Mitigation retreat
The mitigation retreat (so-called because at that time the hope was that by sequestering at home, we could “flatten the curve” and thereby mitigate the spread of the virus) took place online every weekday during the first three months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A collaboration between Jon and Soren Gordhamer of Wisdom 2.0. The retreat started on March 25, 2020 — the first session was a 90 minute talk — and ended on June 26, 2020. The sessions were sixty minutes long except for Tuesdays and Thursdays when, because of breaking up into small groups, they were 90 minutes. Each of the sessions consists of a short guided meditation blending into a talk by Jon, followed by a period of question and answers with the online participants.
People attended from all over the world.
People attended from all over the world—the first thousand each day on Zoom, while the overflow, often another thousand or more, joined via YouTube. All these sessions are available for listening and/or downloading here.
Many have told me that they did not miss one session; others that they have watched all the recordings multiple times. Many have said that our sessions provided a sense of belonging and meaningful community in a difficult and very isolating time in their lives. Now that we are gathering in person again, I am meeting face to face with some of the mitigation retreat participants. It feels like family.
I hope these 66 sessions, if you choose to dip into them on occasion, or more systematically, prove interesting to you, and supportive of your practice.
MAP OF LOVE
A whole online community called Map of Love grew out of the retreat and has become a vibrant online community of practice and intentionality (see map). Every pin represents a person participating in the Mitigation Retreat of 2020.