Inward Bound: Teen Mindfulness Retreats

Testimonials(14)

• I learned that I can survive in and actual enjoy unfamiliar social settings, especially after COVID.

  - Ella, 16-year old female participant - July 15, 2022

• I learned that having self-love is really going to change my life.

  - Tsinat, 16-year old male participant - July 16, 2022

• Dear iBme team, Thank you! Thank you for creating a wonderful, profound, age-appropriate opportunity for young people to learn and grow in community. Thank you for riding the waves with my son and helping him through to the other side. The other side is where he woke up to meditate on his own this morning before work, where he's already talking about wanting to return for the new year's retreat, and where he seems to have made life-long friends who he connected with in ways he didn't really know were possible. He has returned to us reflective, mindful, and grounded in ethics and care. He declared that he's never been somewhere before where he was surrounded by so much love. Thank you for crafting that experience for him and others. We are deeply grateful!

  - Mara, parent of teen participant - July 17, 2022

• When we asked teens what the most meaningful or rewarding experience was on retreat, it wasn't all serious business..."dance party! yoga! connecting with the community! group-hugging my small group! and the most repeated answer by far...making friends!

  - MA Teen Participant - July 20, 2021

• “I realized that I have self worth and that I too deserve love.”

  - 15-year-old non-binary/trans-identified participant - July 19, 2021

• “I learned that many of my anxieties and insecurities aren’t fixed, immovable parts of me, and that with practice and patience, I can work through them and tap into joy.”

  - 17-year-old male-identified participant - July 20, 2021

• I am finding that doing this style of retreat, in my own home, is extremely rich and informative, in a way I never imagined. As much as I love the rarified space of residential retreat -- beautiful halls, dorms, wilderness, a strong container disallowing the intrusion of the outside world --it is rather profound to have the opposite. To sit in the middle of the life I have and am creating.

  - Retreat Participant - June 9, 2020

• I loved having the opportunity to connect with other peers, and build relationships during this scary time.

  - Margaret - June 9, 2020

• The online retreats have been super helpful to me right now. Something about still being at home during the retreat makes it easier to integrate after retreat. ... The dance party was very very lit. I was surprised because I didn’t think it would work too well digitally.

  - Fiora - June 9, 2020

• Thank you Jessica for sending this out. This email touched my heart and soul, brought happy tears to my eyes. My daughter attended this summer in Mono, Ontario and we hold so much gratitude in our lives for this opportunity. I am a single mom and without the financial support IBme provided it would have never happened for Emma. I really cannot express my extreme gratitude for such a breath taking and breath giving life opportunities and at such a pivotal time in our teens lives. Much thanks to all at iBme, and all the work you guys and gals are doing, it is LIFE CHANGING for not only the teens but the parents they come home to.

  - Tammy Drury, Toronto Retreat - July 30, 2019

• What was the most important thing you learned? "How to accept, with soft gentleness, all aspects of my experience and how to connect with others in an authentic way."

  - Fiora Caligiuri-Randall, Massachusetts New Year's Retreat - January 1, 2019

• What skills have you learned? I have learned about more healthy and helpful ways to confront my emotions.

  - Ava Shannon, Kentucky/Ohio Retreat - July 20, 2019

• Julia informed me that she enjoyed this retreat even more than the Crestone one last year. She also noted the food was better lol. She was so excited when she came home this time to tell me all about it. I'm glad she made so many new friends she intends to keep in contact with. She really enjoyed all the opportunities to express emotionally (she tends to hold too much in). I'm grateful she felt comfortable opening up and connecting there. Really wish there was a retreat offered for younger. My youngest daughter will be 13 next April and she really wants to go :)

  - Michelle Stokes, Colorado Retreat - August 1, 2019

• “My oldest son Alex had attended your Massachusetts retreat two years ago. Two years prior to that retreat he started to develop an anxiety disorder. It was definitely hampering his lifestyle. Because of this I set him up with a very good anxiety therapist. This therapy helped to a degree but the anxiety still persisted, maybe not as bad. He had a friend In high school who had attended one of your retreats in the past and was going to go on another one when he invited Alex to join him after Alex had confided in him about his anxiety problem. After attending that particular retreat two years ago his anxiety disorder has pretty much "vanished." Through today, two years later, he considers himself anxiety disorder free. He tells me he doesn't even think about it anymore. My youngest son Andrew, who just attended your recent retreat, had also started to develop some anxiety issues and when he realized how much this retreat helped his older brother he was emphatically motivated to attend. Andrew had such a good experience that he is already planning for next year's retreat. You guys do a wonderful job we can't thank you enough.”

  - Anthony Barrrese, Massachusetts Retreat - August 25, 2019