Waking Nomad

A nonprofit creating spaces where people can explore embodiment, consciousness, and human potential through direct experience. https://www.wakingnomad.org
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05/05/2026

Patagonia Adventure - “Practice change, on purpose, in chosen forms, so when life shifts around you, you can meet it without breaking apart."

In late February of 2027, Thomasina and I are heading to northern Patagonia for ten days with a small group. The lake district of Argentina, with mountains, alpine lakes, old forests, geodesic domes beneath a volcano, slow afternoons in small Andean towns.

It’s a chance to put yourself in unfamiliar territory with a group of people willing to do the same. If it’s calling, the door is open.

Details at wakingnomad.org/patagonia

05/04/2026

The Kava Social before the Sound Meditation was a wonderful addition to the evening last Saturday. It was great to connect with everyone and to see you all meeting each other and interacting in such an open and authentic way.

Thanks for coming out and sharing yourselves with the world. We all need more of this! Keep it coming!

The next session will be in June as a preparation for the Summer Solstice. See you there!

04/21/2026

We talk a lot about loneliness as a social problem — too much screen time, not enough community, the pace of modern life. And those things matter.
But there's a layer underneath that we don't talk about as often.

The loneliness that persists even when you're surrounded. Even when people like you, appreciate you, love you. The loneliness of feeling like the appreciation is landing just slightly to the left of who you actually are — because you've learned, very skillfully, to keep the real you just out of reach.

When the mask gets the love, some part of us knows. It feels like an empty calorie. And no amount of it resolves the hunger.

This week's post on Waking Nomad Blog is about that gap — between gathering and belonging, between performing connection and actually experiencing it — and what it takes to begin closing it.

Not through sudden exposure or radical vulnerability. But through finding the right circles, and practicing, slowly and with care, letting more of yourself through.
I think a lot of you will recognize something in this one.

The Distance We Keep — read on Waking Nomad Blog at www.wakingnomad.com/blog

04/15/2026

We have a powerful breathwork session coming up on Saturday. Come and clear out the channels of perception! Build coherence in your body and in your life. You will feel the difference. That is our guarantee.

See you there!

Claim your spot at www.wakingnomad.com/experience

04/14/2026

The mind is a sense-making machine. It collects signals from the body and generates a story that might explain them.

The problem is that the body does not timestamp its signals. Old tension, unresolved stress, chemistry from difficult seasons of life years ago, all of it can continue to circulate. And the mind, doing its job faithfully, interprets those old signals as if they belong to right now. As if they are about this relationship, this conversation, this ordinary afternoon.

This is why we sometimes react with an intensity that does not quite match the situation. The story felt true. But it was built on data that had nothing to do with today.

This week's reflection is about what the body knows that the mind misreads, and why sometimes the most useful thing we can do is stop trying to understand and simply sweep the floor.

Full newsletter in your inbox today.

And if you want to feel this rather than just read about it, we have an Integrative Breathwork session (longer format, intensive breathing) this Saturday April 18 at Marine Village Hall. Link in bio to register.

04/07/2026

Most of us move through the world fairly identified with who we think we are. The roles we play, the stories we carry, the beliefs we have accumulated over years about what kind of person we are, what we are capable of, and what we deserve.

But every so often, in meditation, in breath, in a moment of unexpected stillness, something shifts. The noise quiets, the familiar narrative pauses, and for just a moment you become aware of something underneath all of it. Something vast and unhurried that does not seem to need a name or a story to justify its existence.

That is what a mystical experience points toward. Not a hallucination, not an escape, but a direct encounter with what you are before the costume goes on.

This week's reflection is about the costume of identity and what becomes possible when we learn to wear it a little more loosely. Full newsletter in your inbox today.
What role or identity are you wearing most tightly right now? We would love to hear from you in the comments.

04/04/2026

Great group of Mystics that turned out for the 3rd Annual Good Friday Experience last night. Thanks for sharing yourselves with the world and showing up in reverence to the Mystery. It is always good to connect with the others that acknowledge these types of experiences are an important aspect of a rich and full human life.

Big Love friends!

Breathwork is up next. Then the Kava social. We will see you next time!

04/01/2026

Want to deepen your relationship with the Mystery? We will see you Friday night for the 3rd Annual Good Friday Experience. Details on the website.

www.wakingnomad.org

03/27/2026

"The potential for a mystical experience is the natural birthright of all human beings" Stan Grof

We are at it again! The 3rd annual "Good Friday Experience"!

"What is the Good Friday Experience?"

In 1962, a now-famous study known as the Good Friday Experiment explored a simple and provocative question: Can a mystical experience be intentionally cultivated?

Designed by Walter N. Pahnke, a graduate student at Harvard Divinity School, under the supervision of Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, the experiment took place during a Good Friday church service and became a landmark in the study of mystical experience.

Participants in the original experiment were carefully prepared and supported within a meaningful ceremonial context. The results suggested that experiences of deep unity, insight, reverence, and transformation are not entirely random, but can arise when the right conditions are in place.

While we will not be providing any substances during this gathering, the spirit of the experiment continues to inform our work. This annual Good Friday Experience explores how breath, movement, sound, attention, and intention can work together to create internal conditions often associated with mystical or peak states of consciousness.

We will begin by gently waking up the body and nervous system through guided movement and breath. From there, we’ll move into vocal toning as a way of releasing tension and encouraging coherence between breath, body, and voice. This prepares the ground for an extended, immersive sound meditation — a space where attention can soften, the thinking mind can quiet, and experience can unfold without force or expectation.

Rather than striving for a particular outcome, this practice emphasizes allowing: allowing sensation, emotion, insight, and stillness to arise and pass in their own way. Some people experience a sense of deep connection or meaning, while others simply feel more settled and present. All of it is welcome.

This year’s session will be held at the Marine Village Hall, a historic gathering space that has long served the local community. We see this as part of the container itself — a familiar, grounded place that supports both depth and ease as we come together on Good Friday.

We expect this to be a deep and settling evening. You’re encouraged to give yourself time afterward to reconnect, reflect, and ease back into ordinary awareness.

We look forward to sitting together and exploring what becomes possible when the conditions are right.

03/22/2026

Deep gratitude for spring and the humans showing up within this vibrant community!

The energy was so alive yesterday and truly palpable.
We all witnessed and felt it as we dove into the practices.

Join us in April for The Good Friday Experience!

www.wakingnomad.com

Address

121 Judd Street
Marine On Saint Croix, MN
55047

Telephone

+16515380003

Website

https://www.wakingnomad.org/

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