Mobile Monastery Chautauqua
A spiritual community on wheels
Background
The Mobile Monastery Chautauqua is deeply rooted in modern monasticism. Founder Autumn Turley is a long-time practitioner and has spent years as a “modern monastic”. We specialize in teaching meditation, chanting and mindful relating inspired our training at MAPLE (Monastic Academy for the Preservation of Life on Earth). We draw from an eclectic group of Mobile Monastery Teachers whose offerings range from embodiment to sound healing to nature bathing. Our events also feature art, music, massage, and tea. We have the flexibility to creatively customize our offerings to best serve your community’s interests and needs.
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The Mobile Monastery Chautauqua was inspired by the circuit chautauquas of the early 20th century. Circuit chautauquas traveled the country sharing education, culture, and spiritual teachings through lectures, workshops and performances. By the 1930s the original Chautauqua Movement nearly died out, due to mass transit and mass media, as well as other factors. Our goal is to carry forward the spirit of the Chautauqua Movement by sharing practices that foster culture and community through in-person connection.
Purpose
Just as our bodies need nutrients, exercise, and sleep to thrive, we need nourishment throughout all aspects of our lives. Now more than ever we are called to bring wellness, spirituality, and community to the world. The Mobile Monastery Chautauqua connects local communities through our traveling spiritual carnival. We leverage an ecology of practices from modern monasticism, earth-based modalities, and healing arts. It’s our joy to nourish hearts, minds, and spirits throughout the land.
Autumn Turley
Autumn is a 5th generation Californian with a background as a Violinist, Massage Practitioner, Contact Improv teacher, Poet, and Project Manager.
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Before joining The Monastic Academy in 2017, she co-founded the Bridge Within movement and traveled the US and Canada doing massage, teaching Contact Improv, and organizing events. At the Monastic Academy she has served as Director of Care, Director of Operations, and Assistant Director. She is passionate about networking, growth, helping people discover and actualize their dreams, going on adventures, sharing art and healing and movement, creative collaborative projects, community-building, Spiritual Practice, and the ocean.
Pan Williams
Pan Williams is a ceremonialist and spiritual guide. In addition to being a co-founder of the Mobile Monastery Tour he’s the creator of the Sacred Relating spiritual connection method, Sword Sorcery mythic energy work journeys, and the Paladin’s Path sacred knighthood men’s work retreats. Pan is lay ordained in the Shingon Buddhist lineage, a practicing Druid, a former chanumpa carrier and a non-denominational minister since 2013.
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Pan holds a BA in Political Science and an MBA in Sustainable Business, had a former career as advocate for conservation causes, and spent five and a half years meditating and working at the Monastic Academy. He’s passionate about land-based community building, bringing contemplative practice to emerging technology, crafting tools for ceremonial magic, and melting into cuddle puddles after ecstatic dances (he DJ’s too).
Renshin Lee
Renshin resides at the Monastic Academy as a "cyborg renunciate." She lives in an inquiry about whether Technology can be imbued with Wisdom in alignment with the Buddhist Eightfold Noble Path. As a celibate renunciate, she survives based on what others give her, with few possessions and no personal income.
Prior to MAPLE, she has worked at the Center for Applied Rationality as a research instructor, facilitated Circling events, programmed iOS apps, and competed in Magic: The Gathering tournaments. She is devoted to bringing deeper truth and friendship into existing relationships and communities.
Savanna Skinner
A deep love of the land and its beings has guided Savanna through various avenues to address the existential threats of the meta-crises that we are currently facing. Pursuing a degree in the biological sciences at the University of British Columbia uncovered the inadequacies of institutional systems change. This led Savanna to engage in more radical direct action with Extinction Rebellion and the Fairy Creek Old Growth Logging blockades. To learn more practical and hands-on land stewardship, she apprenticed at a small organic vegetable farm near Delta, BC. Here, a passion for caring for both the land and community through growing good food was discovered. To be able to serve these actions more selflessly Savanna embarked on a journey of training the mind through a two-month stewardship at the monastic academy. Feeling incredibly blessed with the groundedness and clarity the training has offered, and fuelled by the urgency of the meta-crisis, she now hopes to spread the gifts of the dharma to a wider community.
Albert Kim
Albert has been a lifelong resident of the New York metro area ever since moving from his birthplace of South Korea at age two. A challenging early life and a health crisis at the age of 20 have inspired him down a path of investigating holistic and alternative health modalities, biohacking and spirituality. After dabbling in a diversity of areas ranging from tech startups and podcasting to French patissierie and mediumship training, he served at MAPLE as a Steward following a vision received during a meditation. The insights, energetic awakenings and sense of community Albert experienced there left a profound impression on him and have strengthened his commitment to sharing his gifts and findings with the wider world.
Nick Ludman
Having deeply struggled with social anxiety for 7 years, Nick turned inward to search for the inner peace needed for a joyful, loving life. He discovered the root causes for his suffering and ventured ever deeper to find his passion to help others find fulfillment. In his search for truth, he has stumbled upon methods of inner transformation from Yogic practitioners from various lineages. The longing to connect with others brought him to MAPLE where he learned circling. Years later he spent two months as an apprentice at MAPLE during an awakening intensive. Apart from his formal sitting practice, Nick enjoys coming into deep connection with nature, movement based practices for embodiment, and selfless service.