Common Inquiries

Makom is a small-group retreat brand built around a simple conviction: that the right place, with the right people and enough joy, can do something in a person that ordinary life struggles to make room for. Each week is built around where it actually is. The theology comes from the ground. The programming comes from the history and sacred geography of that specific landscape. The silence is particular to where you are. It is not a conference. There is no stage, no general session, no back-of-room sales, no breakout tracks. It is not a typical retreat either, there is no curriculum to complete, no workbook, no homework. It is more like being invited to spend a week in a remarkable place with a small group of people who are all after the same thing, with teaching and worship and silence woven through the days rather than scheduled around them. The week has shape, but it is not rigid. The goal is formation, not information.

Enough structure that the week has a shape. Enough freedom that you can move within it. Teaching sessions and worship are the anchors. Off-site experiences like a summit climb, a coastal walk, a day on the water, and a monastery visit are offered as the week's centrepiece moments and we encourage them, because they are often where the most significant things happen. But nothing is compulsory. If you need a morning to sit alone by the fire, that is a legitimate use of a Makom week. If you need to skip an afternoon and walk alone on the coast, do it. We trust guests to know what they need. The people who get the most from these weeks are rarely the ones who do everything, they are the ones who arrive honestly.

In general, this is a very relaxed week. The morning movement sessions are vigorous for those who want them, but fully accessible regardless of fitness level. The walks are optional and unhurried. Some of the excursions like surfing or hiking a mountain require an increased level of effort, but these are optional and there is no expectation of physical performance. We move at the pace we are able to move with our group. We want people to sabbath, not to strive.