Reclaiming Awe in Everyday Life
When is that last time you experienced the Power of Awe?
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Would you like to learn how to discover, create, and use awe to transform your day-to-day life?
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Would you like to experience how awe can expand your mind and help you see new and creative possibilities for your life?
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Would you like new tools and practices to weave awe into your daily life and access the benefits of awe whenever your need or want to?
We’re wired for awe. So much that the emerging Science of Awe makes a compelling case that an absence of awe has significant negative impacts on our immune and nervous systems. Without awe:
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We may be less creative.
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We’re can be less productive.
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We can get stuck in psychobiological loops of stress.
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We’re closed off from a major source of new possibilities and perspectives.
Reclaiming Awe in Every Day Life is A 3-day immersive retreat designed to help you experience and learn more about the profound new science of awe and how to use it to enhance your life while having a fun, restful, and relaxing vacation in an awesome setting. Register Now.
Why Practice Awe?
Awe opens us to the presence of something greater than ourselves. It takes us out of the tense, self-focused, task-oriented way of being that we often spend too much of our precious time in. Recent scientific studies show (and a sneak peak of the health benefits you will experience on this retreat):
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Awe improves and supports your health by stimulating your vagus nerve, which slows your heart rate, boosts your immune system & reduces inflammation.
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Awe can help regulate a variety of chronic conditions by deactivating our fight/flight/freeze system and moving us into a rest and restore mode that supports creativity, connecting with others, and finding new solutions.
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Awe unleashes a variety of neurobiological processes that rewires our nervous system to open us to new perspectives and a sense of belonging in this world.
Awe is essential, but making time for awe in our daily life runs counter to the “do more, have more, be more” culture we live in. The beauty of awe is it’s all around even amidst the pressures of work, parenting, & daily life. The trick is learning how and where to look for it.
Reclaiming Awe in Everyday Life offers you time and space to learn how and where to look for awe and a variety of opportunities to immerse yourself in finding and experiencing it. At this retreat, you’ll experience:
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A truly restorative and meaningful type of vacation that combines learning, meeting new and interesting people, & nature-based practices designed to provide direct-experiences of awe.
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A long weekend in the sublime mountains of western Montana to allow you to rest, relax and open to the awe of your everyday life.
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A rich melting pot of adventures, quiet times, challenges, conversation, and group and personal reflection to support you to learn, grow and reconnect with your life.
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Fun!
In addition to being nourished by awe in a rare and unique slice of the Montana landscape, your awe guides will be available for one-on-one coaching to support and develop your innate abilities to survive and thrive in your everyday life.
And this is only the tip of the Iceberg…or should we say, the Awe-berg
This Retreat Is For You if You Want:
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A simple way to find calm amidst stress.
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More awe, joy, and wonder in your everyday life.
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To enhance your critical thinking and problem-solving skills and access your creative abilities and desires.
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To enjoy and appreciate the life you’re living.
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To connect, play, and relax with a diverse group of people focused on how to thrive.
The Retreat
Each day will be a mix of group and solo activities including outdoor adventures, group discussions, creative pursuits, and celebrations focused on experiencing the eight wonders of awe with focused practices to access them:
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Moral Beauty (other’s acts of courage, kindness, strength and overcoming difficult challenges)
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Collective Effervescence (the buzz and crack of life force found in raves, wedding, funerals, concerts, dance, sports celebrations, political rallies, and rafting trips!)
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Music
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Nature
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Visual design – from art to industrial design and technology to tipis, log buildings, computer code and beyond
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Religious and spiritual experiences and stories
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Experiences and stories of life and death
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Epiphanies – suddenly understanding an essential truth about life
Throughout the retreat you’ll be invited to quietly soak it all in, loudly shout it out, or anything in between. Participation in all activities is by choice, with full support for what you want and need to make the retreat meaningful for you.
One-on-one coaching sessions will be available by appointment at selected times during the retreat.
By Sunday afternoon, you’ll leave with new experiences, tools, and practices to take home and a community to support you as you weave awe and wonder into your everyday life.
Free Bonus Sessions
Pre-Retreat Connection: Why Awe?
Three online 90-minute sessions to build connections and community prior to the retreat and to deepen our understanding of how we’re wired for awe and why reclaiming it is so important. Each Saturday we’ll focus on one of the three sections of Dacher Keltner’s new book, Awe, The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.
Week 1: The Science of Awe – how we’re wired for awe and how to activate that wiring.
Week 2: Stories of Transformative Awe – what elicits awe and sharing our own stories of awe.
Week 3: Cultural Archives of Awe – appreciating other’s expressions of awe and sharing our own.
Post Retreat Integration: Bringing Back the Magic
Two 90-minute online follow up sessions for Integration, the deeply important but often over-looked step of taking a moment to reflect on the peak experience you just had and to invite the inquiry of, “what shifts, aha’s, or insights are most asking for my continued attention right now?”.
Week 1: We’ll reconnect online as a group, check in with our accountability partners on the awe practices we created at the retreat, and then come back together to share what we’ve learned and to design and develop new practices to seek and find awe as we dive back into summer.
Week 2: We’ll reconvene as summer winds down to share stories of individual and collective awe and how we are weaving awe into our everyday life. We’ll wrap by designing how we want to stay connected and to brainstorm a collective project to spread awe beyond our group of summer celebrants.
Your Awe Guide
Steve Hindman
I've followed awe and my heart since heading west at the end of my freshman year of college to see if the Rocky Mountains were as amazing as in the magazines. That first winter I lived and skied out of an abandoned mining shack above Telluride, Colorado. When the snow melted, I backpacked through the American West, finishing the summer on the coast of Washington state where a fisherman picked me up and asked me to join his crew.
That first year launched me into a life and career off chasing awe and sharing it with others.
My current work as a body-based experiential coach evolved from what I've learned and experienced over more than 40 years leading and instructing clients on skis, bikes, and in kayaks to reach their goals and to find the awe available in their everyday life.
I look forward to finding and sharing joy and awe with you during our days together in Montana.
- Steve Hindman
FAQ’s
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“What if I’m not in shape or have an injury or am afraid of water?” All challenges and activities are by choice, with permission and encouragement to do whatever supports you in getting the most out of our time together. The only request is full ownership of your choice, as the heart of the retreat is enhancing your awareness and ownership of the experiences you create and what you can learn about yourself and your life from that reflection.
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Do I have to participate in every activity? No. One way to think of this retreat is as an unconventional and meaningful vacation with rich and interesting experiences and activities to choose from. Throughout the long weekend, you will be welcome to dive deep into all and any of the activities that appeal to you and to not participate in what doesn't appeal.
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What if I don’t want to be coached? No problem – coaching is available but optional.
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Can I come with family members or young children – Yes! What could be better than learning to find and create awe and make it a part of your everyday life with those you spend it with?
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Will WIFI and Cell Service be available? You’ll get the most out of the weekend by turning off your electronic devices upon arrival until departure. We’ll keep our phones on and provide our numbers to share with anyone needing to contact you over the weekend.