For BPOC Youth aged 18-24
We are excited to be hosting our first residential retreat for young people of colour this summer. We believe that holding a retreat specifically for teens of color is an important step that we can take on this path to building our multi-identity community and widening the access of mindfulness to everyone.
This retreat will offer us a space for us to reconnect with ourselves and learn tools for developing our inner resources of wellbeing and freedom. We will have the opportunity to explore mindfulness as it relates to our own unique experiences in the world, the challenges we face and the gifts that we carry from our roots and lineages.
Through mindfulness, movement, creativity and nature connection, we will learn practices for empowerment, sustaining our self care and bringing more well being into our daily lives and our communities.
Our approach is informed by creativity, social justice and community practice as collective care. Together we will build a supportive community to learn from our diverse experiences and collective wisdom.
What to expect:
- Tools for navigating stress, anxiety and difficult emotions
- Practices for developing wellbeing, self awareness and resilience
- Workshops for exploring creativity and nature connection
- Embodiment practices and mindful movement
- Meaningful and authentic community connection
- Walks and nature connection
Who is it for?
This retreat is for youth of colour anyone aged 18-24.
This event is only for Black, Asian & People of Colour (Global Majority)
This includes people from mixed racial heritages, people who come from African, Caribbean, Asian and Middle Eastern Backgrounds, Indigenous or mixed race of North, Central and South America, Australia and New Zealand.
Date & Time:
Thursday 27th – 30th July 2023
Arrival and departure times to be confirmed
Location:
This retreat will be held at the Quadrangle in Shoreham.. A peaceful venue and retreat centre in Kent, just 40 minutes from central London. A peaceful setting in rural kent just a few minutes off the famous Darent Valley Path, which goes through varied landscape of riverside fringed with willows and woodlands.
The venue includes a large barn for our workshops and sessions, with lots of land to explore and even a wild swimming river spot.
Cost:
We are committed to accessibility and are offering a flexible sliding scale to accomodate a wide range of financial circumstances.Please pay the rate you can afford, the top range of the scale allows our facilitators to be paid for this camp and the supports the bursary fund for lower income seats.
Solidarity rate- £375, covers all retreat costs, staff pay and supports scholarship seats
Base rate : £275, covers all your basic retreat costs, including staff pay.
Supported rate : £150, covers some retreat costs, excluding staff pay
Scholarship rate: £90, support for anyone who can’t afford the supported rate
Please be in touch if you need further support, no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Testimonials
“I realised why I have struggled with some of the modern westernised mindfulness practices recently as I was limiting myself in what mindfulness really meant – it can be a broad range of contemplative practices connecting to my faith and the earth”
“The friendships I made are some of the purest I’ve ever had. Without technology and distractions we could all be free, I really appreciated this”
“I was surprised to learn that I could concentrate more deeply than I thought and learn to make space for uncomfortable feelings”
“I learned so much that I am still processing and articulating, no retreat I was ever on has ended with a party!”
“These practice will allow me slow down in life, put things into perspective and be happier with myself”
Teachers:
Charisse Minerva Spencer
Charisse Minerva Spencer brings to the Mindfulness arena a background in Arts, Science, and Youth Development. She earned a B.S. Degree in Medical Technology from the Medical College of Virginia/VCU. However, her love of the Arts led her to divert her path in order to live her passion for dance and choreography. Later Charisse returned to school to get a Masters in Performance Studies with a concentration in Dance Anthropology from Tisch School of the Arts/New York University. Her eclectic professional experience coupled with more than 30 years of practice in the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhist organization led to her interest in Mindfulness. Charisse brings a scientific and artistic approach to the field investigating the existence of contemplative practices, its individual and cultural significance, as well as how these practices can be introduced in ways that are broad-based. She has worked with Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP), Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme), is Mindfulness Coordinator at Friends School of Virginia Beach, and has done workshops in schools, festivals, corporate offices, detention & treatment centers.
Hakim Taylor
Hakim is a qualified teacher and special educational needs coordinator. He lived and worked in The Gambia for eleven years, where he set up a school and charitable foundation for young people. He first discovered meditation in 1992 at a retreat with the London Buddhist centre and has since qualified to teach mindfulness through .b and the Youth Mindfulness programme. As a parent of five children (now adults) Hakim runs groups for parents and has been trained to deliver EHCAPs Mindful Emotion Coaching for parents and teenagers. He supported the 2018 iBme retreat. Hakim is interested in continuing to develop mindfulness within schools and the wider community, with a particular focus on Black and minority ethnic communities. He hosts a local community weekly radio show, engaging with music and poetry and showing how these can support mindful practice.
Jilna Shah
Jilna first discovered meditation and mindfulness at aged 18 and both have been transformative tools in her own life and work for social change. She is a trained yoga teacher and offers community movement classes and workshops, including specifically for refugees, queer and trans black and people of colour, and for elders. Jilna is also a trained Craniosacral therapist and practices from Brighton and London. She is passionate about creating spaces for connection and collective care.
Kareem Ghandour
Kareem first encountered mindfulness at the age of 18 and has been inspired about sharing it with young people ever since. He has spent many years active in initiatives for mindfulness in education and in mindful communities for youth, as a facilitator in peer- led settings, and teaching on courses and retreats. These include the Wake Up movement for young adults and the charity Youth Mindfulness. He completed his mindfulness teacher training in 2018 and was trained in person by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. He is passionate about exploring the role of play, creativity and social justice in the mindfulness world
Lucy Chan
Lucy is a mindfulness and self-compassion teacher who leads retreats and courses worldwide. She is part of a nationally acclaimed team delivering mindfulness for burnout retreats, and has been trained directly by the internationally renowned pioneers of self-compassion Kristin Neff and Chris Germer. As a practising doctor in the NHS, she understands the importance of integrating mindfulness and self-compassion practices as a way to keep balance in everyday life
Booking:
Sign up to receive booking form. Register your interest and we will email you the booking form