# Garrison Institute

The Garrison Institute is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization located in Garrison, New York. Working collaboratively with practitioners in different fields, the Institute develops and hosts retreats and symposia, produces research and publications, and provides a hub for ongoing learning networks.

## History

The institute's founders bought what was then a Capuchin monastery set for destruction, to make way for a proposed large-scale real estate development.
The site was formerly known as Glenclyffe, when it was the 19th century estate of New York Governor and U.S. Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, and it has changed little since it was solely inhabited by the Wappinger Nation of Native Americans.
In 2001, the property was acquired by the Open Space Institute, which donated it to The Garrison Institute, which renovated the building, and opened its doors to the public in 2003.
The Garrison Institute's current building is a renovated version of the 77,000 square foot stone and brick monastery and seminary built by the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Mary in 1923. Much of the architectural restoration is notable for what wasn't changed.
The Institute celebrated its beginning with newly appointed spiritual advisors—Gelek Rimpoche, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Father Thomas Keating. The opening ceremonies included music by Pete Seeger, Philip Glass and Christine McCall. The Dalai Lama visited the Institute in the fall of 2003 and blessed it.
Since 2003, over 60,000 people have participated in the Garrison Institute's retreats and programs.
In 2004, the Institute created the Initiative on Contemplation and Education (ICE), later renamed the Contemplative Teaching and Learning Initiative and now named CARE for Teachers.
In 2004, the Hudson River Project was launched to discuss social science and the humanities relating to environmental issues. The Hudson River Project became the Initiative on Transformation Ecology (ITE), now Climate, Mind and Behavior (CMB).
In 2005, the Women's Wellness Project was created, a five-year pilot program conducting contemplative-based training for women working to end domestic violence. This was the basis of what became the Initiative on Transforming Trauma (ITT), which is now the institute's Signature Program on Contemplative-Based Resilience (CBR).

## Garrison, New York

The Garrison Institute is located an hour north of Manhattan, on the east bank of the Hudson River in the Hudson Highlands, across from West Point.

## Purpose

The Garrison Institute provides shelter for a diverse array of spiritual teachers, students, organizations, and communities of practice globally.
The Institute brings together a mix of constituents: contemplative and spiritual teachers, academic scientists, and those working on new forms of social and environmental engagement. Together, they seek to better understand the mind and the many systems it inhabits.

## Staff and teachers

The Garrison Institute is led by executive director Johnathan Weisner. Teachers and presenters at the Garrison Institute have included Adyashanti, the Dalai Lama, Rajmohan Gandhi, Philip Glass, Daniel Goleman, Mikhail Gorbachev, Paul Hawken, Father Thomas Keating, Sharon Salzberg, Pete Seeger, Roshi Enkyo O’Hara, Peter Senge, Lama Surya Das, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, and many others.

## Board of trustees

* Rachel Gutter, Co-chair
* Jonathan F. P. Rose, Co-chair
* Monica Winsor
* Lisette Cooper
* Will Rogers, Treasurer
* Ruth Cummings
* Paul Hawken
* Diana Calthorpe Rose
* Sharon Salzberg
* Daniel J. Siegel
* Susan Davis