Finding Stillness:
Rest in the Longest Night
Upper Midwest Wake Up Winter Solstice Retreat
Thursday, December 18th — Sunday, December 21st
Join Blooming Heart Wake Up Sangha (Twin Cities, MN) and Wake Up Mindfulness Community (Milwaukee, WI) for a special Winter Solstice retreat for young adults aged 18–39. From December 18–21, we will gather in community to honor the solstice and explore the themes of Rest, Release, and Restore. Inspired by the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and the global Wake Up movement, this retreat offers a space to reconnect with the deep stillness of the season.
Over four days, we will weave together dharma talks and Q&A with Plum Village monastics, guided mindfulness practices such as sitting, walking, and mindful movement, as well as deep listening circles. Creative offerings include art, journaling, and solstice-inspired ceremonies with candlelight, lanterns, and intentional reflection. Participants will also have time for winter walks, sauna, and noble silence to support rest and clarity. On Sunday, a Recitation of the Five Mindfulness Trainings will be offered.
Whether you are new to mindfulness or a seasoned practitioner, you’ll leave with fresh insights, renewed purpose, and the strength of friendships formed through shared rest and stillness.
Your Guides for the Journey
Sunny Draves-Kellerman (they/she) is a mindfulness practitioner with a background in music, food, and poetry. They have been practicing in the plum village tradition since 2023. They have deepened their relationship with themselves and their community by building the Minneapolis wake-up sangha, as well as by being an organizer and worker-owner at the May Day Cafe Workers Cooperative, a cooperatively run cafe in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She believes deeply in the power of sangha and of stillness and is excited to collaboratively create a retreat where young adults can be together and rest in a beautiful and healing space. Sunny is committed to providing retreatants with the time and space to rest their bodies and minds, release what must be released, and restore what can be restored as we journey through winter.
Social media info: Instagram: @spacious.sunny @maydaycafecoop
Relevant quotes: “ I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.”- Hafiz
Emily Honor Hubbbard (she/we) goes by her middle name, Honor, in sangha. She joined the Milwaukee Mindfulness Center in 2023 to bring intentionality to her business, Empathic Engineering, that helps working professionals communicate with more kindness and compassion. Religiously, she identifies as Buddhist-Christian and believes self-reflection is the first step to achieving inner peace. She is grateful to co-organize this retreat and encourages participants to welcome discomfort with a sense of curiosity and embrace the peace found in collective stillness
Social Media Information:
Website URL: https://www.empathicengineering.org/
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-hubbard/
Relevant Quotes: “Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them” – Henry Ford
715-267-7507 | welcome@christinecenter.org