We are remembering convergence
april 11-13, 2025

The Center for Conscious Living and Dying invites you to a special gathering April 11-14.

The “We Are Remembering” Convergence Tour is a living cultural experiment and Intergenerational social Movement — a celebration of regenerative spirit through music, creative performance, grief ceremonies, and gatherings that elevate conversations and dialogue. A Movement that reminds us that awakening begins when we remember who we are, resonate with our shared origins and interconnectedness, and embrace the art of living—and dying—with love in action. We are told, and reminded, that we need this human connectivity more than ever during these unparalleled times. We are here to Lower the Temperature. Raise the Vibration.

Guided by a traveling, intergenerational team of esteemed artists, educators, storytellers, bridgers, and doulas from purpose-driven organizations like the The Center for Conscious Living & Dying, UnLabelMe, The Seventh Sense Care Collective, and Roots Grown Deep, our retreat is a dynamic fusion of music, art, science, spirituality and most importantly, a celebration of Community. Expect spontaneous acoustic ensemble music, immersive creative expressions, and vibrant conversations that challenge our paradigms and nurture creative intelligence.

A highlight of this multi-day immersion experience is the screening of the documentary film The Last Ecstatic Days, which intimately portrays one man’s courageous invitation to foster a new community that would accompany him through his final breaths—a stirring metaphor for the power of collective care.

If you are a soul-driven individual—whether a doula, artist, educator, community leader, survivor of activist burnout, parent, youth, or civil servant—join CommUnity at one of these local events to celebrate this great turning point in these unprecedented times. Embrace the beauty of our universal rites of passage, the oneness of humankind, and the transformative power of remembrance.

The We Are Remembering retreat package prices include accommodations, meals, and retreat fees and any related taxes. Bookings include all meals starting with dinner on the day of arrival, through lunch on the day of departure, with the exception of dinner on Saturday. Saturday arrival will include lunch instead of dinner. On Saturday evening, guests are welcome to join the Passover Seder dinner and celebration with Rabi Zachi Asher from the Temenos Center, with live music by Duo al Roo7. Find more info about that event and tickets here.

weekend SCHEDULE:

Friday April 11

• 1-5PM Participants and collaborators arrive.

• 530PM Welcome Dinner

• 7PM The Last Ecstatic Days film screening in the Barn, followed by dialogue w/ Aditi, Karen, Joel and Jojo

• 8:45PM Music & Expressive Arts in the Barn with Jay Brown, Aditi Sethi, Joel Karabo Elliott, Roots Grown Deep & The Rememberers

Saturday April 12

• 8AM Mindfulness Matters with Wendy Krom

• 9AM Yoga & movement with Liz Newman

• 10AM Light Breakfast

• 11AM Reciprocity of Sentience & Presence (Workshop with Karen Bellone)

• 1PM Lunch

• 2PM Musical Ecology & The Healing Power of Sound with Joel Karabo Elliott

• 4PM The Art of Dying Before You Die with Aditi Sethi, MD
  Panel - Plant Medicine At End-of-Life, with Dr. Barbara Vacarr and Karen Bellone

• 6PM Passover Themed Dinner

• 8PM Music & Expressive Arts  with Jay Brown, Aditi Sethi, Joel Karabo Elliott, Roots Grown Deep & Local Artists 

• 11PM   “Dying on Stage” Death Speakeasy Sessions

Sunday April 13

• 8AM Mindfulness Matters with Wendy Krom

• 9AM Yoga & movement with Liz Newman

• 10AM Light Breakfast

• 11AM Grief Ceremony with Aditi Sethi, MD + JoJo Silverman

• 1PM Lunch

• 2PM Free time, Nature Walk & Contemplation 

• 3PM “UnLabel Death”: Identity Reboot – Life, Death and the Spaces Between with Jonathan Pillot & Felice Nussbaum-DiMartino

• 5PM Dinner 

• 6PM Music & Closing Circle

LOCATION AND TRAVEL INFO 

Race Brook Lodge is located in Sheffield, Massachusetts, nestled in the Berkshires. Here are some common routes depending on where you're coming from:

1. By Plane + Car Arrange for a car rental or local car service.

• Albany International Airport (ALB) – 1.5-hour drive to Race Brook Lodge.

• Bradley International Airport (BDL) (Hartford, CT) – 1.5-hour drive.

• New York City (JFK/LGA) – ~2.5-hour drive.

2. By Train + Car

• Take Metro North to Wassaic NY, about 35 minutes from Race Brook Lodge

• Take Amtrak to Hudson, NY station, which is about a 45-minute drive from Race Brook Lodge.

• Arrange for a car rental or local car service. (Morningstar Car Service)

RETREAT STAFF

Karen Bellone is the founder of The Seventh Sense Care Collective, where she has established an educational base and a circle of death doulas to serve the local community, as well as an Omega Home for the Dying in NY’s Hudson Valley.  Karen and the Seventh Sense are an integral part of a worldwide community that is reigniting the wisdom of death within our modern lives. As a death doula, death educator, and longtime filmmaker, Karen is dedicated to reawakening the interwoven connection between the arts, storytelling and the emotional and spiritual nature of death. For Karen, the Seventh Sense name reminds us to Re-Member the body’s knowledge of how to die; to help assuage the fears many experience when contemplating death, and to foster safe passage for those in transition. She strongly believes that this is a crucial time to heighten our collective consciousness around the importance of how we die, and how we live, until our time comes to shed this mortal coil.

Aditi Sethi, MD, is a hospice and palliative care physician, end-of-life doula, and the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Conscious Living & Dying. She is dedicated to bridging the sacred and practical aspects of living and dying, offering compassionate, community-supported care that honors the dignity and interconnectedness of all beings.Featured in the forthcoming film The Last Ecstatic Days, Aditi is emerging as an integral voice for transforming our cultural understanding of dying, death, and bereavement care. Her recent TEDx talk in Asheville, NC, titled "The Art of Dying Before You Die," reflects her passion for inspiring a holistic and sacred approach to the end-of-life journey.

Jonathan Pillot is a multifaceted artistic innovator - storyteller, director, writer, producer, creator, idea developer (and former entertainment attorney) - with cross industry experience in film, television, theater, live events, radio, music, branded content, advertising, and publishing. He’s the Founder of UnLabelMe, a Storytelling Studio that is leading a Glocal Movement to focus more on the humanity of our similarities than the inhumanity of our differences.…to create safe spaces to address unprecedented societal polarization by bringing people together – Community in Communities - to help “Lower the Temperature, and Raise the Vibration” throughout the world. For more info: AllOverThePlaceTV.com

Joel Karabo Elliott is a human resonating with Music and Nature as a composer, multi-instrumentalist, educator and performing artist for commUnity regeneration. His life work is wholistically integrated through curating the good deeds of the Roots Grown Deep World Music & Healing Arts Ensemble, which is represented in Southern Africa and North America and continues the exploration of 'Musical Ecology' through sound, healing modalities, rites of passage work and Consciousness-based education. Central to all his artistic and creative endeavors is the integration of mind, body and soul through the healing power of sound. He is also a musical death doula and artist-in-residence with the Center for Conscious Living & Dying (Swannanoa, NC).

Jay Brown is a roots music one-man-band from Black Mountain, North Carolina, who has spent years traveling and playing around the U.S., absorbing our rich musical heritage and performing with artists such as Doc Watson, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Etta Baker.  His eclectic musical tastes found expression in 1996, when he became a founding member of Lazybirds, a band that blends a wide variety of musical styles, including jazz and blues, country and rock ‘n roll, to create a fresh and soul stirring sound.  Lazybirds have been a mainstay of the North Carolina roots music scene for over 25 years. Jay is also a music therapist, and he worked for Hospice in Asheville for 8 years.  This enriching work, as well as the work he continues to do along with his wife Aditi at the Center For Conscious Living and Dying, has been a deepening influence in Jay's music over the years.

Race Brook Lodge is a magical rustic destination at the foot of the Taconic Range in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. We provide a nourishing place for guests to engage with nature, culture and community. We present a diverse curated selection of live music, performances and workshops. We have 29 unique guest rooms, a private Race Mountain Villa, the Stagecoach Tavern restaurant, a stunning exposed-beam barn, dynamic event spaces, a swimming pool, a sauna, and an organic farm. Enjoy hiking trails right here on the land with access to sublime forest spaces, waterfalls, mountain tops, and the Appalachian Trail. Each moment is rooted in a commitment to sustainability and accessibility, and visitors find inspiration in the wonder and wisdom of nature, with a sense of community and genuine hospitality in every interaction.

See our full list of events here.