The Garrison Institute

LOVE is the Most Powerful Force in the Universe: A Virtual Retreat
2026-02-21 12:30 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual
LOVE IS THE MOST POWERFUL FORCE
IN THE UNIVERSE

Mindfulness teacher Sharon Salzberg joins with Atman Smith, Ali Smith, and Andres Gonzalez of the Holistic Life Foundation (HLF) to offer a program exploring the depths, capacity, and meaning of love. Love is the most powerful force in the universe.
Learn to get in touch with and share the infinite love inside of you with meditation, yoga, and additional contemplative practices.
In a world where division and polarization prevail, can love be known not as giving in, but as transformative? How do we love in a way where we feel that we are not being taken advantage of, and know when tough love is needed? How do we unconditionally love ourselves and find balance in love amidst all our relationships?
If conventionally love is seen as weakness, can we come to understand it as the powerful force it truly is?
How do we find balance in love amidst all of our relationships? How do we love in a way where we feel that we are not being taken advantage of? How do we know when to be compassionate and when tough love is needed? How do we love from our higher selves? How do we unconditionally love ourselves?
We will explore a myriad of practical tools to promote greater love in life.
• Connect with the reservoir of love within you
• Learn greater self-love and self-acceptance
• Learning to love with appropriate boundaries
• Cultivating greater love for others through loving kindness meditation practice
• Yoga and breathwork to ground ourselves and reduce stress, to better receive love from others
Join us for this virtual retreat to develop the skills needed to better love ourselves, the people in our lives, and the world. No prior meditation experience is necessary to attend.

RETREAT SCHEDULE
This virtual retreat will be conducted through Zoom on Saturday February 21, from 12:30 PM – 6:00 PM EST. The virtual retreat link will be emailed to participants within twenty-four hours of your registration. Please email us at events@garrisoninstitute.org with questions.
SCHOLARSHIPS
There are a limited number of partial scholarships available for this retreat. Please visit us here for more information and click here 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.
TEACHERS

Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author. She is one of the first to bring mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation to mainstream American culture over 45 years ago, inspiring generations of meditation teachers and wellness influencers. Sharon is co-founder of The Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, and the author of twelve books, including the New York Times bestseller, Real Happiness, now in its second edition, and her seminal work, Lovingkindness. Her latest release is a children’s book, Kind Karl, is from Shambhala Publications. Her podcast, The Metta Hour, has amassed seven million downloads and features interviews with thought leaders from the mindfulness movement and beyond www.sharonsalzberg.com

Ali Smith was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He is a graduate of the Friends School of Baltimore and the University of Maryland, College Park. Ali started his journey with contemplative practices as a small child, learning meditation from his father and attending the Divine Life Church of Absolute Oneness, run by Swami Shankarananda. He deepened his practice and learned the art of teaching as a young adult, studying many forms of yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and breathwork from his teacher and godfather Will Joyner. Ali has almost 20 years’ experience teaching these practices to a broad demographic spectrum, internationally. He is a published author, and is a pioneer in the fields of yoga and mindfulness in education, as well as trauma informed yoga and mindfulness, developing best practices that are used around the world. He co-founded the Holistic Life Foundation in 2001 and The Involution Group in 2019. Ali is also a co-host of the Look Again Podcast which you can find at www.theinvolutiongroup.com

Atman Smith is a Co-founder of the Holistic Life Foundation, where he served as Director of Youth Programming for ten years Director of Fundraising for five years and currently serves as the Director of Development. Since 2001, he has been teaching yoga and mindfulness to a diverse population including underserved and high-risk youth in Baltimore City Public Schools, drug treatment centers, wellness centers, and colleges. A native of Baltimore, Atman attended the University of Maryland, College Park where he was a letter award winner for the University’s men’s basketball team. He graduated with a B.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice. His work with the Holistic Life Foundation has been featured on Making a Difference on the NBC Nightly News, CNN, and CBS, as well as O the Oprah Magazine, The Washington Post, Upworthy, Mindful Magazine, Yoga Journal, Shambala Sun, and many other publications. https://www.theinvolutiongroup.com/
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Andres Gonzalez is one of the Co-Founders of the Holistic Life Foundation. For eighteen years, Andres has taught yoga to diverse populations throughout the world, including Baltimore City Public School students, drug treatment centers, mental crisis facilities, homeless shelters, wellness centers, colleges, private schools and other various venues throughout the nation and throughout the world. He has partnered with John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health and the Penn State’s Prevention Research Center on a Stress and Relaxation Study and is a published author in the Journal of Children’s Services. His work with the Holistic Life Foundation has been featured on Making a Difference on the NBC Nightly News, CNN, and CBS, as well as O the Oprah Magazine, The Washington Post, Upworthy, Mindful Magazine, Yoga Journal, Shambala Sun, and many other publications. He is a certified Health Coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, maintains a B.S. in Marketing from University of Maryland, College Park and an MBA from the University of Maryland, University College. https://holisticlifefoundation.org/
