Unplugged Nature Retreat In Colombia’s Sierra Nevada

• Event date:
  March 28, 2025 at 5:00 pm
• Event end:
  March 30, 2025 at 5:00 pm
• Size
  10

Step into a world of awe and wonder on this unplugged nature retreat in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains.

Come experience mindful walking and nondual awareness practices that help you shift out of the mind’s conceptual and analytical thinking so you can rest as the selfless, timeless and effortless awareness that is the ground of our being.

During this 2-day retreat at the El Dorado Ecolodge and ProAves Birding Reserve near the town of Minca, we will fully unplug from screens and mindfully tune our senses into the sights, sounds and smells of this magical high-altitude rainforest.

We will begin with a group dinner on Friday 7:30 PM and then explore the best local hiking trails on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday: Cerro Kennedy Sunrise Hike And Mindful Birdwatching

On the first day, we will do a sunrise hike to Cerro Kennedy, a sacred mountain known by local indigenous people as Nukulinzhduwe, which is the beginning of 7 rivers that flow down from the Sierra Nevada and provide drinking water to the arid Santa Marta area.

From the top of Cerro Kennedy, we will see the sunrise over the Sierra Nevada de Santa with epic views of the Caribbean Sea and 5,775 metres (18,947 feet) Pico Colón, the highest mountain in Colombia.

This mountain known as Gonawindua by the local Kogi people, who see this entire pyramid-shaped mountain range as a sacred living being situated in the geographical heart of the world. Their pleas for an ecological awakening have been covered in documentaries like Aluna and Gonawindua.

In the afternoon, we will learn from a local birdwatching guide about the 420 species of birds that make the El Dorado Reserve reserve so special for experiential learning and wildlife conservation.

For the sunset, we will climb to a spectacular mountain lookout with panoramic views of the areas around Santa Marta, Tayrona National Park and Ciénaga by the Caribbean Sea.

Sunday: El Dorado Reserve And Hike To Panku Waterfall

On the second day, we will wake up with the songs of the birds and you have some free time to meditate and explore some of the trails in the El Dorado Reserve before we hike as a group with an indigenous guide to the Panku waterfall to swim.

This day will be a deep dive into mindful nonduality practices, learning nondual inquiry and experiential learning about the incredible biodiversity of local flora, fauna and fungi.

We will learn from our indigenous guide about their people’s unique spiritual connection to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and their animistic and nondual relationship with their ecosystem.

Animism is the belief that everything is part of an interconnected web of life that is deeply embedded in indigenous worldviews. Nonduality is central to many mystical religious and meditation traditions from the east.

Both animism and nonduality share some profound philosophical and experiential similarities that we will explore during this unplugged nature retreat.

What You’ll Experience At This Retreat:

Experience the magic of combining nature immersion, mindful walking and nonduality practices completely unplugged and tuned into the “felt presence” of your immediate experience:

✔ Experience Deep Stillness – Shift from thinking about life to fully experiencing it. Walk in stillness, listen without labeling, and feel yourself merge with the forest landscape.

✔ Practice Nondual Awareness – Discover awareness of awareness beyond the mind’s concepts and analysis. Instead of trying to “stop” thoughts, learn how to rest as the space in which thoughts arise.

✔ Explore Peak Experiences – Explore the power of transcendence and peak experiences for personal and collective transformation.

✔ Experience Awe & Wonder – Witness the vastness of the sky, the mystery of the stars, the peace of bird singings and feel the boundaries between “you” and the world dissolve into a boundless flow of consciousness.

✔  Grow Your Meditation Practice – Learn an effortless form of meditation that you can do while walking outdoors to get out of your head and into an embodied state of mindful immersion.

What You’ll Takeaway From The Retreat:

Here are the health and wellness benefits of attending this unplugged nature retreat:

✅ Reduce Overthinking – Learn nondual awareness practices to stop identifying with thoughts, release anxiety and experience awareness beyond the mind’s concepts.

✅ Embodied Mindfulness – Tune into your body’s experiences of the forest so you feel the stillness of effortless flow.

✅ Experience Oneness – Shift from feeling separate to realizing you are life itself and not separate from the world of your external sensory experiences.

✅ Free Your Mind – Recognize that awareness is always present, even in the midst of thoughts and learn practices to free your mind from overthinking, stress and self-consciousness.

Who This Retreat Experience Is Designed For:

• Seekers of inner stillness, clarity, and effortless presence
• Those curious about nonduality, self-inquiry, and transcending the ego
• Active hikers who want to reduce overthinking and connect deeper with nature
• Nature lovers who feel drawn to immersive awareness and peak experiences
• Environmentalists interesting climate change as a crisis of consciousness

What’s Covered?

• 6 vegetarian meals from the opening dinner on Friday evening until lunch on Sunday
• 2 nights of accommodation in a private or inexpensive dorm room
• Local guides for birdwatching and hiking

What’s Not Covered?

• Flights and transportation to Minca
• 4×4/moto taxi from Mina to the El Dorado Reserve
• Travel insurance

Join This Unplugged Nature Retreat:

This unplugged nature retreat is a doorway into a new way of experiencing life through nondual awareness so you can see beyond the illusion of separation from nature created by the modern world.

It only takes 5 minutes to apply to join this retreat.

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