School of Un-Learning
“The soul awakens not by addition, but by shedding what is false.” — Michael Meade
An Invitation to the Liminal
In late September, beneath the changing light of the autumnal equinox, you’re invited to cross a threshold from the noise of modern life into the soul of the forest. For five days and nights, as a group we'll gather to remember something many of us have forgotten: how to be in real relation with ourselves, each other, and the more-than-human world. We’ll leave behind our phones and seek something quieter, older, more ethereal. This shouldn't be seen as a retreat, but more of a return. It’s a mythic mycelial web of community, nature, ritual, and remembrance rooted in an ecology of practice. Together, we will have a chance to enter a process not of learning, but of unlearning. Of peeling back the layers of conditioning and the harmful myths of modernity. Of shedding what no longer serves, facing what there is to grieve, and awakening what longs to be remembered.
The Experience
Across five days and nights, we will move through a mythic arc of Arrival → Descent → Death → Renewal → Return. We’ll sleep close to the earth — in tents or shared spaces — and eat together like our ancestors before us. Phones will be turned off and set aside. Hierarchies can soften. Each voice, body, and story will be welcome.
Daily Practices Include:
- Community Building circles daily (based on M. Scott Peck’s work)
- Meditation and somatic, body-based practices each morning
- Co-created rituals and ceremonies of recognition, release, and re-imagining
- Time in silence and nature, including solo wandering and dialogue with the land
- Shared meals, fire circles, radical participation, and community
5 Principles
Our gathering incorporates five core principles which we'll use to co-create our culture and values:
Community of Care
At the School Of Un-Learning we explore community on three separate levels; with ourselves, one another, and with the more-than-human world. Community is a practice of reverent connection. We meet each other where we are, without judgment, expectation, or assumption. This holistic, integrative approach to community is the ground we stand on.
Stewardship
Our community respects and cares for the environment. We are not just committed to leaving no trace of our activities on the land where we gather, but we aim to leave it in a better place than we found it. We live as stewards, treating all life as worthy of care and honor.
Reciprocity
We hold ourselves accountable to the land, the community, to those who came before us, and to those who will come after. We deeply value reciprocity, because this is how nature speaks. We give, tend and act from love; for land, people and spirit. With no expectation of return. Each of us has a gift to give.
Presence
We cultivate space for silence, immediacy, and presence. We focus on letting go of the distractions, stories, barriers and obstacles that prevent us from being present in the current moment. We remind ourselves to be here, now. By letting go of noise, we hear what truly matters within, between and beyond.
Creative Emergence
We trust the unknown and allow new possibilities to emerge through us. We are rooted in a practice of radical participation. We co-create our spaces and believe everyone is responsible for the time we share together. Transformation, whether cultural or personal, occurs through our participation. Where we choose to place our energy and intentions matters. Ours is an ecology of practice and action. Everyone is invited to sing and play and drum and dance and dream a better world into being.
Practical Details
Location: In the woodlands, hills and meadows of Brama Lubawska/Rudawy Janowickie* Dates: September 19–24, 2025, aligned with the Autumnal Equinox and new moon Lodging: Communal camping in nature Meals: Whole, nourishing food; shared preparation Group Size: Limited Cost: Gift Economy * Exact location will be provided upon registration
Other Details
This is something we haven’t tried before. We can’t tell you exactly what will happen. This is not about fixing yourself or others. It’s about finding what is sacred again. If something lost stirs in you when you read this… If your body feels the pull before your mind catches up… Then you may already be halfway here.
Join us if...
You feel the ache of disconnection. You long to remember a deeper way of belonging. You are ready to hospice old stories and dream new ones into being. You want to sit in circle, share silence, meet the land, and be met.
Come with your grief. Come with your gifts. Come as you are. The forest is waiting.
Apply Now