IMA

October 18-22 (4 nights)

Catskills, New York

Awareness practices and the root modalities that cultivate deep presence

Here’s the deal…

I’ve been trying for years to find a way to share the things I learned while living at Esalen and in the strange, beautiful years that led me there… and to rebuild the kind of practice community that shaped me. Something real. Something alive. Something we can carry into our actual lives instead of isolating on retreat.

The truth is there’s nowhere to study these foundational modalities at depth unless you take the courses to become a practitioner or you’re willing to disappear into a long term residential program. This is an attempt to create that depth , offer something new — but woven into real life and applicable every day.

After leaving Esalen and looking for a way to re-integrate this back in my life and introduce to my fiancé Elyse, we met two incredible teachers Perry and Johanna Holloman. After working with them for a few months, we dreamed up an experiment to bring this to our wider community and dearest friends.

This is not for the casual seeker

In April 2026, we brought together 22 incredible humans together to drop into an experimental, highly curated container. The module work we focused on for that week was to prepare us for deeper work for 12 days at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California next Spring 2027. It was such a powerful experience that this group wanted to expand this offering to invite more of our community to join us.

In order to join for Big Sur in Spring 2027 — we are opening another Module in October 2026 to learn and apply awareness practices and root modalities that allow us to cultivate deep presence. Bringing in incredible (legendary) teachers from Esalen as our key anchors — we will move through breathwork, movement, and deep inquiry group and individual work. This isn’t a workshop, a method, peak experience or a ceremony aimed to create an altered state and fleeting results… and this is not for the casual seeker.

This is designed to expand awareness. I have no doubt that will happen.

But to be clear: this will not fix your life.

This is not a workshop for patching up problems.

It’s a way to cultivate deep presence. And it will for sure get weird.

Powerful practices are simple.

Simple, inquiry-based practices help us become present for longer stretches of time. They expand the field of awareness so we actually notice more of what is happening, as it’s happening. That’s it.

Our guide is inquiry into what is true - right now - through a range of modalities.

Who is leading this?

This initiative and experience is led by Zach Bell. This isn’t a business venture, it’s deeply personal and something he’s genuinely longed for the people he love the most to experience. This experiment can only happen if a truly special collection of humans says yes. The gathering will be produced and held by Elyse, and both of us will be active participants in the workshop. We’re making this for ourselves, as well as for our friends.

Our Lead Facilitators and Teaching Faculty for the first gathering are Perry and Johanna Holloman. Perry will hold the container for teaching all modalities, crafting the curriculum and holding the group field across all practitioners.

  • They have been studying, living and teaching the root modalities of awareness at Esalen since the 1970’s. They are the founders of Deep Bodywork, Integrative Gestalt, Hologenic Breath, and Integrative Somatic Practices. They have worked, studied and taught with most the top teachers birthed from the last generation and are possibly the first living lineage carriers of a complete body of work that changed the world in the 1960’s.

    They are the teachers of many of the top young professional facilitators, bodyworkers and integrative somatic therapists. They tend to spend their limited time in depth practice training other teachers.

    It is unique to get to experience Perry in this way.

  • I’ll play two roles:

    The first, is the one you already know — gathering the most special humans I know, bringing in the right leaders and content at the right moments, and shaping the experiential details that make things unforgettable.

    The second, I can’t wait for you all to understand this side of me and the work I’ve been studying for the last 20 years.

  • We’ll be joined by specific modality leaders for each relevant section. Some will be available to us the entire time and others will join for specific sessions.

What will we be doing?

Our aim is simple: become more aware, more often, with an expanding quality. We’ll study five core modalities, each offering a different doorway into awareness and each useful at different moments in life. Every session explores the interplay of multiple modalities. Together they help us engage body, mind, heart, and breath into the present.

And we’ll do all of this in relationship because, well — life happens with other humans.

  • Self and Relational Inquiry - Foundations rooted in Integrative Gestalt Practice.

  • Movement - Inspired by the work of Gabriel Roth and other movement-based meditations.

  • Touch - Drawing from Esalen Massage®️, Deep Bodywork®️, Presence-based Touch, and hands-on awareness practices.

  • Breath - Influenced by Holotropic Breathwork and other conscious breathing modalities.

  • Stillness - Grounded in Insight and Zen meditation.

Our home for the weekend

We will nestled in the beautiful retreat center, Akera, in upstate New York. This is a 123-acre creative sanctuary in the Catskills that merges retreat, ritual and regeneration with a new approach to life and work. We privately booked out this retreat center that has been lovingly prepared for this type of deep work, and it was created and stewarded by our dear friends Arthur and Stephanie. The gorgeous Catskills Mountains will be our home for this gathering, and we’re excited to nestle here for the Fall.

Accommodations range from private rooms to shared rooms in both houses as well as glamping sites for those interested in being more immersed in nature. Amenities include sauna, hot tub, cold plunge, yoga shala, hiking trails, lake, and more.

Contribution & Exchange

The exchange of this experience includes accommodations, programming, and organic, local, delicious meals for five days and four nights. Attendance is $3750 for shared accommodations. Private rooms are available for an additional cost.

namūna is a 501c3 non-profit and we won’t turn anyone away due to cost. Our pricing is created to support all facilitators fairly, and we price tickets to be as economical as possible to create a well-rounded and curated group.