Young Adults on an “Adventure of Becoming” at Retreat Centers

by Ben Scott-Brandt

The Innovative Learning and Living Institute (ILALI) is bringing together regional cohorts of young adults to live together in immersive residency programs hosted at retreat centers. This isn’t exactly a gap year program or a retreat, and participants won’t be living at a summer camp or a commune. Instead, this program is trying something new: inviting young adults – hailing from diverse backgrounds within the same region – to live together for 4-6 months at a local retreat center. They’ll participate in an integrative developmental curriculum that will support both personal and collective growth. And they’ll come away from the program with a deeper knowledge of themselves, their place and their story, and the folks that make up their community. The idea is to transform communities by creating environments that foster inner development and encourage groups to knit together, transcending partisanship and polarization through sustained connection in a container of shared and co-creative experiences.

ILALI is an ambitious initiative in a few different ways, but it’s the choice to host this at retreat centers that I find especially energizing. I love retreat centers. I’m drawn to retreat centers because they nurture the inner lives of those who spend time there. When I’m at a retreat center, I slow down; I remember my breath; I take naps; I taste the water; I expand my awareness of myself and my surroundings. I soak up the stars at night, and when I return home, the world around me is re-enchanted because my awareness, my inner life, is refreshed. 

In my work as program manager for the Retreat Center Collaboration, a community of retreat center leaders across the United States and Canada, I’ve learned that there are many different ways to retreat, and many different groups who value retreat for different reasons. But some elements are consistent. Most retreats include elements of natural beauty and wildlife, social support, space for physical and emotional expression, practices of religious or spiritual devotion, healthy and simple foods, a schedule that promotes ease, and a focus on transformation and renewal. Filtered through the people, places, stories, and traditions of each retreat center community, these elements combine into unique expressions of each community’s values. These are spaces where we find and share what’s most meaningful to us.

A few thousand retreat centers are sprinkled across the continent. The land and buildings that house them often tell the story of the social, political, religious, or spiritual communities that gave birth to them. Like many other sacred and meaningful spaces – community centers, ashrams, abbeys, monasteries, lodges, temples, and gardens – retreat centers are set aside from the world and often stay under the radar. Their websites and socials aren’t flashy; you’ll probably park in a gravel lot when you arrive; and cell reception is typically spotty. But they’re really diamonds in the rough, and often experienced as doorways to healing and understanding. 

In theory, retreat centers are for everyone: you, me, the folks who live on the other side of town, and strangers from out of town. Unfortunately, in most cases, the most established retreat center communities haven’t typically been places for Gen Z folks, mostly because their organizational cultures and values were formed by an older (whiter, wealthier) crowd. What if we could change that? If we’re talking about a need for social support, a schedule that promotes ease, and a focus on transformation and renewal, then young adults are primed to participate. Today’s young adults know the value of self-care; they’re well aware of their own challenges with anxiety and isolation, and they’re up to try something new. Extending the sacred hospitality of retreat centers to young adults – and inviting them to co-create within a potent communal environment – is the sweet spot where ILALI comes to life.

Building on years of experience in research, program development, education and facilitation, the ILALI curriculum development team is crafting an immersive residency program that’s rooted in local community and history, responsive to the needs and interests of participants, and adventurous enough to spark transformation. Young adults embark together on an ‘adventure of becoming’ – in retreat center spaces specifically designed to support soul-searching, development, healing, and growth. It’s not a mountaintop experience for the weekend; it’s a dojo membership over several months, building on itself, as participants deepen their own presence and capacity for complexity. 

I’m excited about what this program could mean for the regional communities it will serve. I’m especially excited about the opportunity to connect a new generation of neighbors, dreamers, and schemers with the mystery of retreat centers – and the gift of inhabiting spaces that have been set apart for reflection and transformation.

Do you know someone who shares my excitement? Please connect with us!

To learn more about the work of ILALI, visit ilali.global.