The Sophia Institute, Charleston, SC presents

A Weekend Retreat with Mark Nepo

May 5-7, 2023

In-person in Charleston or live on Zoom

A recording of this event will be provided to all registered participants.
13 CEUs available upon request

Like one who climbs a steep ravine for fear of being trapped at the bottom,
I have lost my way into the open.
How could I know you were climbing on the other side.  —MN

This weekend retreat will center on the gift and work of relationship. For it is only through the bonds of relationship that we can help each other stay awake. While no one can live your life for you, the deep paradox is that no one can make it alone. It seems life has been made just hard enough that we need each other, in order to ensure the journey of love. Every life on Earth is initiated into a rhythm between solitude and community. Every life on Earth struggles with when to build a wall and when to take it down. We all struggle when to be present and when to hide.

With our society fractured in so many ways, restoring the life of relationship is more crucial than ever. So, whether you are tending your relationship with a significant other, a friend, a family member, or a colleague, we each need to become skilled at empathizing with others without giving ourselves away. We each need to find solid ground while learning how to surrender our stubbornness. No one is exempt from the struggle and dance of life with others.

In our time together, we will explore the inherent gifts and limitations of relationship and examine the recurring struggles that we must move through to stay authentic with ourselves and each other. All to build a better net of resilience between us.

Mark Nepo is one of the finest spiritual guides of our time.

—Parker J. Palmer, author of A Hidden Wholeness and The Courage to Teach

Mark Nepo joins a long tradition of truth-seeking, wild-hearted poets—Rumi, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Mary Oliver—and deserves a place in the center of the circle with them. 

—Elizabeth Lesser, Cofounder, Omega Institute, author of Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

Nepo is a consummate storyteller with a rare gift for making the invisible visible.

—Publishers Weekly