Institute Intensive | Tau Journey: Panama for Creatives
February 15, 2025 @ 9:00 am - February 21, 2025 @ 12:00 pm
Join Tau, a Goldenwood affiliate organization, on this bespoke, immersive, and guided 7-day / 6-night pilgrimage toward your deep self and shalom. Tau Journey Panama is designed for individuals seeking deeper spiritual well-being and personal transformation through an immersive experience. The program includes lessons from and experiences of the local flora, fauna and culture in companionship with the Holy Scriptures and the Christian contemplative tradition, and this particular week is uniquely tailored to Creatives. Tau welcomes those open to contemplative Christian practices and cross-cultural connections, offering a unique opportunity for spiritual growth and renewal.
Participants will engage in Tau’s “Seven Steps of Shalom” program for sustainable spirituality to frame each day, which combines prayer, journaling, and spiritual direction. The retreat integrates biomimicry principles, somatic practices, internal family systems work, and wilderness therapy, all within a Christian contemplative framework.
Why Panama? Bocas del Toro provides an ideal setting for spiritual transformation through its unique combination of natural beauty and cultural diversity. The area serves as home to the Smithsonian Institute for Caribbean Studies, offering an unparalleled environment where participants can experience the raw beauty of jungle and marine ecosystems. Unlike typical tourist destinations, this location provides genuine encounters with nature and local culture, fostering meaningful reflection and growth. The region features a harmonious blend of indigenous traditions and global influences, creating a unique environment for cross-cultural learning and community engagement. While maintaining basic comforts, Bocas del Toro offers an off-the-beaten-path experience that encourages personal discovery and growth, all facilitated by Tau’s experienced team to ensure a safe and meaningful journey throughout your stay.
What to expect on this transformative journey:
- Immersive Natural Wonder – Discover the raw beauty of Panama’s Caribbean shores through guided wilderness experiences that combine adventure, contemplation, and personal renewal
- Holistic Well-being Focus – Engage in daily practices including morning yoga on an open air treetop platform surrounded by the jungle, guided contemplative prayer, somatic exercises, discussion and the “Seven Steps to Shalom” meditation journey
- Luxurious Simplicity – Enjoy 6 nights/7 days of accommodation in the stunning Bocas Del Toro archipelago, with three nourishing shared and guided meals provided daily
- Personal Growth Journey – Receive personalized support including an optional pre-trip health coaching session, well-being inventory, and post-trip assistance in creating your “Prosperity Plan”
- Community Connection – Join like-minded seekers in an open, restorative community experience while exploring local excursions and adventures
At the end of the day, this is your journey and Tau wants to help you take ownership of it–they are guides, not gurus. So though Tau has planned a transformative experience that they highly recommend you entrust yourself to, Tau believes it’s most important that they help you steward your time as you most need. The group versus individual experience is meant to be a bit flexible. Excursions and optional activities include the possibility of guided nature walks, bird and critter watching, hikes, local restaurants, deserted islands, cacao/chocolate farm visits, foraging lessons, bat caves, massage, fishing, pristine beaches, and nearly every kind of water activity one could desire, including snorkeling, kayak and SUP from the property, scuba, surfing, sailing, and swimming. Some of these excursions would incur additional individual cost.
*Please note, this program requires a moderate level of physical fitness and mobility, as participants must be able to swim and navigate boat taxis, dock transfers, hiking trails.
Any questions or considerations before registering? Feel free to email jamison@taujourneys.com.
Details:
Location: Bocas del Toro, Bocas del Toro Province, Panama
Date and Time: Feb 15, 2025, 9:00 AM – Feb 21, 2025, 12:00 PM
Cost: Cost is $1,900 per person or less (varies based on accommodation choice and grouping)
- Includes accommodations for six (6) nights and seven (7) days, three (3) meals per day, morning yoga and guided contemplative prayer, an on-site spiritual director, and curated guidance to many adventures. Pre-trip, includes one (1) one-on-one session with a licensed health coach and a holistic (mind, body, spirit, relationships) well-being inventory.
- Not included: All flights and travel to and from Bocas Del Toro archipelago, travel & medical insurance, local excursions, snacks, boat taxis, alcohol.
About your Guide:
Jamison is an ordained Presbyterian minister and the senior pastor of Resurrection Brooklyn in New York City, where he has served for nearly two decades. He lived a nomadic childhood as the son of a Marine Corps officer and lawyer, having been to all 50 states (living in a number of them) and many countries, always exploring the local wilderness with his dad and brother.
He is a graduate of The University of Texas and Covenant Theological Seminary, Redeemer Manhattan’s Fellows Program, and Goldenwood’s Dream Forum. Jamison is also a writer, indie musician, storyteller, surfer, entrepreneur, and holy-mischief-maker.
His wife, Laura, is the founding director of Safe Families for Children NYC and together they have four children.
Jamison founded the non-profit Tau during Covid after returning with his family from a brief respite stay in Panama, where his father was instrumental in handing over the Canal to the people of Panama in the late 1990s.
He is passionate about helping people experience transformation through contemplation, creativity, and connection. He is about to embark on “A Year of Living Wondrously” by resigning from his parish pastor role and endeavoring to become a Missionary of Wonder. He warmly invites you to come along for this experience in Panama or some other part of the larger journey.
About Tau:
Tau aims to love the world by guiding people on transformative journeys toward shalom. Our goal is to assist others on their pilgrimage toward shalom, which we understand to be cosmic, communal, and personal well-being and the intended destination of all things. We navigate a path forward through immersive experiences of wilderness, well-being, and ways-of-life.
Any truly transformative journey is an inner and outer one, and the lifelong pilgrimage toward personal and global well-being has long monotonous sections as well as dramatic and cathartic periods. Our wilderness retreats employ powerful experiences of raw nature, spiritual guidance, entry-level somatic and wilderness therapies, wonder, play, indigenous encounters, open and restorative community, and contemplative practices and prayer in order to serve as an intense and focused crossroad and compass for personal renewal.
Tau Journey Panama is our flagship offering, an immersive experience of shalom, for real transformation.