Stone & Soul:
A Men’s Wilderness Gathering

March 6–8, 2026

When men spend time together on the land, something practical and powerful happens. We slow down. We reconnect to our bodies. We remember how to rely on ourselves and each other.

This retreat is about rebuilding trust, strength, and brotherhood through direct experience. We work with the elements—fire, water, stone, and earth—not symbolically, but physically. The land becomes the training ground.

Over several days, we step away from distraction and into practices that have supported human resilience for generations. These are not lectures or concepts. They are lived, embodied skills.

The experience includes hiking, sweat lodge, rappelling to work with fear and trust, bushcraft and survival skills, nature identification, QiGong for mobility and energy regulation, guided ceremony, and sound work to support nervous system reset. Each session is led by experienced guides with decades of hands-on practice.

This retreat is about steadiness, humility, and clarity. Building strength without posturing. Learning how to be grounded, capable, and present.

Held at The Thyme, a private mountain setting in the Berkshires, chosen for its quiet, rugged terrain and ability to support focused work, shared meals, and real connection.

The Experience

  • Sweat Lodge

  • Sound Journey

  • Masculine Embodiment

Lead Facilitators

  • Tim Walsh

    Tim Walsh is an outdoor educator and instructor trainer who specializes in guiding people through the internal and external wilderness. He offers curated, customized experiences and rites of passage for those seeking purpose and spiritual development. Tim advises and develops experiential education models, adventure therapy initiatives, and mental health awareness programs for schools, youth programs, treatment centers, holistic retreats, and national conferences.

    Tim is the Founder and CEO of Adventure Recovery, and lead author and trainer for Adventure Recovery’s accredited professional Guide development and Recovery Coach curriculums. He has earned advanced credentials in wilderness medicine, swift water rescue, whitewater paddling and multiple outdoor skills disciplines.

    Tim studies and is trained in various wisdom traditions, healing rites, and practical tools from elders and practitioners from both Western and Eastern disciplines. With reverence and respect for ceremony and ritual, Tim crafts a tailored approach to the personal transformative process, creating healing experiences for individuals of all ages.

  • Jedidiah Shields

    A keeper of the trees, Jedidiah is a professional arborist and climbing instructor who has been based in the Berkshire Hills for over 20 years. Introduced to sacred Indigenous ritual and the spiritual arts as a teenager, he spent many years traveling and studying, growing into the art of sharing ancient teachings.

    With a lifetime of experience guiding individuals and groups in the knowledge of—and movement within—the landscape, his recent years have blossomed into teaching the arts of Tai Chi and Qigong, as well as the healing wisdom of sound ceremony.

    A writer and performer of poetry and short stories, Jedidiah is passionate about working with intention and word to help create safe spaces for connection, vulnerability, and inner growth, while honoring the sacred elements of life on Earth.

All Inclusive Price

All-inclusive price is per person, including state and local tax

Lodge | Solo Room: $2,000 per person

Lodge | Shared Room $1,200 per person

 Schedule

  • 3:00 PM-5:00 PM Arrivals and Check-in

    6:00 PM Welcome Orientation and Dinner

    7:00 - 10:00 PM Opening Session

    • Intentions and expectations

      • Medicine Wheel | Introducing the wheel and its ancient uses for creating sacred space and intention. Offering tools that represent skills to be practiced and opening discussion for intentions.

  • Dawn | Hike to Vista: A wide forested trail guides a 30min uphill walk to our own private, stunning vista. Greet the rising sun of a new day, as we gaze eastward over the Thyme property at the historic Housatonic River Valley, the centerpiece of life in these fertile lands for thousands of years 

    Qigong | An ancient Chinese practice, born within the art of Kung Fu, combining gentle movements, deep breathing, and focused intention to cultivate and balance for improved physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

    Sweat Lodge Lighting | Place stones and light fire for the sweat lodge ceremony

    8:00 AM Light Breakfast

    9:00 AM Sweat Lodge Ceremony

    1:00 PM Lunch

    3:00 PM Council Circle and Breakouts

    7:00 PM Dinner

    8:30 PM Sound Ceremony | At the most fundamental level, the body is not a fixed object but a dynamic system of oscillations including electrical, chemical, and mechanical rhythms unfolding across cells, tissues, and neural networks. From the pulsing of neurons to the subtle mechanical vibrations of cells, life expresses itself through patterned movement. Stress, injury, and sustained psychological load can disrupt these natural rhythms, pushing the system out of coherence.

    Rooted in ancient traditions and increasingly explored through modern neuroscience and physiology, sound-based practices use vibration and rhythm to engage the nervous system, promote deep relaxation, and support the body’s innate capacity to restore balance. By guiding the mind and body toward states of coherence, sound becomes a bridge between sensation and awareness that invites healing across mind, body, and spirit.

  • Dawn | Hike to Vista| Qigong

    8:00 AM Breakfast

    9:00 AM Rappel | Standing on the edge of the precipice, envision being at the threshold of the fears that restrain us in life. With the support of a professional guide and equipment, step over the edge, experiencing the adventure and fulfillment of facing the places we find uncomfortable.

    Noon | Lunch

    1:00 Ancestor Walk/Closing | Gather the stories of your unique ancestral past. Walk through time and memory to unlock all the choice points of our collective experience of what has brought us to this moment. Return to the beginning of your lineage. From this place, move forward through time, meeting each challenge our ancestors faced with the wisdom of now knowing a different way. Collectively we gather all this new possibility to guide us into this new vision of how we wish to be in the world.

    3:00 Departure

Join Us

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