EARTH & SKY RETREAT
A Retreat for Climate and Environmental Leaders
With Diane Musho Hamilton, Jennifer Kikyo Berman, and Julian Keizan Gonzalez
May 24 - 30, 2026
Two Arrows Zen
Torrey, Utah
This retreat is hosted by Two Arrows Zen, offered in partnership with the BESS Family Foundation, a private foundation fostering community among practitioners exploring the intersection of mindfulness, meditation, and climate leadership. We are grateful for their generous support.
RENEW YOUR SPIRIT. REIMAGINE YOUR LEADERSHIP.
In a time of accelerating climate disruption, environmental rollbacks, and growing uncertainty about the future, Earth and Sky offers a sanctuary—a retreat for climate and environmental leaders to cultivate inner resilience to meet this moment with wisdom and compassion.
Funded by the BESS Family Foundation, this retreat is designed specifically to give climate and environmental leaders much-needed time outside to reflect, sit, and refresh together.
Set amidst the red-rock canyons of Torrey, Utah, just outside Capitol Reef National Park, this week will weave together meditation and mindfulness, conversation, and deep immersion in the natural world to support participants in reconnecting with themselves, each other, and the natural world.
When the work in front of us feels both urgent and overwhelming, this retreat invites participants into a week of renewal and reconnection.
THE EARTH AND SKY RETREAT IS A TIME TO...
- Encounter the intimacy and vastness of the natural world.
- Learn from the cyclical rhythms of change and renewal.
- Engage with the five elements — Fire, Water, Wind, Air, and Space — as guides for transformation, creativity, and balance.
- Deepen self-awareness and embodied presence.
- Transform grief, fatigue, and uncertainty into sources of wisdom and inspiration.
- Cultivate resilient, compassionate relationships.
- Join a community of peers dedicated to effective, wise, and courageous action.
A POWERFUL INVITATION
Whether you come seeking personal restoration, deeper insight, or new ways to engage with others, The Earth and Sky Retreat offers a powerful invitation: to slow down, listen deeply, and rekindle your relationship with the beauty and brokenness of the world.
YOU WILL RECEIVE
- Six days of meditation and mindfulness practice with Zen Teacher, Diane Musho Hamilton.
- Practice in communications and relationship skills.
- Outings in the grandeur and intimacy of the natural world in Southern Utah.
- Embodiment practices for strength, stability, and energetic sensitivity.
- Connection with a community of like-minded climate and environmental leaders.
- Delicious, healthy vegan/vegetarian meals (with meat options) prepared by our excellent kitchen.
LOGISTICS
May 24 - 30, 2026
Sunday at 4:00 pm through noon Saturday.
Two Arrows Zen
57 South 300 West
Torrey, Utah 84775
Book flights into Salt Lake City Airport. The drive to Torrey is 3 ½ hours. Ride-sharing is encouraged.
A variety of lodging options are available within walking distance of the Zen Center, including camping, motels, Airbnbs, and cabin rentals. A limited number of camping spaces are available on site.
Meals are included, from dinner on Sunday, May 24, through breakfast on Saturday, May 30.
WHO SHOULD APPLY
This retreat is for individuals working to protect and sustain life on Earth, from within the climate movement, clean energy, and environmental protection groups. If your work is connected to ecological, social, or systemic transformation, we welcome you.
We especially encourage participation from:
- Climate advocates, activists, and organizers
- Environmental scientists, educators, and agency staff
- Climate and environmental journalists
- Leaders in housing, land stewardship, food systems, and regenerative business
- Philanthropic and nonprofit leaders
- Entrepreneurs, artists, and spiritual practitioners exploring environmental engagement, and
- Those working in the Intermountain West, especially local climate and conservation leaders.
Please apply only if you can attend the full retreat. No late arrivals or early departures.
APPLICATION
The BESS Family Foundation has generously funded participation, including the program fees and meals.
Travel and lodging will be paid for by participants.
WITHDRAWAL POLICY
RETREAT LEADER
Diane Musho Hamilton
Diane describes herself as a mediator and a meditator. She says that meditation deepens our relationship to oneness; meditation puts it into action. She was the Director of Dispute Resolution for the Judiciary in Utah, mediating many kinds of matters, but was recognized for her skills in facilitating the more difficult conversations. Diane enjoys the intimacy of conflict and its creative potential. She began working with Ken Wilber in 2004 and, for 15 years, held transformative containers for many people interested in their own development. She teaches meditation in the Soto Zen lineage.
Diane, a life-long Utah resident, is the Executive Director of Two Arrows Zen and the founder and lead trainer of the Real LIFE Facilitator Program. She has written books on conflict resolution, cultivating relationships, communication skills, and most recently, Waking Up and Growing Up: Spiritual Cross Training for an Evolving World, with Gabriel Wilson. (Shambhala, July 2025.)
STAFF
Jennifer Berman
Jen is an experienced coach and facilitator whose work has included serving in senior learning and strategy roles within philanthropic institutions and helping launch and guide collaborative climate initiatives, including the creation of a statewide energy and climate action network. She has also supported state-level climate policy efforts and advised several cross-sector climate collaborations. Jennifer’s approach is deeply informed by her early training as a community organizer, interest in systems and complexity theory, and belief in the transformative power of collaboration. She is passionate about supporting individuals, organizations, and networks to build relationships across difference, engage new modes of collective meaning-making, and act with clarity and equanimity in our rapidly changing world. Jennifer is an ordained monk practicing at and supporting the work Two Arrows Zen.
Julian Gonzalez
Julian has led climate adaptation, watershed management, and sustainability planning initiatives across the Americas, including award-winning sea-level-rise resilience work in Canada, watershed projects with the EPA in Puerto Rico, and urban climate planning for UN-Habitat in South America. Trained as an engineer and certified professional planner, he combines systems thinking, adaptive leadership, and group dynamics tools to help teams mobilise meaningful progress—especially by bridging Indigenous and Western knowledge systems to build robust solutions and strengthen the relationships needed for implementation. He is also an ordained monk, practicing at TAZ since 2008—a commitment that informs his approach to leadership and collaboration.