Navigating through the Metacrisis
A nature-led pilgrimage into coherence, companionship and clarity. We gather to grow a coherent field, walk our questions together and listen for what wants to emerge, so that our walking becomes a living answer.
A time between worlds
Coherence · Wayfinding · Emergence
We are living in a time between worlds. There is no certainty about the duration and impact of the collapse of our current systems, or about the shape and timeline of the future that is emerging.
In a remote part of the Italian Alps, supported and guided by the timeless wisdom and beauty of nature, we gather for a pilgrimage. Meeting the turbulence and not-knowing that the metacrisis triggers in us, we find our way to a field of inner stability, deep coherence and radical hope. On our way, we learn how to find substance in confusion and crisis, and we find greater clarity about what is ours to do in this amazing and challenging time.
Five days on ancient land, walking with the questions of our time
For five days we stay in the pristine nature of the Italian Alps, on land where for centuries farmers have lived in intimacy with the elements. Alpe Selvaccia lies at 1,600 metres and is reached by a two-hour walk up the mountain. Surrounded by and embedded in nature, we connect with each other, with our own deepest nature and with the land that hosts us.
The structure is firm enough to land in and feel held by, and loose enough to follow our impulses when they come. We sit and walk together, in silence and quiet observation, and in attuned and generative dialogue. We create shared spaces of transition and reverence through ritual, poetry and song. As facilitators, we walk with you, bringing our own processes and inquiry as compost for the group.
- What time is it in the world?
- What time is it in my life?
- What is stuck and what is flowing?
- What are our individual and collective edges?
- What is calling us from the future?
- What do we need to let go of to fully embrace this moment and the emergent movement?
From the valley to the mountain and back
Two field-building calls
We meet online to get to know each other and begin to build the field before we travel.
Arrival in Alagna
Shuttle from Milan in the afternoon, first night together in a hotel in Alagna Valsesia.
Up to Alpe Selvaccia
We ascend on foot and live four days on the mountain. The heart of the week is a one-night solo quest in nature. On Saturday we descend and share a last dinner in Alagna.
Farewell
The program ends after breakfast, with a shuttle back to Milan.
Two integration calls
Online, to bring what emerged into daily life and work.
People who are part of the emerging movement
We invite a diverse group of people who are aware of the importance of finding new ways of being, belonging and becoming in response to the challenges of our time. Some steward regenerative farming or social impact initiatives. Others are entrepreneurs, impact investors and system integrators, and yet others are (social) artists and hosts of collective spaces for healing and transition.
What they share is a longing to grow and deepen their contribution to the emerging new Earth reality.
From this pilgrimage, you will
- Know yourself more deeply as nature
- Remember the art of finding your way by allowing yourself to be lost
- Have a greater capacity to meet discomfort and confusion in yourself, and transform it into depth, clarity and stability in the midst of it
- Have created, with your fellow pilgrims, a field of coherence that allows for vulnerability, depth and emergence, and that can be sustained in community beyond the gathering
- Know the magic that happens when there is a deep and sacred relationship to self, others and the land
- Have deepened living in integrity with your soul's purpose and the call of this time
Photos of Alpe Selvaccia: Otro Elements
The Cultivating Coherence team
We share a deep passion for the transformative power of the natural world. Together we bring decades of experience in developing senior executives and their teams and in supporting ecosystemic change, each with our own accent.
Dana Carman
Susanne Stillhammer
Marc Padberg
Dr. Jens Riese
Getting there and being there
- We encourage you to come by train and treat the journey to Italy as part of the pilgrimage. A shuttle picks you up at Milan Central Station or Milan airport on Monday afternoon and brings you back on Sunday
- The climb to Alpe Selvaccia is a 700-metre ascent with your own backpack, so a normal physical condition is required
- An experienced, certified mountain guide is with us for the entire program
- We spend most of our time outdoors, in potentially variable weather. A packing list follows
- The food is vegetarian and vegan, cooked by our local cook Maria from what the land provides
- Accommodation, meals, transport from Milan and the mountain guide are included
- Detailed logistics and preparation materials are sent a few weeks before the start
Ask about an invitation
The circle is by invitation. If this calls to you, write to me with a few lines about yourself and your work, and what draws you to this gathering.