Original Mind Residency is a place to dive deep into creative, transformative practice
Whether it’s painting, writing, music, social innovation, spiritual and liberatory practices, or something formless and emergent, OMR is a place where people come for solitude or sparks of co-creation in service to meaningful work.
Located on Mt. Teneriffe, less than 40 miles from Seattle, OMR is a place of retreat, and of engagement and conversation with the beautiful second-growth forest surrounding it. A cedar-clad house on six acres of Cascade foothills, OMR has a small footprint and an expansive view of McClellan Butte.
What is ‘Original Mind’?
Original Mind is a state of being, like a clear mirror. It is a return to nature, to the generative force that moves us to write, to heal, to play, to pray. Through Original Mind, we participate and give back from our deepest longings. Original Mind is also a house in a forest on the west side of a young mountain range.
Mutual Generosity and Quiet Rebellion
There is no set cost to stay at OMR. Rather, we operate on a basis of mutual generosity. We trust that OMR can inspire forms of generosity, and that such generosity can sustain us. We sense a kind of sacredness to this exchange. This way of being - with ourselves, with the forest, and together - acts as a ‘quiet rebellion’ that ripples out, toward our greater shared liberation. In this vein, we especially invite folks who identify as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and who feel their work contributes to a more equitable and diversely envisioned world to utilize OMR.
For more information, see the Residencies page.
With gratitude, we give thanks to those who came before us,
to our ancestors, to our guides, our teachers.
OMR resides on land stewarded by the Snoqualmie and Tulalip peoples since time immemorial. Recognizing the injustice and genocide committed by White and European settlers, we acknowledge ongoing harms perpetuated by continuing practices and cultures of domination. With humility, we seek to practice something different at Original Mind, and to continue to learn how to be in right relationship with land, water, and all of Creation through that process.
With humility and courage, may we serve our deepest longings, for the benefit of All.