GilChrist is the public retreat center of the Fetzer Institute. We support the Institute’s mission of helping build the spiritual foundation for a loving world by preserving a contemplative environment for healing self, society, and the natural world. We warmly welcome both groups and individuals and people of all faiths and affiliations.
Awakening to a Time of Transition
Lewis Carroll shared in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland a dialogue between Alice and the Caterpillar.
"Who are you?" said the caterpillar.
"I hardly know just at the present," Alice replied rather shyly.
From Triggered to Transforming: A Healing Retreat for Emotional Freedom
In this safe, warm, supportive environment at GilChrist, you'll have the opportunity to uncover and release the deep-seated emotional triggers and traumas that may be limiting your potential. With expert guidance, group support, and healing practices, you’ll gain powerful tools to begin transforming your triggers into sources of strength and healing.
What to Expect
Embodiment Through Change: A Women's Yoga and Writing Retreat
The middle passage of life and its inevitable instability and unpredictability amid wild cultural changes has left many of us feeling disconnected from our bodies, from each other, from our individual purpose, and from Spirit. This fall retreat is designed for women in midlife (known as the pitta stage of life, from childbearing years to the phase of the "crone") who long for reconnection--to their own nature, bodies, spirits, sense of self, and community--and seek to share in the wisdom and experience of like-minded seekers.
Yoga & Meditation Winter Retreat
This yoga and meditation retreat invites you to pause within the quiet, contemplative winter season and give yourself time to breathe, move, notice, and be. Join Cynthia and Kristin as we explore the mind-body connection through slow movement, stillness, and self-reflection alongside a supportive community of friends and the beautiful simplicity of GilChrist Retreat Center. No previous yoga experience needed – all are welcome to come and explore.
About the Facilitators
Kristin Moriarty Fiore, LLMSW, E-RYT 500
Making Space for Grace
Do you ever feel like you're pushing the river instead of being in the flow? Despite your best efforts, you just continue to struggle? Join us as we explore how to make space for grace to flow in our lives through movement, breathing, mantra, journaling, and silence.
This retreat is open to all regardless of experience. There will be group practices and discussion as well as time for you to wander the beautiful grounds of GilChrist.
About the Facilitator
Nature Companionship: Relationships, Reciprocity, and Justice in the Outdoors
This retreat will include elements of shinrin yoku (forest bathing), community building with each other and the more-than-human world, spiritual practices in the outdoors, and nature-inspired creativity. We will immerse ourselves in slow, gentle, playful walks in the woods to build and nurture reciprocal relationships, explore nature's impact on our creativity and discernment, participate in birdsong and poetry vespers, engage in conversations about eco-emancipation, earth-healing, and community care, and reflect in a community of trust, care, and curiosity.
Self-Guided Retreat Weekend at GilChrist
Come to GilChrist for a self-guided retreat! In the midst of our busy group retreat schedule, we reserve at least one weekend per month for individual guests to experience unstructured retreats in our fully equipped cabins, which can accommodate one, two, or three people.
Self-Guided Retreat Weekend at GilChrist
Come to GilChrist for a self-guided retreat! In the midst of our busy group retreat schedule, we reserve at least one weekend per month for individual guests to experience unstructured retreats in our fully equipped cabins, which can accommodate one, two, or three people.
Self-Guided Retreat Weekend at GilChrist
Come to GilChrist for a self-guided retreat! In the midst of our busy group retreat schedule, we reserve at least one weekend per month for individual guests to experience unstructured retreats in our fully equipped cabins, which can accommodate one, two, or three people.
Restoring and Healing Retreat
Embrace Self-Care and Inner Peace at Our Retreat