Rick Eberhardt, Jr., MA Ed

My own spiritual journey started in my early 20’s as a seminarian with The Paulist Fathers.  The Paulist’s instilled in me the value of maintaining life-long practices of daily meditation, journaling, and an open-hearted pursuit of deeper understanding.  I received a Masters in Education at Antioch University, which opened my heart to other ways of knowing and learning, including a deeper appreciation for social justice and equity.  My life experiences, professional work, and study enlightened me to the wisdom found across diverse spiritual traditions. I came to recognize the sacred common ground underlying humanity's great wisdom teachings, and I dreamed of creating a program that would draw inspiration from these wellsprings for modern seekers. Our spiritual programs support seekers as they cultivate greater self-awareness, inner-peace, and authentic connection.

I‘ve worked with inner-city youth in LA and unhoused families and street youth in Seattle.  I designed and led retreats for adults and youth and taught at four different high schools in LA and Seattle. In my role as director of ministry at two high schools in Seattle, I led all spiritual activities including providing one-on-one spiritual guidance.

After 25 years as a teacher, minister, retreat leader, social worker, and spiritual guide, I created The Urban Retreat to offer busy individuals a nourishing, year-long container for deep spiritual growth. Typical retreat experiences require seekers to set aside a weekend or perhaps an entire week to travel somewhere far away from the noise and hustle of city life.  Not everyone has the time or inclination for such a commitment.  The Urban Retreat became my vision for offering something more accessible.

I was led to expand my work to include a sangha space for those who complete the retreat and were looking for more in-depth and on-going practice within a community of fellow seekers. One of our foundational principles is that spiritual growth is both individual and communal, which made creating a space for spiritual community, what Buddhists call sangha, a natural off-shoot of the retreat.

Our custom designed workshops, events, and retreats for groups grew organically from my first Urban Retreat.  One of our first participants is the founder of a travel business, called ExplorerX, which crafts meaningful travel experiences that are designed to "change the way we see the world...and how we move through life." In a moment of what I call mindful synchronicity, he and his business partner and I were talking at a "save the cheetah" fundraiser and the idea of creating something that combined my Twelve Paths curriculum with a spiritual travel journey emerged. Another first participant encouraged me in our post-retreat debrief to expand my work to include custom programs for organizations, companies, and groups. I listened. I opened my heart.  I trusted my own inner-teacher.  And now these ideas have become new progarm offerings.

In developing Twelve Paths I realize even more now that true spiritual transformation is not an exclusive experience only for seekers steeped in a particular tradition.  It is something that happens naturally through a combination of intentional, on-going spiritual practice; tapping into our innate creative expression; and sharing our own unique pieces of life-wisdom with others in communal relationship.  My approach blends ancient wisdom with modern spiritual insight to help participants access their inner light and become awakened to the original goodness at the core of each of us. 

I grew up in Seattle, where I live now—which is why my work is situated in the Northwest.  But I hope, if we continue to grow and there's interest, one day we'll offer access to more programs beyond Seattle.