Shamanism as a Way of Life:
A Time for Shamanic Journeyers
to Reclaim Rest, Connection, & Community
An immersive retreat for experienced shamanic journeyers
in beautiful southwest Colorado,
August 20-23, 2026
Facilitated by Kris Abrams, with support from Dawn Robertson
You already know how to journey. You know what it feels like when your Helping Spirits speak, when the land answers back, when something shifts that couldn't have shifted any other way.
And you may also feel what's missing: the community. The congregation. The gathering of people who practice shamanic journeying not as a technique, but as a way of life.
When shamanism was restored to the modern West, it came in two forms: teaching people to heal, and teaching people to teach. What didn't yet exist was the third thing: the circle. The ongoing community of practitioners living in sacred reciprocity with each other and the Earth.
This retreat is an experiment in building that third thing.
Come rest, reconnect with your Helping Spirits and with each other, deepen your practice, and be part of the second generation of restoring shamanism to the world that needs it most.
Open to graduates of Kris' Introduction to Shamanic Journeying retreat, or any introduction to shamanic journeying in the core or cross-cultural tradition, including the lineages of Sandra Ingerman and Michael Harner).
Registration is limited to fifteen, so don’t delay!
What We Will Do
Every element of this retreat is designed to build the thing we're here to build: community, practice, and connection to the living world.
Journey. Solo, in pairs, and in groups, on the pressing personal and societal questions of our time.
Share. We'll bring the wisdom from our journeys into the circle, building holistic truth together.
Reconnect. With your Soul-Spirit Self, your Helping Spirits, the Land, and each other.
Practice Sacred Presence and Reciprocity. With nature, with the Earth, and within our community. This will include refreshers on Being With and Sacred Circle meditations, two styles of meditation that includes nature, given to Kris by her Helping Spirits.
Rest. The dominant culture/culture of domination is built upon our exhaustion. When you can’t rest, you can’t dream. When you can’t dream, you can’t envision a better world. And when you can’t envision a better world, you can’t create it. We will reclaim the art of rest, to support all of the above practices.
Play. Generous breaks are built into every day. Solitude or company, stillness or adventure: you choose.
Cook and Eat Together. We'll take turns preparing meals as an act of service and community-building, modeling the world we yearn for. (Primary caretakers of kids still at home: you may opt out of cooking entirely. We will be genuinely delighted to give you that break. This is part of sacred reciprocity!)
The Land & Logistics
Location: This retreat takes place at the Laughing Coyote Lodge, outside of Dolores Colorado. Surrounded by aspens, the land boasts gorgeous views of mountains, and is near Groundhog Lake. The dark skies are perfect for stargazing.
Lodging options include single rooms, double rooms, and camping.
Retreat Schedule
Check-in is Thursday, August 20, between 4-5:30 p.m. The retreat closes Sunday, August 23 at 11 a.m.
A typical full day looks like this:
8-9 a.m. Breakfast
9:30-12:30 Morning experiential session
12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30-3:30 Break for rest and play! (Hiking, resting, journaling, socializing…)
3:30-5:30: Afternoon experiential session
5:45-7:00: Dinner
7-8:30 Evening session
Meals
We'll cook simple meals together in small groups. All groceries and recipes are provided, and everything is gluten-free. Additional dietary needs can be accommodated. If you have significant digestive needs and prefer to bring your own food, you're welcome to do so.
Cost (not including tuition)
We're keeping base fees as low as possible. The fee for facility rental, lodging, meals, and logistics coordination range from $465 to $565 per person.
Kris will be teaching via the Gift Economy: base retreat fees do not cover Kris’ time. At the retreat, you will be invited to make a donation to support Kris’ work, at a level that fits with your economic reality and brings you joy. If you cannot contribute beyond the base fee, that is okay. We trust that those who can, will.
Note: If $465 is still out of reach, register anyway and request a scholarship. We hope to be able to offer them, depending on enrollment numbers.
Air Travel
The closest airport is Durango. United Airlines services this route reliably; American does not. Renting a car in Durango is the easiest way to get to the lodge.
If you're feeling adventurous, United also flies into the closer-but-smaller Cortez airport, on a 9-seater. The Telluride airport is another option for car rentals, though Kris hasn't personally flown in that way.
Consider arriving early to explore the region. Mesa Verde National Park is nearby and well worth a visit (book online for a guided tour). The Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park is a gem that deserves its own mention: here, you'll experience ruins similar to Mesa Verde, but on a guided tour led by a Ute Mountain Ute tribal member. Where Mesa Verde displays pottery shards behind glass, the Tribal Park lets you see them exactly where the original inhabitants left them. Your guide may play the flute as you walk through the ruins. You'll leave with a felt sense of what it means to live in sacred reciprocity with the land, which is, after all, exactly what we're gathering to practice. Call in advance to book your tour.
The trails around Telluride, Dolores, Mancos and Durango are also stunning if hiking calls you.
Who We Are - Your Facilitators
S. Kris Abrams, your retreat facilitator and teacher, is a shamanic practitioner, teacher, and licensed psychotherapist with 14 years in private practice and a first career in radical movement work, including as Senior Producer at Democracy Now!. A Rhodes Scholar, Kris did not arrive at this work through any sanctioned curriculum. She arrived through being broken open, and through learning, when human community failed her, that the wilderness speaks.
Her shamanic practice walks in the footsteps of world-renowned teacher Sandra Ingerman, standing on those powerful shoulders to answer the call of a world on fire. She brings shamanic healing into direct contact with the work of transforming our communities and world, because she refuses to believe we have to choose between the two. For a full-length bio, click here.
Kris is offering a free talk and Q&A on June 28. For more info and to save your spot, click here.
Dawn Robertson, your retreat logistics coordinator, is a communications professional, community engagement leader, and lifelong wisdom seeker with more than two decades of experience managing communications for nationally recognized organizations while also leading grassroots efforts focused on dialogue, bridge-building, and community care. She has dedicated years to meditation practice and personal healing, including over a year in silent vipassana practice. She is proud to meet life at the root via singing, dancing, cooking, meditation, camping, traveling, art, and shamanic journeying. She aspires to create a positive impact in the world with courage, joy, innovation, strength, and compassion, and brings a mix of strategic thinking, grounded presence, creativity, and heart to everything she does.
FAQs (And check out this free online talk Kris is giving on June 28! Click here to save your spot.)
What is your shamanic lineage? This practice comes from the cross-cultural shamanic tradition. My primary teacher is Sandra Ingerman, whose teacher Michael Harner studied shamanic practices across cultures and found that nearly all engaged in some form of journeying. I prefer the term "cross-cultural" to "core" shamanism because no single person gets to decide what is essential and what is peripheral.
I have journeyed before, but only with plant medicine. Is this retreat appropriate for me? These are genuinely different methodologies. Drum journeying requires active participation and sustained focus in a way that plant medicine journeying does not, and that capacity develops through practice. This Level 2 retreat is designed for people who already have that foundation.
That said, drum journeying has a particular strength worth naming: it was designed to fold directly into modern daily life. No elaborate preparation or ceremony, no extended recovery, no special setting required. Many people find drum journeys become a powerful complement to plant medicine work, a practice you can return to on any day of the week.
If this calls to you, my Introduction to Shamanic Journeying retreat is the right place to begin. I would love to welcome you there!
Is this cultural appropriation? It's a question worth sitting with, and I've sat with it for years. Here’s where I have landed: this cross-cultural form of journeying was created specifically so that modern Western people, most of whom have been violently severed from the shamanic roots of our own ancestors, could access this practice. In this lineage, we do not take specific ceremonies, tools, songs, or regalia from any particular culture. As Sandra Ingerman says: “if you are alive today, you have ancestors who practiced shamanism.” This belongs to all of us, and to none of us.
Are people of all faiths, backgrounds, and identities welcome? Yes, fully. Open-minded, respectful people from all backgrounds are welcome. People of many faiths find that shamanic journeying and sacred reciprocity provide a powerful boost to their faith tradition, and fill a hole they didn’t even realize was there.
More questions? Contact Logistics Coordinator Dawn Robertson here: dawncarolerobertson@gmail.com
Questions? You are welcome to contact me!