Life Transformation Retreat

OnCourse Life Transformation Retreats are multi-day, intensive retreats where individuals or couples meet with Jim Warner and at least one other OnCourse Associate in a confidential environment to explore and transform their lives. The goals and flow of the Life Transformation Retreat are tailored for each individual or couple based on the Personal Life Assessment. Most clients are dealing with a pressing issue or dilemma that is draining their energy. Their primary goal is both relief from their pain

Who Am I?

and a breakthrough to a new way of living.

All participants desire deeper personal awareness and a sense of meaning and passion in their lives. From our experience all participant issues or situations fall into four broad categories, each with an underlying question:

• Personal Awareness (Who am I?)
• Life Purpose (What is my life for?)
• Intimate Relationships (Where and how do I experience love?)
• Spiritual Connection (What do I believe in?)

OnCourse Life Transformation Retreats are designed to explore any combination (or all) of these four categories.

Watch a video of Jim Warner: The Four Key Questions. [4.7MB Streaming MPG]

Most high achievers in midlife desire a deeper personal awareness, and a sense of meaning and passion in their lives. In their core they yearn to find and embrace answers to the above four questions. In addition, most typically face some combination of the following issues:

What Do I Believe In?

• I have no idea what is next in my life.
• I have only a vague sense of life purpose, mission, destiny or passion.
• My career is my identity.
• I always have to be "on."
• My life is being run on a treadmill.
• I'm stuck in a stagnant relationship or reeling from a broken relationship.
• My marriage needs revitalization.
• I desire deeper relationships with people who won’t judge me.
• I need friends who will be truthful.
• I need to make peace with my past.
• I would like to know God better.
• I desire greater intimacy with my spouse, family, friends and God.
• I long to experience grace and joy.

Watch a video of Jim Warner: Disillusionment and Discovery in Midlife. [8.5MB Streaming MPG]

A Life Transformation Retreat is typically structured as a blend of experiential, life-sharing, issue-exploring exercises. We assume participants wish to leave with deeper personal awareness (gifts, aspirations, shadows, blocks, issues, dilemmas, beliefs, relationships) and the beginnings of a no-nonsense, personal transition blueprint for transforming their lives from success to significance; from disillusionment to destiny.

You might view a Life Transformation Retreat as a Descent into Greatness. Before looking upward and outward (i.e., "What's next?") participants look downward and inward - examining the pivotal experiences and periods of their lives (their celebrations and their baggage) that have shaped who they are and how they approach opportunities and problems.

At some retreats we then guide the participant through a cathartic, sometimes emotional, process that either removes a block, or shifts a commitment or belief. In a sense these processes are like "soul surgery." Depending on the time allotted for the Retreat, and the client's willingness, we may guide the client through additional processes (surgeries).

Each Life Transformation Retreat concludes with an integration period, where we guide the client in crafting a first-draft, go-forward plan, or "transition blueprint," to sustain the transformations, commitments or breakthroughs achieved during the Retreat  and processes. This blueprint is a set of specific, measurable resolution statements and action plans for addressing and resolving outstanding issues. Using a medical analogy, it's like the "physical therapy" following major surgery; it serves as the template to assures that ongoing health is maintained, without relapse.

We also verify that the client has capable support resources (either local support or telephone support from an OnCourse team member) for ongoing accountability and encouragement.

Life Transformation Retreats are held at a retreat center or private residence offering quiet, privacy and access to nature (trails, streams, lakes, woods, beach, desert, mountains). Participants must be willing to detach from their "active" lives during the retreat. Most retreats are held at conference and retreat centers in Colorado (Boulder, Loveland or Vail). Sometimes the participants will arrange for a venue near their homes.

The Life Transformation Retreat agenda is crafted based on additional homework and the Personal Life Assessment. The flow of the retreat is normally a blend of:

• Life-sharing exercises where each participant presents Pivotal Life Moments
• A "situation analysis" exercise offering new insights into the participant's current relationships, life problems, dilemmas and transition issues
• Visualizations, role plays, transformational processes and other exercises for gaining insight and achieving breakthroughs on difficult dilemmas or blocks
• Individual reflection and planning time (we strongly encourage participants to maintain a journal during and after the retreat)
• Developing drafts of the personal transition blueprint which are critiqued and refined by the OnCourse team
• A commitment to accountability.

Based on their level of local support, most participants choose to continue in a mentoring relationship with Jim Warner or another OnCourse Associate after the retreat to sustain the retreat experience and maintain accountability on the developed blueprint.

For more information on a Life Transformation Retreat,  .