The Contemplative Semester is a 14-week immersive gap program for young adults (18–25) seeking a meaningful pause from the noise of modern life. Rooted in mindfulness, nature, and community, it blends meditation, Buddhist-inspired ethics, somatic practices, and time in silence to foster inner peace, deep self-knowledge, and resilience. Set in the foothills of Vermont’s Green Mountains, it offers a rare chance to unplug, reflect, and reconnect with self, others, and the world.
The Contemplative Semester is a 14-week immersive program for young adults who are curious, thoughtful, and interested in deepening their connection with themselves and the world around them. Designed for 18- to 25-year-olds, the program offers a distinctive kind of education: one that’s not based on competition or achievement, but on awareness and community. It’s an opportunity to pause, reflect, and recalibrate before stepping into the next chapter of your life, whether that’s college, work, travel, or something still unformed.
In today's world, everything moves fast. Expectations pile up. Social media, school, jobs, so many things ask for your attention that it can be hard to hear your own thoughts, let alone know what you truly care about. The program offers real space, real time, and real connection in an intentional community of people showing up, learning what it means to live a good life. It’s a place to breathe and to ask big questions. The curriculum is grounded in contemplative practices, including meditation, Buddhist philosophy, nonviolent communication, and somatic (body-based) awareness. You’ll spend hours each day engaging in inner work: learning to focus your mind, notice your emotions, and recognize the patterns that shape your experience.
You’ll also study, read, and reflect, exploring teachings on ethics, interdependence, compassion, and presence. You’ll learn in small groups with thoughtful teachers in a setting not centered around grades, but liberation, the kind that helps you move through the world with more clarity, steadiness, and kindness. You’ll live with a small cohort of peers on a forested campus in southern Vermont. You’ll cook together, clean together, sit in silence together, and share what’s true for you. You'll learn how to listen without fixing, how to speak without pretending, and how to stay with difficulty without shutting down, and through these practices, you may come to see yourself in ways you haven’t before: as someone capable of showing up, caring deeply, and being seen fully.
On Potash Hill, you’ll be surrounded by trees, trails, rivers, and silence. You’ll learn not just in classrooms, but from the land itself. Outdoor time isn’t a break, it’s part of the curriculum. You might find that a simple walk becomes a form of prayer, or that tracking your breath beneath the sky makes you feel more at home in your body than you’ve felt in years. In a world of screens and speed, the slowness of nature is medicine. This program gives you time to re-embed yourself in the rhythms of the earth, to move your body, tend to your needs, and remember that you are, at your core, a part of something much larger.
Maybe you’re between high school and college. Maybe you’ve just finished a year that left you depleted. Maybe you’re unsure of what you want next. Wherever you are, if you’re standing at a threshold, craving time to reflect, reconnect, and reimagine your path, this semester could be exactly what you need. People rarely look back and wish they’d rushed faster into adulthood. But many do look back and wish they’d taken time to slow down, to listen, and to root themselves before running forward. This program is that time. We hope to hear from you soon!
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