Finding your way in turbulent times is a process of remembering the light that you carry within—your moral compass, of connecting with others to do good in the world, and of re-committing to your deepest aspirations. This month, I’ve offered several significant talks with hundreds of people in attendance online at Upaya Zen Center, the Center for Courage & Renewal and Transformative Educational Leadership. Many attending expressed legitimate anger and overwhelm at the state of American democracy, including the attacks on DEI, due process, and the rule of law. Some feared for their personal safety and nearly everyone was asking important questions: How do I stay rooted in my deepest values as the ground beneath me shifts daily? How do I take action in the face of such urgent and turbulent times? The spiritual and the ethical are interconnected. As you cultivate the ‘inner light’ of peace within yourself, peacemaking is possible. This ‘inner light’ is open, receptive, and guided by love and compassionate action. Peaceful doesn’t mean passive; it means finding your way through the frenzy holding to the vision of a just, loving, and inclusive society while also compassionately respecting your limitations. I think about the opening lines to Mary Oliver’s poem, The Buddha’s Last Instructions: “Make of yourself a light,” said the Buddha…. This photo was taken at The Great Ordination Ceremony, Plum Village, France, March 2025. |
Open for Registration Now. Registration Closes January 1, 2026!
Portuguese Camino: Walk in Beauty Pilgrimage of El Camino for 2026,
Our Kindest Camino Ever!
October 10-20, 2026
Duration: 11 days / 10 nights
Distance: 80 miles/129 km
Difficulty: Moderate
Start/End: Guimarães, Portugal
-Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Includes All Breakfasts, Gourmet Picnic Lunches, Dinners and 3-4 star hotels.
Let us pamper you in this exclusive, small group, amenities-packed pilgrimage where you’ll savor breathtaking natural beauty of the legendary coast of Portugal and Spain, charming, three and four-star accommodations, and regional delicious cuisine, including gourmet picnic lunches.
Inspiring Highlights
Beginning Guimaraes, the ‘birthplace’ of Portugal and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, this Camino explores the allure and beauty of northern Portugal and Spain. Immerse yourself in the ambiance of coastal towns and estuaries, peaceful countryside villages, forested paths, waterfalls, and winding rivers. Showcasing a mix of Gothic, Manueline, and Renaissance architectural styles, this Camino follows ancient paths through historic towns, churches and squares, iconic castles, and cobblestones streets, and ending in the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Santiago de Compostela, an urban sanctuary of medieval architecture and art.
Our kindest and gentlest Camino ever meanders through Ponte de Lima and the banks of the River Lima and Valença do Minho, to historic Tui as we cross the River Miño into Spain. Walk through rural villages, shaded wooded paths, the white wine-producing region of the Rias Baixas, and the estuaries surrounding Pontevedra. With coastal views and natural and cultural heritage full of magical, wild, and protected spaces, you’ll arrive at Santiago de Compostela, the iconic ancient city.
At the end of this Camino, you’ll receive the Compostela, official recognition of having completed this historic pilgrimage.
Accommodations are three and four-star hotels with private bath, charmingly restored country manor houses, and B&B’s that offer the best in hospitality, comfort, and location.
This Camino is for foodies! Enjoy delicious regional cuisine, with dinners at restaurants known for exceptional local cuisine, atmosphere, and service. During our walk, you’ll savor gourmet picnics, using the freshest local and regional ingredients. All breakfasts, picnic lunches, and dinners are included, and vegetarians and those with food allergies are fully accommodated.
Space is limited to 12 persons.
What People Are Saying
- “The scenery is spectacular and the beautiful rhythm of walking the Camino is truly revelatory.”
- “To walk the Camino my own way empowered and stretched me into new horizons, safely and in community….”
- “Everyday was a feast for the senses.”
- “I am venturing home with my heart burst wide open, full of hope and possibilities. I am deeply grateful.”
May is Mental Health Awareness Month.
WISDOM FOR LIFE AND THE JOHN W. BRICK MENTAL HEALTH FOUNDATION PRESENTS:
Break Free from Stress, Anxiety & Emotional Overload
Valerie’s session is scheduled for May 9, 2025
Free Online Event
Are you struggling with stress, anxiety or burnout?
You’re not alone. And you don’t have to keep feeling this way.
Every day, millions of people are silently struggling with:
- Constant overwhelm and the pressure to hold everything together
- Anxiety that hijacks your thoughts and steals your peace
- Burnout that makes even simple tasks feel exhausting
- Disconnection from joy, purpose, or the people around you
- Restless nights, racing thoughts, and a mind that won’t shut off
If any of this sounds familiar, there’s something powerful waiting for you.
Announcing Break Free: Solutions for Your Mental Health & Well-Being, presented by Wisdom for Life and the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation.
Claim your FREE spot now. : https://bestyear.krtra.com/t/3TfoGltN4FZa
This 7-day online event brings together 40+ experts in mental health, neuroscience, psychology, and holistic healing.
These are real, evidence-based solutions for the challenges you’re living with every day.
On your 7-day journey to improved mental health & well-being, you’ll learn how to:
- Calm anxiety and ease stress through proven practices
- Reconnect with joy and emotional clarity
- Set healthy boundaries that protect your peace
- Heal from trauma and painful emotional patterns
- Build resilience to face life’s storms with confidence
- Improve sleep, energy, and mood through simple daily shifts
- Find meaningful connection in an increasingly disconnected world
- Develop a lasting foundation for mental and emotional well-being
| Speakers include Deepak Chopra MD, Tara Brach PhD, Mariel Hemingway, Michael Singer, Patrick Kennedy, Sharon Salzberg, Kristin Neff PhD, Jeezy, Dawson Church PhD and many more, Register : https://bestyear.krtra.com/t/3TfoGltN4FZa |
2025 MIND & LIFE SUMMER RESEARCH INSTITUTE ‘REIMAGINING CONTEMPLATIVE EDUCATION: SHAPING A COLLECTIVE FUTURE’ JUNE 1-6, 2025 GARRISON INSTITUTE, GARRISON, NEW YORK
This conference brings together researchers, educational and contemplative practitioners, and policymakers who are committed to exploring how contemplation can enrich and reimagine educational systems in the 21st century. Contemplative education integrates academic study with practices that cultivate mindfulness, self-awareness, reflection, and compassion. It is based on the idea that education should not only focus on the development of cognitive skills and knowledge acquisition but on the inner development of individuals—emotionally, ethically, and spiritually.
I am thrilled to join friends and colleagues, including Angel Acosta, Meena Srinivasan, Patricia Jennings, Keiryu Lien Shutt, and many others.
| AWAKENED ACTION: OPENING TO ALL OF LIFE (IN PERSON & ONLINE 2025) |
| With Roshi Joan Halifax, Christiana Figueres, Terry Tempest Williams, Rebecca Solnit, and Valerie Brown at Upaya Zen Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, November 14-16, 2025WAIT-LISTED IN PERSON ONLINE SPACES AVAILABLEIN PERSON:https://www.upaya.org/program/awakened-action-opening-to-all-of-life-in-person-2025/ONLINE (Free +by donation):https://www.upaya.org/program/awakened-action-opening-to-all-of-life-online-2025/ In this very special program, I will join engaged Buddhist teacher Roshi Joan Halifax, climate diplomat Christiana Figueres (online), beloved writer and environmentalist Terry Tempest Williams, and writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit to explore awakened action and the vows which sustain us. “Awakened action” is a powerful place to affirm our vows to not only find beauty in a broken world but create beauty in the world we find, actualize wild mercy, and let us discover that our relatives are everywhere. Please join us onsite or online for this plunge into awakened action through deep exploration of history and possibility, the power of practice and art, and the generativity of communities of courage and care. Onsite registration is limited, and early registration is advised.  |
Let the Beauty You Love: A Retreat for Renewal & Engaged Social Action
June 5-7, 2026
Mercy Center Burlingame, CA, (just outside San Francisco)
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: May 22, 2026
Register Now
This retreat explores issues of transition, vocational calling, passion, life purpose, meaning, direction and underlying life patterns to live in greater alignment with your core values, to listen to your own inner wisdom, and to reconnect who you are with what you do.
While exploring personal life transitions, this retreat acknowledges the global polycrisis we face that includes climate change, political polarization, war, and injustice. Now more than ever, we need a renewed commitment to social and environmental engagement and justice in this very complex time. Together we will deepen our insight and understanding of the roots of structural violence so we can engage in the world with creativity, courage, love, and hope. This retreat will ground us in resilience, connection and contemplative practices that renew and sustain body, mind and spirit.
The retreat provides a safe space to slow down and nurture personal and professional integrity, and the courage to lean into socially engaged action.
What You Will Learn:
- Navigate important life stage transitions with a community of mutual support
- Connect with the sacred as you align heart and soul with action in the world
- Reflect on your most meaningful values, relationships, priorities, and life purpose and broader issues of social justice
- Discern what’s next for you with creativity and acceptance
- Explore and apply new practices and frameworks to your stage of life
- Gain valuable insights to ignite your life and your work
- Cultivate a sense of joy and connection to your own learning process
Program Features:
- Weekend retreat that include individual and small group reflection, guided mindfulness meditation, engagement in nature and creative arts
- All meals
- Exploration of diverse frameworks, including Quaker faith and practice, Buddhist teachings in the Plum Village tradition, Gestalt psychotherapy, creative expression, and social justice
- All materials
- Expert facilitation
SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE: Scholarship Request Form
About Mercy Center:
Mercy Center is a ministry of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, an order of Catholic women religious. Mercy Center provides opportunities for people to become more attentive to the presence of the Divine in their lives and in the world, and then respond with care for the Earth and service to others, especially people who are low-income and vulnerable.
Offerings include meditation, wellness, prayer, eco-spirituality, professional & social development, spiritual direction, and mutuality. Internationally known, this conference and retreat center offers a peaceful and holistic environment for people of diverse faiths and backgrounds to nourish their spiritual and professional lives, and a convenient location for conferences and events in the stunning San Francisco Bay Area.
