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The Warrior Monk retreat has supported many women and men over the last 30 years with over 100 retreats on 4 continents. Here are what a few people have to say about their experience. If you wish to learn more visit http://warriormonk.org/ or contact Dan McKee at [email protected]
“The Warrior Monk retreat was a life changing experience. In these five days my authentic self was brought to the forefront of my being and was fully seen and blessed, allowing me to feel what it is like to truly be me.
During the retreat Dan and the Warrior Monk staff expertly led us through personal awakening that has stayed with me every day since. The retreat was an elegant blend of self-reflection, healing, honoring other attendees’ growth, and moving every part of myself through a journey of sacred reclamation. This retreat was by far the most impactful experience of my life.”
– Alea Pappe
“I’ve been on the Warrior Monk journey since 2020 with our family’s retreat then, followed by my participating in a virtual gathering midway through the pandemic and most recently voluntarily staffing in 2023. I’m appreciating the long-haul, restorative effects of the Warrior Monk experience through deep listening, reflecting, and direct action. Out in the world, I return to center often with lessons from the retreats.”
– Richard Woo
“In the months since the retreat a sustained sense of wonder is very alive in me. It was a new word that came to me in the purpose work we did, and I’ve been experiencing an absolute sense of wonder more consistently since. I’ve been moved by the beauty of the rising sun over the mountains and the extraordinary way the moss grows on the trees – to the extent that I find myself audibly gasping and laughing out loud as I walk through the forest.
I also find myself more deeply than ever contemplating service. In what ways can I be of more service to others, to the earth, to my family and community? I have this sense that there is a weaving of wonder and service that is finding its way within me, and I’m more curious, grateful and committed.”
– Chrissie Arnold
“Warrior Monk held up a highly polished mirror to the beliefs keeping me from the full expressions of my power. I recommend it without reservation to anyone ready to take a giant step.”
– Gregg Levoy, Author or Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life
“To witness and be witnessed in a circle of caring people is a powerful experience when one dares to enter the realm of deep honesty and vulnerability. To be able do this in a safe space where we gather to share and strengthen mindfulness, curiosity of the soul, and community, is a rare gift to be treasured. At Warrior Monk retreat, I felt lovingly embraced as we were invited to explore the muddy waters of the psyche and heart. Five days of focused engagement in a personal and collective healing process helped me reconnect with my clearer, stronger, more loving self that yearns to live a life of service.
The retreat gave me the opportunity to simultaneously surrender and take full control of the healing process, and return to the world with renewed love and conviction.”
– Ginna Malley Campos, Puerto Ric0
“Stepping back from my professional work, and am stepping into my next chapter . . . I needed to review again where I am headed in my life, and [to renew] my pledge to lead an intentional life rooted in my own authentic spiritual nature. I attended the Warrior Monk retreat open to a new direction for myself and a renewal of old values.
“The program and the peace of the land of Whidbey Institute provided a great space to examine unintentional patterns and to focus on questions about my next direction. Dan and his fellow teachers led me through a series of portals that provided different perspectives on service in the world. No definitive answers, but honorable teaching on how to hold the questions in my life, breathing new inspiration and direction into an aging soul.”
– Doug Kelly
Warrior Monk was an elegant homecoming to my true self. Stepping into the magical serenity of The Whidbey Institute nurtured a slowing down, a turning inward and deep connection with others. An early morning serenading of an owl on the way to meditation was a reminder, again, to stop. The natural beauty surrounding us can and does transform our intentions, when we listen. The Warrior Monk experience is open to everyone. It is not about religion. It is not about gurus. It is a simple yet extraordinarily powerful journey into what matters most, for each and every one of us. To welcome a new year with a fresh perspective about what I want to create with my life, and to be witnessed by others in my commitment to do so, fulfilled the meaning of true generosity.
– Christina Monson, Nepal
Warrior Monk is a retreat I have experienced twice – in Australia and in NZ. Both immersions were different and enriching in ways that have become more alive in me as time has gone by. I often return to moments of the time in retreat — like a moment when I arrived within myself, inspired by my own femininity to sink into knowing and to rise into leadership – first within myself and finally as an outward stepping into.
And mostly Warrior Monk has stayed with me as a time when I truly embodied the beauty and power of paradox in myself first, and our world. And this in turn has supported me as I choose to live with curiosity, acceptance and consciousness – facing my judgments and made-up stories as I go. In a world like ours right now, this seems to me to be keenly important.
Being able to do this real next-level work in a mixed gender environment was huge for me. I’ve done so much of my own personal work and staffed in Woman Within, and this was powerful in different ways. A A great potency and safety that allowed me to grow differently.
The touchstone of the archetypes of Warrior and Monk have been living in me to encourage a much fuller and rounder ‘me’. WM is an integral part of the stepping stones of my ‘waking up’ and ‘remembering’.
– Dee Read, Sydney Australia 2014 & 2016
“My first experience with Warrior Monk, in fall 2015, was transformative in ways I never expected. I anticipated five relaxing and rewarding days. It’s true that I was relaxed and rewarded, but during the retreat I was also challenged, uplifted, and opened to new potential for joy, presence, integrity, and honesty with myself and others. 2016 unfolded as a season of shedding what no longer served, embracing what was most essential, and stepping into a more effective, joyful, and mature stage of my life. Thank you for holding this work and nurturing my ongoing personal evolution.
The Warrior Monk retreat was important in my own development in part because of the people involved. I was invited to reflect and grow in an emergent, intergenerational community of men and women committed to presence, love, and collective care. The trust, respect, and even humor and lightness that permeated our shared space were vital ingredients in my own transformation.
The retreat was an important invitation into self-reflection, healthy discomfort, and joyous growth. The mixed gender context was especially helpful for me as someone prone to codependency in my relationships with men. In a super-safe caring community of tender, present men and women, I was able to look at the patterns that no longer served me or my loved ones. I’ve remained friends with many of the men and women with whom I shared the Warrior Monk Retreat, and perhaps most importantly I have become friends with my own authentic self.”
– Marnie Jackson
“Being a psychotherapist as well as an individual on my own path to development, I’ve come to greatly appreciate the integral approach to spirituality and personal growth. There are many places and books to learn about integral work, but Warrior Monk is where the integral rubber really meets the road!”
– Harry Pepper 2001
“I’m enjoying my life and balancing my work in a way that I have not been able to do before and more importantly, all these years later, the results of the work I did at Warrior Monk did not disappear with time.”
– Linda Fortune, Oregon USA – attended 2006 & 2011 & 2015 Warrior Monk, Warrior Monk for Couples, Warrior Monk II
“Warrior Monk has opened the door to the next 10 years of my spiritual work. For a secular person, I appreciated the non-dogmatic teachings which focused on the wisdom of diverse cultures and traditions. An integrated spiritual approach, without anything supernatural and blended with grounded deep process work to move past old stories and wounds. The magic comes from Dan and the master facilitators, whose wisdom and humor supports the transformation. As well as from sitting in circle with other seekers, whose ongoing curiosity and love supported my growth. These friendships and accountability circles have already been hugely impactful to maintaining my goals; an ongoing gift of this great program. I highly recommended this training.”
– Tim Norman, New York
Warrior Monk was a wonderful adventure that guided me on an exploration of my inner soul and mind I’d not experienced, even though I’d done a lot of personal work previously, including years of deep women’s work.
It helped immensely to demystify and solidify my greater life purpose and unravel some old limiting beliefs about myself. The tools that I learned have been woven into my life practice for years now, and have enabled me to consistently come back to center when the world around me starts to swirl.
I was humbled by the experience and met some wonderful people who have turned into life-long friends.”
– Sean Ballard, Washington DC, USA 2012
Warrior Monk staff did a great job at seamlessly integrating powerful tools in a transparent way to move into sacred and safe space, easily build relationships between participants in fun ways, and then deepen the sense of a special community. Safety was generated even for very young participants, as well as octogenarians, and no one was left out or judged. Even though it was not obvious I sensed that the flow and material of the workshop was continuously tweaked to adapt to individual needs and issues as they came up. The progression over the days was managed so that there was a movement out of time and then a gradual return to affairs of the world.
Dan and his staff embody many years of experience, but more than that they are passionately committed to being authentic and continuing working on themselves thus providing role models for people to follow. The methods they use are well grounded in traditional lineages, applied so that those practiced can engage whole heartedly, while at the same time gently leaving good openings for beginners. Even those that did not expect a particularly intense experience seemed surprised at the depths they reached, myself included.
– Malcom Best Washington, USA 2017
My Warrior Monk experience was one of the most spiritual and soul-purpose transformational experiences of my life. The Warrior Monk Retreat is deliberate in its content, masterful in its presentation and culminates in universally wise and practical awakenings.
I have participated in many retreats doing solely women’s work and in mixed gender environments. I see great purpose and need for both. And, I am grateful and whole-heartedly appreciative for the collaborative energies of men and women together at Warrior Monk.
The blending offered opportunity in a simulation of real life community and container to dig deep while being supported in the mixed environment with supreme and protective safety for all. In these ways, individuals heal themselves along with their relationships, and in my opinion, humanity together as a whole.
– Karen Jaynes, Ohio, USA 2019
“I consider the Warrior Monk retreat to be one of the most comprehensively, holistically healing experiences of my life. Grappling with the difficult concept of “reality” and merging that focus with profound exercises to move and release emotional, psychological and spiritual energy, within the context of great self-compassion and the practice of mindfulness: what a brilliant creation this is! Add wise teachings from multiple traditions, and wise Teachers, and the path of personal mission, and the door truly opens to a sustained experience of my life much more awakened. Warrior Monk has allowed me to move forward from my Hero’s Journey work, and to deepen my understanding of my shadows and gifts. And WM gave me brilliantly created tools to grapple with the doubts and limiting beliefs of my own making and to step through them into a whole new world. “
– Michel Leger 2016