Work Alive Retreat

Location icon
Surba, Frankreich
Users icon
Up to 20 in group
Date
Sep 27 - Oct 4, 2026

Retreat Highlights

  • 💻 4–10 hours/day of real, focused work on your actual project
  • ⏱️ 90-minute deep work blocks with mindfulness check-ins in between
  • 🧘 Morning yoga, qi gong, or walks in the Pyrenees (optional)
  • 🍳 Communal cooking — turning shared tasks into shared pleasure
  • 🔥 Evening fires, games, music, and honest conversation
  • 🪞 Small group relational practices — no advice, just being seen
  • 🌄 Closing circle and integration on the final day
  • 👥 10–20 participants: intimate enough for real connection, diverse enough for fresh perspective

About this Retreat

Your Guides

Details of this retreat

💻 A week-long retreat in the French Pyrenees — except your actual work is the practice.

You bring your real project: the paper, the code, the book, whatever is alive for you. You work in focused blocks alongside honest, interesting people. Morning movement, communal cooking, evening fires. And somehow, you stop getting through your work and start fully being in it.

The resistance you feel opening a document is the same resistance a meditator feels sitting with discomfort — and it responds to the same thing: honest, gentle attention.

🔥 Days 1–2 — Deep dive
90-minute work blocks, no guilt, no rules. Like a hackathon without the performance anxiety. Mindfulness check-ins between sessions: "What are you noticing?"

🔍 Day 3 — Patterns emerge
Some blocks felt like flow, some like pulling teeth. We look at that contrast together — not to fix it, but to see what it's telling you.

🪞 Days 3–4 — It gets real
Small group conversations, no advice, just being seen. Work becomes a mirror for everything else.

🌄 Day 5 — Landing
A final work block, closing circle, and reflection.

🌿 Throughout: morning yoga or qi gong, communal cooking, evening fires, games, and stargazing.

For researchers, writers, developers, designers — anyone who chose work they love and suspects they might have lost touch with the joy of it.

📅 September 27 – October 4, 2026 · French Pyrenees · 10–20 participants

Schedule

08:00 🧘 Morning yoga, qi gong, or walk in the Pyrenees (optional)
09:00 🍳 Breakfast together
10:00 💻 Focused work blocks (90 min on / 10 min off) with buddy check-ins
13:00 🍽️ Communal cooking + long lunch, open discussion
15:00 🌀 Afternoon work blocks, lighter, with relational practices woven in
17:30 🌿 Free time / nature / rest
19:00 🍷 Dinner together
20:30 🔥 Evening: fire, sharings, games, music, mindfulness — whatever the group needs

🏞️ Weekend: unstructured — hike, explore ancient cave art, rest, or head out
Note: Schedule is approximate and may change

Getting Here

Location icon INTP, Surba, Frankreich

Directions

✈️ Nearest International Airport: Toulouse–Blagnac Airport (TLS)
Located approximately 1 hour from the retreat center. It offers numerous international and domestic flights. From Toulouse Airport, take a shuttle to Gare SNCF Toulouse Matabiau, then board a regional train to Tarascon-sur-Ariège (about 90 minutes). The retreat organizers can arrange a pickup from the train station.  



🛬 Alternative Regional Airports
• Tarbes–Lourdes–Pyrénées Airport (LDE)
Approximately 1 hour from the retreat center. This airport handles scheduled and charter flights from across Europe. 
• Carcassonne Airport (CCF)
Also about 1 hour away, offering flights primarily from European destinations.()



🚗 By Car
If you prefer to drive, you can rent a car from any of the airports mentioned above. From Toulouse or Carcassonne, take the direction of Foix and Andorra until Tarascon-sur-Ariège. Follow signs indicating Saurat & Surba (right on a large roundabout before entering Tarascon). Once you enter Surba, continue straight into the village.  



🚆 By Train
A night train runs directly from Paris Gare d’Austerlitz to Tarascon-sur-Ariège, which is the closest train station to the retreat center. From there, a pickup can be arranged. 



For detailed directions and maps, please visit the INTP Campus Directions Page.

Accommodation

accommodation

Program Price

Venue & Amenities

Venue & Amenities
the retreat center

Meals

Menu Types

What's Included

  • 🛏️ 7 nights shared accommodation (2 people per room)
  • 🥗 All vegetarian meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) — prepared together as a group
  • 🧘 Morning movement sessions: yoga, qi gong, or guided walk (optional)
  • 💻 All facilitated work blocks and group sessions
  • 🔥 Evening practices, fires, and communal activities
  • 🏔️ Access to INTP.science research residency — mountains, forests, quiet workspaces

What's Not Included

  • ✈️ Travel to/from the retreat location
  • 🚗 Airport or train station transfers (can be arranged separately)
  • 🎿 Additional excursions outside the retreat program
  • 💳 Personal expenses

Customer Reviews

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