Our Mission
The mission of Sherpa of Souls is to share the restorative power of wilderness with as many people as we can to promote personal empowerment and mental wellness. Our vision is to contribute to making ”Time in Nature/Wilderness” part of the treatment modality to promote mental health by practicing and documenting the transformative power of wilderness. We want to create an enduring community of peers that unite to share a wilderness experience and learn both about themselves and how to sustain mental calm and clarity, out of the field.
Our Belief
We believe that people are increasingly tethered to their devices and what’s comfortable or familiar, often detached from the natural world. We believe wilderness is the ultimate space to untether and get out of one’s comfort zone to promote personal growth and mental well being. We believe a Guided Wilderness Experience that promotes calm, clarity of thinking and confidence can be restorative and potentially transformative. We believe mediation is a powerful tool to help replicate that calm, clear contemplation uniquely found in the wilderness. We believe that peer-supported and confidential communities help promote connections, courage, accountability and ultimately, new positive rituals that can lead to a more restful and present mind.
Founder Journey & Origin Story
Our Ethos
The Sherpa of Souls’ Ethos is the foundation of how we conduct ourselves with our clients in
and out of the field. In other words, our Ethos represents our guiding values and help shape all of our slow travel backcountry retreats. Our Ethos draws heavily from our experience
traveling with and observing the conduct of the world famous Sherpa people of the Khumbu
Valley in Nepal. Sherpa is actually the surname of the tribe of Buddhist Tibetans that travelled East in search of religion freedom. They followed their spiritual leader Lama Rinpoche and his teachings to establish their current home in the Khumbu Valley, approximately 500 years ago. Now, the Sherpa people of Khumbu valley are revered for their courage, strength, mountaineering skills and humility, which are relied heavily upon to help tourists reach Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world.
During every Sherpa of Souls retreat orientation these words are brought to life with backcountry travel stories and anecdotes, which hopefully set the code of conduct for ourselves and ideally our clients. One example is this ethos is our commitment to “Leave No Trace” backcountry travel practices.
Said more simply, we leave the natural environment as pristine as we found it.
Scholarships
An integral part of the Sherpa of Souls mission is to make slow backcountry retreats as assessible as possible to as many people as we can. To that end, for those in need of financial assistance, our founder has pledged to offer qualified candidates reduced retreat costs. Above and beyond confirmation of financial need, qualified candidates receiving financial support will agree to participate in mental health medical research in the form of a follow-up questionnaire administered by a professional research organization, consistent with our vision to make retreats in nature a reimbursable mental health intervention.
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While we will request all Sherpa of Souls clients to participate in questions of mental health, it will not be mandatory, whereas it will be mandatory for all scholarship participants.
Meet The Team
We incirporate a partnering strategy to bring our clients the best wilderness-based wellness programming and overall experience. Some of our favorite partner profiles follow.
