-founder of the non-profit Village of Love and Resistance whose mission is to organize for community land control in historically marginalized communities in Baltimore MD.
Kaira Jewel Lingo is a Dharma teacher of Black and biracial heritage with a lifelong interest in spirituality and social justice. Her work continues the Engaged Buddhism developed by Thich Nhat Hanh, and she draws inspiration from her parents’ lives of service and her dad’s work with Martin Luther King, Jr. After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, Kaira Jewel now teaches internationally in the Zen lineage and the Vipassana tradition, as well as in secular mindfulness, at the intersection of racial, climate and social justice with a focus on activists, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, artists, educators, families, and youth. Based in New York, she offers spiritual mentoring to groups and is author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons in Moving through Change, Loss and Disruption and co-author of Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy and Liberation from Parallax Press. Her teachings and writings can be found at www.kairajewel.com.
Valerie Brown is an author, Buddhist-Quaker Dharma teacher, facilitator, and executive coach specializing in leadership development and mindfulness practices with a focus on diversity, social equity, and inclusion. A former lawyer and lobbyist, Valerie transformed her high-pressure, twenty-year career into serving leaders and nonprofits to create trustworthy, authentic, compassionate, and connected workspaces. An award-winning author, her book Hope Leans Forward: Braving Your Way toward Simplicity, Awakening, and Peace (Broadleaf, 2022) received the Nautilus Gold Award for Eastern Spirituality for 2023. Valerie’s extensive training blends social justice, mindfulness practices, leadership development, and spiritual growth.
SCHOLARSHIPS
There are a limited number of partial scholarships available for this retreat. Please visit us here for more information, and to apply. Please do not sign up for the retreat if you have submitted an application, wait to hear from us. For questions, please contact us at: scholarships@garrisoninstitute.org.
ACCOMMODATIONS
There are Single and Double rooms available. Please note, there is no available guest elevator and all rooms are accessible by stairs—except for those reserved for the mobility-impaired on the first floor. There are two communal bathrooms on each residential floor as well as a comfortable lounge with sofas and easy chairs, where tea and instant coffee are available. The lounges also are equipped with wireless, high-speed internet connection. There are several local hotels within driving distance from the Institute, for those who wish to stay off-site, as commuters. Onsite meals are included with commuter registrations.
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