August 28–30, 2026 · Scotts Valley, California
The Canyon Within
Three days in the redwoods to change your frequency.
2026
Multiversity
only
+ tax
The invitation
Every one of us is carrying something we have not put down.
You are competent. You are needed. The days move faster than you do, and somewhere underneath all of it, you have gone quiet.
Where I come from, when the world gets too loud, you go down. Into the canyon. Where the walls hold the heat of the day, where the water still runs, where there is nothing above you but a long strip of sky and nothing asked of you but to keep walking.
For three days at 1440 Multiversity, we make that descent together. Then, on the last morning, we climb back out into the harvest — which is what the end of summer has always been for.
You do not change your life by adding more to it. You change your frequency.
Who comes to the canyon
This weekend is for you.
The woman who gives everything
To work, to family, to everyone — and quietly wonders who refills her.
The one in a hard passage
A loss, a divorce, an empty nest, a career turning over — who needs a safe place to set it down.
The daughter finding her footing
Younger, at a crossroads, looking for ground to stand on.
The elder
With a life's worth of wisdom, ready to gather it and pass it on.
The seeker
Anyone who has been walking in the dark and wants to remember the way home.
You do not need to be fit, or a hiker, or experienced in any of this. Many arrive on their own and leave with a circle. Just eighteen guests, so no one gets lost. The oldest medicine is intergenerational — grandmother, mother, daughter, moving together.
The three days
A descent, a harvest, and a climb into the light.
Arrival & Threshold
Nothing is asked of you on the first night except that you set something down.
- Arrivals and check-in — your Ancestral Watch tee, and the smooth stone you will carry all weekend.
- ~4pm, by the creek — a land acknowledgement to the Amah Mutsun, whose unceded homeland this is, and the opening circle.
- Dinner — the first meal of the seasonal healing diet.
- Fireside under the stars — Stone Breath, a first meditation, and stories.
The Descent & The Harvest
The deepest day of the three — down into the canyon in the afternoon, up into the harvest by nightfall.
- Early meditative hike in the redwoods.
- A signature class — meditation, qigong, sound bath, forest walk, or tai chi.
- Afternoon: The Descent — The Canyon Within, the heart of the weekend, facilitated by Tony.
- The Ancestral Kitchen — food is medicine, with Missy & Henry Webster.
- The Harvest Table celebration, then fireside songs, stories, and dance.
Carry It Home
The climb out. We gather what the canyon gave you and name it out loud, so it survives the drive home.
- Meditation by the creek.
- ~10am — Embody · Activate · Carry Home: turning the weekend into practices that come with you.
- Boxed lunches and departures. You are on the road before the afternoon.
Sample flow — final times and class locations are confirmed at check-in. Signature classes are drawn from 1440's included offerings.
Whose ground this is
We open by the creek, and we open by saying whose land we are standing on.
1440 Multiversity sits on the unceded homeland of the Amah Mutsun, who have cared for these mountains, these creeks and these redwoods since long before any of us arrived, and who are here still.
On Friday evening we begin outdoors, at the water, with a land acknowledgement offered to the Amah Mutsun. We say their name first. We ask the land's permission before we ask anything of ourselves. Everything that follows in the three days rests on that.
The practices
Old tools. Used properly. For three days straight.
The redwoods do half the work — standing beneath the Mother Tree, walking the creeks, eating food grown and blessed as medicine. Into that stillness we bring the tools, braided from three cultures: the Diné of the red-earth country, the Baltic song-keepers, and the Japanese discipline of stillness. Different tongues, one human operating system. Regulate first — then everything the ancestors left us becomes usable.
- BreathworkThe fastest door into the body we have found. Twice daily.
- MeditationGuided and silent, indoors and under the trees.
- Qigong and tai chiSlow movement on the redwood deck, first thing.
- Sound bathsBowls, drum and voice. You lie down; the room does the rest.
- Forest walksLong, unhurried, mostly wordless. The trees do the teaching.
- A seasonal healing dietSpecially designed for these three days and this time of year.
- StorytellingTold the way it was told to me — at night, out loud, no notes.
- FiresideThe last hour of each day. The part people remember.
Food is medicine
The Ancestral Kitchen.
Cooking is a lineage you can taste.
At the heart of the weekend is the Ancestral Kitchen, led by Missy & Henry Webster — a Navajo family from Gray Mountain, Arizona, who cook the way their grandmothers cooked.
They turn the harvest feast into a hands-on teaching: blue corn, juniper ash, frybread pulled hot. They will tell you what each thing is for while they hand it to you, which is how the old knowledge has always travelled — hand to hand, not page to page.
Around it, every meal is part of the healing: a specially designed, seasonal diet, every meal locally sourced, cooked and blessed as medicine, from Friday dinner through Sunday lunch.
It is built for late August — light, warm, and alkaline — and designed so that by Sunday your body is running at a different speed than it was on Friday.
What you will carry home
Six things that leave with you.
Stone Breath
Calm the nervous system and find your centre in sixty seconds, anywhere.
The Canyon Within
Descend into what you have been carrying — and come back up with it, not around it.
Gratitude & reflection
Build resilience and soften a hard inner voice through daily practice.
Story & journal
Reframe your hardest chapters into strength, in a book you keep.
Belonging
A circle who remember it was never meant to be carried alone.
The harvest table
Taste healing in the Ancestral Kitchen, and celebrate the year's hard work.
Your guide
Tony Skrelūnas
Diné and Lithuanian. Raised on Black Mesa by his great-grandmother, Masan.
Masan did not teach with lectures. She taught with the day: what time you rose, what you ate, what you said to the fire, how long you stayed quiet. Most of what happens at The Canyon Within is hers.
Tony has spent a decade convening intergenerational gatherings — cooks, singers, runners, elders, facilitators — and now brings that work to 1440 Multiversity, where he leads retreats.
One minute
The invitation, in his own words.
Tony, standing among the redwoods at 1440, on what these three days are for — and who they are for.
Advance praise for Stone Breath
“The tools for endurance, belonging, and purpose are not lost — they are dormant. This book awakens them.” Carmella Kahn, DrPH, MPH · University of New Mexico
“Blending ancestral wisdom, cross-cultural storytelling, and practical tools — the courage to live from inner knowing rather than fear.” Emily Affolter, PhD · Associate Dean of Doctoral Studies
The package
All-inclusive. Just arrive.
- The Canyon Within program — all workshops and sessions
- Overnight accommodations (shared pod or private room)
- A complimentary digital copy of Stone Breath, sent before the weekend
- A printed Ancestral Watch journal to keep
- A specially designed, seasonal healing diet — every meal locally sourced, Friday dinner through Sunday lunch
- Daily signature classes — meditation, qigong, sound baths, forest walks, tai chi
- Campus amenities, including four miles of walking trails
1440 Multiversity is a nonprofit campus — each booking helps fund scholarships and community programs.
Please confirm current dates and rates on the 1440 registration page.
If you cannot take the whole weekend
Day passes are available.
Friday evening
The creek opening, the land acknowledgement, the first fire and the first story.
Saturday, full day
The early hike, a signature class, The Descent, the Ancestral Kitchen and the Harvest Table. The deepest day of the three.
Sunday morning
The climb out — Embody · Activate · Carry Home, and the road home by noon.
Join for the parts that call you, even if you cannot stay overnight. Day-pass pricing and lodging options are listed with 1440.
Before you come
The questions people ask.
Do I need to be fit, or a hiker?
No. The descent is inward. The walks are gentle, unhurried, and always optional.
Can I come on my own?
Yes — many do. With just eighteen guests, you will leave with a circle. It is a safe, warm container.
Can I come for just part of it?
Yes. Day passes are available for Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday morning — join for the parts that call you, even if you cannot stay overnight.
Do I need experience with meditation or breathwork?
None. Everything is taught from the beginning. The first tool, Stone Breath, takes about a minute to learn.
Is this religious?
No. It is ancestral and human. Take what serves you and leave the rest.
What should I bring?
Comfortable clothes and layers, a water bottle, and an open heart. A journal and your stone are provided.
In honoring
We gather on the unceded homeland of the Amah Mutsun and the Mutsun and Awaswas-speaking peoples. We honor them — past, present, and future — and the land they have always tended.
That is the whole room.
August 28–30, 2026. 1440 Multiversity, Scotts Valley, California. Three days in the redwoods to change your frequency.
Reserve your seat at 1440Hózhó · Darna · Wa — walk in beauty.