5 Stars, would recommend
Harmony Road Retreats organizes weekend retreats for members of the LDS/Mormon community who are on a faith journey. Their mission is to create compassionate settings where those experiencing faith challenges can heal, learn, and grow. They were fully supportive and made no attempt to steer our journeys in any specific direction (other than healing).
I attended a retreat spanning April 11 – 13 in Alpine, Utah. I learned of the retreat from a Facebook friend and figured that it’s the type of thing that I can do now that I’m retired. I wasn’t certain what to expect, but it was a really great experience.
The retreat was attended by about 20 people, ranging in age from 16 – 70ish (the 16-year-old had an astounding level of wisdom and insight). It was about 60% women and 40% men, and all were in very different stages of their faith journey (some were active members, some had left the church, and many were processing various levels of trauma).
On Friday night, we met for three hours to get to know each other, and most shared their stories.
On Saturday, Patrick and Melissa Mason gave a presentation and led a discussion. I had previously met Patrick at the Restore conferences, where he is a regular speaker. Melissa is a therapist who is really great (we both get mad at the same things 🙂 ). Saturday’s discussions were very deep and many asked a lot of very difficult questions, which Patrick and Melissa attempted to answer honestly and respectfully without any whitewashing. The discussion was very sincere and deeply personal.
Sunday was spent mostly meditating and learning ways to quiet our minds. The meditations were led by Haymitch St. Stephens, who I already knew well because he made the mistake of sitting next to me at the first Restore conference. He remembered that the first thing I had told him was that I was not wired for meditation, but on Sunday my mind was more still than I can ever remember.
Over the weekend I feel like the group really bonded and everybody felt safe enough for us to share their experiences and to help one another. Nobody judged each other, and the experience felt entirely authentic. I met several new friends. Overall, it was a sacred experience that was well worth the drive from Seattle to Utah.