2024 Retreats
Upcoming Retreat Opportunities • The Details • Itinerary
Download the Brochures • What Others Say
TRANSFORMATIVE TRAVEL TO THE NORTH OF IRELAND - A FEAST FOR THE SENSES AND NOURISHMENT FOR THE SOUL, LED BY FRIENDS WHO ARE EAGER TO SHARE THEIR STORIES WITH YOU, AND INVITE YOU INTO A NEW WAY OF TELLING YOUR OWN STORY.
You’re invited to join us on a journey of hope, healing, creativity and community. Staying in historic restored accommodation including cottages in exquisite natural surroundings, with a group of friends old and new, enjoying the landscape on amazing walks, hearing music and story, meeting locals, experiencing the peace process in encountering people directly involved in activism and change, and getting to know the culture of northern Ireland, immersed in Celtic culture ancient and new. Good food, inspiring art, and beautiful journeys on foot will form the heart of this soulfully unique and transforming experience. Led by warm-hearted, thoughtful and knowledgeable guides, this will be a seven or eight day experience - for around 25 guests only - that might just last for the rest of your life.
Applications for 2024 Retreats are open now - just click here to apply.
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an invitation from our host, gareth higgins.
Many people have taken trips to Ireland, but few have wandered off the beaten path, forming communities of pilgrims who wanted to experience Ireland in authenticity rather than the more antiseptic/corporate tourist trip where feet don't touch the ground and souls might as well have stayed on the plane. Growing up in northern Ireland I often wished I could show folks the beauty of our landscape, and the depth of our stories, not to mention the hard and rewarding task of peace-building.
I've been privileged to co-lead a few similar trips in the last couple of years in my home of Northern Ireland, with amazing writers, musicians and teachers. I'm delighted to be joined on our upcoming 2024 retreats with friends whose gifts for expanding our ideas about storytelling, engaging difference, and walking through difficult journeys will animate us beautifully.
Our trip is full of surprises, but I can tell you that mornings will often feature gathered conversations, afternoons we will walk the landscape, and in the evenings there might be music, storytelling, and maybe even a touch of firewater! You'll meet friends and colleagues with whom we have been honored to walk some of the journey, peacemakers and poets, you'll walk by the sea and amid mountains, and there'll be plenty of time to take by yourself for whatever you need.
2024 Retreat Opportunities
The Laugh of Recognition
with Special Guests Over the Rhine: Karin Bergquist & Linford Detweiler
June 19th-27th, 2024
VERY FEW SPOTS REMAIN - APPLY NOW
Our dear friends Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler constitute one of the most lyrical and sonically enveloping bands we know: Over the Rhine. They bring depth and elegance to their songs, and we’re delighted to be joined by them once more for a retreat taking a look at how we can learn to live better amidst challenging circumstances, and offer the gift of our presence and stories to others in the service of one of the most important things humans can do: listening with the purpose of understanding, toward a good conversation.
Applications are open now - click here to apply, and download the flyer below for more details.
A Story to Change the World - Humanizing Wisdom, Grace, and Community Impact
with Special Guest Ari Weinzweig, Co-Founding Partner of the Zingerman's Community of Businesses
June 7th-14th, 2024 (Payment plans are available to spread the cost - contact us for details.)
We’re planning a week of vision and rejuvenation, food, friendship and transformative storytelling - focused on how to contribute to the common good, and the lessons, inspiration and challenge of the continuing journey toward peace in Northern Ireland.
It’s especially offered to those in leadership roles at a community or small business level - and anyone who wants to make a positive difference wherever they may be. Our co-hosts Gareth Higgins and Brian Ammons are known for their transformative storytelling work respectively in peace activism, chaplaincy, community building and one-to-one connections. Gareth’s book (co-authored with Brian McLaren) called “The Seventh Story: Us, Them, and the End of Violence” caught the eye of world-renowned socially conscious business leader Ari Weinzweig - one of the visionaries behind the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which Inc. Magazine has called “the coolest small company in America”. Ari has also been named one of the World’s Top Ten CEOs who “lead in a totally unique way.”
Ari wrote about the Seventh Story, and this led to a growing and deeply enriching friendship between Ari and Gareth. Zingerman’s commitment to wonderful food and treating people well may seem simple, but Gareth has come to believe that community businesses, nonprofits, and other smaller community institutions could learn vastly important things from how Zingerman’s - and Ari - does it. Cities and towns need institutions led by people committed to the common good, and who have a vision of helping everyone experience life to the full, bringing their gifts and sharing their needs. Ari Weinzweig is a world-leading teacher in this regard. We are genuinely thrilled to be welcoming Ari to our Ireland Retreat, and believe that this week of transformative storytelling will nurture many of us in courage, creativity, and community - wherever we live.
Applications are open now - click here to apply, and download the flyer below for more details.
Listening at the Edges: Healing for Our Broken World
with special guests Kaitlin Curtice and Micky ScottBey Jones
October 16th-24th, 2024
Kaitlin Curtice and Micky ScottBey Jones are two of the leading voices for the integration of activism for a better world with a more whole way of being as individuals. If the world we yearn for will not be built by merely complaining about what’s wrong, and if we seek wholeness for ourselves at the same time as aching for the suffering of others, we must find a way not only to live the change we want to see in the most broken places, but claim lives that embody the very love and connection that we want everyone else to experience. In our experience, Micky and Kaitlin help show the way. Our hosts Brian Ammons and Gareth Higgins can’t wait to share this space with Micky and Kaitlin, and hopefully you too. Our Ireland Retreat in October will be eight days of experiential learning, community, great food and walks, exquisite natural surroundings, open hearts and minds, and we expect something powerfully transformative can be born in us all. If it calls to you, come join us!
Applications are open now - click here to apply, and download the flyer below for more details.
The Details
What we are privileged to offer and co-create is a reimagining of the traditional concept of retreat. What we’re inviting you to is something like a hybrid of retreat, peacemaking pilgrimage, community gathering, artistic experience, and inner adventure. So this is not a typical retreat - nor are our participants tourists! Our retreat participants are people who want to respond to an invitation to peace-building on the inside and out, with deep reflection and creative stimulation, among a community of fellow travelers. There will be laughter and questions and quiet and a balance between having lots of things to see and learn while also providing space for the kind of renewal we all need. We’ll meet folks with fascinating, creative, and courageous stories; and we’ll hope to take home with us some lessons, some inspiration, some fuel for our own journeys, whatever challenges we’re facing, or doors we’re being invited to go through. We’ll also have fun! Part of our commitment is to try to learn how to take life seriously without taking ourselves too seriously… To help you decide if this retreat is for you, we invite you to read the brief reflections from previous retreat participants found at the bottom of this page.
In nearly a decade of hosting these retreats we've found that mystery creates an environment that invites a deeper journey, both into the inner spiritual landscape, and among the community participating. So we don't provide a detailed or day to day itinerary of the retreat in advance. (For what it's worth, Breakfast is usually around 8 or 8.30am, and we gather as a group around 9 or 9.30am most days.)
A day might include:
Conversation with writers, peacemakers, and other teachers
Walking a coastal path or mountain trail
A visit to a museum or cultural or religious heritage site
Live traditional Irish music
Opportunities for private reflection, meditation or one-to-one spiritual direction, a stroll by yourself, or a nap!
We will say, however, that opportunities to visit the following are usually included:
Giant's Causeway
Ulster Museum
Mourne Mountains
Silent Valley
Belfast City Centre
Downpatrick and St Patrick Centre
Clonard Monastery
Traditional Irish music pub session
Corrymeela Community
North Down Coastal Path
There is also opportunity for personal sightseeing, quiet reflection, walking alone or with fellow retreat participants in beautiful surroundings, visits to traditional Irish pubs, and even an afternoon's golf (if that’s your thing!). Optional visits at an extra cost can be arranged to sites including:
Titanic Belfast Museum
Bushmills Distillery
Ulster Folk and Transport Museum
We're more than happy to advise on extended itineraries before or after the retreat. Our retreat leaders are highly knowledgeable about sites of interest in northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland (especially Dublin and Galway), and can also advise on visiting Scotland, England and Wales.
We can also advise on sources of information for those interested in exploring family history, genealogy etc.
Many of our previous guests opt to extend their stay in Ireland. We’re happy to advise on itinerary!
Applications for 2024 retreats are open now. Places are strictly limited - we can accommodate around 25-30 guests on each retreat, and our retreats quickly fill up. So, if you know this is for you, or if you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us. We are eager to welcome you!
Cost (excluding airfare) includes:
The services of all guides and retreat leaders, support staff, and guests from the world of arts, media, politics and peacemaking.
Four nights in 400 year old thatched cottages or historic renovated corn and flax mill, stocked with traditional Irish breakfast foods.
Three or four nights in converted 140 year old country house/retreat center by the sea on the edge of Belfast with traditional cooked breakfast.
Lunch or dinner most days.
Transport from Belfast hubs to accommodation, and on organized trips throughout the tour.
All admission fees to sites such as cultural centers, museums, etc.
The use of all accommodation facilities including lounges, gardens, etc.
A life-changing experience of spirit, imagination, and community.
SAVE WHEN TWO PEOPLE APPLY TOGETHER! FOR FRIENDS OR FAMILY MEMBERS ALIKE, THE COST IS REDUCED.
A final note: When serving food, visiting sites of interest, and hearing from creative people and those who work for peace, we prioritize local suppliers, organizations, and guests; the cost of our retreat makes a meaningful contribution to the wellbeing of people and places where we host our retreats, and to the ongoing work of transformative storytelling for the common good. In order to make the retreat widely accessible, we're glad to offer advice to people who need to raise financial support to join us, including folk with continuing education and sabbatical funding. If the cost of the tour is a stretch, please let us know. We'd be glad to help you find ways to join us if we can.
About Our Hosts
Gareth Higgins is a writer, storyteller, and community leader who grew up near Belfast during the northern Ireland Troubles. Author of How Movies Helped Save My Soul, Cinematic States: A Journey Through the American Dreamlife, and co-author of Religion, Civil Society and Peace in Northern Ireland, he writes and speaks about connection to the earth, cinema and the power of dreams, peace and making justice, and how to take life seriously without believing your own propaganda. He was co-founder of the Wild Goose Festival, The Porch Magazine, and Movies & Meaning, and he's happy to be a work in progress. He leads trips to his native Ireland every year, inviting participants to go beyond the beaten track, to experience the landscape and history through the lens of a story about people learning to live at peace with one another. Find more about Gareth's work at www.garethhiggins.net.
Brian Ammons, M.Ed., M.Div., Ph.D. is an educator, spiritual director, coach, writer and ordained minister. A former faculty member in Duke University's Program in Education and for over eight years Chaplain & Director of Spiritual Life at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC, Brian was named Interfaith Youth Core Outstanding Educator in 2017. Brian holds a PhD in Education with a certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies from UNC-Greensboro, and is an ordained minister in the Alliance of Baptists tradition. Brian was trained as a coach in an International Coaching Federation accredited program jointly sponsored by Pinnacle Leadership and The Center for Congregational Health, and formed as a spiritual director through Shalem Institute’s spiritual guidance program.
Brian has written and spoken widely on themes of vocational discernment; interfaith work in higher education; and the intersections of gender, sexuality, and spirituality.
ABout our guests
Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler are the core of the beloved and award-winning American band Over the Rhine. For over thirty years Over the Rhine has embodied what Rolling Stone calls "restoration and perseverance". Since 2016 Linford & Karin have curated and hosted the Nowhere Else festival, a unique weekend of music, story and connection. Their music is adored, their concerts renowned for an ineffable sense of presence, exquisite lyrics and sonic landscapes, and a community of fans who treat an Over the Rhine experience as an extended family reunion. Karin and Linford will join us for our retreat in June 19th-27th, 2024.
Learn more about Over the Rhine here.
Karin & Linford say:
Early in our career, when we first arrived in Ireland during a tour of 13 countries in Europe and the UK, we noticed a subtle shift. While European countries displayed their monuments of conquest and empire front and center in seemingly every major city square, the Irish tallied their wealth differently: everywhere we turned we were caught up in Ireland’s love of music and a good story.
When we first met Gareth Higgins, he was standing atop a table reciting a Seamus Heaney poem from memory. Whenever we have occasion to get together, Gareth always has the knack for saying something that we think about for a long time. Brian Ammons on the other hand has never been observed (by us) commanding a table top. But what Brian consistently offers is kindness and the ability to listen well. Together one of the great good gifts that Gareth and Brian offer all who come within their sway is this: the gift of real conversation.
Getting to spend this time in Ireland with Gareth and Brian will be a gift to all of us who are able to be present. This retreat will offer ample beauty, laughter, music, a few healing tears and generous hospitality. We hope we can share it with you. We’re sure it will be the trip of a lifetime.
Micky ScottBey Jones and Kaitlin Curtice are both storytellers and activists for a better world, making a profound impact in the lives of those who hear them.
Kaitlin Curtice is an award-winning author, poet-storyteller, and public speaker. As an enrolled citizen of the Potawatomi nation, Kaitlin writes on the intersections of spirituality and identity and how that shifts throughout our lives. She also speaks on these topics to diverse audiences who are interested in truth-telling and healing.
As an inter-spiritual advocate, Kaitlin participates in conversations on topics such as colonialism in faith communities, and she has spoken at many conferences on the importance of inter-faith relationships.
In 2023, Kaitlin released two books, first, Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day,which examines the journey of resisting the status quo of hate by caring for ourselves, one another, and Mother Earth, and second, her first children’s book called Winter’s Gifts: An Indigenous Celebration of Nature, which is the first in a series of four books on the four seasons coming out with Convergent, RandomHouse Books.
Besides her books, Kaitlin has written online for Sojourners, Religion News Service, On Being, SELF Magazine, Oprah Daily, and more. Her work has been featured on CBS and in USA Today. She also writes at The Liminality Journal. Kaitlin lives near Philadelphia with her partner, two dogs, and two kids. Learn more at www.kaitlincurtice.com.
Micky ScottBey Jones, a former birth doula, now accompanies people as the Justice Doula, supporting the birth of more love & belonging into our world. As a womanist thinker with a MA in Intercultural Studies from North American Institute for Indigenous Studies & Portland Seminary, innovative certified enneagram teacher & coach, compassionate facilitator and nonviolence practitioner, Micky develops innovative ways to support changemakers in their desire for sustainable leadership strategies, healing and resilience practices and embodied liberation through inner and outer change through tools like individual and team enneagram work, resilience skill building and transformative travel experiences.
Micky is the author of Keep the Fires Burning: Conquering Stress and Burnout as a Mother-Baby Professional and contributing author in Becoming Like Creoles: Living and Leading at the Intersections of Injustice, Culture and Religion and Keep Watch With Me: An Advent Reader for Peacemakers and has contributed to the Journal of NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community and the Oneing Journal through the Center for Action and Contemplation. Her writing has also been featured on many online platforms including Christians For Social Action and The Porch Magazine and she’s a sought after guest on many podcasts including CTZNWELL, Their Wildest Dreams? and From Armor to Ease. Her most recent writing project, The Stony Road Pilgrimage: The National Museum of African American History and Culture as a Site of Spiritual Pilgrimage will be available through Christians for Social Action in 2024. Micky is a regular co-host on the podcast, Bruce Reyes-Chow and Friends. You can find out more about Micky at mickyscottbeyjones.com.
Kaitlin says: I’m really looking forward to thoughtfully joining everyone in this sacred space as we explore our stories, histories, cultures, and experiences together in a spirit of kinship and belonging. I am confident that together with Brian and Gareth, we will create a space that nurtures our questions and allows us room to explore them together, connecting to the land and work of truth-telling along the way. Can’t wait to see you there!
Micky says: Gareth and Brian are the kind of friends that I always want to introduce to other people so part of my excitement with this trip is to be able to introduce you to one another. For over a decade we have shared meals, music, ideas, stories, laughter, tears and hard conversations. We’ve also found ways to work together, most often creating spaces that welcome people and nurture spaces of self-discovery, genuine connection and transformation. It's work that synergistically offers a transformative experience that is difficult to define, but I know you will experience when you journey with us.
I came to Ireland with Gareth and Brian in 2018 to learn about cultural and political divides, peace and reconciliation from a different history, people and land than the stories I knew from the racialized contexts in the U.S. and South Africa. As a Black, queer woman in the Southern US context, involved in racial justice work, the Black Lives Matter Movement and even connecting with others in racially based struggles in other nations, I knew what I knew, but didn’t know what I didn’t know, ya know? There is something that happens when you engage a story that is not your own - a transformative experience that comes from the clarity of “listening at the edges”, not just finding the similarities in our stories, but also learning to hold the unresolvable differences while staying connected. This is a skill set and posture that continues to support my life, my work and my relationships and I look forward to more of these transformative moments with you on this trip.
Ari Weinzweig is CEO and co-founding partner of Zingerman's Community of Businesses, which includes Zingerman's Delicatessen, Bakehouse, Creamery, Catering, Mail Order, ZingTrain, Coffee Company, Roadhouse, Candy Manufactory, Events at Cornman Farms, Miss Kim and Zingerman’s Food Tours. Zingerman’s produces, sells and serves all sorts of full flavored, traditional foods in its home of Ann Arbor, Michigan to the tune of $68,000,000 a year in annual sales. Ari was recognized as one of the “Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America” by the 2006 James Beard Foundation and was awarded a Bon Appetit Lifetime Achievement Award among many recognitions. Ari is the author of a number of articles and books, including the four part Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading, Going into Business with Emma Goldman, Humility: A Humble, Anarchistic Inquiry, and Working Through Hard Times; Life and Leadership Learnings from 2020. His newest work is another pamphlet, A Taste of Zingerman’s Food Philosophy: Forty Years of Mindful Cooking and Eating.
In 2017 Ari was named one of “The World's 10 Top CEOs (They Lead in a Totally Unique Way)” by Inc. Magazine.
Ari says: My conversation with Gareth Higgins got going about two years ago now when I started reading How Not to Be Afraid. I began underlining on the first page of the book, and I’ve been learning from Gareth ever since! Over the course of the last few years we have collaborated on a number projects and spent a whole day together co-teaching the debut of a workshop that brought our work together into a single, spiritually uplifting and educationally informative session entitled, “Beliefs about Stories and Stories about Beliefs.” I’m beyond excited to spend the week with Gareth, Brian and maybe you at their retreat, so close to the community in which Gareth grew up! From everything I've heard over the years, Northern Ireland is pretty much a perfect place for us to meet some wise and humble people who will help us explore questions of how to make a safer and more compassionate world, transform conflict, and find our place in a better story about who we are, and what we're here for. I'm looking forward to both learning and sharing! Hope to see you there!
Retreat Group at Dunluce Castle
Download the Brochures
A Story to Change the World - Humanizing Wisdom, Grace, and Community Impact
with Special Guest Ari Weinzweig
June 7th-14th, 2024
The Laugh of Recognition
with Special Guests Over the Rhine’s Karin Bergquist & Linford Detweiler
June 19th-27th, 2024 - very few spaces left
Listening at the Edges: Healing for Our Broken World
with special guests Kaitlin Curtice and Micky ScottBey Jones
October 16th-24th, 2024
Can’t Make it This Time Around?
Is travel to Ireland is more of a stretch than staying in the US?
Join us for The Porch Gathering in March 2024:
a weekend of conversation, music, movies, storytelling, and community - near Asheville, NC.
What Others Say
"Few memories bring as deep and wide a smile to my face as the Ireland Retreat. It's a pilgrimage, a field trip, an experiential learning adventure, a community, a vacation, and a full immersion in Ireland's history, poetry, and beauty all in one. Gareth Higgins is a master storyteller and more: you'll come home with stories of your own to tell and savor. Really, you should go!" - Brian D. McLaren, Author and Activist, Florida
“Ireland Retreats, led by Gareth Higgins, are the best way I know how to do the three things I expect from travel abroad: (a) get to know local people who are vitally engaged with the culture (in this case, the peace movement); (b) become more deeply immersed in the country’s rich history; and (c) experience the natural beauty distinctive to the area. On the Ireland Retreat you experience all these things and you have a great time, get to know interesting people in your group, and get to know yourself better as well.” - Eric Elnes, Ph.D., Pastor, Oregon.
“This retreat time in Northern Ireland has nurtured me, changed me and brought me much joy. Please give yourself the gift of this never to be forgotten experience.” - Karen Moore, Inn-keeper, North Carolina
“Gareth is a warm and insightful guide on both the geographical journey through his homeland of Northern Ireland, and the soul journey that is woven into it. He also has a knack for assembling cohorts of fellow travelers and local friends who will enrich both adventures. I can’t recommend this trip highly enough.” - David LaMotte, Musician, Writer & Activist, North Carolina
“Sure, there’s beautiful views that will inspire you to fill your camera with images, and there’s beautiful walks that will fill your lungs with air. But the ideas that stir your imagination will inspire interesting conversations that fill your mind with beautiful questions, and all together, the Ireland adventure will fill your heart with hope.” - David Wilcox, Musician, North Carolina
“We've had the extraordinary gift to be on retreat with Gareth in northern Ireland. The experience of taking time away from our demanding lives to sink into their amazing stories, music, and meaningful conversation, has brought both healing and an incredible new energy toward deeper purpose in our lives.” - Francie Calfo & Trent Jones, Producers, California
“You couldn't pay a world-class tour guide enough money to get what we got: not just a journey to extraordinarily beautiful places, but a pilgrimage of the soul and action that has changed my life.” - Ken Sehested, Writer, North Carolina
A NOTE ON COVID-19: As we navigate the pandemic, we are committed to doing everything we can to ensure our retreats are safe and serve the common good. We are, of course, monitoring the situation in light of the pandemic. Everyone’s health depends on each of us acting for the common good, and our retreats will only take place if it is safe to do so as recommended by the public health authorities in Northern Ireland.
Here are three principles of how we're responding to the pandemic:
1: We follow public health advice and requirements issued by the government of Northern Ireland, where the retreats are held. If we are required to cancel or postpone a retreat due to public health requirements, we will offer a full refund of your retreat registration fees as early as possible, along with the opportunity to register for a future Ireland Retreat.
2: Our retreat groups are small and there is ample time provided for solo or small group activities, and space to be outdoors.
3: The best defense against the virus includes a range of measures, including vaccination, hand washing, social distancing, and mask-wearing. For our 2024 retreats we ask that all participants act responsibly in a spirit of mutual respect for the wellbeing of all participants.
In short, we want to share a wonderful experience together, and seek to honor the well-being of us all, inside and out. Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions.
If any of our retreats are rescheduled due to Northern Ireland government public health requirements, we will issue a full refund of registration fees and also offer participants the alternative option of transferring their registration to a future Ireland retreat within six to twelve months. With that said, we encourage you to apply now, confident that we are committed to the common good and the health of us all. Don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions; and wishing you all good health, safety, and community even at a time of necessary distance.