March 14–21, 2027 · An intimate circle of 12
Somewhere deep down you know: the person you've become, the achiever, the responsible one, the always-strong one, is not the whole of you.
You did what was asked of you. You reached everything there was to reach. And still the question finds you at 3 a.m.: Am I enough? Do I deserve what I have?
In the jungle, we don't search for the answer. We live the answer, together.
Because homecoming is not a place. It's the moment you finally stop trying to earn your own existence and return to your essence.
Who this is for
The first half of life is complete. Something else is calling.
This retreat is for leaders and builders who sense it: you've run the programs: the childhood ones, the family ones, the ones society handed you. You were right. You were successful. You were good.
And the strategy worked, mostly. Except the finish line keeps moving. There is always more to earn, more to prove, one more milestone before you're finally allowed to rest. People on this track can't stop, and can't fully enjoy what they've built, because a quiet voice keeps insisting it isn't enough yet.
Here's what we've learned holding this work: your worth was never something to earn. It came with being born. Your purpose isn't somewhere out there to find. It has always been in you, waiting to be uncovered.
Maybe you know your soul's longing and have no one to say it to. Maybe you only know what you no longer want. Both are ways of standing at the door.
That's what we build here: the tribe where your essence can finally speak out loud, and where not-knowing is just as welcome, until it clears. A small circle of at most twelve, held by two experienced guides, on land that does half the work before we even sit down.
How we work
We create the conditions for your own wisdom to come through.
Nobody will tell you who you are. From the first evening we ground, we slow down to the rhythm of the land, and we weave the connection in the group that makes real honesty possible. Once your nervous system settles, insight stops being something you chase. It starts arriving on its own.
We then draw on three sources of knowing:
Your own mind
Guided journaling and inquiry that reach beneath the societal programming. What did you always want as a child? If you had one year to live, what would you do? Your memory holds more of your purpose than you think.
Each other
The tribe sees what you can't. Through practices like positive gossiping and golden-shadow work, the group reflects back the superpowers you've been carrying without knowing it.
The deep
Deep Jungian meditations and time on the land: intuitive walks, movement, and creative practice that take you out of ordinary thinking and let you hear the whispers that are always guiding the way.
The shape of the week
A hero's journey: descend into the underworld, return with the gift.
This is one continuous, well-held journey, not a program of events. Each morning we gather in circle; every descent is followed by time to digest, integrate, and metabolize what came up: together, in pairs, in silence. The ceremonies and excursions aren't the retreat. They are the landscape the inner journey moves through.
Mornings are for the inner work and integration in circle. Afternoons, the land takes over.
Arrival & the first days
We begin with dinner
Sunday evening we gather at the table. The first days are for landing: grounding in safety, weaving the web of connection that makes real honesty possible, slowing to the rhythm of the land. As your nervous system settles, the purpose work deepens: inquiry, meditation, the tribe reflecting back what you can't see alone. By midweek, you're ready for the threshold.
Midweek
The Temescal
A traditional sweat-lodge ceremony held by Carolina and Bruno, a Mexican–Peruvian ceremonial pair who have carried this ritual for years. Clay, hot stones, chanting, darkness. A true initiation: the felt experience of a threshold, held in complete safety.
The day after
Hot springs
After the fire, the water. We soak in the natural hot springs of Ecotermales and, in circle, begin to digest what the ceremony opened. The journey doesn't pause here; it softens.
The rise
Jungle, waterfall, fire ceremony
A walk deep into untouched rainforest to a waterfall, the group holding what is still unfolding. Then, on our final evening, a closing fire ceremony where we harvest the week together and seal the gift you're bringing home.
Every morning
6 a.m. yoga
Each day opens with hatha yoga in the maloka, bringing awareness back into the body, where the old programs are stored, and where they can finally be released.
Return
We end with breakfast
Sunday morning we close the circle. You leave with an inner compass, one that doesn't point to the next goal, but to your own path.
The container
The land does half the work.
Brave Earth is a regenerative sanctuary on the edge of the Costa Rican rainforest. It is a force of nature: by the time you sit down for a session, the land has already carried you halfway there.
Farm-to-table
Rumi's Kitchen serves what the land grows; practically only rice and coffee come from outside. Shared meals become community and a pause for presence.
Alcohol-free
Crystal-clear mornings, no fog. Every feeling gets more vivid, every insight goes deeper. This is a clarity you can taste.
Digital detox
We put the phones down. No notifications, only the sounds of the jungle and your own breath. Rediscover what it feels like to be fully in your life.
Living ceremony
Temescal, fire, hot springs, planting trees whose fruit the next circle will eat. Ritual here isn't decoration. It's how the week moves.
Your guides
Two guides, one journey.
Dr. Laszlo Karafiath, PhD
Transformational coach · Co-founder of Brave Earth
Bali has spent his life building spaces where people come alive: from co-founding Sziget, one of Europe's largest festivals, to co-creating Brave Earth, the regenerative sanctuary where this retreat takes place. A Yale World Fellow with a PhD in communication, he works as a transformational coach and hypnotherapist with leaders, founders, and family businesses across Europe and the Americas.
His work weaves Jungian depth psychology, purpose work, and ceremony into journeys that reach beneath the rational mind. He has guided retreats at Brave Earth for years, and he knows the land, its people, and its rhythms as home.
Robin Athey
Executive coach · Leadership consultant & facilitator
Robin brings over three decades of global experience as an executive coach, facilitator, and thought leader. Her work has taken her to 27 countries and inside organizations like Microsoft, Google, MIT, and IBM, with everyone from factory floors to C-suites. Today she guides senior leaders through the deeper transitions that titles can't answer: cultivating an inner compass, aligning with natural power, and making wise decisions amid complexity and uncertainty.
A former Harvard Fellow and a practitioner of meditation and yoga for more than 25 years, Robin weaves purpose work, Jungian shadow work, somatics, and nervous-system regulation into fields of deep psychological safety: spaces where a group becomes a living system and real honesty becomes possible. She lives in Boulder, Colorado, at the foot of the Rockies. She lived in Costa Rica in her earlier years; for her, this retreat is its own homecoming.
Practical details
Place, dates, and how to join
Where & when
- Brave Earth Sanctuary, Alajuela, Costa Rica
- March 14–21, 2027, beginning with Sunday dinner and ending with Sunday breakfast
- Group limited to 12 participants
- Nearest airport: San José (SJO), airport transfer included
How to apply
- The first step is always a conversation with us, so we can make sure the retreat and the timing are right for you
- Book your time
Investment
Early bird until October 31, 2026$5,500 Full price after October 31: $6,480
Included
- The full program, all ceremonies and excursions
- Accommodation and all meals at Brave Earth
- Airport transfer
Not included
- Flights
- Personal extras during the week
Cancellation: free until December 31, 2026 · 50% fee until January 31, 2027 · no refund after January 31, 2027.
Part of you is already there. Come and arrive.
If this call speaks to you, answer it. Let's talk. A conversation is where every homecoming begins.
Start with a conversation