Healing the Heart: A Silent Yoga and Zen Retreat

Healing the Heart is a silent yoga and Zen retreat at Drala Mountain Center in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado. It is for people drawn to quiet practice who want to bring the body, the breath and the heart into the same room, whether they come with a steady meditation habit or are looking for a gentler way to begin. The retreat is led by Kali Basman, an international Yin Yoga educator and Dharma teacher.

About Kali Basman

Kali Basman is a Yin Yoga educator, Dharma teacher and mentor, described on her own site as a "Dharma teacher of teachers." Her work brings Buddhist psychology, Internal Family Systems (IFS) and the intelligence of the body into conversation with one another. She has eighteen years of teaching experience and a decade of IFS practice.

Her teaching draws anatomy, fascia and the meridian traditions of Chinese Medicine together with Buddhist mind training, somatic awareness and parts inquiry. In her classes, Yin Yoga becomes a place to listen: to patterns of holding and protection, to the parts of us that have gone unheard, and to the compassion that can arise when we meet ourselves with curiosity and care.

Kali holds a Master of Public Health in Environmental Health from UCLA and has trained through the Internal Family Systems Institute, including Level 1 training.

The Setting

Drala Mountain Center sits in the mountains near Red Feather Lakes, Colorado, and is a centre for contemplative practice in the Buddhist tradition. Its retreat programs span meditation and mindfulness, yoga and wellness, creative expression and time in the natural world, with silent retreats a regular part of the calendar. A silent yoga and Zen retreat fits naturally in a place built for this kind of attention, where the surroundings do much of the work of slowing a person down.

Before You Go

Silence is part of the container of this retreat, so it helps to arrive willing to put conversation aside and let the practice carry the days. Kali's approach to yoga is a listening one, which makes it a reasonable fit for people who are not looking for a strenuous physical practice. If you are considering the retreat and have questions about experience level, accommodation or what to pack, the venue and the retreat listing are the best places to confirm those details before you travel.