May 2026
CBR Community
As May gives way to summer, the days are long, the natural world is generous, and there is something in the air that invites both movement and rest.
Behind the scenes, we have been deepening our curriculum, orienting toward an expanded focus on culture, movement, and creative expression, honoring the whole person and the many paths through which resilience is cultivated. You will begin to see this reflected in our June training with Federica, in the Changemakers program taking shape for late summer, and in everything we are building toward.
Thank you for being here and for being part of the CBR community.
RESEARCH & PERSPECTIVE
Reflections and Insights from the Field
Last month, we shared an invitation to participate in the State of Changemaker Wellbeing Survey, a global research effort led by the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Healthy Minds in partnership with The Wellbeing Project. We are glad to share that the survey is going well, with thousands of changemakers and caregivers from around the world contributing their voices. This is the final week to participate. The survey takes just 5 to 10 minutes to complete. If you have not yet had a chance to take it, there is still time.
TAKE SURVEY
Questions about the survey can be directed to the research team at wellbeing-survey@chm.wisc.edu. If you have questions for us or would like to connect about your experience, we are always glad to hear from you at cbrproject@garrisoninstitute.org.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Monthly Resilience Circle
June 16 | 12:00-1:00pm ET | Virtual
Hosted the third Tuesday of every month, our free drop-in Resilience Circles provide a restorative midday pause for helping professionals. Each session offers guided meditation, mindful movement, and reflective discussion about stress, burnout, and emotional sustainability. Join when you can—no ongoing commitment required. This month’s circle is led by certified CBR Faculty member Jennifer Winther.
REGISTER
Contemplative-Based Resilience Training
June 22 | 12:00-3:00pm ET | Virtual
Following our May training, we are glad to offer another opportunity to explore CBR’s Awareness, Balance, and Connection framework. This time, CBR Faculty member Federica Lari, a yoga teacher and movement practitioner, joins CBR Director Carlos Rodarte to lead a three-hour session designed for frontline professionals in nonprofits, solo practices, and community-based settings.
Movement is woven throughout this training as both a practice and a doorway into understanding. Federica will guide participants through the science of cellular aging, regeneration, and homeostasis, exploring how resilience is not just something we cultivate mentally but a living process already at work in our bodies and the natural world around us. Through mindful movement, guided meditation, instruction, and small group discussion, participants will experience how the body itself is a site of renewal.
Registration is open now. A suggested price is listed, with sliding scale options available. Groups or teams interested in registering together are welcome to reach out at cbrproject@garrisoninstitute.org.
LEARN MORE & REGISTER
Team Daylong Retreat & Renewal
Summer Dates
If you have ever wished your team had real time together, not a meeting, not a workshop squeezed into a conference room, but a full day to breathe, reconnect, and do meaningful work in a setting that actually supports it, this is worth bringing to your organization.
We work with care teams, healthcare organizations, and human service groups to design customized daylong experiences at the Garrison Institute, whether that looks like a planning session, a staff workshop, or a full retreat. The day is built around your team’s real work, with CBR practices woven throughout river walks, time outdoors, and sessions on our forested grounds.
Summer dates are available now. To learn more or start a conversation, reach out to Carlos at cbrproject@garrisoninstitute.org.
Contemplative Resilience Tools for Social Changemakers
People working on the front lines of social change are being asked to show up fully for others while navigating enormous pressure themselves. Burnout, secondary trauma, and isolation are pervasive. And yet when one practitioner is strengthened, the ripple effect reaches the dozens or hundreds of people they serve.
This late summer and early fall, we are launching a new program designed specifically for frontline social justice organizations and activists. Grounded in CBR’s Awareness, Balance, and Connection framework, it offers practical contemplative tools to help changemakers care for themselves, work better within their teams, and sustain their commitment over time.
Stay tuned for announcements on teachers, CBR faculty, and guest speakers, as well as the full program description, dates, and how to participate. In the meantime, reach out to Carlos at carlos@garrisoninstitute.org with any questions.
Oslo Freedom Forum
This June, CBR Director Carlos Rodarte will be attending the Oslo Freedom Forum, an annual gathering of human rights defenders, activists, journalists, and leaders from around the world, hosted by the Human Rights Foundation in Oslo, Norway.
This is part of our ongoing commitment to bringing contemplative resilience tools and nervous system regulation to the individuals and organizations doing the most demanding work in the world. We believe this work belongs wherever people are striving to create a more just and humane world.
If you will be there, or if there is someone we should connect with, we would love to hear from you. Reach out at cbrproject@garrisoninstitute.org.
EVENT RECAP
Awareness, Balance, and Connection Resilience Training
On May 13, CBR Director Carlos Rodarte and CBR Faculty member Yikai Xu led a two-and-a-half hour training grounded in CBR’s Awareness, Balance, and Connection framework. The session offered participants an introduction to resilience through a contemplative-based approach, weaving together practice, reflection, and discussion.
Central to the training was an intentional focus on culture. Too often, culture is set aside in contemplative and wellness spaces, treated as secondary to practice rather than as the ground from which practice grows. Drawing on the spirit of Larry Yang’s Awakening Together, the training invited participants to see their cultural backgrounds and lived experiences not as additions to the work, but as the very place where their path begins.
As one participant shared: “I found it incredibly useful to have a framework for dealing with burnout and resilience. I often find that when these issues are discussed, it is simply naming that burnout is bad, but it’s capitalism’s fault and just the system we live in, sometimes with a trite suggestion such as take more walks. I found this course refreshing in that it not only named the problem and how it has societal roots that we cannot solve alone, yet still presented a clear, evidence-based method for dealing with it on a personal and community level.“
April & May Resilience Circles
Over the past two months, our Resilience Circles have offered a steady midday pause for helping professionals navigating the busyness of spring.
In April, CBR Faculty member Federica Lari guided participants through movement and earth-awareness practices, inviting the group to settle into the body and reconnect with the natural world as a source of grounding and renewal.
In May, CBR Director Carlos Rodarte led a meditation practice centered on gratitude, a simple and often underestimated resource for sustaining the inner life of those who care for others.
COMMUNITY BUILDING
Garrison Institute Commons
Good things take time to get right. Garrison Institute Commons, our new online community for CBR practitioners, is now open and welcoming its first members.
Over the coming weeks, we are sending out an additional round of invitations to Resilience Circle participants. Keep an eye out for a separate email with your link to join. This is a space to connect with fellow practitioners, share practices, and find community with others doing this work.
We are glad it is here. We hope you will be too.
JOIN US
An Invitation
There are a lot of people doing hard work out there who could use a space like this. Help us reach them.
Our monthly Resilience Circles are free and open to all helping professionals. We are committed to keeping them that way. If these circles have been meaningful to you, or if you believe in the importance of creating restorative spaces for those who care for others, we invite you to consider making a donation to support their continuation. Every contribution helps us keep this gathering alive and accessible. When donating, please select “Contemplative-Based Resilience CBR” from the dropdown menu.
See you next month. Be well.
With gratitude,
Carlos Rodarte
Director, Contemplative-Based Resilience
carlos@garrisoninstitute.org