Thanksgiving Exclusive: Exploring Wisdom of Gratitude & Teachings of Nature

Nature is a Wisdom Teacher that Helps Us Understand Our Own Humanity and Everything We Have to Be Grateful For

If you are searching for ways to open your heart and deepen your gratitude for all the myriad aspects of your life, its seasons and cycles, lulls and storms, there is no better teacher than nature.

When you strengthen your sense of connection with the natural world around you – the sky, the elements, the greater forces that are all around us – your mindset broadens and gratitude blossoms in your heart as you experience the vast beauty of the world and understand that you are part of something so much larger than yourself.

American Thanksgiving week is a powerful time to tap into the wisdom that nature has to offer. By recognizing that you are an integral part of the natural world, you deepen your appreciation of everything you have to be grateful for and cultivate a profound sense of awe and connectedness that helps you embrace all aspects of your life, with all of its beauty and complexity. 

What You’ll Gain

Through a combination of our MEA Owning Wisdom curriculum and Mark and Lori’s  nature-based mindfulness practices grounded in neuroscience, you will:

We will culminate the week with a special Thanksgiving dinner enjoyed as a group. By the end of your five days with Mark, Lori, Teddi, and the other MEA faculty, you will feel more relaxed, inspired, and energized in a sustainable way. 

Your senses and your heart will be fully open, and you will find it easier to embody deep gratitude and thankfulness as a fundamental trait of your being, rather than a fleeting emotion or experience. 

Meet Your Faculty

Mark Coleman
Author and Founder of Awake in the Wild

Mindfulness Teacher | Wilderness Guide | Author & Poet

Mark is a meditation and mindfulness teacher and trainer who has studied extensively in the Buddhist tradition since the mid-1980s and is passionate about sharing his nature-based meditation practices with others. He has taught Insight meditation and nature retreats worldwide for the past twenty years and is passionate about helping people awaken through mindfulness in nature.

Mark has studied with renowned teachers in the Insight meditation, including Christopher Titmus, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, and later in the Dzogchen tradition with Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche and Tsoknyi Rinpoche.

When he moved to the U.S., Mark fell for the vast landscapes of the Rockies, Sierras, and the deserts of the South-West and saw the natural world as a perfect temple for mindfulness. He began integrating meditation and nature as a path of practice for himself and, later, teaching others.

This led him to write his book, Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery, and found Awake in the Wild, an organization dedicated to sharing the transformative power of meditation in nature. He has led silent wilderness meditation retreats in California, Colorado, Alaska, Mexico, Peru, and New Mexico, taking people on inner and outdoor adventures that combine meditation with the awe-inspiring beauty and the profundity of nature.

In 2012, he founded the Mindfulness Institute with the purpose of bringing mindfulness practices to more secular environments. Through the Institute, Mark offered training, consulting, and coaching to individuals and organizations, ranging from Fortune 500 companies, like Proctor and Gamble, Google, and Ford, to non-profits like Trust for Public Land. He has also been a mindfulness consultant in the healthcare, education, and the justice systems.

Lori Schwanbeck
Mindfulness Teacher and Designer of Emotional Intelligence Programs

Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute Senior Faculty Member | Esalen Institute Faculty Member | Canyon Ranch Faculty Member

Lori is a passionate advocate for creating lives of meaning and engagement in both the personal and professional realms. She is a senior faculty member at Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI), an organization born at Google, where she mentors and trains teachers, and designs and facilitates both in-person and virtual mindfulness based emotional intelligence programs. 

Lori holds an MA in psychology and is a certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, trained by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach through the Greater Good Science Center. She is currently involved in a 2-year project in Bhutan working in partnership with the Gross National Happiness initiative bringing SIYLI’s program to all levels of the Bhutanese government. 

She is also curriculum contributor and facilitator at: LinkedIn, Purpose Blue, Wisdom Labs, Mindfulness Rx and the Mindfulness Training Institute, and leads nature-based mindfulness retreats at MEA, Esalen Institute, and Canyon Ranch. 

A near fatal bicycle accident in her early 40’s triggered a humbling re-evaluation of her values, actions and identity. Recognizing that while our lives are short, our choices have a ripple effect on the world around us, Lori is committed to living in alignment with awareness, integrity and whole-heartedness – and dedicated to supporting others who desire to have a similar positive impact.

Teddi Dean

MEA Head of Mindfulness and Movement

Teddi Dean is the Head of Mindfulness and Movement here at MEA. He offers a fun, accessible and wisdom filled approach to both mediation and yoga. Teddi loves working with beginners and has a gift in showing that each and every one of us is capable of dropping into stillness.

Teddi Dean grew up in Southern California where he was immersed in surf and skateboard culture. He was part of skateboard royalty as a team member of the infamous Powell and Peralta Bones Brigade.