DYSL Retreat
Set in the beauty and expanse of Stanford Sierra Camp, the Design Your Spiritual Life Retreat creates a space to step outside the urgency of campus life and into a more intentional rhythm of attention and presence. Through contemplative practice, time in nature, small-group dialogue, and multifaith engagement, students have the opportunity to reflect more deeply on your own spiritual landscape while learning alongside others from a wide range of traditions and perspectives.
The weekend invites Stanford students to explore how design tools—such as empathy interviews, ideation, and prototyping —can be applied to questions of meaning, purpose, and spiritual well-being. Together, we will engage practices of “spiritual needfinding,” experiment with designing and prototyping rituals, and begin to imagine possible futures—what the course calls “odysseys”—that integrate your values, beliefs, and dreams into a coherent life.
This retreat brings together human-centered design and spiritual exploration in a way that is both practical and deeply personal. Students engage in meaningful spiritual dialogue and explore practical and embodied ways to nurture meaning and purpose in their daily lives. Students are not expected to be adherents of or have expertise in religious practices and traditions or background in religious scholarship. Seekers, students of faith and no faith are all welcome.
Cohort groups gather by tradition as well as in broader spiritually diverse community. The weekend is designed not only as a pause, but as a generative space: a chance to cultivate self-awareness, build meaningful community, and begin crafting practices and pathways that support your spiritual life at Stanford and beyond.
This retreat is a collaboration between the Office for Religious and Spiritual Life (ORSL) and the Stanford Life Design Lab, and is sponsored by ORSL.
FALL PROGRAM
