TOP OF mind

A Joyful Retreat

In September, InsightLA hosted “Creating Joy in Community,” the first residential meditation retreat by and for transgender, nonbinary, gendernonconforming, and genderqueer (collectively, trans*) people.

Mindfulness and Buddhist practitioners, as well as new meditators, attended the four-day program. It was broadly accessible, thanks to scholarships (from donations), care for accessibility needs, and a trauma-informed approach.

All the retreat’s teachers and staff are also trans*. Martin Vitorino, InsightLA’s Director of Programming and a retreat leader, noted that factors like gendered housing plans and few teachers of diversity can make other retreats untenable for trans* people. “It’s so powerful and healing to see yourself reflected in the teacher at the front of the room,” Vitorino told Mindful. A testimonial from in concert with the region’s Shìshàlh Indigenous peoples, 800 hectares will be protected for both conservation and public enjoyment. The land may also be “bundled” with nearby protected lands to create a 9,000-hectare provincial park, surrounding the entire inlet. Parks, write the Foundation CEO Andrew Day and Board Chair Ross Beaty, are “anchors for our hearts and souls—they are our cathedrals, our towers, our pyramids; the wonders of our world.”

V., who attended, affirms: “The sanctuary of being with all trans* folks allowed me to be with and offer kindness to parts of my heart that I don’t often feel safe to access.”

People For The Parks

The British Columbia Parks Foundation crowdfunded $3 million to purchase part of Princess Louisa Inlet: a breathtaking swath of mountains, rivers, and coastline wilderness. Working

Stories To Live By

What happens when you combine a guided meditation and a podcast? You might get Meditative Story—a collab by Arianna Huffington’s company Thrive Global and WaitWhat, the masterminds behind TED media. Each episode features a wellknown host, such as author Dan Harris or astronomer Michelle Thaller, who tells of a transformative moment from their lives. With a relaxing musical background and brief meditations (narrated by app producer Rohan Gunatillake), it’s a fresh addition to the podcast realm. (For our review of a recent episode, see page 76.)

PUTTING THE “KIND” IN KINDERGARTEN

The six-year-old kids in transitional kindergarten at Tropical Elementary, in Merritt Island, Florida, began talking about kindness in class. Now they’re working to emphasize kindness on a grander scale. Over the last 18 months, Barbara Wilcox and her students have designed and shared a symbol that represents kindness. “We already have and use symbols for love, peace, and happiness. A kindness symbol will add to our national focus of being kind,” they say on a Change. org petition to have the symbol adopted nationally. Whether writing letters to community leaders, managing the petition, or visiting members of congress, the