MEA Foundations
Awakening Wisdom
Turn your lived experience into insight – and shape the impact you want to have now
As seen in:
You’ve lived a rich life. What will you make of it now?
Whether you’re feeling called to guide, create, or lead from experience, our Awakening Wisdom workshops help you step into your voice, own your perspective, and make a meaningful impact in this chapter and beyond.
4-Day Intensive in Santa Fe
Tuition starting at $2,500-$3,000
5-Day Immersion In Baja
World-class accommodations
Intimate group of 28 people max
Financial aid available
You’ve spent years gathering knowledge, playing roles, and meeting expectations.
Now, something deeper is calling.
Not to hustle. Not to prove. But to live with more truth, alignment, and presence.
Maybe you’re ready to speak more boldly. To mentor, to write, to lead. Or maybe you’re turning inward – seeking stillness, wisdom, or spiritual connection.
At this stage, wisdom isn’t just what you know. It’s how you live.
It’s what awakens when you slow down, pay attention, and let yourself be moved by awe – by beauty, by insight, by the mystery of becoming.
Awakening Wisdom invites you to integrate your lived experience, reclaim your voice, and choose how you want to show up in the world – with clarity, courage, and intention.
Join us in Baja or Santa Fe for a transformative experience that helps you live from the inside out – and and channel your experience into impact.
What you'll gain
Deeper Connection to Your Inner Compass
Strengthen your ability to listen inward, discern what’s true, and move through life with grounded self-trust.
Spaciousness for Meaning-Making
Slow down enough to reflect, realign, and reconnect with awe, stillness, and the deeper truths that are calling you now.
Wisdom Carried Forward
Weave together the insights, questions, and experiences that have shaped you – and begin living from the whole of who you are.
Clarity on How to Share What You Know
Whether through writing, mentoring, creating, or simply showing up more fully, discover how your wisdom wants to be expressed in this season of life.
After 20+ years as a CEO I was burnt out and had no vision or energy for my next chapter. One week in Baja reenergized me and I emerged with an inspired vision for my 50s, 60s and beyond.
Aaron Hurst
Seattle, USA
Meet
Ben Katt
Mindfulness Teacher | Transformation Coach | End-of-Life Care Provider | Author of The Way Home: Discovering the Hero’s Journey to Wholeness in Midlife
Ben Katt has spent the past twenty years helping people navigate the uncertain terrain of personal transformation – especially in moments when the old maps no longer work.
He’s the author of The Way Home: Discovering the Hero’s Journey to Wholeness in Midlife, a deeply personal and practical exploration of what it means to lose your way and find something more true on the other side.
Ben serves as a hospice chaplain and founded the WITHIN Prison Meditation Project. He also writes the STILL newsletter, where he shares reflections on identity, belonging, and the lifelong work of becoming who we really are.
An advanced meditation teacher, Ben holds a Master of Divinity degree and spent over a decade as an ordained minister. He’s led national work with The On Being Project to support spiritual leaders in healing and renewal – and brings that same depth, compassion, and clarity to his teaching today.
Ben won’t hand you answers, but he will help you ask better questions. And he’ll walk beside you as you begin to listen for what’s calling you forward.
What people are saying
Having co-led workshops with him and extensively recommended his book, I'm a big fan of Ben Katt's wise perspective on the human journey. He's a secular saint who can translate any mystical message into a practical action plan.
Chip Conley
NY Times bestselling author and founder of MEA
Ben gently yet rigorously guides you on a unique journey of self-discovery, blending awareness and rituals. As you surface what no longer serves you, he supports you through rituals of release and renewal, empowering you to step into your full strength.
An incredible mentor with whom you can be brutally vulnerable. You are safe, supported, and beautifully brought back to your authentic self through his considered, insightful and judgment-free approach.
Ben is an excellent listener. He makes what you are saying and speaks it back to you with the meaning you intended but couldn't necessarily articulate. You are safe, supported, and beautifully brought back to your authentic self through his considered, insightful, and judgment-free approach, sprinkled throughout with some purposeful play!
I loved the individual attentiveness that Ben took in my development. He was clearly genuinely interested in hearing about both my successes and challenges. He exudes an enthusiasm about meditation (which sounds oxymoronic -- ha!) that's contagious.
Ben Katt's coaching program is truly like no other and irreversibly transformative. It is well guided, inspiring, and personalized… culminating – at least for me – in a remarkable emergence of my true self, unshackled by past limiting beliefs and patterns.
Ben is amazing! I’ve tried all different kinds of apps/programs and none of them stuck with me. I was always told to “clear my mind” and I would get frustrated that I couldn’t do so. He meets you where you’re at in your journey and simply helps you just BE.
Ben's knowledge, passion, and ability to translate to beginners is incredible. He is able to take potentially uncomfortable topics and discuss them with ease and compassion. He is able to take abstract concepts and make them vivid and clear through everyday analogies. Thank you Ben!
Ben is very patient and a knowledgeable instructor/teacher. He finds ways to be engaging as well as flexible to give you the full experience while allowing you to also hold accountability for the changes that you need.
Two powerful ways to experience this transformational workshop
We now offer our Awakening Wisdom workshops in two formats to meet you where you are. Stretch out, go deep, and reflect in Baja or enjoy a more focused, immersive experience over fewer days in Santa Fe.
Which format is right for you?
| Setting |
| Pace |
| Length |
| Vide |
| Offered in |
| Time | 5-day (Baja) |
|---|---|
| Setting | Beachfront, relaxed, spacious |
| Pace | Slower rhythm, more expansive |
| Length | 5 days: Monday–Friday (depart Saturday) |
| Vibe | Reflective, restful, connective |
| Offered in | Baja (ongoing) |
| Time | 4-Day (Santa Fe) |
|---|---|
| Setting | High desert, focused, intimate |
| Pace | Condensed, time-efficient |
| Length | 4 days: Monday–Thursday (depart Friday) |
| Vibe | Energizing, immersive, action-oriented |
| Offered in | Santa Fe (starting 2026) |
The MEA Method is backed by social science, proven by years of research & implementation
Our Navigating Transitions workshops are built around our proven MEA Method, which has been designed in collaboration with academics from Stanford, Harvard, UC Berkeley, and Yale, who have dedicated themselves to understanding modern midlife.
Together we’ve developed and refined experiential processes that combine the social science of longevity and the art of intentional living to help people in midlife curate a second adulthood that’s as joyful, deep, and meaningful as it is long.
Guided by world-class faculty who’ve walked this path themselves
Our handpicked facilitators are highly trained professionals who are all midlifers themselves and have been extensively trained in the MEA Method. They have all navigated their own periods of reinvention and bring a wealth of experience in helping others create their fulfilling next chapter.
This Workshop Is For You If…
Here’s what our time together will look like:
5
5-Day Immersion
Available in Baja only
Monday:
4:00 PM: Arrival/Check-in
5:30 PM: Welcome Reception & Dinner
7:00 PM: Orientation Session
Tuesday:
7:00 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
8:00 PM: Evening Gathering
Wednesday:
7:00 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
8:00 PM: Evening Gathering
Thursday:
7:00 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
8:00 PM: Evening Gathering
Friday:
7:00 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: Graduation
6:00 PM: Celebration Dinner
Saturday:
7:00 AM: Breakfast
10:00 AM: Checkout/Departure
Sunday:
*Please note that not all “classroom time” activities take place in the actual classroom.
*Please note all times are estimates as some activities go longer or shorter depending on the group. This agenda is meant to give you an idea of the general flow of activities.
4
4-Day Intensives
Available in Santa Fe only
Sunday:
4:00 PM: Arrival/Check-in
5:30 PM: Welcome Reception & Dinner
7:00 PM: Orientation Session
Monday:
7:00 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
8:00 PM: Free Time
Tuesday:
7:00 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
8:00 PM: Free Time
Wednesday:
7:00 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: Graduation
6:30 PM: Celebration Dinner
Thursday:
7:00 AM: Breakfast
10:00 AM: Checkout/Departure
Friday:
Saturday:
*Please note that not all “classroom time” activities take place in the actual classroom.
*Please note all times are estimates as some activities go longer or shorter depending on the group. This agenda is meant to give you an idea of the general flow of activities.
Two Luxury Campuses to Choose From
Baja, Mexico
El Pescadero Resort
A stunning oceanfront property offering all of the amenities of a luxury hotel with beautiful beaches perfect for swimming or surfing. Located on the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula, just a short drive from Todo Santos, the “Pueblo Magico”.
Santa Fe, USA
Rising Circle Ranch
An upscale regenerative ranch featuring traditional Pueblo architecture and spanning nearly 2,600 acres of wildlife, hiking trails in the arroyo, with ancient petroglyphs, and awe-inspiring beauty. Close to historic Santa Fe, an artisan’s mecca.
Gourmet meals and snacks made from scratch
At MEA, we believe that thriving is delicious. Our delicious, made-from-scratch meals are locally sourced, organic, and prepared by our hand-picked chefs. You’ll love the abundance of incredible options to choose from each meal – not to mention the fresh fruit smoothies.
Santa Fe only
Explore the Ranch
on Horseback
Our Rising Circle Ranch spans 2,600 acres of New Mexico high desert, offering guided horseback riding for all experience levels through diverse terrains under the vast Southwest sky
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.
7,000+ people from 60 countries and all walks of life have experienced the magic of MEA.
Our alumni include CEOs, artists, professional athletes, homemakers, activists and everyone in between. They’re using what they’ve discovered to create a more fulfilling and vibrant next chapter for themselves. Now it’s your turn.
Your All-Inclusive Luxury Retreat Includes:
4 or 5 days and nights of lodging at our world-class retreat center in Baja or Santa Fe with all of your meals, snacks, drinks and other amenities included
Daily sessions and experiential activities to help you connect with your inner self, envision your desired experience, and release what no longer serves you
Mindfulness practices to soothe your nervous system and help you cultivate greater mindfulness and presence in the moment
Movement to get the energy flowing and build your strength and agility as you chart your course forward to the life you want to live
Incredible bonding experiences with the most amazing humans you’ll ever meet
Three delicious, chef-prepared meals plus snacks throughout the day prepared from scratch with the freshest local ingredients.
Intimate gatherings to cultivate connection and celebrate the joy and beauty of life
Tuition starts at
$2,500 / $3,000
Plus tax & service fees
*Depending on room choice & workshop format