The Living Mandala of the Year

Four QigongDharma Seasonal Daylong Retreats · 2026

Each retreat day stands alone as a complete practice, yet together they form a living mandala—a year-long journey moving with the natural rhythm of the seasons. This evolving curriculum reflects the body’s own cycles of rising, flourishing, releasing, and resting. Whether you join one retreat or all four, you enter a coherent path of cultivation and insight. Each day runs from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM and includes Qigong, DaoYin, seated meditation, Dharma teaching, and time for reflection and community dialogue. Please bring a bag lunch; a silent option is always available. You are warmly welcome to participate in a single gathering or in the full cycle—each retreat is complete in itself, and together, they illuminate the Way.

The Year as a Coherent Whole

Taken together, these four daylongs form a living mandala of practice:

• Spring · Awaken the current | March 21, 2026
• Summer · Abide in joy | June 20, 2026
• Autumn · Refine and release | September, 2026 (Date TBD)
• Winter · Rest in source | November 07, 2026

This is the ancient rhythm the body already knows.  Our practice simply helps us remember. 

Retreat Information

Location: Subud Center, 100 Sacramento Ave, San Anselmo, CA 94960

Subud is a spiritual practice center that features a spacious 3,200 sq. ft. main hall, an additional rest area, kitchen facilities, and a shaded outdoor picnic area. It is adjacent to Sorich Park trails, a natural setting for reflection and renewal.

Capacity: Limited to 40 participants. (A waitlist will be available once full.)

Arrival: Subud Center will open at 9:30 AM. Please arrive early, settle in, and be ready to begin promptly at 10:00 AM.

Departure: Retreat concludes at 3:00 PM. Participants and helpers will tidy close up by 3:30 PM.

All are welcome.  No prior experience is necessary.

March 21 · Awakening the Living Current

Spring Equinox · Wood Element · Initiation & Renewal

Emergence, clarity, and the courage to begin again

Spring is not about forcing growth; it is about softening obstructions so life can move.  This daylong sets the tone for the year by helping us reconnect with our innate upward current, the body’s natural impulse toward light, vision, and ethical direction.

Teachings Emphasized

The Wood Element, as vision, flexibility, and moral courage, is expressed through Qigong and DaoYin practices that awaken the sinews, joints, and lateral lines.  Qi is understood as movement toward life, not something we manufacture.  Gentle re-patterning after winter contraction.  Beginning again with self-compassion, and learning to differentiate effort from responsiveness.

Flow of the Day

10:00 am – 3:00 pm

Morning

Arrival and gentle standing to awaken verticality.  Qigong for opening the sinews and joints.  DaoYin emphasizes spirals, twisting, and rib-cage expansion.  Dharma teaching: “Spring Does Not Push, It Responds.”

Midday

Walking Qigong (weather permitting).  Seated meditation emphasizing clarity and kindness.  Lunch break with personal silence is an option.

Afternoon

Integrative Qigong form: smooth, continuous, lightly energizing.  Reflection on working with intention without strain.  Closing circle: setting a seasonal vow (not a goal), dedication of merit.

Let life move where it already wants to go.

June 20 · Abiding in the Radiant Heart

Summer Solstice · Fire Element · Joy & Presence

Joy as stability, not excitement

Summer Solstice is the fullest expression of light and warmth, and the moment when we learn that true joy is not about intensity but about capacity.  This daylong explores heart intelligence: how to be fully alive, connected, and present without burning out.  It pairs the Fire Element teachings of Traditional Chinese Medicine with the Buddha’s teaching on joy (pīti) as a factor of awakening.

Teachings Emphasized

The Fire Element is connection, warmth, and lucidity.  Joy is a stable factor of awakening rather than fleeting excitement.  Co-regulation, resonance, and relational presence are the heart’s natural orientation toward others.  The crucial difference between stimulation and true vitality, and how the nervous system knows the difference even when the mind does not.

Flow of the Day

10:00 am – 3:00 pm

Morning

Gentle heart-opening standing Qigong.  Breath and movement practices that support circulation without agitation.  Dharma teaching: “Joy That Does Not Consume Itself.”

Midday

Partner or small-group attunement exercises (trauma-sensitive, always optional).  Seated meditation emphasizing warmth and ease.  Lunch break.

Afternoon

Flowing Qigong emphasizing rhythm, continuity, and pleasure in movement.  Contemplative inquiry: “What nourishes my joy without depleting me?” Closing practice: gratitude and heart settling.

Joy is something we rest in, not chase.

September (date TBA) · Letting Go, Becoming Whole

Autumn Equinox · Metal Element · Integration & Release

Refinement through simplicity

Autumn is where practice becomes honest.  As the year turns toward descent, we are invited into discernment, what truly matters, what can be laid down, what remains when excess falls away.  This daylong supports the mature work of essentialization, grief-tending, and the quiet strength required to let go with dignity.

Teachings Emphasized

The Metal Element is clarity, value, and preciousness, the capacity to recognize what is essential.  Letting go is understood as an active wisdom rather than a passive loss.  Grief as love completing itself, not something to rush through or transcend.  Breath is the bridge between form and formlessness, receiving and releasing with each cycle.

Flow of the Day

10:00 am – 3:00 pm

Morning

Standing Qigong emphasizing structure, alignment, and the vertical axis.  DaoYin for lungs, shoulders, and spine, the tissues most associated with the Metal Element.  Dharma teaching: “The Strength of Release.”

Midday

Breath-centered meditation (receiving and releasing).  Gentle DaoYin and quiet reflection.  Lunch break.

Afternoon

Minimalist Qigong: fewer movements, deeper listening.  Closing ritual: naming what is being laid down.  A quiet ending, held in dignity.

What remains after letting go is enough.

November 7 · Resting in the Deep Source

Early Winter · Water Element · Trust & Stillness

Learning how to rest without disappearing

Winter completes the cycle by returning us to the source, the deep ground from which all movement arises and to which it returns.  This daylong is not about doing less out of fatigue, but about discovering rest as the root of vitality.  It is deeply aligned with our trauma-sensitive orientation, honoring the nervous system’s need for true repair.

Teachings Emphasized

The Water Element is associated with depth, fearlessness, and unconditional trust: water Method Dissolving, the Daoist practice of releasing held tension into stillness.  Stillness is understood as nourishment rather than absence.  Conservation of Qi and nervous-system repair.  Wu Wei as intelligent non-doing: the wisdom of not-forcing.

Flow of the Day

10:00 am – 3:00 pm

Morning

Seated and standing practices emphasizing grounding and descent.  Subtle Qigong working with weight, bones, and gravity.  Dharma teaching: “Trusting the Ground of Being.”

Midday

Seated DaoYin and meditation with options (eyes open or closed, chair or cushion).  Lunch break held in quietude.

Afternoon

Gentle Qigong or DaoYin. Closing rest practice and mindful re-emergence and sending forth into Winter with care.

Rest is not the absence of practice; it is its root.

Payment and Cancellation Policy 

The last day to cancel your registration for individual Daylongs is 10 days before the scheduled Daylong date. Please Note:

• There is a $25 non-refundable administrative fee, and the balance of your payment will be refundable up until this deadline.
• For those who cancel after this deadline, there is a $25 non-refundable administrative fee, and the balance of your payment can be applied as a credit (not refunded) to a select future daylong retreat offered by Teja Bell. You will also have the option to offer the balance as a donation rather than receive a credit.
• Please allow up to 10 days for refunds to be processed from the date of request.