Opening to Inspiration: Meditation and Writing for Aliveness & Connection

You’re invited to adventure inward and outward to the naturally inspiring territories of this life. Join award-winning poet and transmitted Zen teacher Brooke McNamara for a weekend of nourishing stillness and authentic creative expression through lovingly curated practices of meditation and writing. Surrounded by the magic of the natural world at Drala Mountain Center, your invitation is to settle, attune, and play in the living poetry of the place. Whether you long to remember the free creativity of your childhood, to surrender to the ancient stillness deep in your bones, or to finally enter the right container to tend your book or project, this retreat will support and enliven you.

Come experience and share the aliveness of who you truly are, under whatever busy-ness, distractions, and habits have accumulated. Write your tender curiosities, fierce declarations, and alchemical questions, in connection with other awakening adventurers.


Brooke McNamara, MFA, is an award-winning poet, meditation guide, and transmitted Zen teacher and lineage holder. She has practiced as a student of Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi since 2010, receiving Dharma transmission in 2023. Prior to 2010, she was a student of non-dual teacher and poet, Dorothy S. Hunt, in the lineage of Adyashanti. Brooke has published two books of poems: Bury the Seed and Feed Your Vow, and has taught at Naropa University in Yoga Studies and at the University of Colorado, Boulder in Dance. She is president and one of the founding teachers at Dragon Lake Zen, and teaches in-person and online courses and retreats to facilitate the awakening of innate wisdom, compassion, artistry, and play. Brooke lives in Boulder, CO with her husband, Rob, and their two sons, Lundin and Orion.

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