The Double Helix | ORIGIN

with Kevin Courtney

May 22-29, 2027 | Blue Spirit, Costa Rica

Special Guests:

Alison Sinatra | Erin Rose Ward | Kacey Rodenbush | Karley St Pierre | Juliane Aehree | Yaniv Zohar

The Beginning of a New Arc

From May 22 to 29, 2027, in Nosara, Costa Rica, we begin the first retreat in a new seven-year, seven-retreat series called: The Double Helix

If The Eightfold Path was an ascent through practice, meditation, absorption, and realization, The Double Helix is the return journey: the threading of that realization back through the body, back through the centers, back through the living architecture of who we are.

Across seven years, we move through two strands together:

  • The seven bodies: physical, energetic, mental, witness, bliss, soul, consciousness

  • The seven centers: root, sacral, solar, heart, throat, third eye, crown


Each year, one center and one body are paired and explored in depth. Like the DNA ladder, the two strands inform one another and rise together.

Year One

Physical Body and Root Center

The Double Helix: ORIGIN

We begin at the base. With the body. With our inner ground. With what it means to be here now.

This first retreat is a return to the root center and the physical body: the place of safety, survival, structure, grounding, and presence.


Year one is about restoring the foundation. Rebuilding trust in the body. Reawakening intelligence at the base of the system so that everything above it can come alive in a more stable and integrated way.


The Pathway

This retreat offers a rare opportunity to quiet the noise and connect with the deeper intelligence of the heart and soul. Across the week, a carefully sequenced flow of accessible practices will gather the energies of body, breath, and mind into coherence. From that center, consciousness expands, naturally, in its own time, for each participant.

Each day, we explore sacred pathways into presence:

  • Morning Meditation and Pranayama with Kevin to cultivate stability, spaciousness, and insight

  • Tantric Hatha Yoga, Restorative Practice, Qi Gong, and Yoga Nidra to harmonize energy and ground awareness

  • INSIGHT Contemplative Sessions with self-inquiry, journaling, and dialogue

  • The 360 Emergence with Erin Rose Ward

  • Crystal Consciousness and Astrology Musings with Nico Grae

  • Ceremonial Breathwork to ignite clarity and inspiration with Alison Sinatra

  • Sound Alchemy with Kacey Rodenbush to down-regulate and attune to subtle awareness

  • A Final Ceremony to honor and seal our collective passage

All offerings are accessible to seasoned practitioners and those new to the path. No prior experience with the Eightfold Path is required.

The Invitation

This weeklong journey is a refuge. A sanctuary for crossing the most sacred threshold within.

If you feel the call, come as you are: with your devotion and your questions, your laughter and your tears, your longing and your wonder. All of it belongs here, part of the alchemy and the subtle forces that draw you inward.

Together, we return to what has always been: the steady light of consciousness within.

Registration is now open. Space is limited.

With love and respect,

Kevin

If you have questions about attending ORIGIN or would like to set up a payment plan in order to attend, please email our retreat producer Nico Grae | Nico@thisisinsight.com

What is The Eightfold Path?

Founded in 2018, The Eightfold Path is a multi-year exploration of the eight limbs of yoga. Rooted in Vedic and Tantric wisdom and carried by a living, breathing community, each year centers on one limb through an annual retreat designed to nourish, awaken, and transform.

As we enter Samādhi, we fulfill the original vision: eight limbs, eight years, one path. What remains is not just the teaching, but the lived transmission of a journey walked together.

The Sacred Practices we will Incorporate:

  • Meditation

  • Yoga Nidra

  • Pranayama

  • Restorative Yoga

  • Sound Alchemy

  • Tantric Hatha Yoga

  • The 360 Emergence

  • INSIGHT Self Inquiry

  • Breathwork

  • Somatic Movement

The Eightfold Path Creator, Kevin Courtney

Kevin Courtney, founder and CEO of INSIGHT, is a leading expert in meditation, mindfulness, and conscious leadership.

With a commitment to lifelong learning, Kevin has spent three decades immersed in the wisdom of Vedanta, Tantra, Taoism, Buddhism, Psychodynamics, and Psychology.

Grounded in these teachings, he founded INSIGHT in 2013—a one-on-one program designed to illuminate and awaken the body, mind, heart, and spirit.

Kevin and his family live in Santa Monica, CA, and he continues expanding his teachings’ reach through mentorship, online meditations, workshops, and retreats. His work is dedicated to guiding others toward a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them.

Meet Your Guest Teachers

  • Kate Shela

    Kate Shela is a dynamic shape-shifter –
    An epic DJ.
    A catalyst with heart who creates life retrievals.
    She’s a seer of
    re-member-ing, of reshaping pathways
    that access what’s essential.
    She drops into the belly of listening and draws out the
    innate healer in each of us.
    Bold and improvisational, hilarious and tender.
    Known for changing your life.

  • Alison Sinatra

    Alison Sinatra has been teaching yoga and facilitating healing retreats/spaces for 25 years. Alison, is a medicine woman who integrates into her classes both yoga and her studies in North and South American indigenous ways. Most recently, Alison completed Dr. Gabor Mate's Compassionate Inquiry and is also currently a student in "The Portal" a 6 month training in the Gabor Mate line, supporting all aspects of pregnancy through consciousness and trauma work.

  • Erin Rose Ward

    Erin Rose Ward is a guide on the path to wholeness and remembering. She is passionate about the human body and its capacity to escort us into a deep relationship with the sacred.

    Erin has been with The Eightfold Path retreat since its inception. Her work is a translation of wisdom traditions applied to our modern times through the lens of the heart.

About Menla Retreat

Menla is a hidden oasis set in a secluded valley beside an enchanting stream in the heart of the Catskill Mountains. A truly unique venue and a project of Tibet House US – the Dalai Lama’s cultural center in North America – Menla is a modern resort and destination spa surrounded by thousands of acres of unspoiled wilderness. Inspired by the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Tibet, Menla strives to keep alive knowledge handed down for centuries through its retreat offerings.

There is a selection of accommodations that will be booked first come, but we will also do our best to meet your rooming needs and preferences. If you are familiar with the property and want to have a specific type of room, PLEASE book your reservation as soon as possible.

All meals are included in your retreat registration and are made lovingly by the chef and culinary staff on site. The meals will be strictly vegan and vegetarian, but accommodations can be made for allergies.