The Hoffman Process is a seven-day retreat where each day you’ll be taught tools and techniques to support you for life.
Each day will start at 7.30am for breakfast, followed by our first workshop at 8.30am. There are regular breaks and opportunities to get outside into nature, and we aim to finish at 9.00pm each evening. Food and refreshments are carefully planned to ensure that you’re physically as well as emotionally looked after.
In the UK, our Process groups are usually 24 or 32 participants. Hoffman facilitators work as a team with a ratio of 1:8. They are highly trained and are licensed to work within a contract of standards of safety governed by Hoffman International. Confidentiality is assured and it is up to you how much you wish to share with others.
The Process has a unique recipe, drawing ingredients from various modalities including Gestalt, NLP, CBT, mindfulness, bioenergetic and psychodynamic work. Exercises are fully explained beforehand and may be done in a group, small groups, in pairs or on your own. Examples include journalling, meditation and guided visualisation, as well as physically expressive exercises.
Everyone’s experience of the Process will be different, because we all have different backgrounds and because we all want different things out of life. Although you’re supported, encouraged and often inspired by other group members, it’s important you focus on your own journey. For this reason, we do not allow participants to attend a Process week with friends, partners or family members.
In order for you to get the most from the course you’re asked to give up any distractions. This includes mobile phones – although it’s always possible for you to be contacted in an emergency – and other distractions like screens, reading materials or music. We will also ask that you press pause on regular meditative, breathwork and exercise practices during the Process. You are encouraged to resume your practices after the Process.
Although our Process venues provide peaceful and comfortable surroundings, and are in areas of outstanding natural beauty, Hoffman is not a pamper or spa retreat. There will be times of intense emotional and physical experience, some of which may feel challenging at the time. Over the course of the week and in the months and years that follow, you will be able to live your life on your terms, to connect more to those around you and to achieve long-held goals.
Where does the Process take place?
We are currently holding Processes at The Vedanta in Lincolnshire and Broughton Sanctuary in Yorkshire. See our venues page for more details.
With the occasional exception, most of our Process retreats begin with registration on a Saturday morning at 9.00am and finish around 2.00pm on the following Friday.
You will be offered the option to arrive the evening before the course begins, and we also recommend that you take the weekend following the Process as a short break to yourself before returning home.
Client confidentiality, safety and integrity is of utmost importance to us. You can read more in our privacy policy here.
We require all participants to agree to preserve the anonymity of other participants and to sign an agreement to this effect before arriving at our venues.
We will only ever disclose the identity of a course participant on the very rare occasion when we believe there to be a safeguarding concern.
Each day begins with breakfast at 7:30 am and ends at approximately 9:00pm. The days are full and structured, with breaks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Below is an approximate outline of the daily schedule:
7:30–8:30 am: Breakfast and facilitator check-in
8:30am –1:00pm: Process session
(includes a mid-morning break)
1:00–2:00 pm: Lunch
2:00–7:00 pm: Process session
(includes a mid-afternoon break)
7:00–8:00 pm: Dinner
8:00–9:00 pm: Process session
Daily sessions include:
Each day in the Process is very different as we move through the Cycle of Transformation.
Will I have to share my story with strangers?
Each Process has no more than 32 participants, with a ratio of one certified Hoffman facilitator for every 6-8 students.
Although much of the work is done in a large group, or in smaller (facilitator-led) groups, the focus is on individualised experiential learning. Each participant is doing their own internal work, and very little personal information is exchanged.
You do not have to share the content of what you are working on with others, but you will be supported in your experience by being part of a group of people who are committed to their own growth and learning.
Will I have time to read / meditate / exercise?
As far as possible, we want you to notice and stay with any emotions, thoughts and physical feelings that come up during your Process week, so you can work through them in the sessions each day.
If you are processing your feelings alone in your usual way with your usual coping mechanisms, you lose the opportunity to experience a new way of dealing with them, of breaking your habitual patterns.
There are regular scheduled breaks on the Process, and you will have time alone. There are also elements of the Process that involve physical exercise, guided meditation, journalling, reading, drawing etc. What we ask is that you agree to suspend any of these as solo practices for the short time that you are with us.
We’re with you every step of the way, from initial enquiry to port-Process support.
