For men ready to wake up, heal, and come home to themselves.
A brotherhood of men doing the same. Four days on the land, then eight weeks of circles after.
Apply for OctoberA transformational training in embodied leadership.
Four days on the land, plus eight weeks of circles after. Fifteen men.
Train your nervous system. Challenge yourself into greater power. Learn to lead in your own life. And access the gifts you’re really here to give.
The work
You learn to stay grounded in the middle of challenge.
That’s what lets you turn and face the thing you’ve been running from — the thing that’s been running your life precisely because you never dealt with it. From there, you learn to work with your own energy and power, and use them to build the life you actually want to lead.
You do it with other men. Together you create a group field that shows you what you can’t see on your own. And in it, you come home to yourself — who you really are, and what you’re actually here to do.
Underneath it, three trainings: nervous system resilience, relational capacity, and dynamic group process.
“Grounding in my body, and dropping the habit of trying to ‘figure it out.’ My baseline has changed toward safety and relaxation instead of constant stress.”
Where it leads
An initiation into your own life.
For as long as there have been men, they’ve needed training and initiation — to learn how to live, how to serve, how to love, and how to deliver their deepest gifts. Our modern world doesn’t offer men that anymore. This is where we step in.
By learning the foundations — nervous system regulation, group process, and contemplative inquiry — we reach the best in ourselves and in each other, and start living the life we know, deep down, is possible. From there you learn to show up, moment to moment, and access an aliveness and creativity you didn’t know was in you.
Who it’s for
Men 18 to 35 ready to stand with other men and do real work.
You don’t need a crisis to be here, and you don’t need to have done anything like this before. Some men come between chapters. Some have a good life and still know there’s more in them. Some have been carrying it alone a long time and are done doing that.
If something in you leaned in while reading this, that’s enough.
“Courage is feeling scared and choosing to go into it. You will be held and supported by other men. Be the leader this world needs — we’re waiting for you.”
What the men say
“I found community. I found men willing to do the work. I found strength. I rediscovered freedom and meaning. I worked through some mud I’d been stuck in for years by moving the energy out of my body.”
“This weekend is not about being fixed or cured. It’s about moving toward honesty with the support of community. I found love and admiration in each man I met.”
“I felt safe enough to be witnessed in some of my most raw, painful thoughts and emotions — things I’d kept hidden my whole life. Being witnessed in my realness helped me start to trust myself and others more fully.”
“Vulnerability is leadership. Our power and strength come from being completely ourselves and showing up with what’s real.”
“I entered with some apprehension and left completely comfortable — with a real sense that I can show up in the world with more honesty and directness.”
“Choosing to be the man I am today, instead of staying stuck as the kid I was years ago.”
The details
Cost
Two options. We trust you to choose honestly.
For men without much financial cushion — students, men early in their careers, men without family to fall back on.
For men with more access — a steady income, family support, some room to breathe. Paying this covers the real cost of your spot and helps hold a place for a man who couldn’t otherwise come.
No man is turned away for money. A few scholarships open up each retreat — if even the base is out of reach, tell us and we’ll work it out.
How to come
- Fill out a short application. A few honest questions, about ten minutes.
- We’ll set up a call. A real conversation, so we can meet you and make sure it’s a fit — both ways.
- If it’s a yes, you’re in. We’ll send you everything you need.
Who runs it
James Nepenthe
SOMATIC HEALER · MEDITATION TEACHER · MEN’S WORK FACILITATOR
I sat my first silent meditation retreat at fifteen. By eighteen, I was living in Honduras working with at-risk youth — an experience that broke me open and set the course for everything that followed. I went on to ordain as a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka, sit over 500 days of silent retreat, and train as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, working directly with the nervous system to heal trauma.
I was empowered as a dharma teacher by Rodney Smith, trained military psychologists and first responders through Mindfulness-Based Mind Fitness Training — including resilience trainings in Ukraine — and am an assistant to Dr. Fleet Maull’s breakthrough training The Initiation. I have spent more than a decade in men’s circles, initiatory quests, and embodied leadership work.
But the credentials only tell part of the story. Life has thoroughly humbled me. I only offer what I know from firsthand, direct experience — healing avoidant attachment, recovering a nervous system stuck in flight mode, rebuilding my marriage, and learning what it actually takes to stay open when everything in me wanted to shut down. Becoming a father in 2026 cracked me open in a whole new way.
I’m based in Lincoln, Vermont — tucked into the Green Mountains with my wife Brittany, our son Talon, and our dog Zelda.
Shea Riester
SOMATIC THERAPIST · MEDITATION TEACHER · NVC FACILITATOR
When I was invited to my first men’s retreat in 2016 I was terrified. It made sense: I had been bullied by other boys as a kid, and felt an insecure wound deep down underneath all my male friendships. Plus I grew up with an emotionally absent father and without any male role models I could point to and say: “I respect you. I want to be like you.”
Now I’ve sat in healing circles with men for a decade — in living rooms, community centers, schools, and around campfires. This work has transformed all my relationships — my friendships, my partnership, and my relationship to myself — through the courage to be vulnerable, to express my full, authentic self, and to stand in my own loving power. I’ve run men’s groups in NYC for years, and facilitate with All Kings, the New York men’s healing collective that centers justice-impacted men.
My core training is in Somatic Experiencing trauma healing, Nonviolent Communication, and conflict transformation. When I’m not doing men’s work I do other peace work — supporting healing and transformation to create lasting peace in families, communities, and nations. At home I do this as a somatic therapist, facilitating the Brooklyn Insight sangha, and as a community mediator with the New York Peace Institute. I also mentor and teach teens and young adults with Inward Bound Mindfulness and the Contemplative Semester.
Kevin Duncan Wall
WRITER · ORGANIZER · HAKOMI-TRAINED FACILITATOR
I’m a writer and organizer based in New York City. I trained in Hakomi, a somatic psychotherapy modality, and hold a Master’s Degree in Inter-religious Engagement from the Thich Nhat Hanh Program for Engaged Buddhism at Union Theological Seminary. I trained as a chaplain at Bellevue Hospital with the Rikers Island medical unit, and co-founded GroundShift, a retreat for activists and artists. As a writer, my work has appeared in the New York Times and Salon, and my book, The Ordinary Acrobat: Inside the Wondrous World of the Circus, Past & Present, was named a Kirkus Reviews Non-Fiction Book of the Year.
“Do it scared.”
Apply for October