Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics

Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics is a nine-day meditation retreat in the Buddhist tradition, led by Susan Piver and Crystal Gandrud at Drala Mountain Center in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado. It explores the householder path, the view that meditation practice moves off the cushion and into relationships, home, work, creativity, and finances, so that ordinary life becomes the practice.

The retreat is for people who already sit with some regularity and want to bring that practice into the rest of their lives, within a supportive community and the high-summer beauty of the Colorado Rockies. Tuition is free, and participants pay for lodging, which includes meals and drinks.

What to Expect

The householder path asks us to turn toward everyday life rather than away from it. That brings more openness and vulnerability, and the retreat offers guidelines for it in the form of seven principles:

- Engaging in ritual, rather than treating meditation as a mechanical self-help gesture
- Recognizing that the personal is not an obstacle but the way
- Recognizing heartbreak, understood as a result of steady practice and the root of compassion
- Being boundaried, since opening further does not mean being open to everything
- Cleaning up after ourselves, from the kitchen sink to our relationships
- Dreaming on behalf of others, keeping alive the vision of an awakened world
- Living as mystics, hiding in plain sight

The program begins with check-in on the first afternoon, followed by eight full practice days, and ends after breakfast on the last morning. Each practice day follows the same rhythm: a 7:00 a.m. practice session, breakfast at 8:00, yoga at 9:00, and another practice session at 9:45. After lunch at 12:30 p.m. come sessions at 2:30 and, after tea at 4:00, again at 4:30. Dinner is at 6:00, a final session runs at 7:30, and the day concludes at 8:30, with lights out at 10:00 p.m.

About Susan Piver

Susan Piver is a New York Times bestselling author whose books include The Wisdom of a Broken Heart, Start Here Now: An Open-Hearted Guide to the Path and Practice of Meditation, The Four Noble Truths of Love: Buddhist Wisdom for Modern Relationships, and The Buddhist Enneagram: Nine Paths to Warriorship. Her work brings Buddhist teaching to bear on love, heartbreak, and daily life.

About Crystal Gandrud

Crystal Gandrud dropped out of pre-med and joined the circus, which eventually led to a Conservatory Classical Theatre degree and an advanced degree in Experimental Fiction. In 2018 she co-founded Lionheart Press with Susan Piver, a small press exploring Buddhism for everyday mystics. In 2022 she founded The Owl Circus.

The Setting

Drala Mountain Center sits in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado. Check-in takes place at the Guest Services Cabin on arrival day. Lodging is chosen at registration, and every option includes breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner:

- Off campus: arrange your own housing, such as a home, a short-term rental, or camping nearby in Red Feather, and commute.
- Car camping: basic parking spots in the Rigden lot for sleeping in a self-contained vehicle. Tents and other camping gear are not permitted.
- Single or double tents: platform tents of about 12 by 14 feet with twin beds, bookcases, and a clothes rack, in the main campus area or the more remote Maitri Village, each near a bathhouse.
- Dormitories: two gender-segregated rooms with beds for up to seven people, with bathrooms and showers down the hall.
- Monk rooms: solitary indoor rooms with a bed, bedding, closet, desk, and large window, with a shared bathroom.
- Single and double rooms: more space, a dresser and closet, and an attached three-quarter bath.
- Junior suites: lodge suites with a queen bed, desk, dresser, closet, sitting area, and private bath with a tub.

Extra nights can be added at half price.

Before You Go

The retreat is taught in English. No formal experience requirement is set, but the principles assume an established, steady meditation practice. Tuition covers the full program and teaching from both leaders. Lodging is charged separately, and transportation to the center is not included. Bedding is not provided with the tents, so bring twin sheets, a blanket or sleeping bag, and a pillow.