Cultivating the Joy of Aging: A Ketamine-Assisted Mindfulness Retreat

This is a safe, structured retreat led by a staff of licensed and highly experienced therapists and physicians in the beautiful Catskill Mountains at Menla Retreat and Spa.

“Perhaps aging is not a process of becoming less. Perhaps it is a process of remembering more.”

For much of our lives, many of us have worked very hard to be good: a good daughter or son, a good partner, a good parent, a good professional, a good citizen of whatever tribe we happened to belong to. We were so good at it that we forgot we were performing. The role became the self. Then, without asking permission, the cracks appear. A certainty dissolves. A role no longer fits. And we find ourselves asking a question that refuses to go away: what if this is not the whole story?

This retreat is an invitation to meet that question in community and to discover the unexpected joy of aging. The stories crack, the masks loosen, and beneath it all we find something ancient, something tender, and something surprisingly intact. Not a new self. The self that was waiting all along.

The retreat is open to individuals from all walks of life, ages and all levels of experience, whether you arrive with a personal intention, a professional lens, or simple curiosity. It is designed for those ready to deepen their personal growth within a supportive group setting. Together we will slow down, move gently beneath our defenses, and reconnect with the emotions we may have set aside in order to survive. Awakening contains grief: not because something is wrong, but because something is ending. We will honor the identities that carried us here even as we make room for what is emerging.

Ketamine is offered not as a mandatory component across three sessions. When chosen, it can support this process by softening defenses and reducing anxiety, allowing access to stillness, insight, and love. Many participants experience increased clarity, compassion, and a non-defensive perspective that supports meaningful transformation. Alongside the medicine work, we offer many portals for cultivating joy: meditation, breathwork, poetry, art, and time in the gardens and mountains that surround Menla. These practices open space for creativity and wonder and help create the conditions for cultivating joy.

At the heart of this retreat is the circle. Healing rarely happens in isolation. Wisdom is shared, truth ripens in community, and the group itself becomes the medicine. Again and again we watch the moment of sacred recognition arrive: the realization that we are not alone. So come. Pull up a chair. Bring your questions, your grief, and your joy. The circle is forming, and there is room for you.

Safety is our highest priority. Each participant is carefully screened to ensure readiness for the group experience and the safe, appropriate use of ketamine if chosen. This retreat is not a residential treatment program and is not appropriate for individuals experiencing an acute mental health crisis or unmanaged chronic psychiatric conditions. A medical interview is required for attendance.

Schedule:

Thursday, June 24

• 4 – 6 pm Check-in starts
• 6 – 7 pm Dinner
• 7 – 9 pm Evening program

Friday, June 25

• 7:45 – 8:30 am Meditation and yoga (optional)
• 8:30 – 9:30 Check-in and opening program (no breakfast)
• 9:30 – 10 am Meeting the medicine
• 10 am – 12:30 pm Ketamine session
• 12:30 – 1:30 pm Lunch
• 1:30 – 3:30 pm BREAK (book a massage or spa treatment!)
• 3:30 – 5:30 pm Afternoon program
• 6 – 7 pm Dinner
• 7 – 8 pm Evening workshop
• 9 pm Bonfire (weather permitting)

Saturday, June 26

• 7:45 – 8:30 a, Meditation and yoga (optional)
• 8:30 – 10 am Morning program (no breakfast)
• 10 am – 12:30 pm Ketamine session
• 12:30 – 1:30 pm Lunch
• 1:30 – 3:30 pm BREAK (book a massage or spa treatment!)
• 3:30 – 5:30 pm Afternoon program
• 6 – 7 pm Dinner
• 7 – 9 pm Evening workshop
• 9 pm Night activity

Sunday, June 27

• 8:15 – 11 am Check out of rooms
• 9 – 11 am Ketamine session (optional)
• 11 am – 12:30 pm Group process
• 12:30 – 1:30 pm Lunch
• 2 – 3 pm Group activity
• 3 pm End of program (optional stay Sunday night)

*Please note this schedule is subject to change.