A Deep Winter Hero's Journey Intensive

This seven-day winter spiritual retreat at Lifebridge Sanctuary in Rosendale, New York, brings together Hero's Journey® myth and group process work in a deliberately small circle of no more than ten people. It is meant for those who feel they are standing on the threshold of change and want the right conditions, the right company and the right processes to move forward. The intensive was designed by Michael Mervosh for women and men and is offered by the Hero's Journey® Foundation, with Josef Beraha assisting.

What to Expect

The week is built around questions rather than answers: how a person's inner world gets a new orientation, how old and deadened states can be revisited so that their chronic effects change, and how a group faces the unforeseeable together. The work draws on initiatory practices and on what the organizers call vitalization, the capacity to open to new experience and awaken new states of consciousness in the presence of others.

The organizers are candid that nothing here can be guaranteed. In their experience, over many years, deep encounters come not through will or determination but through a gradual process of ego surrender, in which the call of the soul arises spontaneously and is witnessed by the group.

Each day follows the same rhythm:

- An optional early hike or indoor yoga sequence before breakfast.
- Mornings of emergent group process, with guided centering meditation and close interpersonal exchange.
- Afternoons of further group work, then time for solitude, journaling and quiet reflection, or for unhurried conversation before dinner.
- Evenings given to ritual and ceremony that deepen the day's impressions, with time to reflect on the day and connect with one another. Each evening ends by 9:00 pm.

Participants arrive between 2:00 and 3:00 pm on the first day and depart at noon on the last.

Who Leads It

Michael Mervosh created and designed this Deep Winter Journey Intensive. Josef Beraha assists him; he has been part of the staff for many earlier Hero's Journey® programs and also supports the Hero's Journey® Foundation. Three staff members work with the group in all.

The Foundation is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Its work follows the pattern described by the mythologist Joseph Campbell, with three movements of Separation, Initiation and Return, and it invites people to live that pattern rather than only understand it. It uses the Hero's Journey® name under license from the Joseph Campbell Foundation.

The Setting

Lifebridge Sanctuary sits on 96 acres of woodland in Rosendale, in New York's Hudson Valley region, about 90 minutes north of New York City. The grounds include walking trails, long views, a stone Cretan labyrinth, a pond, a fire circle and pavilions with seating. A private chef prepares the meals, and the property offers a good deal of privacy for the week's work.

Before You Go

This is an intermediate-level retreat. Participants should have some emotional self-awareness and prior or current experience with psychotherapy or other forms of process work. They should know the dynamics of their own inner work, be able to hold space for another person's process, and be willing to meet the challenges that can arise in transformational group settings.

The program is held in English. The fee is all-inclusive and covers the seven-day program, meals from the private chef, facilitation by the three staff members, use of the Lifebridge grounds, and the evening ritual and ceremonial sessions. A deposit is required to enroll.