Join Us on a 6-Day Retreat to Nourish Your Soul

With Scholar in Religious Studies, Spirituality & Psychology
Neil Douglas-Klotz, PhD

September 23-28, 2025
Galisteo, New Mexico (Near Santa Fe)

Spaces are limited to just 60 participants
Be sure to secure your spot early to guarantee your place

Take a journey to open your heart, awaken to new levels of purpose and inner strength, and deepen your spiritual connection with the universal infinite energy that flows through all things.

Since studying The Way of Aramaic Jesus with your teacher, world-renowned scholar and researcher in Middle Eastern spirituality Neil Douglas-Klotz, you’ve probably grown even more curious about what it might have been like to live in Yeshua’s lifetime.

The Shift Network is thrilled to offer an in-person retreat with Neil, exclusively tailored for the grads of his 7-week course and designed to give you a rare opportunity to step into a direct experience — where you’ll not just learn about Yeshua’s way, but live it!

A Personal Invitation From Neil

Dear seeker on the way of the Aramaic Jesus,

I want to personally invite you to join me on a sacred journey that will immerse you in the heart of Yeshua’s teachings.

This retreat is not just an intellectual exploration of Jesus’ words. It’s a deeply experiential opportunity to truly embody his wisdom and connect with the divine in a profound and personal way.

This retreat is designed especially for you as a graduate of our 7-week online course, The Way of Aramaic Jesus, and is also an opportunity to share and deepen your connections with others you’ve met in our private Facebook group.

During this in-person experience, we’ll delve deep into Yeshua’s powerful “I am” statements — such as “I am the bread of life” and “I am the light of the world” — that are usually misunderstood in conventional theology.

When heard in Aramaic, these words are not declarations of exclusivity, but rather invitations for us to experience our own divine essence, and to awaken to the interconnectedness of all life.

I’ll be sharing with you a new, multi-faceted way into these invitations — one that I’ve not previously offered in any recording or retreat.

During the retreat, you’ll not only contemplate these teachings but live them through practices that engage your body, mind, and spirit.

Each day, you’ll have space to explore these practices in the natural beauty of our surroundings, deepening your connection to the Divine and to yourself.

This will be unlike anything you can experience online or in a classroom. It’s a profound opportunity to share in Yeshua’s direct transmission, as I was privileged to receive and deepen into over the past 45 years.

And, you’ll do so in a community of like-minded seekers. In this sacred container, we’ll journey together, each of us awakening more fully to our own divine purpose.

I’m truly honored to guide you through this transformative process, and I look forward to meeting you in person, heart to heart, spirit to spirit.

With love and blessings,
Neil

What Your 6-Day Program Includes

• A retreat in a sacred, safe, and transformative space that creates accelerated conditions for personal and spiritual growth at The SouthWest Sanctuary for Wisdom & Healing, formerly The Chi Center, in Galisteo, just outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Special welcome and closing ceremonies
• Daily group sessions focused on Yeshua’s Aramaic teachings
• Personal integration and reflection circles fostering a sense of community support
• Q&A sessions with Neil in which he’ll often respond with practices suited to your own path in life from the way of the Aramaic Jesus
• Daily teachings with Neil specifically designed to cultivate rich, spontaneous, and in-the-moment experiences
• An immersive nature experience in the high desert of New Mexico
• Tools and practices inspired by Yeshua’s words that help you explore the “I” within and the “I am” statements from the Gospel of John

What You’ll Experience

• Chanting words of healing and power in Aramaic and other ancient Middle Eastern languages
• Breath meditations that work with your own natural rhythms, woven into the rhythms of the season — opening the channels of your body, mind, and emotions and reconnecting you to your natural inheritance of strength and healing from nature itself
• Practices in the mysticism of sound from Middle Eastern traditions to free your heart-voice and provide more heart resonance in your life — enhanced by the acoustically active active SouthWest Sanctuary for Wisdom & Healing kiva, which is grounded into the earth
• Group meditations and contemplations that are much more powerful in person in a shared community — to support and enhance your own individual meditative and healing practice when you return home
• Body awareness experiences that connect ancient spirituality with modern somatic education to rebalance the 4 elements and 5 senses in your being
• Active rhythmic body prayers in the Aramaic Jesus tradition to attune to the rhythms of the day and seasons
• Meditations on the seasons of the year, especially autumn, when angelic forces are available to counteract the modern human tendencies toward materialism and egocentricity
• Small group sharing circles to deepen your experience in community
• Communion with ancient ancestors of various cultures who were historically experienced in the stars
• Walking meditations to help bring meditative awareness into your everyday life
• Devotional circle practices, dances of universal peace using Aramaic words of Jesus, and dances from the ancient Native Middle Eastern traditions
• Body prayers to invite Holy Wisdom (Sophia, or Hakima) into your body through movement and song
• Nightly healing meditations and teaching stories from the Aramaic Jesus, Sufi, and Native Middle Eastern traditions

Retreat Schedule

• Three teaching sessions per day with Neil — morning, afternoon, and evening — with breaks to enjoy the beautiful nature surrounds and meditative spaces of The SouthWest Sanctuary for Wisdom & Healing
• Each morning, be guided through breath and embodiment practices and core teaching of Yeshua’s “I-I” way, in the gospels of John and Thomas
• Each afternoon, Neil shares the mysticism of sound practices and active circle dances related to Yeshua’s direct transmission, plus more teaching and Q&A
• Each evening, Neil guides you through deeper meditation and healing embodiment practices, teaches stories from the Native Middle Eastern traditions, and leads you in processes to take you into sleep and dream, designed to make your nighttime more restful and illuminating
• Small group sharing complements the practices and teachings to help you build community and new connections with others who have similar inspirations and struggles

The overall flow of the week aims to take you deeper and deeper — not only as an individual, but as a community.

Neil will curate each day of the retreat intuitively, according to the needs — spoken and unspoken — of the group that gathers. The way of the Aramaic Jesus and ancient native teachers of the Middle East was based on intuition and guidance from the Source of all.

How This Retreat Will Go Deeper

Who This Retreat Is For

This retreat is for those who are ready to step out of the confusion and disconnection of outdated spiritual teachings and dive deeply into the truth that has always been calling to them.

Whether you’ve felt a disconnect from conventional religious practices or are seeking to understand Jesus’ words in their original, unfiltered form, this retreat offers a profound opportunity to step into a deeper, more expansive, and intimate relationship with the divine.

For those with the courage to seek the truth and a longing to go beyond the surface, Neil’s retreat provides a safe and transformative space to discover the essence of Jesus’ words, as revealed in the original Aramaic.

This retreat is especially for you if:

• You’ve sensed there is more to Yeshua’s teachings than you’ve been told, and are ready for a breakthrough moment of truth and understanding
• You maintain a connection to Christian traditions or spiritual paths but sense some teachings and beliefs are outdated or miscommunicated, and seek freedom from the pain and confusion they’ve caused
• You long for a deeper connection to a divine source that feels authentic, grounded, and real — without the dogma of traditional religious institutions
• You desire a deeper understanding of the “I am” teachings of Yeshua in their original Aramaic, as a pathway to spiritual awakening and inner strength
• You’re seeking a transformative experience that combines ancient teachings with embodied practices such as chanting, meditation, and movement
• You’re longing for a retreat experience that offers profound spiritual connection, healing, and personal transformation in a beautiful natural setting
• You’re ready to break free from old beliefs, embrace their true nature, and reconnect with the divine in a deeply personal way

ABOUT THE “I AM” STATEMENTS

During this retreat, you’ll have a unique opportunity to explore these seven statements and their true meaning in Aramaic. They are...

• “I am the bread of life”
• “I am the light of the world”
• “I am the door”
• “I am the good shepherd”
• “I am the resurrection and the life”
• “I am the way, the truth, and the life”
• “I am the vine and you are the branches”

... as well as other related sayings in Aramaic in the Gospel of John.

Why are the true Aramaic translations of the “I am” statements so important for today’s world?

The beauty, depth, and far-reaching quality of the Aramaic translations of Jesus’ “I am” statements can teach you how to connect your temporary, individual, embodied self and breath (which Jesus called naphsha)...

... with your infinite, universal breath (ruha ) — opening to a selfless yet strengthened sense of your real self or soul.

When you do, you’ll understand how Jesus’ teachings point not to exclusion, but to an expansive understanding of our interconnectedness with each other and the Divine.

According to Neil, the original Aramaic shows that Jesus did not, in fact, say “I am.” He was connecting the small self to the larger reality that gives you that sense of self — that gives you prana (life energy).

In other words, your individuality is part of the source that creates your sense of individuality — allowing you the gift of uniqueness and the freedom of choice and independence, while remembering that you’re part of a whole.

By uncovering the original intent and context of these teachings, you can unlock a pathway to a more meaningful existence.

Saying all this is one thing, but experiencing it is another!

This retreat will be much more experiential than Neil’s online course, and will employ many more active tools than he can use in a video course — including Yeshua’s words in combination with chanting, embodied movement, guided meditation, breathing practices, body prayers, and circle dances gifted directly from Alaha, or reality itself.

As an experienced meditation teacher, chant creator and leader, circle dance teacher, and trained body awareness/somatic practitioner, Neil can provide transmissions through these practices and exercises that are far more effective in a group, rather than individual, setting.

The “I am” sayings are actually one of the deepest doorways to Spirit that Jesus offered, because they’re not about him personally, but about each person and their relationship to soul.

You can begin to understand this in your mind, but to really embody what Jesus meant requires an intensive in-person group dynamic.

According to Neil, Yeshua shared most of his verbal teaching and wordless transmission outdoors, in a small group community. In-person presence along with embodied meditation, breathing, moving, and feeling together can — even today — accelerate Yeshua’s process.

In this immersive experience, Neil will guide you on a profound journey of self-discovery and spiritual transformation. Through his deep connection to Yeshua’s original teachings and wisdom, Neil will help you awaken to new levels of understanding and healing for your soul’s true purpose.

As nature retreats on the outer level, light shines through its decaying outer forms. Likewise, your human soul has an increased opportunity in the fall to remember its essential light and freedom.
— Neil Douglas-Klotz

Faculty
Neil Douglas-Klotz, PhD

World-Renowned Scholar in Religious Studies, Spirituality & Psychology

Neil has uncovered the outer part of Yeshua’s teaching through his 45 years of work with the Native Middle Eastern traditions of spirituality and the ancient Semitic languages, including Aramaic. This older native tradition predates all religion in its institutional forms and takes us back to the time when people traveled as nomads before agriculture, following the signs around them in nature and the cosmos. The inner part of Yeshua’s teaching has been the core of Neil’s life as a meditator, musician, and spiritual practitioner. Neil’s chants, body prayers, and circle dances using Yeshua’s words have been gifted directly from Alaha, Reality itself, in a process that can only be described as grace. In addition, he brings his training as a somatic breath and body awareness educator into dialogue with the ancient traditions in order to understand and experience them today.

The SouthWest Sanctuary for Wisdom & Healing

A Unique Environment for Deep Spiritual Immersion

The SouthWest Sanctuary for Wisdom & Healing offers an extraordinary setting for deep spiritual immersion and connection. Nestled on 150 stunning acres in Galisteo, New Mexico, just 20 minutes from Santa Fe, the sanctuary features expansive views of the rugged landscape, awe-inspiring sunsets over the western mountains, and vast, starry night skies.

The sanctuary is an ideal location for rediscovering your deeper “I” and revitalizing your inner sense of balance, courage, and compassion, as Neil Douglas-Klotz believes that autumn in New Mexico provides a unique opportunity for spiritual renewal.

The centerpiece of the retreat center is a circular ceremonial building modeled after traditional kivas, set into the earth to create a grounded and sacred space for deep immersion in wisdom and healing. The grounds include two labyrinths, outdoor fireplaces, fountains, and a peaceful pond with a waterfall, offering ample places for reflection, meditation, and connection with nature.

People often describe feeling an energetic shift the moment they step into this sacred space, where the heaven and earth seem to merge — allowing you to reconnect with your essence, and experience profound healing and spiritual growth.

Room and Board Information:

Please note that room and board is not included in the price of the retreat.

Food and lodging for the 6-day in-person retreat to be paid directly to the retreat center once the booking link is available. There are a variety of accommodations available to suit your preferences and budget (specific pricing will be available soon). Once your retreat registration is received, you will be emailed a booking link with instructions to register for your lodging by November 4, 2024. 

Act now to secure the best payment plan option

CANCELLATION & REFUND POLICY

We understand that circumstances may change, so we’ve created a flexible refund policy:

• In the highly unlikely event that the retreat is canceled by The Shift Network, all deposits, payments, and fees will be refunded in full*
• The following refund policy applies:*
  • Until December 31, 2024: All payments and fees are fully refundable, less the $200 USD processing fee
  • January 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025: All payments and fees are 50% refundable, less the $200 USD processing fee
  • As of July 1, 2025: No refunds

• Deposits, payments, and fees must be paid in full prior to attending the retreat
• Deposits, payments, and fees are listed in USD. You are responsible for any additional fees you may be charged by your financial institution such as foreign currency exchange fees if paying from a non-U.S. account. Contact Customer Support if you require assistance with your payment.

*Please note that this refund policy pertains to the payments and fees you have paid to The Shift Network for the event as described above, and does not apply to your airfare, accommodations, and any miscellaneous costs, which are not included with your registration.

INSURANCE & OTHER TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS & TERMS

• The Shift Network strongly encourages participants to come prepared with travel insurance.
• When purchasing airline tickets, we recommend you opt to include the optional insurance coverage for your tickets offered by most airlines.
• Additionally, we strongly recommended travel insurance that could potentially cover your registration fees in the event that you are not able to attend due to extenuating circumstances or if circumstances require that The Shift Network cancel the retreat. Trip protection to cover unexpected events like loss of a loved one or unexpected illnesses, emergency medical insurance, emergency evacuation, and gear protection, can give you peace of mind and support your positive travel experience. While Shift does not endorse any particular provider, here are three insurance options for your consideration:
   
  • WorldTrips
  • SafetyWing
  • World Nomads
  • Squaremouth
• Or, consider using a travel insurance broker, such as:
   
  • Insure My Trip

• Travel arrangements and documentation, including visas, passports, flights and transportation, travel insurance, health insurance, COVID-19 testing and policies as regards travel to and from U.S, and incidental expenses, are the responsibility of applicants/participants.
• The Shift Network and all associated organizers, facilitators, venue owners, and management are not responsible for any personal injury or illness.