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Welcome to Shantigar

The Growing Season

In a troubled world, where can I cultivate courage?
How do I connect and build community?
Where do I grow from here?

Shantigar is a place to explore such questions. On this former dairy farm in northwest Massachusetts, we offer woodlands, gardens, and fields that quiet the mind, awaken the senses, and contribute to resilience.

Shantigar is a gathering place where people seed artistic projects and grow their contemplative practice. New plays are rehearsed on the front porch. In the movement room, people stretch in new ways. Around the piano, singers experiment with new sounds. Meditation on forest paths, writing in the library, videographers around the pond. Groups strategize about agricultural regeneration. The dinner hour hums with searching conversation and plenty of laughter. All of this enacts Shantigar's mission:

Joining meditative and artistic practices with
the healing power of nature,
we can live more peacefully on the planet.

After a ferocious winter, the first snowdrops have pushed through. At our neighbor’s maple farm, the sap is running. Soon we’ll be pruning perennials and prepping vegetable beds. Spring is glorious at Shantigar.

Spring Programs

Shantigar programs invite you to slow down and wake up.

Forest Bathing with Jamie McHugh will introduce the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, an unhurried immersion in nature that reduces stress and restores attention.
Wellness Weekend for Women in Recovery, led by beloved yoga teacher Kate Peppard, returns with its powerful weave of movement and community.
Continuum Love Warrior Weekend with Megan Bathory-Peeler offers an exploration of breath, sound, and fluid motion to engage the body's innate intelligence and capacity for healing.
Our Spring season concludes with Short But Great!—an evening of short international films aligned to Shantigar’s mission, in partnership with the Thomas Edison Film Festival.
As always, we offer weekly Chi Kung at the farm with John Meyer and monthly Theatre Conversations online with Rosemary Quinn.

Here's a video of our late founder, Jean-Claude van Itallie, speaking about meditation in nature. As his 90th birthday approaches in May, we recall Jean-Claude's spacious imagination which led to the creation of Shantigar.

Warm regards,

Board Members—Connie Childs, Rand Engel, Didi Goldenhar, Deb Katz, Rosemary Quinn
Advisory Board Members—Josh Adler, Michael Schreiber, Marisa Viola

Shantigar recently received a matching grant of $5000 for repairs on the farmhouse and maintenance of our fields and public hiking trails. Donations of any amount will help meet the match. Thank you!

Shantigar = Peaceful Home

Shantigar, located on a former dairy farm in Western Massachusetts, is a nonprofit foundation rooted in the mission—

Joining meditative and artistic practices
with the healing power of nature,
we can live more peacefully on the planet

Shantigar was founded by the late playwright Jean-Claude van Itallie in the 1990’s. The farm had been purchased by his family when he was a small child, soon after their refugee journey from Belgium during WW2.

Jean-Claude envisioned Shantigar as a place where the arts, contemplative practice, and nature would meet, saturated in the splendor of these hills, fields, and forests.

Over many years, he hosted a stellar roster of theatre artists, dancers, musicians, painters, writers, activists, and spiritual teachers. His Tibetan Buddhist teacher, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, wrote his Shambala teachings here and named the farm Shantigar, meaning Peaceful Home.

Since Jean-Claude’s passing in 2021, the Board and Advisors have been devoted to his vision of Shantigar as a benevolent hive for creativity, friendship, and soul-stirring experiences.

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Mission

Shantigar's Mission

To engage with the world from a more profound place through transformative workshops, retreats and performances.

Joining meditative and artistic practices with the healing power of nature, we can live more peacefully on our planet.

Private Group Rentals at Shantigar

Shantigar is ideal for professional convenings, creative work, and meditation gatherings. Get close to what matters while immersed in our natural splendors. We offer space and time to restore, recharge, and engage in essential conversations.

Group rentals are available for a minimum of 3 people staying at least 2 nights. Our farmhouse and cabins can accommodate up to twelve people. For more information, please contact Shantigar co-director Deb Katz at (413)-834-3280 or administrator Peter Columbus: email@shantigar.org.

https://www.shantigar.org/rentals