About One Sanctum

What you've been trying to quiet might be the voice that you and the world need to hear.

You already know something is asking for your attention.

It arrives in the in-between moments: the pause after a conversation that should have felt like enough, the particular quality of 3am, the sense that the life you are living, good as it is, has not yet reached its own depth. Most of us have learned to move past it. To fill the space before it can speak.

We gather in extraordinary places with some of the most important thinkers, healers, and wisdom-keepers of our time. Not to be instructed. Not to be fixed. But to remember — together — what it means to be fully alive, and what becomes possible when people who sense the same things finally find each other in the same room.

This is not the wellness industry. This is something older, and more necessary.

One Sanctum was founded on the belief that

the most important conversations of our time are not happening at scale — they are happening in rooms, between people who have found each other at the right moment. We build those rooms.

One Sanctum is built for those who are ready to stop filling the space — and to find out what has been waiting there. Not the weekend workshop with its crowded schedule and insufficient integration time. Not the online summit that can be consumed passively from a sofa.

A multi-day immersive gathering, away from ordinary life, with a small group of thoughtfully selected participants and a faculty of genuine depth. Each retreat is a progression, not a programme. The intellectual and the somatic interweave. The group itself becomes a resource.

Put the right people together in the right conditions, and something happens that none of them could have produced alone.

The Gathering

A faculty chosen with care.
A company of seekers.

Each teacher invited for the depth of what they know and the integrity of how they live it.

Canadian Physician Addiction Expert Bestselling Author

Dr. Gabor Maté

Physician, author of The Myth of Normal and In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. For four decades Dr. Maté has traced the line between chronic stress, trauma, and the diseases of modern life — and insisted that healing is always possible, at any age.

"We may not be responsible for the world that created our minds, but we can take responsibility for the mind with which we create our world."

Dr. Rosalind Watts

Clinical Psychologist · ACER Integration

Former clinical lead on the Imperial College psilocybin-for-depression trial.

Dr. Rosalind Watts is a clinical psychologist and one of the leading researchers in psychedelic-assisted therapy. She was the clinical lead on the landmark Imperial College London psilocybin-for-depression trial, and is the founder of ACER Integration, developing ethical frameworks for psychedelic therapy at scale.

Apostolia Papadamaki

Hellenic Wisdom Carrier · Anamnesis

Greek choreographer at the edge of performance, somatics, and ritual.

Apostolia Papadamaki is a Greek choreographer, somatic practitioner, and founder of Anamnesis — a practice dedicated to reclaiming ancestral wisdom through the body, movement, and ritual. She works at the edge of performance and healing, drawing on Hellenic traditions to facilitate embodied remembrance.

Dr. Michael Ryoshin Sapiro

Psychologist · Zen Monk · Author

Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, bridging contemplation and science.

Dr. Michael Ryoshin Sapiro is an ordained Zen Buddhist monk, clinical psychologist, and psychedelic-assisted therapist. His book Truth Medicine explores the intersection of psychedelic therapy and contemplative practice. A Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, he teaches internationally on transformation and expanded human capabilities.

Robert Forte

Religious & Psychedelic Studies Scholar

Scholar at the intersection of religion, consciousness, and psychedelic history.

Robert Forte is a scholar at the intersection of religion, consciousness, and psychedelic history. He has worked with many of the founding figures of psychedelic research, and brings a rare depth of historical, philosophical, and spiritual perspective on the use of plant medicines as tools for healing and awakening.

Dr. Jonathan Leighton

Executive Director · OPIS

Philosopher; author of The Battle for Compassion; founder of OPIS.

Dr. Jonathan Leighton is a philosopher, author of The Battle for Compassion, and founder and Executive Director of OPIS — the Organisation for the Prevention of Intense Suffering. His work asks what it truly means to take the suffering of others seriously, and what compassion demands of those with the power to act.

Ashira Darwish

Sound Healer · Activist

Palestinian-Jordanian human-rights worker and sound practitioner.

Ashira Darwish is a Palestinian-Jordanian sound healer and activist whose work weaves together ancestral traditions of sound, ceremony, and community. She brings a practice of sound rooted in healing, resistance, and the reclamation of joy — a reminder that music and vibration have always been instruments of collective repair.

Ioanna Soulioti

Wellness Coordinator

Holding the rhythm of the days — body, breath, and embodied attention.

Ioanna Soulioti is a wellness practitioner and somatic guide who will hold the rhythm of the days at One Sanctum — designing the embodied container within which the deeper work can land. She works with breath, body awareness, and movement to support integration and presence throughout the gathering.

Patty Petropoulou

Body Intelligence Instructor

Teacher of embodied attention, drawing on decades of somatic practice.

Patty Petropoulou is a body intelligence and self-awareness instructor with decades of experience in somatic practice. Her work supports people in developing a more conscious, attuned relationship with their bodies — recognising that the body is not separate from thought, emotion, or transformation, but is where all of it lives.

The Burrells

Rewilders · Authors

Charlie and Isabella Burrell, pioneers of the Knepp rewilding project.

Charlie and Isabella Burrell are the pioneers behind Knepp — the groundbreaking rewilding project on their West Sussex estate that has become one of the most celebrated examples of ecological restoration in Europe. Their work invites participants to consider what rewilding means not only for the land, but for the human psyche.

View the Full Programme →

The Arc of the Days

A rhythm, not a schedule.

Mornings for the inner work. Afternoons for the body and the island. Evenings for company.

Day one

Monday 25 May

Opening the Village

Arrivals from 6:30pm. A gathering dinner on the waterfront and the opening circle — the agreements we make to be here, together, for what follows.

Day two

Tuesday 26 May

Unleashing the Dragon

Navigating loss, grief, and liberation. An inquiry into the weight we carry, and what becomes possible when it is finally named.

Day three

Wednesday 27 May

Doorway to Connection

The threshold between the inner life and the lives of others. Practices of presence, attunement, and repair.

Day four

Thursday 28 May

Rooted in Connection

What it means to stand in relationship — to self, to one another, to the living world that holds us.

Day five

Friday 29 May

Healing the World

Taking action from inside our paths. A closing circle, a slow morning, and departures from 2pm — carrying what we have found back into the wider world.

Reserve Your Place →

One Sanctum
is a sacred space
for all.

What you've been trying to quiet might be the voice that you and the world need to hear.

Resilience in a Stressed World