A Men's Retreat · 2027 · Dates TBA
The Heroes’ Journey
15 men. 3 days. No phones. No names. No titles.
Just the truth.
A weekend for men who are quietly falling apart while keeping everyone else comfortable. No facilitators. No trust falls. No spirit animals.
15 spots · Less than 2 hours from Minneapolis · Chosen with intention
What This Is
Every Decision Filtered Through One Question
Is this real, or is this performance? The moment something felt manufactured, it was cut. What's left is six rules the whole weekend is built on.
No names. No roles. No hierarchy.
Nobody introduces themselves. Not the founder, not the guides, not the chef. For a full day every man is equal. The truth comes out by fire.
No religion. No spirituality.
Completely agnostic. No prayers, no invocations, no higher-power language. Grounded in psychology and lived experience, not theology.
No macho posturing. No boot camp.
Nobody screams at you to break through. Nobody gets smoked at 5 AM in the mud. Quiet intensity, not volume.
Mindfulness as the thread, not the brand
No guru in linen pants. Plain language. Not “holding space” — just listen to him. What's left when you strip away the distractions.
Deep work to the core
Not five habits of successful men. Safe enough and uncomfortable enough at the same time that the truth comes out on its own.
Rest is not weakness
Naps encouraged. Sleep until you wake up. No sleep deprivation as a tool — that's manipulation, not growth.
Why This Exists
I'm Not a Great Man Doing Great Things.
I want to be honest about that upfront, because if I'm asking you to show up without armor, I should go first.
I failed at relationships and friendships. I bounced between alcohol and depression for years — and I hid it well. I kept the job. I kept the smile. I kept everybody comfortable except myself. The people I love most knew, and they suffered the most for it. I stepped pretty close to the edge a few times.
What shifted things wasn't a book or a seminar. It was a fire at 1 AM with no one watching, sitting across from another man who said “me too.”
I built this because I needed it and it didn't exist. Every detail was designed by asking one question: what would have reached me when I was at my worst?
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
— Joseph Campbell
The Shape of It
Three Days, and None of Them Look Like a Seminar
Friday morning through Sunday afternoon. You will not know where you're going, and for the first day you will not know who anyone is.
Day One
Arrive as nobody
- Phones collected at the meeting point
- A silent bus ride to a location you won't know
- No introductions — a full day as equals
- The Fire Ceremony: every man speaks his name
Day Two
The longest day of your life
- The Weight You Carry — Home Fire groups of five
- The Release — a physical ordeal, revealed in its own time
- The Silence — a woman's voice, then hours without speaking
- The Ordeal Fire — what you wrote goes into the flames
Day Three
Sunday is about Monday
- Home Fires one last time
- The Letter — written to yourself, mailed later
- Concrete help finding a therapist
- A hand-forged keepsake, and the bus home
Who's in the Room
Age Does Not Make You a Guide
Scars do. Guides aren't speakers and they aren't paid. They eat, sleep and sit in the same silence as everyone else, and for the first day you won't know which men they are.
A man who ran out of time
He lost someone, or faced his own mortality. He doesn't lecture — he tells the truth about what he wishes he'd done while there was still time.
A man who rebuilt from nothing
Addiction, crime, his own destruction. He knows what rock bottom smells like. His message isn't “I'm fixed” — it's “I'm still in the fight, and so are you.”
A man who holds the space
He's done his own deep work and leads from humanity rather than credentials. He shares his story first, then asks the question that cracks something open.
A voice you weren't expecting
A woman, or an adult child, on what it was like to live on the other side of a man's unchecked pain. Not to accuse. To witness. Then the room goes silent.
What Surrounds You
The Experience
The program is the backbone. But what surrounds it matters just as much — the food, the fire, the land, the silence between the words.
The Chef & The Food
Every meal family-style at one long table — seared steaks, lobster, house-baked bread, coffee roasted by Ember Coffee Co. Soup stays hot and chili stays on the stove for whoever is still at the fire at 1 AM. It's hard to keep your guard up when someone passes you the bread.
The Home Fires
Put 15 men in one circle and the quiet ones vanish. So you're placed in a Home Fire of five. Four men listening to you is a different thing than fourteen. The groups reshuffle, so by Sunday you've been deep with most of the room.
The Release
Physical ordeals, not workouts and not competitions. Never explained in advance — the purpose is revealed after the body has already done the work. The mind catches up later. That's the point.
The Sauna
Wood-fired, on the property. During The Silence men rotate through without speaking. No deflecting, no small talk — just heat and the presence of other men carrying the same weight. It strips things back to the body, which is where grief has been hiding.
The Music
Live acoustic guitar by the fire. Cash, Townes, Stapleton, Childers, Isbell, Colter Wall. Songs about broken men finding their way back. Anyone can play, anyone can sing, or just sit and listen to the fire.
The Land
A century-old stone lodge built by hand from the timber and stone around it, elevated above a big lake with hundreds of feet of private shoreline. Western exposure, so every sunset drops into the water. Private bedrooms, not bunks.
The Still Point
One named place on the property — a bench by the lake, a chair at the tree line. Step away whenever you need to. Nobody follows, nobody checks on you. A man who knows he can leave is a man more likely to stay.
The Bonfires
The first night, everyone walks into the woods after dark and each man speaks his name into the firelight. The second, each man burns what he's ready to put down. No curfew either night — the best conversations happen at 1 AM.
The Letter
You write to yourself at the fire and hand it in sealed. Ninety days later, once you've forgotten what you wrote, it lands in your mailbox. A message from the man you were to the man you've become.
The Token
At the closing circle each man gets his first name spoken aloud and something small placed in his hand — hand-forged iron, real and heavy. Something to hold at 2 AM three months later when the old patterns come back.
This is an alcohol-free weekend. Herbal teas, craft sodas, good coffee, infused water. For the men who can't be around it — and for the ones who don't realize yet that they shouldn't be.
Before You Apply
This Is Not for Everyone
We take 15 men. Being honest about who this is for is the least we can do before asking you to be honest with us.
This is for you if
- You're functioning on the outside and struggling underneath it
- You've got no one you can call at 2 AM, and you know whose fault that is
- You're tired of being the strong one and never being asked
- You've read the books, listened to the podcasts, and nothing moved
- You want to be a better father, husband, or friend than you were last year
- You can sit with hard truths without needing them softened
This is not for you if
- You're looking for a networking weekend or a business mastermind
- You want a guru, a system, or someone to hand you the answer
- You're not willing to give up your phone for three days
- You're in active crisis and need clinical care, not a retreat
- You'd need to break The Pact to tell someone who you saw here
- You're coming to fix someone else
If you're in immediate danger, please call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). This retreat is not a substitute for medical or psychiatric care.
Why You Can Trust This
You Don't Know My Name. Here's What You Can Know.
At the retreat, no one knows who the founder is until the first fire. That's the whole point — a man who pours your coffee shouldn't outrank you. I hold to that here too.
But I know what I'm asking. Money, and the truth about your life, handed to someone who signs his name “The Founder.” So instead of a name, here is everything you can actually verify.
A real phone number, answered by me
Not a contact form that disappears. Call or text (612) 310-3241 and you're talking to the man who built this — before you pay anything.
Nobody is accepted without a conversation
Every applicant gets a personal call. It isn't an interview, it's a conversation — and it's also how you vet me as much as I vet you.
Screening and a signed waiver
Participants consent to a background check and sign a liability waiver. There is a written de-escalation protocol for the weekend.
Payment through Stripe
Card details are never stored by us. A $350 deposit holds your spot, and the refund terms are written down rather than implied.
Terms in writing
Cancellations, refunds, conduct, and confidentiality are all documented. Read them before you apply, not after.
Nobody is priced out
A scholarship fund exists so money is never the reason a man doesn't get help. Applications are private and never disclosed at the retreat.
This retreat is run by Cronk Companies LLC, a registered Minnesota company. It is not therapy and makes no clinical claims — we encourage every man here to have a therapist, and Sunday morning includes concrete help finding one.
Two Paths
Apply
Not open enrollment. 15 men, chosen with intention. Not everyone is accepted — but everyone who applies gets a conversation.
$1,695
per person · all-inclusive · inaugural session pricing
Pay in full, or $350 holds your spot with $1,345 due 6 weeks before the retreat. No upsells, no hidden costs, no tipping. Cancellation policy.
As a Participant
You know something needs to change. You don't need to know what yet — only that you're willing to show up honestly.
15 spots · first names only
Apply NowAs a Guide
You've walked a road that gave you something worth saying. Not advice — truth. No stage, no audience. Scars are the qualification.
Travel, lodging and food covered
Apply as a GuideSend a Man Who Can't Afford to Go
Some of the men who need this most are the ones who can't write the check. A donation covers part or all of a participant's cost, and no one at the retreat will ever know. Same bus. Same table. Same fire.
Donations go directly to participant costs and recipients stay anonymous. Cronk Companies LLC is not a 501(c)(3), so contributions are not tax-deductible. Terms
Not Ready to Apply?
Get on the list. We'll reach out when applications are being reviewed and let you know if spots are still open.