Resting the Heart in Natural Awareness: Coming Home to Ourselves and Life (Residential Retreat)

Resting the Heart in Natural Awareness is a residential meditation retreat led by Rupert Marques and Kerstin Deibert at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, New Hampshire. It brings Buddhist contemplative practice together with nature-based practice, and it is for anyone drawn to meditating in close company with the natural world and wanting to feel a deeper belonging to the Earth.

The retreat is offered by Natural Dharma Fellowship and is held in person only. There is no online option, so the whole gathering happens on the land.

What to Expect

The retreat explores where contemplative practice meets the natural world. Meditation is the foundation, and it is paired with practices that take place in and with nature. The natural world is treated as both a refuge and a teacher: a place to rest, and a source of insight about how we relate to ourselves, to one another, and to the wider web of life.

Shared inquiry is part of the weave. Alongside quiet sitting, participants have room to explore together what it means to belong to the Earth and to come home to ourselves and to life as it is. The title names the aim plainly: resting the heart in natural awareness, rather than striving toward some other state.

Your Teachers

Rupert Marques joins the Natural Dharma Fellowship community as a visiting teacher. Kerstin Deibert co-leads with him, and the two guide the meditation, the nature-based practice and the shared inquiry together. Their teaching profiles are available through the fellowship's calendar for anyone who wants to know more about their backgrounds before deciding.

The Setting

Wonderwell Mountain Refuge is the retreat center of Natural Dharma Fellowship, a Buddhist community based in Springfield, New Hampshire. The fellowship describes its approach as natural meditation, inspired by the natural world, which makes the refuge a fitting home for a retreat about nature as teacher. Because this is a residential retreat, participants stay on site for its duration and practice within the same landscape that the teachings draw on.

Before You Go

This is a residential retreat held in person at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge only. Registration is handled through Natural Dharma Fellowship, and questions can be directed to the fellowship's registration office. If you are considering the retreat, it is worth confirming the latest practical details with them, including what to bring and how arrival works, as the fellowship finalizes them.