All Nations Gathering Center, SD
Led by Fugen Tom Pitner Roshi, Koto Washi Dallas Chief Eagle & Ekai Joel Kreisberg
Wednesday September 27th, 3 pm MT - October 1st, 11 am MT (South Dakota), 2023
Early Bird Registration Now Open!
About This Retreat
Having successfully offered this retreat in summer of 2022, hosts Dallas and Becky Chief Eagle have invited us back. With open hearts, we invite you to join us for a five-day journey of meditation, prayer and ceremony.
With the leadership of Fugen Tom Pitner Roshi, Koto Washi Dallas Chief Eagle and Ekai Joel Kreisberg, we will again join in a sacred circle to practice meditation and prayer. The overall structure of the retreat will be guided by the Zen form developed by Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi including the morning and evening service, meditation, qigong practice and one-on-one meetings with Fugen Roshi. Traditional ceremony is also an essential aspect of this retreat including spirit walks with horses under the sacred stewardship of Dallas Chief Eagle and the traditional purification lodge ceremony offered the final evening of the retreat. Meditation instructions will be offered by Ekai Joel Kreisberg bringing heart centered planetary dharma practices grounded in Loving Awareness.
During the retreat, we observe essential silence and ask that you plan your retreat to be free from outside communication and distractions. Cell phones, reading materials, computers and audio players are discouraged for the duration of the retreat.
Participants will be asked for volunteer for a share in a samu or work practice for one hour each day.
“The inside of this experience is bigger than the exterior, staff gracious and heartfelt. In person sangha way more impactful and supportive of deepening meditation than online!”
This retreat is offered in partnership with
Travel Planning
Please plan to arrive by 4:00 pm on the first day of the retreat and to depart after 11:00 am on the last day. The closest airport is Rapid City Regional in South Dakota. All Nations Gathering Center is a 90 minute drive from the airport in Kyle, SD.
For more information about the location, click here: All Nations Gathering Center
Room and Board
All Nation’s Gathering provides sharing sleeping dorms separated by gender. Bedding is provided. Also available are tent sites as well as the opportunity to stay in a traditional teepee. Daily offerings will include three vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals with coffee and tea in the morning.
Registration
The retreat fee is $650 for share rooms and all meals. You will be invited to make a dana contribution at the end of the retreat to support the teachers.
Payment plan
$350 now, $300 September 1st
Financial Assistance: $ 95 Enrollment fee plus completing application
Full Enrollment Fee is $650
Full Enrollment Fee
Payment Plan
Financial Assistance
Financial assistance is available to participants exhibiting financial need. To apply please fill out the scholarship application below, along with the refundable deposit.
Please note that while Hollow Bones aims to make our offerings financially accessible, we are unable to provide full scholarships for our programs and retreats.
If you are unable to offer the $95 enrollment fee for financial assistance, please contact us directly to discuss participation.
Financial Assistance
“A unique opportunity to allow your mind to settle, and get to know your emotional patterns, in zen style, balancing wisdom and compassion and a few laughs. ”
Retreat Leadership
Fugen Tom Pitner Roshi
Fugen attended the very first Hollow Bones Retreat for the ManKind Project in September, 1999, and he’s been pioneering ever since. He is now the primary liaison between Hollow Bones and the ManKind Project, and he’s been instrumental in bringing state-of-the-art faciliation tools to both organizations.
He has inspired thousands of people toward new experiences of personal and organizational empowerment through a unique brand of Mondo Zen coaching and organizational consulting. Fugen Roshi focuses first on the individual, then on the problem or situation to be cleared.
Fugen founded Zen Four with an interest in the well-being of the whole individual and the organization. The practice is one of mindful awareness across four fundamentals: mental clarity, emotional intelligence, physical health, and spiritual well-being.
Koto Washi Dallas Chief Eagle
Koto Washi Dallas Chief Eagle II, Sicangu Lakota and Hollow Bones priest, is a member of the Rosebud Lakota Nation, from the Pine Ridge Reservation, Yellow Bear Canyon, South Dakota.
An internationally renowned and recognized master of the Lakota Hoop Dance, as well as a K-12 art teacher, with a Master’s degree in guidance counseling and personal services, Koto Washi now leads the All Nations Gathering Center in Kyle, South Dakota.
Koto Washi has worked closely with children for years fostering concentration and mindfulness practices based on the ancestral creation stories of “Grandfather Rock” to improve self-awareness and management skills. An ambassador of unity and mindfulness within his own community, Grandfather Rock and other stones are used by everyone from school aged children to community elders as a meditative tool to quiet the mind. Stones have even been placed in dedicated spaces in schools and community centers as a refuge for concentration and reflection, replacing the burdens of pain, confusion and suffering with peace, compassion and joy.
This community ministry has developed in parallel with his own practices as a Hollow Bones priest. Koto Washi describes his first days of meditative practice as being “hard to get.” He reflected on early lack of comfort in sitting still and credits his eventual mastery of zazen practice to a deeper study of his own ancestral creation stories of the “stone people.” By focusing on the respect due to these “eldest beings,” he became able to quiet his mind and take his seat with greater ease, in the company of his ancestors.
Ekai Joel Kreisberg
After discovering Zazen in college, Joel explored the teachings of Taoism, Tibetan Buddhism, Vedanta, and the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo. Having completed his undergraduate in jazz composition at Wesleyan University, Joel committed to the path of a healer in graduate school. He has trained as a Chiropractor, Homeopath, Craniosacral Therapist and Health Coach.
Stumbling into the work of Ken Wilber in during his medical school years, he went on to complete the a Master’s Degree in Integral Ecology from Prescott College, followed by training as an Integral Master Coach from Integral Coaching Canada.
After hearing Ken Wilber’s interview with Jun Po Roshi, Joel began to practice Mondo Zen in 2011. He took Jukai in 2014 being given the name Ekai (Ocean of “Generosity”). He was ordained as a Hollow Bones priest in 2018. Ekai shares his commitment by offering a local sangha in the greater New York region Shining Bright Lotus Meditation Society.
Tentative Schedule
September 27th, 2023 - Wednesday
2:00 pm Arrival at the retreat
3:00 pm Opening Check-in
3:30 pm Orientation
5:00 pm Zazen – Meditation Instructions
5:30 pm Dinner – Casual dinner
7:00 pm Zazen – Evening service – Silence begins
7:35 pm Kinhin
7:40 pm Qigong
8:10 pm Kinhin
8:20 pm Zazen – Closing Service
8:50 pm Closing
September 28th, 2023 - Thursday
5:00 am Wake-up bells
5:15 am Zendo opens
5:30 am Morning Service
5:50 am Kinhin
6:00 am Zazen
6:40 am Kinhin
6:50 am Qigong
7:20 am Zazen
7:30 am Breakfast
9:00 am Zazen
9:30 am Kinhin
9:40 am Zazen – Begin horse journey – group 1
10:10 am Kinhin
10:20 am Zazen
10:50 am Kinhin
11:00 am Zazen
11:30 am Kindhin
11:40 am Zazen
Noon Lunch
1:30 pm Zazen
2:00 pm Kinhin
2:10 pm Qigong
2:40 pm Kinhin
2;50 pm Zazen
3:20 pm Kinhin
3:30 pm Teisho/Dharma Talk
4:10 pm Kinhin
4:20 pn Zazen
4:50 pm Kinhin
5:00 pm Zazen
5:30 pm Dinner
7:00 pm Zazen – Evening service
7:30 pm Kinhin
7:40 pm Qigong
8:10 pm Kinhin
8:20 pm Zazen – Closing Service
8:50 pm Closing
9:00 pm End of Day
September 29th, 2023 - Friday
5:00 am Wake-up bells
5:15 am Zendo opens
5:30 am Morning Service
5:50 am Kinhin
6:00 am Zazen
6:40 am Kinhin
6:50 am Qigong
7:20 am Zazen
7:30 am Breakfast
9:00 am Zazen
9:30 am Kinhin
9:40 am Zazen – Begin horse journey – group 2
10:10 am Kinhin
10:20 am Zazen
10:50 am Kinhin
11:00 am Zazen
11:30 am Kinhin
11:40 am Zazen
Noon Lunch
1:30 pm Zazen
2:00 pm Kinhin
2:10 pm Qigong
2:40 pm Kinhin
2;50 pm Zazen
3:20 pm Kinhin
3:30 pm Teisho/Dharma Talk
4:10 pm Kinhin
4:20 pn Zazen
4:50 pm Kinhin
5:00 pm Zazen
5:30 pm Dinner
7:00 pm Zazen – Evening service
7:30 pm Kinhin
7:40 pm Qigong
8:10 pm Kinhin
8:20 pm Zazen – Closing Service
8:50 pm Closing
9:00 pm End of Day
September 30th, 2023 - Saturday
5:00 am Wake-up bells
5:15 am Zendo opens
5:30 am Morning Service
5:50 am Kinhin
6:00 am Zazen
6:40 am Kinhin
6:50 am Qigong
7:20 am Zazen
7:30 am Breakfast
9:00 am Zazen
9:30 am Kinhin
9:40 am Zazen
10:10 am Kinhin
10:20 am Zazen
10:50 am Kinhin
11:00 am Zazen
11:30 am Kinhin
11:40 am Break silence process
Noon Lunch
2:00 pm Jukai
3:00 pm Break – Social Time
5:00 pm Dinner
7:00 pm Inipi
September 30th, 2023 - Sunday
6:30 am Wake-up bells
6:45 am Zendo opens
7:00 am Morning Service
7:25 am Zazen
7:55 am Qigong
8:20 am Zazen
8:30 am Breakfest
9:00 am Closing Ceremony
9:30 am Closing Circle
10:00 am Closing Business
11:00 am Clean and Pack
Noon Off the campus – Leave no trace