The Meaning of Us: A Couple’s Workshop with Arthur & Ester Brooks
Arthur Brooks
Author of From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life
Ester Brooks
Speaker | Educator | Student of Theology
You've built a life together. But is it the life you both most deeply want?
You love each other and have built something real together. And still, there are conversations you haven't had yet.
Not because the relationship is in trouble, but because ordinary life doesn't create the conditions for that kind of space and depth that allows for such conversations.
Midlife has a way of doing this – clearing enough space that the bigger questions finally have room to arrive. The children are older, the career is established, and the life you worked toward is more or less the life you have.
In that clearing, couples often find themselves looking at each other with new curiosity and asking different questions:
Who are you becoming? Who am I becoming? Who are we becoming together?
What do we actually want the next thirty years to look like – not just logistically, but in terms of what we mean to each other, what we're building together, and whether the life we share reflects what we most deeply value?
These aren’t questions most couples make time for.
And so the years accumulate. Work, family, obligations, the comfortable rhythms of a shared life. You grow alongside each other without necessarily growing toward each other.
The relationship is good, but it stays at the level where daily life operates. Whole dimensions of who you each are – what you want, what you fear, what you believe your life is for – remain largely unexplored between the two of you.
That's not a failure of love. It's what happens when two people spend decades building a life without ever stopping to examine it together.
Three days in the high desert of New Mexico, led by two people who have spent decades living, loving, and exploring life’s most important questions together, can change that.
That's what The Meaning of Us is for.
Arthur Brooks has spent his career studying what makes a human life meaningful – happiness, purpose, the science of love, the question of what we're all actually here for.
He is also someone who will tell you, with remarkable candor, that for much of his marriage he was doing it wrong. That he spent years trying to earn his wife's love through achievement, that it cost them both something real, and that the shift away from that – from doing toward being – changed his marriage more profoundly than anything he has ever accomplished professionally.
Ester Brooks grew up in Barcelona, dropped out of school at fifteen to tour as a musician, and met Arthur at a summer festival in the south of France. Neither spoke the other's language. They fell in love anyway. Thirty-four years, three children, and twenty moves later, she will tell you that a great marriage isn't 50/50. It's 100/100. Both partners need to be giving it their all, all the time.
Together, they bring something no other faculty pairing in this space can offer: the science and the lived experience, the frameworks and the hard-won wisdom, the researcher and the woman who has spent three decades watching those frameworks play out in real life — including on him.
This workshop is built on everything they know about living and loving well together.
During your three days with Arthur and Ester, you will:
This workshop
is for you if…
Meet your faculty
Arthur Brooks
Professor at Harvard Business School | Bestselling Author of The Meaning of Your Life and Strength to Strength
Arthur C. Brooks is a professor at Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School, a #1 New York Times bestselling author, and one of the world's leading authorities on happiness and human flourishing.
His books – including From Strength to Strength, Build the Life You Want (co-authored with Oprah Winfrey), and his latest, The Meaning of Your Life – have reached millions of readers worldwide.
He is also, by his own admission, someone who spent years trying to earn his wife's love through achievement. He has written openly about what that cost them both – and about how the shift from doing to being changed his marriage more than anything he has ever accomplished professionally.
Brooks didn't arrive at these ideas through research alone. He lived his way into them, alongside Ester, through thirty-four years of marriage, three children, twenty moves, and the kind of sustained commitment to going deeper that he now teaches. The science illuminated what he was experiencing. The experience made the science matter.
Ester Brooks
Speaker | Educator | Student of Theology
Ester Munt-Brooks grew up in Barcelona, Spain, where she was a working musician by her mid-teens – playing trumpet, singing, touring. She dropped out of school at fifteen to go on the road. Deep reflection, she'll tell you, was not part of the picture.
She met Arthur at a summer music festival in the south of France in 1988. He was American. She spoke no English, and he spoke no Spanish. They fell in love anyway, and she has been figuring out what that means ever since – through a transatlantic relationship, a move to the United States, twenty relocations across three decades, three children, and a slow, hard-won evolution from secular free spirit to Catholic educator and theologian.
Ester is currently completing her master's degree in theology at the Augustine Institute. She speaks widely at parishes, universities, and Catholic organizations across the United States in both English and Spanish – not as a credentialed expert dispensing advice, but as someone who came to these questions late, learned them through living, and now wants to share what she found.
She and Arthur now teach together, his science of happiness and meaning meeting her understanding of faith, love, and what it actually takes to build a life worth living alongside another person.
Supported By the MEA Team
Kari Cardinale
MEA Chief Content Officer
Kari is a pioneer facilitator with expertise in the longevity industry and building communities online. She is a master host with a knack of creating deep connections both live and virtually, with nearly 30 years experience as a driven social entrepreneur in creative strategy, facilitating and training, and p ...
View BioJill Nykoliation
Human Insight Specialist
Jill Nykoliation is an award-winning business leader with 30 years of experience shaping global brands, from Fortune 100 to entrepreneurial companies. Jill is a master of human insight. As founder and former CEO of Juniper Park\TBWA, Jill guided the brand strategy for some of the world’s most powerful brand ...
View BioDarby Rose
Experience Facilitator
Darby Rose is a multidisciplinary artist, arts administrator, cook, actor and animal lover, currently living in Santa Fe, NM. Born into a family of travelers in Austin, TX, she’s lived more places than she can count — all over Texas, Boston, Jackson WY, Baltimore and Los Angeles, to name a few; and outsid ...
View BioDaniel 'DL' Landes
Experience Facilitator
Before joining MEA, Daniel “DL” Landes spent decades as a restauranteur, author, and publisher. As the owner of multiple restaurants in Denver, CO – and then a hostel in Mexico – he dedicated himself to creating environments where people could work out their humanity while eating and drinking (which i ...
View BioT'ai Jamar Hanna
Experience Facilitator
Before joining MEA, T’ai spent years dancing between worlds: organizational change management and embodied wisdom, business consultant and community organizer, spreadsheets and bodywork. She’s led international retreats, facilitated yoga teacher trainings, and designed educational curricula rooted ...
View BioWhat you'll gain
A shared language for the life you most want
Arthur's frameworks for meaning, purpose, and significance give couples a vocabulary for conversations that usually stay just out of reach — what you each believe your life is for, and what you want to build together.
A new way of understanding your differences
The science of complementarity reframes what drew you to each other and why it still matters. The qualities that create friction are often the same ones that make you whole.
Clarity about what you're each here for – individually and as a couple
Each partner will do genuine work on their own coherence, purpose, and significance. The relational depth you're after depends on two people who each know their own minds.
A vision for the next chapter that means something
Not a communication framework or a set of rules, but a real, examined sense of what you want the years ahead to look like – together and as individuals – and why it matters to you both.
Our agenda at a glance
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Friday:
4:00 PM: Check-In / Welcome
5:30 PM: Welcome Reception & Dinner
7:00 PM: Orientation Session
9:00 PM: Free Time
Saturday:
7:30 AM: Mind + Body
8:30 AM: Breakfast
10:00 AM: Classroom Time
1:15 PM: Lunch
2:00 PM: Free Time
3:00 PM: Classroom Time
5:30 PM: Free Time
6:30 PM: Dinner
Sunday:
7:30 AM: Mind + Body
8:30 AM: Breakfast
10:00 AM: Classroom Time
1:15 PM: Lunch
2:00 PM: Free Time
3:00 PM: Classroom Time
5:30 PM: Free Time
6:30 PM: Dinner, Dessert & Graduation
8:00 PM: Evening Gathering
Monday:
7:00 AM: Breakfast
9:30 AM: Checkout / Departure
*Please note all times are estimates and not all “classroom activities” take place in the actual classroom. This agenda is meant to give you an idea of the general flow of activities.
Step into transformation in the high desert
Rising Circle Ranch | Santa Fe, USA.
Our spectacular Santa Fe campus is located on an upscale regenerative ranch featuring traditional Pueblo architecture and nearly 2,600 acres of wildlife, hiking trails in the arroyo, and awe-inspiring beauty. Close to historic Santa Fe, an artisan’s mecca.
PLUS: Gourmet from-scratch meals, snacks, and drinks featuring locally sourced ingredients, made by our in-house chefs
Meet the horses of Rising Circle Ranch
Rising Circle Ranch spans 2,600 acres of New Mexico high desert – wide skies, rugged trails, and plenty of room to roam. During your stay, you’ll see that our horses are part of the daily rhythm of life on the ranch.
For our three-day workshops, optional guided rides are available to book on-site for an additional fee, depending on weather and ranch conditions. Led by experienced guides, these rides are open to all skill levels – from first-timers to seasoned riders.
You’ll experience highlights like:
Horseback riding is an optional add-on activity you can book once you arrive on the ranch. Whether you're seasoned or brand new to horseback adventures, this guided experience lets you discover the ranch's natural wonders alongside our gentle horses.
Your workshop also includes:
Three days. A lifetime of clarity and renewed closeness.
The questions this workshop is built around are easy to keep deferring. Life stays full, the relationship stays good, and there's always a reason to wait. What gets lost is harder to see – until years have passed and you realize how much of each other, and yourselves, went unexplored.
Arthur and Ester Brooks are teaching this workshop once in 2026. There are a limited number of spots, and we expect them to fill quickly.
Come ready to do real work on yourself, on your relationship, and on the life you're building together. You'll leave with:
The life you both want to share is worth three days of your full attention.
SPECIAL OFFER: Make The Most Of Your Time At The Ranch
The June 14–19 Meaning of Your Life retreat runs immediately before this workshop – and for couples attending together, it's worth considering both.
Five days of individual work on meaning, purpose, and what your life is for creates a powerful foundation for everything you'll explore together with Arthur and Esther. Many couples find that arriving having already done that work makes the couples workshop significantly richer.
Learn more about the Meaning of Your Life retreat here.
Register for both and save 10%. Book a call with our team to apply your discount and secure your spots.
Spaces for both retreats are limited and expected to fill quickly.
Book your spot today
The Meaning of Us: A Couple’s Workshop with Arthur & Ester Brooks
Attend both this workshop and the first-ever Meaning of Your Life June 14-19 and save 10% on both. Book a call with our advisors to make it happen.
The program was spectacular. It really surpassed my expectations. I was really surprised about how the course was curated. There was such a warm intensity and personal touch to it.
I experienced MEA as a newly diagnosed multiple myeloma cancer patient, and as a result of the things I’ve learned - I’ve banished the anxiety of being a cancer victim, am in remission, and living with a newfound energy and purpose.
Just know how grateful I am for the joy fuel you all put in my rocket ship. When I want to feel loved or just need a good smile I can think of my time at MEA, which came at the perfect time to encourage me on my journey. Thank you!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do we need to be in a good relationship to attend?
Yes – this workshop is designed for couples who are genuinely committed to each other and want to go deeper, not for relationships in acute distress. If you’re in crisis, couples therapy is the right first step. This is for people whose relationship is working and who want to ask bigger questions together: What do we each believe our life is for? What do we want the next chapter to mean?
What if my partner is reluctant?
It’s worth a conversation. Many of the people who get the most out of experiences like this are the ones who showed up skeptical. This isn’t about processing your relationship or doing emotional excavation in a room full of strangers. It’s structured, research-based, and intellectually demanding – closer to a seminar you do together than a retreat in the conventional sense.
Is this workshop religious or faith-based?
No. Arthur’s frameworks are grounded in social science and psychology, and the curriculum is designed to be meaningful across all beliefs and backgrounds. The workshop explores questions of meaning, purpose, and what makes a life – and a relationship – worth building. Those questions belong to everyone.
Do I need to have read Arthur's book?
No. The workshop stands entirely on its own. If his work is what brought you here, this is where you and your partner start to live it – together.
What’s included in the tuition?
Your tuition includes all programming, three nights of accommodations, chef-prepared meals, snacks, drinks, and access to MEA’s inspiring campuses in either Baja or Santa Fe. The only additional costs are transportation to the venue and any personal incidentals.
Can I attend alone?
This workshop is designed specifically for couples attending together. Both partners need to be present for the work to land the way it’s intended.
We're also considering the June 14–19 retreat. Should we do both?
If you can, yes. The five-day Meaning of Your Life retreat runs immediately before this one, and arriving at the couples workshop having already done your individual work on meaning creates a much richer foundation for what you’ll explore together. We offer a 10% discount when you register for both. Book a call with our team to apply it.
How large is the group?
This is the first and only time Arthur and Esther are teaching this workshop in 2026, and given the demand, we’re expecting 50–60 participants. It’s a larger gathering than our typical intimate workshops – and the energy that comes with a room full of couples all doing this work together is its own kind of powerful.
Is this therapy?
No. This is not couples counselling or any form of clinical intervention. It’s a structured framework for exploring meaning — individually and together — led by two people who have spent decades living the questions this workshop is built around. You’ll leave with clarity and shared commitments, not a diagnosis or a treatment plan.
Arthur and Esther are teaching this workshop once in 2026. Will it run again?
We hope so – but nothing is confirmed beyond this June. If this workshop speaks to you, this is the moment to come.
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