Sky Meadow Retreat, located in northeast Vermont (USA) is a small intentional spiritually focused community, retreat center, and organic homestead.  The site is a 150 year old hill farm located at the end of a dirt road and situated on 120 secluded acres of forest, fields, hills, and ponds.  A small group of  2 - 8 people live here, share daily meditation and a noon meal, and work together growing food, maintaining buildings, caring for the land, and managing the retreat center.<> <> 

      Our primary focus is connecting with each other, the land, and the people who come here for retreat.  The intention of Sky Meadow is to provide a safe and nourishing environment for becoming whole within ourselves and as a community.  We seek to establish relationships with each other and the world of nature surrounding us that further the recognition of our common divinity and create a sustainable model for human society on earth.  We follow no specific set of religious beliefs and are committed to a living spiritual path which is founded on being fully present in this moment.

                        The essential elements of our daily life include sitting together in silent meditation, personal check in and attunement to the day, working together and alone, and sharing a community meal.  Each resident has a comfortable private space including a kitchen and simple water and toilet facilities.  We strive to balance personal time and solitude with community and social time.  Our purpose is to support each other in our personal growth and be allies for the journey to becoming more conscious.

            Living here offers a complete life style where home, work, purpose and passion are one in the same.  The emphasis is on learning how to care for yourself, those around you, and the world of nature that supports you.   It is a whole commitment and requires nothing more or less than your full presence and complete intention.  We work together to meet our daily needs in their most basic form including growing, storing and cooking food, cleaning, construction and maintenance of buildings,  gathering firewood, and caring for our land and animals.   Everyone is asked to participate in these common tasks which can require hard physical work in adverse weather conditions.

                        While the work of maintaining our home and retreat center is continuous and often physically challenging, when shared with the intention of serving the highest good for all it is not overwhelming or stressful.  Work is our daily expression of love in action and when approached consciously it can be playful, relaxed and nourishing.  We invite you to experience with us the joy and celebration that comes with working together toward the establishment of something much greater than any one of us as individuals.                       

            This is a place to come when you reach the conclusion that your current way of finding happiness in the world is not working, and you are willing and ready to try something completely different.  Living and working here is a chance to reorient your life around a full commitment to personal and planetary health and well being.  It is an invitation to set aside the confusion and stress of establishing personal security in the world and to become part of a larger work in service to the greater good of all. 

<>Sky Meadow is exceptionally quiet and tranquil and offers an environment with fewer of the distractions of the fast paced world where we endeavor to approach our daily activities in a calm and intentional way.   However, this is not a perfect oasis or a place to escape from the world.  On the contrary, you will likely be faced directly with whatever wounds or unconscious shadows you carry within you as there is little opportunity here to hide from them.   Our vision is that with clear intentions and genuine support from each other, we can heal our personal wounds and learn how to live in a healthy relationship with each other and all of life.  

            This is simply a place a bit removed where we can enter into more conscious relationship with all that is around us in a slower and more sustainable rhythm.  Many of the conflicts common to humanity arise here as they do in the rest of the world.  The only difference is that we are committed to going into and through them with our eyes, hearts and minds wide open.  With the support and encouragement of each other there is an invitation here to become aware of the ways that we carry the negativity we react to in the world, hidden within our own habitual thought system.

            To maintain a healthy community and create a safe and caring environment for the work of personal healing and transformation, a willingness to be self aware, and to learn to share that awareness with others, is important.   We spend a short time each day and a longer period each week checking in with each other personally, letting the others know what is going on inside of us, and asking for and offering support.  We use simple communication skills of supportive listening and emotional responsibility to nurture healthy relationships which create a conscious container for this often intense personal growth work.

                                    You may find the first months here involve the disillusion of  familiar references and an uncomfortable degree of disorientation.  There is a natural reorientation of personal habits and beliefs that takes place here because a strong intention has been established for healing and transformation.   The current residents are here to offer support and guidance for this undoing process.  In return we ask for your help in our daily responsibilities and for your courage and patience as we learn together to live and work in conscious community.

<>            We are a newly formed and evolving community and welcome guests who want to be part of growing with us.  We are open to people who are interested in this lifestyle and want to explore living here for a year or more.  We suggest that you attend one of our retreats to get to know us and the work that happens here. (see retreat schedule at www.skymeadowretreat .com)    You may apply at any time to be a working guest. (see application at the end of this description).   If we all are interested in going further you may be invited to stay with us for a week trial period, which may be extended indefinitely.
            
                                    Our basic daily schedule for Monday - Friday

 

7:00 – 7:30  a.m.   silent group meditation               12:00    community meal

8:30 -  9:00    check - in and work meeting             2:00 -  5:00     work period

9:00 - 12:00     work period                                  5:30 - 6:00  p.m.  silent group meditation 

<> <>            All residents and working guests are asked to follow this schedule five days a week if they are present on the land.   Everyone is asked to take a turn cooking the noon meal and all of us help with clean up   After our daily community meal, leftovers may be divided up for people to take back to their own kitchen.  Any food for personal meals that is not on the list of supplied staples must be purchased privately by individuals.  When we are cooking for a retreat, work periods, check-ins, and meditation will be scheduled as needed, and all are invited to eat from the guest buffet.
              

                     The following food staples will be available for residents and working guests:

<>Rice,  Assorted whole grains, dry beans, and flours, Sunflower seeds, Peanut butter, Tahini, Tamari, vinegar, Cooking oil,  Olive oil, sea salt, Unrefined cane sugar,  Stored and fresh garden vegetables and fruits from Sky Meadow, dish and laundry soap.

      <>Working guests follow the regular weekly schedule and fully participate in our daily community life.   Your residence may be private or shared depending on what is available.  You will receive room and board only without stipend.  Time away beyond weekly personal days, and visitors, will depend on the immediate needs of the community.    After three months as a working guest you may request to become a first year resident.  Acceptance depends upon the consensus of all current full time residents.        
                                 

 If accepted by the community as a full time resident, you will be asked to make an initial commitment of one year.  First year residents agree to focalize a work area, receive a monthly stipend of $100 and blocks of personal time (2 weeks in summer, 4 in winter, with prior community approval), can attend a retreat at Sky Meadow when the work schedules can be arranged to allow it, and can have visitors at appropriate times.     

<>Committed residents attend a longer personal check in meeting once a week, take part in business meetings and decisions as needed, and stay in comfortable private quarters with all basic amenities.  After the first year long term residents receive $200/month in stipend and may apply for longer time away, as long as the basic needs of the retreat and homestead are covered. 
 

Residents and working guests have access to a hot shower, laundry facility, wood fired sauna, and the main retreat barn facility when not in use by guests, and can take two days a week as personal time to spend as you choose.     December 1 - April 1 is our winter time of rest and renewal and afternoon work periods may be used for personal time when there are no immediate needs for the retreat or homestead.

                            We ask that all residents and working guests maintain a basic vegetarian diet (fish allowed) and not use tobacco, marijuana, hard alcohol or recreational drugs here at Sky Meadow.    Phone use for residents is limited because of the shared phone line which includes the business phone for the retreat.  Cats and children may be considered in special circumstances, while dogs are not allowed on the property under any conditions.   Residents are asked to check with the community before having guests visit.

        We have told you a bit about the Sky Meadow Community and would now like to learn more about you   If you are interested in joining us here please fill out the following application form, copy and paste it into an e-mail, or copy and send it to us in a letter.

                           

<>                Application  for Sky Meadow Retreat Working Guest

 

Name:                                                     Age:                                     Male or Female?

 

e-mail:                                                                phone number:

 

Current living situation (where, with whom, how long?):

 

 

Current working situation: 

 

 

Experiences with rural living, community living, garden and farm work, cooking,

cleaning, building maintenance, carpentry, outdoor physical work, office work:

 

 

 

Experience with meditation or other spiritual practice:

 

 

 

Health situation     (any physical disabilities, current medication or treatments,  mental

health history, chronic health history, health insurance, or current health concerns) :

 

 

 

Financial situation  (debts, monthly bills, or financial needs beyond immediate self care):

 

 

What attracts you to Sky Meadow?   What are you looking for? 

 

 

 

When are you available and for how long? 

 

Do you have a car or pet?                                           

What is your current diet?

Do you drink alcohol, smoke pot or cigarettes?                               How much?

What are the significant relationships in your life now?

 

What are your needs for being social, and for solitude?

 

 

What do you typically do when someone does something that upsets you?

 

 

 

What are your needs for computer, television, radio, recorded music, car, or telephone?