The Summer Internship in Mindful Living and Contemplative Arts was an experimental program co-designed by six staff and six student interns. As a focus for the month, we engaged together in an arts exploration and pond restoration project. It was organized by CU Boulder faculty Holly Gayley and ran for one month from June 29-July 27, 2026, starting with a weeklong Mindfulness Retreat co-led with Naropa faculty Carla Burns from June 21-27, which interns attended at no charge.
This internship was co-designed with staff and student interns from CU Boulder, Naropa, and CSU. In advance, we carved out a basic schedule, community agreements, and theme and compiled an array of skill-building activities in contemplative movement and improvisational theatre. The students requested a digital detox for the retreat and discretionary use of technology during the internship. The Lodge remained a cell-phone free environment throughout the month.
Each day began at 9:30am with Meditation and Movement, followed by a Contemplative Arts exercise from 11am-12:30pm. We had a midday break for lunch and rest and then reconvened for Discussion at 3-4pm and Ranch Chores from 4-6pm. The interns savored the unstructured time each day: hanging out, going for hikes, doing arts and crafts, and playing games.
The daily Movement and Contemplative Arts exercises were led by our awesome staff, Lilly Stannard, Ally Dykes, Ana Nedochetko, and Rick Merrill. Interns with little to no previous arts experience were able to develop a movement vocabulary and improvisation repertoire. This culminated in masterfully guided workshops with our guest presenters, Jim Walker of Playback Theater, Axé Charmaine of Sol Vida, and Kaleigh Isaacs of the Awake Network.
We were fortunate to be joined by Rae Lewark who spearheaded our Pond Restoration project. This gave focus to the daily Ranch Chores and a sense of reciprocity as something to give back to the hosting venue, Aspen Ridge Retreat. Ranch Chores were a favorite part of the day for interns who enjoyed spending time outside and deeply value the principle of ecological regeneration.
A big shout out to our amazing interns: Carmen, Ariel, Diego, Sakura, Leah, and Lucy!
The esprit de corps, sense of connection, and mutual support among interns was strong. This fulfilled our intention of supporting young adults in fostering connection by being in community on land with minimal use of technology. The research outcome of this project will be a film short, still in production, tentatively titled “Re/Generation” to showcase their contemplative arts exploration.
Each student and staff had the opportunity to direct a one-minute segment of the film, which will amalgamate into a 12-minute film short. In the film, students share their own experiences and self-expression, while staff highlight the land and group activities. Lilly, Ally and Rae mentored the interns in crafting their one-minute pieces and creating a throughline in the film as a whole. With grace and skill, Rae did much of the video shooting and editing.
The film “Re/Generation” will debut at the Denver Botanical Gardens Symposium on The Nature of Health, September 17-18, 2026. This is “a multidisciplinary science and art symposium exploring how creative practice, the natural world and ecological vitality shape human health and wellbeing.”
For the student interns, “Re/Generation” means “the way that community becomes whole again through intentional practice, reconnection, and patience.” This includes:
- how living in community heals
- witnessing and communicating with nature and the elements
- slowing down, awareness of technology use
- gift culture and reciprocity with land
- how meditation practice shows up off the cushion
- ecological restoration as self-restoration
- community and land reawakening together
- contemplative practice and eco-spirituality
The film short will also be featured in the Rocky Mountain Dialogues on Contemplative Practice in Higher Education at CU Boulder on April 11, 2026. In both film showings, there will be a Talkback/ Q&A with the audience.
Directly following the internship, we were fortunate to have Lama Gyurme visited to conduct land rituals with Ana’s assistance.
Special thanks to our community partners, Impact Arts and Artemisia Productions, and to our generous funders, the Uberoi Foundation and the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program at CU Boulder, for their contributions to the internship.
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