Navigating Transitions
Find your footing & step confidently into your next chapter
- 4-5 days in Santa Fe or 5 days in Baja | Groups capped at 28
- From $2,800 | Partial scholarships available
You’re in the process of becoming something new.
The life you built doesn’t fit the way it used to.
You could be facing the end of a work chapter or relationship. Maybe a long-held identity is falling away, or you’re dealing with an unexpected health challenge or caregiving responsibilities.
Whatever your situation, change is coming – or it’s already here. The question is, how will you navigate it and who will you become because of it?
That’s what this workshop is built for. Navigating Transitions invites you to take a break from the noise of your regular life, look at what’s shifting, and decide what you want to carry forward and what you’re ready to put down, alongside a small group of people standing at the same kind of threshold.
You’ll leave with a roadmap and practices for your next steps and a clear sense of what you’re building toward, not just what you’re leaving behind.
- As seen in:
The Experience
With two MEA facilitators and no more than 28 people in the room, you’ll start by getting honest about what’s shifting and what it’s actually costing you. Then the harder question: what you want waiting for you on the other side. The tools you use to get there are grounded in social science, and they keep working long after you go home.
The work runs on the MEA Method, built with researchers from Stanford, Harvard, UC Berkeley, and Yale who study modern midlife. Mornings begin with a gentle mindful movement practice, then the rest of the day flows between facilitated sessions, small-group work, and time alone to think. Evenings unfold over long-table dinners and conversation with the others in your cohort: people asking the same questions you are, at the same point in their lives.
You won’t just talk about the transition you’re in. You’ll name it, map it, get uncomfortable with parts of it, and leave with practices you’ll still be using a year from now and a next chapter you chose instead of inherited.
The Locations
Every Cultivating Purpose workshop covers the same curriculum. What changes is the setting and how much time you give it.
Baja California Sur, Mexico
El Pescadero Resort | 5 days
Our beachfront resort on Baja's Pacific coast, developed by MEA founder and renowned hotelier Chip Conley. Walk the beach at sunrise or go for a dip in one of our three pools. Watch whales breach offshore or the sun drop into the Pacific from the outdoor dining patio. End the day with a conversation on the beach or a soak in one of our hot tubs, then retreat to your room for a good night's sleep.
Five days leaves real time between sessions to walk, swim, read, or sit with what came up that morning. Monday through Friday, depart Saturday.
Upcoming Baja Workshops:
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Rising Circle Ranch | 4 or 5 days
Our 2,600-acre ranch in the New Mexico high desert, 25 minutes from Santa Fe, designed by MEA founder and renowned hotelier Chip Conley. Hike the winding arroyos at sunrise or ride across the range on horseback to stone ruins dating back to the 1800s. Climb to a ridge marked with ancient petroglyphs, where the view runs for miles in every direction. End the day in the sauna or around the fire under a sky thick with stars, then retreat to your room for a good night's sleep.
Offered in both lengths. Five days runs at the same unhurried pace as Baja, Monday through Friday. Four days covers the same ground with less downtime, Monday through Thursday, for calendars that can't spare a full week.
Upcoming Santa Fe Workshops:
What You’ll Leave With
- A clear read on the transitions you're navigating (yes, it’s probably more than one), so you understand exactly where you are and what you’re dealing with.
- The realization that this new chapter is a beginning you get to shape, not just an ending you have to absorb.
- Practices for staying steady while your answers to “What’s next?” are still forming, so uncertainty stops making your decisions for you.
- A roadmap for your next chapter, with the first few steps specific enough to act on when you get home.
- Proven tools for the changes still ahead in work, health, and family, so you meet the next one already knowing how to respond with agility and grace.
- A group of people who were in the room for all of it, and who'll still pick up the phone a year from now.
Grounded in Social Science
Our Navigating Transitions workshops run on the MEA Method, developed with researchers from Stanford, Harvard, UC Berkeley, and Yale who study modern midlife.
The Method combines the social science of longevity with the practice of intentional living. What that means in the room: structured exercises and frameworks that have been tested and refined across thousands of participants, not a loose conversation about change. You’ll learn to read the transition you’re in, name what’s actually shifting, and build a plan you can act on when you get home.
It also means the tools travel. Most people arrive focused on one transition and realize they’re navigating three. What you learn here works on the next one too.
Led by Facilitators Who’ve Done it Themselves
Our facilitators are trained in the MEA Method and are midlifers themselves. Every one of them has navigated a period of reinvention in their own life, which is why they can tell the difference between a group that needs to be pushed and one that needs to be left alone for ten minutes.
You’ll have two of them with you the whole time: one leading the curriculum, one running the experience.
What People Are Saying
My experience with MEA was amazing in many respects… I am still absorbing new insights from my time there. It gave me the opportunity to create new ideas and visions for my next chapter, and new supportive friends. The pace of the program was perfect, weaving small group discussions, with larger group interactions and quiet time to be alone… Evenings around the fire pit star-gazing and enjoying light banter with my new compadres was nourishing and soulful. I highly recommend enrolling in an MEA program – it will invite change in the best way.
Catherine Gallagher
The experiences helped me realize that the professional identity I held for decades was just one chapter, allowing me to let go of parts of my past with gratitude. I gained a new set of tools to navigate the "messy middle" of life's transitions, turning what felt like a stressful gap into a time of purposeful growth. The community and workshop team provided a safe space to move from a place of burnout to a renewed sense of curiosity about my next chapter. The incredible hospitality of the staff and the gourmet, locally sourced meals created a supportive environment that allowed me to focus fully on my personal reflection.
Bob Carlton
Who This Is for
- You're leaving a job, career, or business, by your choice or someone else's, and what comes next isn't obvious yet.
- You're at the end of a relationship and want to figure out who you are on the other side of it.
- You're stepping into caregiving, or stepping out of it, and your own life needs rebuilding around the change.
- You're facing a change in your physical or cognitive health and want a plan built around what's possible now.
- You're sitting on a decision that's too big to make in the margins of a busy week.
- You can feel change coming even though nothing has ended yet, and you'd rather meet it prepared.
Who This Isn’t for
- You're in acute crisis and need clinical care. This is a workshop, not treatment.
- You want someone to hand you the answer. The work here is finding your own.
- You'd rather not do structured exercises or talk about your life in a small group.
- You're looking for a quiet vacation rather than a working retreat.
- You’re not willing to step away from work and be fully present in the room for the whole time.
Eat, Rest, Explore
Every part of your stay is held to a standard you won't find at other retreats. Meals are cooked from scratch with organic ingredients, much of it from our own garden. The rooms are beautiful and spacious, with a hotelier’s attention to detail. And if you’re looking for adventure, you’ll find plenty of it in the beautiful natural setting around campus.
What Makes This Experience Unique
- The MEA Method was built with researchers from Stanford, Harvard, UC Berkeley, and Yale who study modern midlife, so what you learn here holds up long after the week ends.
- Capped at 28 people, with two facilitators in the room the whole time. Nobody spends the week as a spectator.
- The campuses have been designed by Chip Conley, the hotelier behind Joie de Vivre and Airbnb's global hospitality, and the staff he trained handles everything else so your attention stays on the work.
- The choice of two locations, both in stunning natural settings either on the coast of Baja Sur California or in the big-sky desert of New Mexico.
- Delicious organic from-scratch meals that cater to every diet and are shared in a communal long-table environment that promotes conversation and connection.
- You leave as part of a community with 8,000 alumni in 60 countries and 60 local chapters, so the cohort you meet here is the doorway into a much bigger group.
More Kind Words
Thank you again for the opportunity to participate in MEA. It was the best gift in my adult life.
Upkar Arora, CEO Rally
MEA was the most radically transformative journey I’ve ever embarked on.
Irene Edwards
Highly recommended to anyone interested in exploring the roles they play in the world.
Tina Seelig, Professor, Stanford University
My MEA experience was life-changing. It wove a sense of peace into my life that still remains.
Ken Page, psychotherapist
Explore Upcoming Workshops
Frequently Asked Questions
Most people considering this workshop are asking some version of the same thing: is this right for where I am right now? Here's what we hear most often.
Do I need to know what I want before I come?
No. Most people arrive with a question, not an answer. Some know exactly what’s ending and have no idea what’s next. Others can’t name what’s shifting yet, only that something is. Both work fine. The first part of the week is about getting specific on where you actually are, before you decide where you’re going.
Is this therapy?
No. It’s a workshop with a curriculum, built on the MEA Method and research from Stanford, Harvard, UC Berkeley, and Yale. You’ll do structured exercises, learn frameworks, and work in small groups. Our facilitators are experienced at holding hard conversations, but they aren’t clinicians and this isn’t treatment. If you’re in acute crisis, this isn’t the right week for you.
How much will I have to share?
That’s up to you. Some exercises are solo, some are in pairs, some happen in small groups of five or six. Nobody gets called on in front of all 28 people, and nothing requires you to disclose more than you want to. Most people end up sharing more than they planned, because the room makes it easy.
Who else will be there?
Around 28 people, most of them somewhere between 45 and 70, from a wide mix of careers and countries. Most come on their own. What everyone has in common is a turning point and a decision to do something deliberate about it.
I’ve never done anything like this. Will I feel out of place?
Almost everyone says some version of that on the first morning. Most arrive alone, and plenty have never done a retreat of any kind. By the second evening that feeling is usually gone, which is less about the program than about who’s in the room with you.
Is it religious or spiritual?
No doctrine attached to any of it. The curriculum is grounded in social science. There’s meditation, breathwork, and a lot of time outside, and you’re free to take what’s useful and leave the rest.
What’s included in the tuition?
Your tuition includes all workshop sessions, ## nights of accommodations, chef-prepared meals, snacks, beverages, and full use of our beautiful campus amenities. The only additional costs are travel to the venue and any personal purchases.
How do I know if I qualify for a scholarship?
MEA offers scholarships on a needs-aware basis. If cost is a barrier to attending, we encourage you to apply. Our goal is to make this experience accessible to those who would benefit most.
What if I’m not sure this workshop is right for me?
We’d love to help you decide. Schedule a free call with our team of MEA alumni advisors – they’ve attended our programs themselves and can share what to expect, answer your questions, and help you determine if Navigating Transitions is the right fit for where you are now.
What Makes This Experience Unique
Our online concierge is standing by to help.
Want to Speak with a Human?
Schedule a call with our 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.
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