Until we’ve rebuilt our barn, workshops take place in a huge carpeted white tent with windows on wild flowers and woods.  Shantigar’s natural beauty nourishes the spirit.  Through conservation of its natural pristine environment, and through the practice of theater, meditation, and healing, Shantigar nurtures and inspires individuals to engage more profoundly with the world."

Shantigar’s workshop leaders are artists who delight in teaching. They’re original thinkers offering wisdom and inspiration within a disciplined structure. Meals are organic and expertly prepared. If you have special dietary needs, please tell us.

To register, call (413) 339-4332, or Register Online. We'll tell you about nearby bed and breakfasts and about camping at Shantigar. If you can't afford the full workshop fee, let us know..... Cheri Evans, Outreach

Tenting sites at Shantigar are available for $10 a night (no running water or cooking facilities). Also available; an on-site cabin (electricity but no running water) for $25 a night; and an on-site room (with toilet and sink) for $50 a night. See individual workshop descriptions for number of meals served, as well as for any other on-site accommodations that might be available  Click to view local inns and bed-n-breakfasts."

Shantigar hopes to welcome Tulku Thondup, Rinpoche for his annual fall guided meditation here. That will depend on Tulku Thondup’s schedule. Please check with us for more information.

Fires of Transformation a gay men’s retreat with Jean-Claude van Itallie and Dan Merchant - June 5-8

Living on the edge as we do, gays have insights the world needs in dark times. To access these insights – to light the fires of transformation – to liberate our radiant souls – like knights of old, we embark on a quest, stepping down the painful path of an inward journey into the heart of darkness.

Courageously entering our wounds, we encounter our personal dragons. We do battle with dragons of shame and fear to win golden nuggets of wisdom – to discover what hidden lords and lies rule us, to learn what these roles are that we’ve been mindlessly playing out all our lives.

Shantigar – the farmhouse, fields, woods, sky – provides a safe and serene environment within which to take a step toward your unique truth. Two compassionate gay shamans and a secure circle of gay brothers help and support you discover and “own” the story you’re living. Contemplative retreat: much silence, healthy meals, clothing-optional walking meditations in magical woods, childhood tales, dream quest, one-on-one consults, alone in nature, trance dance, mask work, sweat lodge, fire ceremony. As we heal, we spontaneously start healing others.

Registration: Thursday at 2:00. Workshop begins promptly at 3:00, and ends Sunday at 1:00. Fee: $478 including five meals, breakfast, and lodging in farmhouse or cabin. Limited to ten men.

Super Health, Super Body a Continuum workshop with Emilie Conrad - June 27-29

Become an adventurer in the unmapped territory of our bio-cosmic anatomy. Learn to summon the full scope of the profound restorative energies that can constantly enrich our consciousness and nourish our souls. Engage with frequency realms not bound by time, space, or condition. Discover an environment where the liquid river of health can flow vigorously.

Learn how to keep life-supporting fluid moving within your connective tissue, organs, and skeletal structure. Even your brain will behave like a fountain of renewal. This is a revolutionary approach, a quantum re-mapping of the human body, a discovery of self as renewable resource. Tissue structure becomes multi-dimensional. Streams of nourishment are readily absorbed, as if you were bathing in the elixir of life itself.

Registration Friday June 27 at 9:00. Workshop starts promptly 10:00, ends Sunday at 1:00. Fee: $360 includes four meals. Limited to thirty-five people. Saturday night at 7:30 a special performance of "Let It Be Art, Harold Clurman's Life of Passion," written by and starring Ronald Rand.

The American Musical as Spiritual Experience with Carol Fox Prescott - July 11-13

Have you ever stood by a piano and let your voice ring out with the songs of Rogers & Hammerstein, Berlin, the Gershwins -- felt waves of joy surge through you as you moved to melodies from the Golden Age of the American Musical Theater? Discover how to kindle this kind of joy within yourself.

Drop the inhibitions, open to the wonder, power and pleasure of song. Feel the strength of your voice as you throw your arms out, rear your head back and let the sound out. Allow your whole body to shout the hallelujahs of songs that sing from the heart, such as:

"Got no mansion, got no yacht, still I'm happy with what I've got. I've got the sun in the morning and the moon at night. "
“One dream in my heart, one love to be living for. This nearly was mine.”
"What a day. Fortune smiled and came my way, bringing love I never thought I'd see. I'm so lucky to be me.”

If singing frightens you, you belong in this workshop. If singing delights you, you belong in this workshop. Professional, amateur, lover of songs, or undiscovered Broadway star -- all are welcome, all will benefit. Choose a song, learn it by heart, bring it to the workshop, and let yourself be guided by master musical theater coach Carol Fox Prescott’s gentle teachings. Let's sing!

Registration Friday July 11 at 2:00. The workshop starts at promptly at 3:00, ends Sunday at 1:00. Fee, $288, includes three meals.

Writing on Your Feet a writer’s retreat with Jean-Claude van Itallie - July 25-27

The free flow of energy is paramount to writing well. Writing is not merely a cerebral experience. Really good writing is the visceral expression of a totality of inner feeling. Brain serves spirit – not the other way around. Moving physically inspires mind to be agile and deep.

The big tent and green outdoors will be our universe of emergence. We’ll meet, move, and meditate in the midst of rustling trees and wind sighs. Encouraged by the circle of fellow participants, you’ll write by speaking -- entering remembered/imagined places, giving voice to your senses and to those of your characters.

Moving, taking your time, breath becomes liberated from anxiety. Buoyed by feelings, a muscular, personal language emerges spontaneously. You become a conduit for the universe, effortlessly oracular, a vessel in which mysterious forces make their way through your gut to your voice to pen or wordprocessor.

A writing partner will record what you speak. You might be astonished to discover that words spoken while moving and physically centered are astonishingly visceral and alive on the page. Come if you’re a highly experienced writer or an inexperienced one. Come if you have writer’s block or a problem organizing your material. Come if you’re writing or want to write a play, performance piece, memoir, story, novel, or poem – or simply to deepen your ability to speak and write from the heart.

“Jean-Claude is the only play writing teacher I ever had.” Tony Kushner
"I take Jean-Claude's workshops because they're fun." Kathy Benners

Registration at 9:00 A.M. Friday, July 25, workshop begins promptly at 10:00, ends Sunday at 1:00. Fee, $360, includes four meals. Limited to twelve people. Saturday evening at 7:30 a special performance of "A Time to Dance" written by and starring Libby Skala, about her great aunt Elizabeth Polk, pioneer of dance therapy.

Imagination, the Healer Within with Dan Merchant - August 8-10

Imagination is the fundamental function of mind. In each moment we create our reality through images. Through imagination we envision the future and past. Tribal people and traditional healers know imagination to be the source of our deepest healing and transformation. Vision Quest\Shamanic Journey, Intensive Meditation, and Trance Dance help us envision a reality as potent as our daily one.

In this workshop we use these three doorways to enter the timeless realm where the soul travels every night, the realm of guardians, animals, gods, goddesses, and the darker figures who live within us. Trance Dance is a unique way to move that involves breath work, blindfolding, percussion rhythms, intention, prayer and meditation.

Mythic Mask Work helps us find and embody the spirit and character of “the others” who live within us, our allies and shadows. Mandala Drawing and Journaling are ways to record and remember our experience within the sacred circle.

Registration is at 2:00 on Friday, workshop starts promptly at 3:00, ends Sunday at 1:00. Fee is $285, includes three meals.

Addiction, Recovery, and Yoga a weekend of yoga with Lindsey Clennell and Robert Cory, PhD - Aug 22, 23, 24

In this innovative workshop you’ll experience yoga teachings from two uniquely qualified compassionate teachers.

Lindsey, master yoga teacher and documentary film maker, for seventeen years has focused solely on the physical and psychological healing effects of yoga. He offers the in-depth teachings of yoga in a practical and understandable way. Citing a favorite quote from Sri Aurobindo, “All life is yoga,” Lindsay says, “Yoga enables you to envision new possibilities. It gives you a process for discovery and evolution.”

Robert, a doctor of biomedical science who has practiced yoga since 1976, is fascinated by the similarity and compatibility of 12-Step programs with the philosophy of yoga. Come if you’re a beginner, if you’re interested in experiencing yoga, if you want to learn the ways in which yoga can support recovery programs.

Fee: $79. Registration Friday August 22 at 7:00, workshop starts promptly at 7:30 with introduction and film, “Addiction, Recovery, and Yoga” Sat 10-1, 3–6, Please bring your own lunch. Pot luck dinner. Evening optional seminar/discussion “The Yoga in 12 –Step Programs” Sun 10 -1, 2– 5. Please bring your own lunch. Workshop limited to thirty people.

Improvisation Spontaneous Body, Playful Mind with Rosemary Quinn - Sept 20, 21

In the big tent and out in the woods, using acting exercises, we’ll explore our intuition and refine creative impulse. With voices and bodies, we’ll play and improvise. We’ll discover how acting games lead to authentic expression, full presence, and deep listening. For performers, teachers, and anyone who wants to explore in the most profound sense.

Registration: Saturday September 20 at 9:00, workshop starts promptly at 10:00 A.M. Ends Sunday at 3:00. Fee $285 includes three meals.