Our values
How we act, and what we refuse
Four core values guide how I do this work. Ten are shared in the welcome circle at the start of a retreat, in this order. They are the standard we ask you to hold us to, so this page also shows what they look like in practice. What we hold to be true about God, medicine and ceremony is on the beliefs page.
Core values
Compassion, Curiosity, Courage, Connection
Compassion
I start with kindness toward myself, because I cannot offer what I do not have. Then I try to offer it to everyone in the room, including the parts of them that are hard to love.
Curiosity
I would rather ask than assume. When something hard shows up, I try to get interested in it instead of fixing it or running from it.
Courage
Looking inside takes some. It is the willingness to feel what is there and to say what is true, even when your voice shakes.
Connection
This is what most of us are really after. With ourselves, with each other, and with something larger. Everything else here serves it.
Ten values
How we act
Safety
Physical, mental and emotional.
Integrity
Being and expressing truth.
Curiosity
Assuming innocence.
Vulnerability
Risking pain in service of connection and growth.
Responsibility
Owning your own experience.
Sovereignty
All within consent and self-empowerment.
Reverence
Respect for the work and the medicine.
Harmony
Living well with others and with nature.
Embodiment
Being the change we want to see.
Community
Service to common values and supporting each other.
In practice
Where the values show up
Values only count if they change what we do. Ceremonia has 400+ alumni across 60+ retreats, and I have guided 700+ people across about 2,000 sessions. Here is where the values show up for you.
- Safety. At least one facilitator for every four participants. A nurse practitioner reviews every medical intake, and on Awaken in Colorado, Jo Ann Forristal, a family nurse practitioner, is on site.
- Responsibility. Your prescriber leads any medication taper, and tapering often takes one to two months. Never stop or change a medication on your own. Medical questions can go to info@ceremoniacircle.org.
- Integrity. The free connection call is a conversation with someone on our team. Then you book with a deposit, then come the application and medical intake, then acceptance.
- Sovereignty. You choose each step, and when the fit is wrong, a clear no is more respectful than an unclear maybe.
- Community. Every retreat has the same core: one month of preparation, one week of retreat and one month of integration included. After Awaken there is also an optional two-month extension.
In their words
What alumni say about it
Compassion
“The perfect balance of mastery and compassion.”
Josh Linkner, 5x Tech Entrepreneur
Safety and vulnerability
“Every participant was honest, loving, vulnerable, and present.”
“…the facilitators were superb at creating and maintaining a safe physical environment.”
Max Levy, Real Estate Agent
What we refuse
Four things we will not do
We do not use countdown timers or scarcity language to pressure you into enrolling.
We do not promise that you will heal, change or feel better. We cannot know that, and anyone who tells you otherwise is not being honest about the work. What we can promise is the structure around it: screening, preparation, the facilitators in the room, and a month of integration.
We do not extract from indigenous traditions or pretend a lineage is ours when it is not. When a practice comes from a tradition, we name it, and if something does not sit right with you, we want to hear it.
We do not share your story, your testimonial or anything you disclosed without your explicit consent. What happens in ceremony stays there unless you choose otherwise.
Want to feel this in practice?
Start with where you are. The quiz takes about four minutes and is a personal reflection, and it does not decide whether a retreat fits you. If you would rather talk first, the connection call is free, and if our screening finds the retreat is not safe for you, you get a full refund of everything you paid. Or watch the TEDx talk first.
Book a connection call