Northern California Teen Retreat
June 27th – July 2nd, 2022
Black Mountain Retreat Center in Cazadero, CA
→ Scholarships available and transportation assistance available – contact us.
Please review our COVID-19 Policy before applying.
Be loved + accepted for who you are
Welcome to a community where there’s no performance, no backlash + no negativity – you just get to be YOU. Come explore, express yourself, and learn tools to compassionately guide yourself through difficult situations in your life.
What will I learn?
Handle stress + anxiety
Learn how to calm yourself down and relax when you’re in high-stress situations. Gain tools that you can apply to school, sleep, relationships + life in general!
Find self-love
Stop trying to “fit in” and get comfortable in your own skin. This is a safe space where people love being themselves and want to support you!
Navigate difficult emotions
Learn how to unpack and unravel difficult emotions. Be kinder to yourself + understand how your mind works. Gain tools to get yourself unstuck when you feel overwhelmed.
Who’s teaching?
Our world-class teachers allow you to be fully flawed and authentic – just like them! We’re here to support you, every step of the way.

Enrique Collazo

Enrique Collazo is a new generation Mindfulness meditation teacher. Born and raised in Los Angeles and has been teaching and living in the Bay Area for the last 6 years. His passion is teaching the practice of mindfulness to teens. He is well loved and respected for his inspirational work at Challenge Day during the school year where he facilitates social and emotional learning workshops for thousands of young people all over the country. Enrique’s skill with teens has led to teaching internationally for Inward Bound Mindfulness Education. He is on the Guiding Teacher Counsel and Equity and Interdependence Committee for Ibme. Enrique is a frequent co-facilitator for teens at Spirit Rock and a committed advocate for bringing meditative interventions into jails and addiction treatment facilities.
Enrique is a champion for helping young people create pathways that align with their goals and deepest intentions, and empowering them to broaden their confidence by opening their eyes to what’s possible when negative internal narrative is transformed into positive effort.
He believes deeply in the power of marginalized voices to change the world.
Enrique was trained by Noah Levine and Vinny Ferraro at Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society.

Erin Oke

Erin teaches meditation and is the Executive Director at the Consciousness Explorers Club, an innovative contemplative community based in Toronto. Her focus is on meditation for self-care and emotional well being and she has taught mindfulness skills in health care, education, corporate and non-profit settings. She has guided meditating teenagers on iBme’s Toronto Teen Retreats and taught mindfulness to high schoolers for KidEvolve. She served as Youth Programs Coordinator for EHM from 2007-2018, running a centre providing free programs for low-income children and youth designed to foster confidence and creativity. She also studied and worked in theatre for many years, and loves to infuse her teaching with a sense of play and creative exploration. Erin is passionate about the confluence of meditation practice and social justice, and using mindfulness in the service of caring better for oneself and others.

Mark Wax

Mark Wax is deeply grateful to be working with iBme. Mark has been practicing meditative arts for 20+ years, and is a passionate student/practitioner/devotee of several culturally rooted wisdom traditions. He has worked for Yoga International, The Himalayan Institute, and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He has had the privilege to spend many months of his life on silent meditation retreats as well as 5+ years deepening his practice through living in spiritually-centered communities. He has multiple certificates as a yoga teacher and an Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist.
Mark has worn many hats at iBme since first mentoring on a retreat in 2015. He participated in the first cohort of iBme’s Teacher Training and currently helps lead retreats and other programming as well as serves on the Teachers Advisory Council and a few other committees inside of iBme’s collaborative leadership system.
Mark currently lives in Northern New Mexico and spends his free time learning music and language, connecting to the natural world, supporting grassroots activism for heart-centered systemic change, and writing poems that sometimes come out pretty good if he may say so…

Sarwang Parikh

Sarwang Parikh (he/him/they) was borne into the Dharma within a devotional Hindu Indian culture of an immigrant, working-class family in the South. He has been steeped in the practice and study of Vedic Yoga and Buddhist meditation for over 15 years. Sarwang strives to weave these ancient wisdom traditions with a decolonized approach to mental health as a psychotherapist primarily serving BIPOC male-identified folks. He is also a core team member of Bay area mindfulness and mental health nonprofit, Seeds of Awareness. Sarwang’s devotion to the Dharma has been sustained by being a long-time sangha member and community teacher at East Bay Meditation Center (he just started their first 2-year Spiritual Teacher Leadership training); and mentoring youth with iBme. Sarwang is most at home in a forest playing his flutes, in a circle of loving friends, immersed in a sci-fi novel/film or on the dance floor.

Em Morrison

Em loves nothing more than creating safe, fun, and healthy spaces for teens and adults to flourish. She’s taught mindfulness at after school programs, summer camps, and on young adult and teen retreats. She began practicing meditation in 2011 because she was having the best day of her life (just kidding). She is honored to have the chance to share the tools that have brought her so much joy, contentment, and peace in her life.
Suggested Age
15 to 19 years
Cost
Sliding scale.
Learn More.
Duration
6 days, 5 nights
Application Deadline
June 13, midnight
Dates
Starts: June 27, 2022
Drop-off: 4:00 pm
Ends: July 2, 2022
Pick-up: 1:00 pm
COVID-19 Policy

What happens on retreat?
Meditation
Learn mindfulness practices such as breath + body awareness + mindful walking. Beginners welcome!
Workshops
Explore activities like painting, improv, and writing poetry. Pick + choose what interests you, or lead a workshop yourself!
Dance Party
Dance + get weird without worrying about what other people think of you at our online dance party.
Small Groups
Laugh, get vulnerable and play games like “sweet seat” to connect more deeply with a small group of teens.
Wisdom Talks
Cuddle up with a blanket! Listen to talks about relationships, emotions + applying mindfulness to daily life.
Yoga
Move + release through guided daily yoga practice.

“iBme helped me grow to be the kind of person who I am, which is a person who’s calm and centered and has the skills to just breathe in moments where it feels like I’m not able to breathe and life is going by so fast.”
– Betye A.N., teen
Why go on retreat?
Feel More Connected
We’ll offer your teen tools to open their heart + connect more deeply with themselves – and with you!
Help Them Find Their Tribe
Let your teen develop meaningful relationships in a community where they’ll be accepted for who they are.
Take the stress off
You don’t have to provide for every aspect of your kid’s mental + emotional well-being. Let us do the work!
Peace of Mind
Worry less, knowing your teen has a support system.
Make Meaningful Relationships
You always have a friend at iBme! Connect with people in a safe, welcoming space where you don’t have to “fit in” to be loved.
Find Your Center
Gain tools to calm yourself down, even in high-stress situations.
Make Happiness Easier
Learn how to release tension, pain + self-judgment so you can feel light inside.
Be Comfortable in Your Own Skin
Love + accept yourself exactly as you are.
Interested?
Enter your name and email to get more details & reminders for this retreat, and start the application process when you’re ready.
Is iBme for me?
This retreat is for you if you…
- Want to connect deeply with other caring, playful people. Dorks welcome!
- Are interested in knowing yourself more deeply
- Are willing to try something new
This retreat is not for you if you…
- Your parents are forcing you to come
- You’re struggling with serious mental health issues
- You’re doing this instead of going to therapy

“I used to struggle a lot with who I was and trying to fit in. iBme helped me become a lot more accepting not only of myself, but of others. Everybody’s so accepting and caring – really open and willing to share. You always have a friend at iBme.”
– Nikita M., Teen Retreat Alumni