What is it like to share our lives with birds? What can we learn from this observation? Join Tricia McFarlin and Stuart Nelson for a weekend on the rural grounds of a Zen retreat center, practicing meditation and observing birds. Both Tricia and Stuart are lifelong naturalists.
The days will include vegetarian meals, meditation in the Zendo (meditation hall) along with outdoor walks and stationary observation of the birds of Chappell Hill, Texas. The Texas Blackland Prairie is a rich ecoregion characterized by various wildflower, grass, and hardwood species and is home to many upland wildlife species. Using our senses, we have a chance to witness hawks, songbirds, sparrows, vultures, wrens, and more - we will be surprised!
In addition to meditation times, we will also experience:
Binocular Skills Didactic
Introduction to Birding Didactic
Birds and Life - Discussion
Hearing Birds - Experiential
Morning Bird Walks - Experiental
Afternoon Bird Walks - Experiential
Gestalt Birding Didactic
And surprises!
All accommodations are shared. Meals and accommodations are included in the price. For this special retreat everyone — members and non-members — will pay the same low rate.
Rev. Tricia McFarlin Tricia is a Zen priest at Houston Zen Center where she has been a member for many years. She has a PhD in English Literature and taught at St. Agnes Academy and Awty International school for more than 20 years. Tricia has been a lover of nature for her whole life but only awakened to the miraculous world of birds in the past twenty years or so, a vision that has run parallel to her Zen practice. She spends weekends tending to the trees and plants at her family's land in Victoria.
Over the years of this rejuvenating activity, she's been thrilled and calmed by the sights and sounds of birds as they do their own work on the land. In exploring the glimpses of the life of birds, she has found a deep resonance with her Zen practice. Tricia has deep roots in Texas and feels kinship with all living beings of our state.
Stuart C. Nelson serves as the President & CEO of the Institute for Spirituality and Health at the Texas Medical Center, working with an interdisciplinary team to envision, execute, and sustain a diverse portfolio of programs and projects at the intersection of health, medicine, spirituality, and religion. After growing up in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, Stuart completed bachelor’s degrees in cognitive science, psychology, and religious studies at Rice University and a master’s in religious studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Mind-Body Medicine at Saybrook University, focusing on the psychophysiology of nature contact.
Inspired by his grandfather, a rancher who spent more than 60 years birding the grasslands of central New Mexico, Stuart began birding 15 years ago. He won the Harris County “Big Year” in 2019 and 2020, recording 296 and 312 unique species, respectively, within the county's boundaries. He serves as secretary of the Board of Directors of Houston Audubon, where he has contributed to programmatic, strategic, and fundraising initiatives for the past 6 years. Stuart has 579 species on his US life list and, in more recent years, has become an avid bird photographer.
Additionally, Stuart is a musically minded lover of hip-hop, southern rock, funk, soul, and classical Indian music, as well as impressionism, surrealism, and modern art.
The retreat will take place at
Auspicious Cloud Zen Retreat Center
6650 Trackside Road
Chappell Hill, TX 77426
Further information can be obtained by emailing Stephen.
Refund policy: full refund up to February 15, 2026. No refund thereafter.
