Near the end of Lime Kiln Road in San Marcos sits Zoetic Mindfulness Retreat, a 2,500-square-foot lodge on a 30-acre estate. Inspired by their meditation and wellness journeys, the Zoetic team hopes to foster a mindful community through free classes and retreats.

The inspiration

Dara Prothro, Zoetic owner and program director, bought the retreat center’s northern San Marcos estate in 2019. She had just wrapped up a similar three-year-long project in Austin, helping build a private “wonder space” that left her feeling grateful for life and the mediation practice she had known for 20 years.

She set out to create something she could “invite the world to,” free of its material distractions.

“At my age, you look at what you're good at already, what you know...[things] that are helpful,” Prothro said. “Meditation is what I know... It's what I had inside to give away. So I knew that I wanted it to be a meditation center.”Shortly after completing the paperwork to buy the land, the pandemic began and plans to build a meditation center were paused. Instead, Zoetic became a private nature and meditation escape for Prothro’s friends.

In the years before opening to the public, Protho’s friends and neighbors helped build and remodel the meditation center, from constructing a swimming pool in the backyard to holding practice retreats in preparation for public groups.

“Without a team, I know I wouldn't be able to do it,” Prothro said. “There's been a million little projects along the way, a million hiccups, a million challenges and whatnot, but I wouldn't be doing anything else.”

What they offer

Zoetic Mindfulness Retreat offers weekly classes and workshops in yoga, meditation and mindfulness, dance and more. There is also a Dharma recovery group.Last July, they began hosting Zoetic Silent Retreats, three- to five-day retreats of verbal silence dedicated to meditation and self-reflection. Participants are provided with daily meals and lodging—the retreat lodge contains furnished and thoughtfully designed bedrooms—and are asked to give up electronic devices for the retreat duration.

Andrew “Dre” Valdez, Zoetic’s operations and logistics manager, said the ultimate reward is the transformative impact of practicing mindfulness. He found meditation through resistance training.

“I think everybody's looking for peace and purpose, and if nothing else, I think what we do here is we give people glimpses of peace and give them an opportunity,” Valdez said. “We give them the tools to do that on their own and make it easily accessible to them on their own to bring peace and joy to the mundane moments of life.”The Zoetic estate also features an adobe dome used for meditation classes, a garden that grows ingredients used in retreat meals, outdoor walking meditation areas and more. Also on the Zoetic team are a group of indoor and outdoor pets including free-ranging miniature goats, a giant house bunny, a cat and a dog.

The impact

Prothro said everyone is welcome to classes, events and retreats at Zoetic. They donate the space to local nonprofits, artists and individuals for other mindfulness events.

All of Zoetic’s programs and classes are free of charge. Prothro said hearing about the ways mindfulness changes people’s lives is all the payment they need.

“There's no situation where more mindfulness doesn't make it better,” Prothro said. “There's no amount of time that you can spend in mindfulness [and] it's going to turn into its opposite. Mindfulness carries itself forward and it starts to generate itself...I know that there are other people out there who are like me, who need it a lot too, and I want to make sure they know how to find us.”

• 300 Water Tower Road, San Marcos
• www.zoeticmindfulness.com