Cynthia Eisho Morrow
EVENTS
The Great Ballcourt Initiation – Spring Fast
March 20-21, 2026
Eureka Valley, CA
Death is the ultimate agent of transformation—be it a physical death or “the little deaths” encountered throughout life. Indigenous cultures developed rituals to aid and guide people through these stages of change and renewal, utilizing the power of death to enhance and intensify these experiences. For the Mayan people this ceremony was played out on the Great Ballcourt. The court, and the ritual game played upon it, were an enactment of the great transformations: from life to death, from the middleworld to the underworld, from humanity to divinity.
Awakened Earth
Spring – Practice of Emergence
A Day of Contemplation on the Land
April 18, 2026, 9am – 5pm
Open Sky Retreat Space
West Sebastopol, CA
You are invited to a day of contemplation at a beautifully tended sanctuary retreat space on eight acres of private land in West Sebastopol. This is a day of shared practice, presence, and belonging—rooted in relationship with the living Earth. Guided by the mirror of the land and the wisdom of contemplative practice, we will create a container spacious enough to hold the “ten thousand joys and sorrows” of our worldly lives. In difficult times, we can either close down or allow the heart-mind to open. Together, we invite opening and insight to arise through stillness, silence, and the illuminating shared stories of our lives.
Awakened Earth
Flowering of Renewal
Half-Day Contemplative Gathering
May 16, 2026, 9am – 12:30pm
Sugarloaf Ridge State Park
Kenwood, CA
Join us at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, the ancestral homeland- past, present, and future- of the Wappo people. Here, rolling hills and spring wildflower blooms offer a living mirror for our own inner nature. Together, we step out of the pace of daily life and into a shared field of presence, grounded in relationship with the living Earth. The abundance of new growth and blossoming life invites reflection on the cycles of renewal within our own inner landscape. Here, the land invites us into embodied presence—remembering how renewal arises through patience, tending, and rooted belonging.
Dying as a Rite of Passage
June 13-20, 2026
Inyo Mountains
Big Pine, CA
For millennia, indigenous people of all our bloodlines have known “how to die”, with the natural world as our teacher from the beginning of time. Cycles of dying and rebirth are seen everywhere: the setting and rising of the sun, the turning of the seasons, the death of the elderly alongside the birth of a new generation. Ceremonial rites of passage emerged pan-culturally as a means of supporting, guiding and witnessing this natural process. These rites have supported individuals in letting go of one stage of life—the little deaths—in order to be reborn into the next. They help us to fully embrace our ever-changing lives, while preparing us for the final transition, the big Death that awaits us all.
Awakened Earth
Meeting the Waves of Change
Half-Day Contemplative Gathering
July 18, 2026, 9am – 12:30pm
North Salmon Creek Beach
Sonoma Coast, CA
Join us at the Sonoma Coast, the ancestral homeland, past and present, of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo peoples. Here, the vastness and rhythm of the ocean offer a timeless mirror for our own inner nature. Together, we step out of the pace of daily life and into a shared field of presence, grounded in relationship with the living Earth. The ocean waves—their power, impermanence, and deep inner stillness—invite reflection on our own changing inner landscape. Here, the ocean invites us to practice meeting change with openness, and to rest in the vast awareness that remains when we let go.
Wild Roots, Sky Mind
August 20-23, 2026
Bohemian Ecological Preserve
West Sonoma County, CA
Join us on a beautiful 1,000-acre protected preserve in the western hills of Sonoma County, the ancestral homeland of the Pomo and Coast Miwok people. Over four days and three nights, this land of old-growth forests, oak woodlands, coastal meadows, and sweeping vistas will serve as both setting and mirror—reflecting the depth, resilience, and expansiveness of our own inner nature. Drawing together core teachings from wilderness rites of passage and the Dharma, we will explore four qualities of the awakened heart-mind: Loving-kindness, Compassion, Appreciative Joy, and Equanimity.
Awakened Earth
Fall – Practice of Letting Go
A Day of Contemplation on the Land
September 19, 2026, 9am–5pm
Open Sky Retreat Space
West Sebastopol, CA
You are invited to a day of contemplation at a beautifully tended sanctuary retreat space on eight acres of private land in West Sebastopol. This is a day of shared practice, presence, and belonging—rooted in relationship with the living Earth. Guided by the mirror of the land and the wisdom of contemplative practice, we will create a container spacious enough to hold the “ten thousand joys and sorrows” of our worldly lives. In difficult times, we can either close down or allow the heart-mind to open. Together, we invite opening and insight to arise through stillness, silence, and the illuminating shared stories of our lives.
Honoring Those Who Have Walked Before
October 24-26, 2026, 9am–5pm
Open Sky Retreat Space
West Sebastopol, CA
Deepening into fall, we enter a season of remembrance—a threshold time for honoring those who have walked before us. As the days shorten and the energy of the earth returns to its roots, we are invited to pause and listen to what the past continues to offer. Remembering the gifts and shadows of those who came before helps cultivate discernment as we dream our way into the future. Who were our ancestors, near and far— whose shoulders do we stand upon? How did they live, and how did they die?
CA Women’s Vision Fast
November 3-14, 2026
Death Valley, CA
Like the waxing and waning of the moon, our inner essence is reflected in the creative forces of nature, in the continual movement of light and dark. Throughout the stages of our lives, we flow between the stages of birth, death and re-birth. You know in your bones the ancient practice of rites of passage. This is a time to go out alone, be held by the earth and the spacious desert. For four days and four nights, there is space to remember your wholeness, sink into your dreams, and release what no longer serves.
If the world is to be healed through human efforts, I am convinced it will be by ordinary people, people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear.
~ Joanna Macy