FUSEE and the San Francisco Zen Center are offering this mindfulness-based retreat for wildland firefighters as a way to give back to these communities and to support our first responders. This 6-day retreat is intended to help provide refuge, rest and renewal as well as trauma-sensitive training in mindfulness, meditation and Sensory Awareness. There will some time volunteering to help to care for Tassajara Mountain Zen Center, and to integrate mindfulness practice into fire prevention and working on the land. 

The retreat will include time to walk the woodland mountain, wilderness trails (as weather permits), be nourished with home cooked meals, relax in the hot springs, and soak up the contemplative environment and deep support of this location, the first Zen monastery in the United States, that has sustained and deepened people's growth and healing for almost 60 years. There will also be two follow-up monthly Zoom calls in small groups after the retreat.

This retreat is open to current and former wildland firefighters and fire practitioners whose work involves direct engagement with fire on the landscape, including prescribed fire, cultural burning, fire management, and suppression. At this time, the retreat is not designed for support or administrative roles such as dispatch, logistics, or other non-field positions.