Guided Meditations

Drop in with audio practices designed to help you embody the principles of retreat leadership: cultivating presence, grounding, and mindful awareness.

Journaling Prompts

Explore your inner landscape with thoughtful prompts that spark reflection, deepen self-understanding, and connect your personal journey to your role as a leader.

Leadership Exercises

Step into your role through interactive practices that build confidence, sharpen your intuition, and expand your facilitation toolkit.

Turn This Course into Yoga Alliance CE Credit

As a Yoga Alliance YACEP® provider, True Nature Education makes it easy for  Registered Yoga Teachers to apply these hours toward their Continuing Education requirements.

Your Path to Confident, Heart-Centered Facilitation.

Behind every successful retreat is a leader who can hold space with skill, grace, and heart. The Heart of Retreat Leadership course is a journey into the inner art of leading.  By the end of this course, you’ll know how to cultivate presence, authenticity, and compassion as the foundation of your facilitation. You’ll gain tools for navigating energy, challenges, and connection to master group dynamics so your participants feel safe, supported, and inspired. You’ll also learn how to design a retreat arc that guides participants through a natural, transformational flow, from arrival to integration. Created in collaboration with Joshua Canter of True Nature Education, this course weaves together teachings, practices, and tools from decades of leading retreats around the world. You’ll be guided through five foundational pillars of retreat leadership to explore not just the logistics of leading retreats, but the deeper heart work that makes them meaningful, sustainable, and alive.

Meet Your Instructor, Joshua Canter

Joshua is a longtime teacher of mindfulness meditation, a writer, musician, and holds a Master’s degree in Contemplative Psychology. With over 20 years of experience leading retreats worldwide that inspire personal growth and collective healing, he has cultivated a deep understanding of the inner art of retreat leadership. In this course, Joshua shares the wisdom, practices, and insights that have shaped his decades of facilitation. His teachings blend mindfulness and practical tools with heart-centered presence to support retreat leaders in stepping into their role, and their true nature, with clarity and confidence.

Curriculum

7 Chapters · 31 Lessons

  1. 1

    The Heart of Retreat Leadership: Welcome & Course Overview

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Welcome to The Heart of Retreat Leadership

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Course Overview

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      What Called You to This Course?

  2. 2

    Chapter 1: Space Holding: The Art of Creating the Retreat Container

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Creating the Invisible Container: Presence, Structure, and Trust

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Design Your Opening Circle and Ceremony

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Grounding Yourself as the Space Holder

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Mindful Container Blueprint

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      A Recap of Chapter 1: Space Holding: The Art of Creating the Retreat Container

  3. 3

    Chapter 2: Group Dynamics: Building Trust & Connection

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      From Strangers to Sangha: Nurturing Authentic Group Connection

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Map the Arc of Group Connection

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Heart-Centered Listening

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Your Group Connection Plan

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      A Recap of Chapter 2: Group Dynamics: Building Trust & Connection

  4. 4

    Chapter 3: Retreat Flow: Crafting the Arc of Transformation

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Designing the Journey – Structure, Rhythm, and Flow

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Map Your Retreat Arc

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Visualizing the Arc

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Retreat Flow Design

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      A Recap of Chapter 3: Retreat Flow — Crafting the Arc of Transformation

  5. 5

    Chapter 4: The Power of Presence & Mindful Facilitation

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Leading from the Inside Out

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Your Presence Practice Inventory

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Centering in the Storm

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      My Presence Plan

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      A Recap of Chapter 4: The Power of Presence & Mindful Facilitation

  6. 6

    Chapter 5: Integration & Lasting Impact

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      The Retreat Doesn’t End When the Bags Are Packed

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Create Your Integration Toolkit

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Bridging the Worlds

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Design Your Integration Blueprint

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      A Recap of Chapter 5: Integration & Lasting Impact

  7. 7

    Chapter 6: Honoring the Journey

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Final Reflection and Farewell

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      A Recap of The Heart of Retreat Leadership Course

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      CE Credit Instructions

Step into the heart of retreat leadership.

Enroll in The Heart of Retreat Leadership course today and learn to lead retreats that truly transform.

Enroll Now