A Monastery and Us
Imagine being handed the keys to a 100 year-old 77,000 square foot monastery.
Over the years, I’ve hosted hundreds of people at the Garrison Institute. This time, the gathering felt different, pact with a unique intention. Over 60 individuals from the Acosta Institute Fellowship came together for a three-day retreat filled with rest, collaboration, nature and rejuvenation.
Fellows from three separate cohorts gathered as a way to honor months of learning together about healing-centered education, business and technology. Throughout the retreat, what became clear is that the Fellowship has become a sanctuary and a relational container where people can be known beyond their titles, witnessed in their becoming, and supported as they bring healing-centered work into the world.
Over the course of our time together, Fellows engaged in somatic grounding, healing circles, fellow-led sessions, conversations about artificial intelligence, healing-centered business, storytelling, dancing, silence, and deep dialogue. The language that emerged from the retreat was rich and alive: fellows spoke of belonging, being held, finding community, having their cups filled, becoming more visible, and remembering who they are. One of the most powerful threads was the experience of moving from virtual squares on Zoom into embodied relationship at the monastery.
After months of connecting online, Fellows were able to feel the depth of the community in the flesh — through hugs, shared meals, tears, laughter, and the quiet recognition that something sacred had been built.
In a time marked by fragmentation, acceleration, and uncertainty, the Fellowship offers a community rooted in care, slow work, restorative practices, innovation, and emergence. As we continue to grow this community, we are reminded that healing-centered leadership is not only about what we build in the world, but how we gather, how we witness, and how we help one another remember the gifts we are here to offer.
The team and I are in the process of reviewing applications for our next cohort of Fellows. The application portal closes on June 15th. If you know of anyone who might be interested in this experience, feel free to share this with them. If you or anyone in your network is in the position to fund this work, we are open to receiving philanthropic support that is tax-deductible. You can sponsor a Fellow or an entire cohort. Feel free to reach out about this as well.
I also ask for your prayers. I am grateful to be able to do this work. I am in a great space right now after months of paced work. I’m looking forward to seeing how this program grows and to building out more resources within the Institute. As Gwendolyn Brooks once said, “We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.”
If this resonates with you, I’d love to hear from you. Send me your thoughts or questions. I listen to every message.