In-Person and Online: From the Cushion to the Streets – A Daylong Retreat Workshop on Engaging with the World
with Leslie Booker and Elaine Retholtz
Saturday, June 21st, 2025 | 10:00am – 5:00pm ET
In-Person Location: New York Insight at 115 West 29th Street, 12th Floor
We find ourselves in a moment in time that is calling many of us to respond. But how to do this with care, dignity and without adding to divisiveness? There is a long history of folks using their spiritual practice as a foundation and catalyst for activism, and an equally long history of folks who realize that they need a spiritual practice to sustain their engagement. Marrying these two together is an art and practice that is both skillful and necessary.
During this daylong there will be time to practice together, time to connect with others, and time to engage in reflective processes to help us understand how we can best show up at this moment in time.
Through group connection, individual reflection, and dharma talks, we’ll explore the following questions:
- What is our role in this time in history?
- How can we understand our personal “origin story”? What wakes us up—what’s important to us?
- How can we connect with others?
- Whose shoulders are we standing on? How can looking to the past help us ground in the present?
- How can our meditation practice support our active engagement with the world?
In-Person Registration:
Please register below. If you are able, registering at the “Supporter” level enables others to attend at the “Subsidized” level. Thank you for your generosity! (Please note that the registration price includes a base level of teacher support, and you will have the opportunity to donate more after the program.)
If you are registering via a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, you can scroll right and left and up and down within the below form if it is partially obscured or cut off.
CLICK HERE to open the registration form in a new browser window.
Online Registration:
Please register below. If you are able, registering at the “Supporter” level enables others to attend at the “Subsidized” level. Thank you for your generosity! (Please note that the registration price includes a base level of teacher support, and you will have the opportunity to donate more after the program.)
If you are registering via a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, you can scroll right and left and up and down within the below form if it is partially obscured or cut off.
CLICK HERE to open the registration form in a new browser window.
Volunteering
All of our programs rely on volunteers to support our teachers and staff with various tasks and responsibilities. Volunteering allows you to participate in our programs at no cost. To inquire about volunteering opportunities, please fill out our inquiry form, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Teacher(s)
Leslie Booker
Booker is a heart – centered, spirit – driven activist and meditation teacher committed to creating a culture of belonging through her teaching and writing. She completed Spirit Rock’s 4 year Retreat Teacher Training in 2020, and shared the practices of yoga and mindfulness with New York City’s most vulnerable populations for over a decade. Booker has co – authored and contributed to several publications including the trauma – informed anthology Practicing Liberation and its accompanying workbook, for folks working towards social justice. She is a co-founder of the Yoga Service Council at Omega Institute and the Meditation Working Group of Occupy Wall Street. In 2020 she was invited to be a Sojourner Truth Leadership Fellow through Auburn Seminary and was voted by her peers as one of the 12 Powerful Women in the Mindfulness Movement.
Booker moved to Philadelphia in August of 2020 to vote in a swing state, and currently serves as the Guiding Teacher of New York Insight.
W | LeslieBooker.com
IG | TheRealBookerProject
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Elaine Retholtz
Elaine Retholtz has been studying and practicing the Dharma since 1988. In addition to teaching Dharma at New York Insight, she is certified as both a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher and MBSR teacher trainer. She has a deep interest in helping students integrate mindfulness practice into daily life.