From Success To Self - A Men's Workshop
Is a partial scholarship for you?
We believe in making personal growth and education accessible to everyone, which is why we offer partial scholarships on a needs-aware basis for many of our programs.
These scholarships support individuals facing financial challenges, including — but not limited to — members of underrepresented communities. If financial stress might prevent you from attending a workshop, we encourage you to apply.
Partial scholarships, provided through the Association for Growth and Education, are limited to 2–3 seats per workshop and reviewed in the order received. We recommend applying as soon as possible, as scholarship decisions are typically confirmed 90–120 days before the workshop date.
Ben Katt
Author of The Way Home | Former pastor + hospice companion | Meditation teacher + spiritual coach
Derek Gehl
MEA CEO
What if the most rebellious thing you could do was to go after your dreams and create a life that makes you truly, deeply happy?
You did everything right. Built the career. Provided for the family. Earned the respect. Checked every box on the playbook you were handed.
So why does "successful" feel like it should be enough, but isn't?
You're not failing. You're not broken. You're running an operating system that was designed for the first half of life.
This is MEA's very first men's workshop. You're not just attending a program. You're joining the founding cohort of something we believe is long overdue: a community of smart, successful men getting honest about purpose, connection, and what comes after success.
The Old Playbook Got You Here. It Can't Take You Where You Need to Go.
Midlife doesn't arrive with a crisis. It arrives with a question.
You're checking the boxes but something's gone flat. The people around you see someone who has it together. You're not sure they actually know you. And you're going through the motions in your career, your marriage, your friendships, wondering if this is really all there is.
The Surgeon General has declared loneliness a public health crisis, finding that chronic isolation carries health risks equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The Harvard Study of Adult Development found that the quality of your relationships is the single greatest predictor of health and happiness.
And yet men in midlife report fewer close friendships than at any other stage of life.
Not because they don't want connection. Because nothing in the playbook they were handed taught them how.
This isn't a crisis. It's a signal. The playbook that got you here can't take you where you need to go.
The Midlife Shift: What Five Days Can Do
This is structured, serious work on the four shifts most men face at midlife. No cold plunges. No slogans. No group therapy. Just honest work with other successful men on the questions that actually matter.
Who am I beyond my resume? What am I here to offer? Who really knows me?
Five days at MEA's oceanfront campus in Baja, Mexico. Twenty men. Three facilitators who've walked this path themselves. And a framework that'll satisfy the part of you that wants a plan, while getting you somewhere a plan alone can't reach.
Four Shifts. One Week.
Shift 1
Performance → Presence (Identity)
You've spent decades wearing masks: the Achiever, the Provider, the Performer, the Warrior. They're not the enemy. They built your life. But they're not all of who you are. In small groups, you'll name the modes you've been running and decide what stays and what goes.
Shift 2
Accumulation → Integration (Meaning)
You've lived through enough to have earned real wisdom, but you've never stopped long enough to name it. You'll map the pivotal moments of your life and discover the patterns you couldn't see while you were living them.
Shift 3
Achievement → Purpose (Purpose)
Success asked: "How do I achieve more?" Significance asks: "What am I here to offer?" Through one-on-one conversations with other men in the room, you'll get closer to answering that. You'll write a personal purpose statement. Not aspirational fluff. Something grounded in the life you've lived.
Shift 4
Isolation → Connection (Belonging)
Men don't lack friendships. They lack depth. You'll build real connection through shared experience: fishing, cooking, fireside conversations, and the kind of honesty that only happens when the room feels safe. You'll leave with an accountability partner and a plan to deepen the relationships that matter most.
Meet Your Facilitators
Ben Katt
Lead Facilitator
Ben has sat with dying men in hospice and incarcerated men in prison meditation circles. He knows what honesty sounds like when the stakes are real. He's MEA's Faculty in Residence and author of The Way Home: Discovering the Hero's Journey to Wholeness at Midlife. A former ordained minister, Ben founded the WITHIN Prison Meditation Project and has worked nationally with The On Being Project. He's walked the path he teaches.
Derek Gehl
Workshop Designer & Facilitator
After a decade running a health supplements company in the anti-aging space, Derek hit his own "is this all there is?" moment. Now, as CEO of MEA, he's proud to be in the pro-aging space. He brings 25+ years of building and selling companies, a deep understanding of the achiever's mindset, and firsthand knowledge of what it actually looks like to walk away from a playbook that was working. He understands why you want a plan and why a plan alone won't be enough.
Supported By the MEA Team
Teddi Dean
MEA's Head of Mindfulness & Movement | Former Bone Brigade team member
Teddi Dean is the Head of Mindfulness and Movement here at MEA. He offers a fun, accessible and wisdom filled approach to both meditation and yoga. Teddi loves working with beginners and has a gift in showing that each and every one of us is capable of dropping into stillness. Te ...
View BioJed Tarlow
Experience Facilitator
Jed is a student of the world and the human condition. He came from a nomadic career in river exploration, conservation, and guiding to settle in Baja Sur and build a B&B to help people connect with this powerful landscape. He’s passionate about taking care of people, creat ...
View BioWhat Five Days in Baja Looks Like
This workshop moves between classroom sessions and time outdoors. Some of the best conversations happen on a trail or after a surf session, not around a conference table. Every activity is designed for all fitness levels. The hikes are conversational, not competitive. And our Baja beach is one of the best beginner surf spots in Mexico, with gentle waves and patient instructors. We've had participants in their 80s try it for the first time.
On Thursday afternoon, you'll head out on traditional pangas from Punta Lobos to fish for pargo and snapper. Back on the beach, you'll clean and grill what you caught over an open fire, work the stations for salsa and sides, and break bread together as the sun goes down. Nobody will call it "the belonging module." But that's exactly what it is.
The rest of the week includes:
Every activity does double duty: it builds trust between the men in the room, and it teaches you something about yourself you didn't expect.
This Workshop
Is For You If…
What you'll leave with
Your Midlife Blueprint
This isn't a workshop where you "feel inspired" and go home unchanged. You'll build a Midlife Blueprint throughout the week. It's a real document. Something you can open on Monday morning and know exactly what to do.
Your Blueprint includes two self-assessments, a personal purpose statement, and a 90-day action plan with a built-in accountability partner.
Here's what's in it:
You're Not Just Attending a Program. You're Joining a Cohort.
Here's what most men's retreats get wrong: the experience ends when you leave.
The Midlife Shift is different. The twenty men in this room will have gone through something together that most men never experience. Shared things they've never said out loud. Built the kind of trust that doesn't come from networking events or golf outings. That's not something you walk away from.
The men who sign up for something like this tend to be founders, executives, physicians, creatives, and professionals. They've built real things. They're not here because something is broken. They're here because they're ready for what's next.
When the workshop ends, your cohort continues. A 30-day reunion call. Ongoing group check-ins. A named accountability partner. And access to MEA's broader community, a network of people who've done this kind of work and take it seriously.
We're keeping this first cohort intentionally small. Twenty men. We want the right room, not a full room.
This is what's been missing: not another achievement, not another goal. A group of men who actually know you.
Thinking of the Man in Your Life?
Many of our participants arrive because someone who loves them saw what they couldn't yet see in themselves.
If you're reading this and thinking of your partner, your brother, your father, or a friend: trust that instinct. This workshop is structured, warm, and grounded in research. It's the space and permission he won't give himself to ask the questions that matter most.
He'll come home with words for things he's been carrying silently. That changes a relationship.
Share this page with him. Or email us directly at [email protected] and we'll help you figure out if this is the right fit.
Your all-inclusive workshop includes:
Five days is less than 2% of your year. For most men, this is the first time they've invested that much consecutive time in themselves, ever.
Reserve Your Spot
Tuition starting at
$3,500
Shared Accommodations
$4,700
Private Accommodations
Plus 7% lodging taxes and service fees.
Limited to 20 men.
Financial aid available. Apply during enrollment.
Frequently Asked Questions
I'm not really a "workshop" person. Is this going to be uncomfortable?
Honestly? Parts of it will be. Growth usually is. But this isn’t group therapy or forced vulnerability. It’s designed so you can go at your own speed. The facilitators model everything first. You set your own pace.
I'm not in great shape. Can I still participate?
Absolutely. Everything is designed for all fitness levels. The hikes are conversational, not endurance tests. The surf sessions happen on one of the best beginner beaches in Mexico with gentle waves and patient instructors. We’ve had participants in their 80s paddle out for the first time. There’s no rucking, no cold plunges, no physical competition. The only thing we ask you to stretch is your perspective.
My partner suggested I do this. Is that a red flag?
It’s actually the opposite. The partners who recommend this workshop see something in you: potential that’s ready to come forward. That’s more common than you’d think. She’s probably right.
What if I'm not in a crisis? I'm doing fine.
Most men who come are “doing fine.” That’s exactly the point. This isn’t about crisis intervention. It’s about the gap between fine and actually feeling alive. You know the difference. That’s why you’re still reading.
Is this religious or spiritual?
No. The workshop is grounded in research, not belief. You don’t need to believe in anything. Just be willing to be honest.
What's the age range?
Most participants are 45-70, but we welcome any man who resonates with the questions we’re asking. Midlife is less about your age and more about where you are in the journey.
Can I come with a friend?
Yes, and many men do. But you’ll also leave with 19 new ones.
I'm his partner and I'm reading this for him. What will he actually be like when he comes home?
More present. More willing to have real conversations. More connected to why the life you’ve built together matters. This isn’t about dismantling anything. It’s about bringing more of himself to what’s already there.
The Old Playbook Worked. But It's Time to Write a New One.
You've spent decades building a successful life. The next chapter is about something different. And you don't have to figure it out alone.
The founding cohort. Twenty men. April in Baja.
Still deciding or have questions?
Connect with our helpful team of Advisors
Our Advisors are all MEA alumni who can offer genuine insights into our programs. They’re passionate about helping you finding the right fit to make your next chapter the best one.
Daniel Booz
Lucas Erie
Leslie Bartlett