The “I AM” Retreat

Creating Conditions of No Escape for the Egoic Mind

The 7-day online retreat is designed to meet you at any stage of the spiritual journey… from the first flicker of longing to the post-awakening path of integration. A new 7-day retreat cycle begins every Saturday (at 1PM EST) and ends every Friday, allowing you to begin at any time and synchronize with our global sangha, joining 4 hours of daily meditation, evening self inquiry dyads, and a live Q&A checkin with Dan every Tuesday. Alternatively, if you want to do the retreat on your own without the live components, simply follow the schedule page any time. For those in other time zones, the schedule page now has a time zone selector, allowing you to shift the entire retreat schedule to your local time.

The online “I AM” retreat is not just another course or retreat- it is deep sadhana. Sadhana is the wayless way that leads from the illusion of becoming to the simplicity of Being. At the beginning of the retreat there is an invitation to engage with the techniques offered if you are drawn to them. Before awakening, sadhana may look like practice, effort, and discipline. But each practice is a stepping stone, like a “thorn to remove a thorn”, and we eventually let go of all doing, letting go of the doer of sadhana, as we move deeper into stillness and eventually to just being.

Once one has had an awakening, sadhana becomes something different; it becomes a sadhana without a doer. The practices that we do at the beginning of the retreat lead to a clearing of the mind to create the conditions for awakening. But awakening is not the end… it is the beginning of a new form of sadhana. Once you know who you are, it is about abiding as the Self, and noticing the remaining vasanas and samskaras (tendencies and patterns of the unconscious mind) that are still in play, and letting them burn up in the fire of presence.

At the Samadhi Center, we’ve spent years exploring how to create the most potent conditions for true awakening. The IAM Retreat is the fruit of this exploration; a 7-day immersive online experience that runs continuously, week after week, for those called to the pathless path. This retreat is designed to create the inner and outer conditions where the egoic mind has nowhere to hide. In the silence of this container, the illusions of the separate self are gently, or sometimes radically, dismantled. The IAM retreat invites a radical letting go, and a willingness to rest in the unknown.

As the Zen saying goes:

“Awakening happens by accident, but Sadhana (practice) makes you
accident-prone.”

Daniel Schmidt and the ATW team have created a sacred container for this inner work… a living field of presence where the flame of awakening is tended with care. Each week, the IAM retreat unfolds with a rhythm designed to support the sincere seeker: pre-recorded teachings distilled from years of retreats, video transmissions carrying the essence of the path, self inquiry which you will do in dyads (with partners paired using the new “I AM” app at selfinquirydyads.com), and a live weekly Q&A, where Daniel meets participants in real-time inquiry.

The “I AM” retreats are not about acquiring knowledge, but about transmission… about seeing clearly, together. The most potent pointers have been carefully curated to meet you where you are on the journey, whether you are just beginning or deep in the unfolding. The schedule page contains over 85 video recordings. As your remembrance deepens, the inner energy… prana, chi, kundalini, however one names it, begins to move freely, no longer entangled in the karmic knots of identification. The inner lotus is nourished and blooms are possible. Samadhi, once glimpsed as a passing state, begins to root itself as a permanent unfolding. Not a state, but an ever present dimension of bliss (called satchitananda in some traditions), which is inseparable from your true nature.

The 7 Day Online”I AM” Retreat

To truly enter this space of transformation, the IAM retreat invites a total commitment- a wholehearted willingness to engage in continuous inner practice for seven days.

Awakening is not a hobby. It’s not something to pencil into your calendar between your green smoothie and your evening Netflix. If the longing is real, it burns. Not like a mild curiosity, but like your very being is in flames. It is the longing that consumes the seeker… not something to add to a spiritual résumé.

For those who have already experienced kensho, a glimpse beyond the veil, or tasted the divine union of Samadhi, this retreat offers the opportunity to stabilize in pure “I AM-ness.” Here, the deeper work begins; re… cognizing and purifying the samskaras, the latent impressions and patterns that still move in the unconscious. It is in the light of sustained presence that these old patterns are seen, met, and released. This is the grace of Sadhana… the same conditions that bring about awakening are also a sanctuary for its deepening.

The perennial wisdom of the ages whispers one essential truth: “Die before you die.” This of course is not about physical death, but the death of the false self and the unraveling of everything you think you are. It is about interrupting the pattern of you and the habitual momentum of the egoic mind, and entering the mystery of not knowing. A pure, childlike openness. A “don’t know mind.”

A natural part of this awakening process is the unraveling of samskaras which are the deep-seated conditioned patterns that act like energetic knots, binding awareness to the illusion of separateness. These knots are often tied up with repressed emotions, unprocessed traumas, and incomplete experiences stored in the body-mind. During the retreat, as the distractions fall away, these impressions naturally begin to rise to the surface to be met in equanimity, seen clearly, and released into the light of presence.

This is not about chasing extraordinary experiences and will involve moving out of your comfort zone, but in a balanced way. Not so far out of your comfort zone that you will go into overwhelm. This is the middle way. True transformation asks that we step beyond the ego’s preferences, the addiction to comfort, the avoidance of discomfort, and allow whatever arises to be held in awareness without resistance.

The pointers and practices offered during the IAM retreat are not techniques to achieve a goal. They are not meant to add more doing to the conditioned mind. Rather, they are instruments of revelation and tools that help strip away illusion, layer by layer, until what remains is the formless ground of Being: the primordial awareness that was never born and will never die.

“One must seek awakening like one with their hair on fire seeks a pond to jump into.”

~ Ramakrishna

Some elements in the schedule include:

Important Considerations

• Important Considerations: Although meditation/ self inquiry is of great benefit for most people, it can bring up previous trauma from the past and is not a substitute for medical or psychiatric treatment. If you have unresolved trauma, depression, anxiety, loss (either a significant death, job, home, income…), if you have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline or narcissistic personality disorder or similar diagnoses, or you are on antipsychotic, neuroleptic or psychotropic drugs, we generally do not have the capability to support you at this online retreat. In general the psyche should be relatively healthy and stable before engaging in this form of deep sadhana.

The heart of this offering is to support the unfolding of what is already whole within each of us. At the same time, in the world of appearances, in the realm of form, we are also caretakers of the container in which this work unfolds. It’s not about labeling anyone as “unfit” or “less than.” It’s about ensuring that the conditions are supportive, not destabilizing, for those who step into such a deep inward process. Samadhi itself is not discriminatory in the slightest. But certain mental states, especially when extreme or not yet integrated, can make it difficult to remain present with what arises in retreat. It’s not a judgment; it’s simply a practical, compassionate consideration for all involved. If you are unsure whether the retreat is right for you please contact us at contact@samadhi.ca and we will help point you towards the next steps on your journey.

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“Do you have more questions about meditation, self inquiry or the 7 day sadhana retreat?
Check out the FAQs (frequently asked questions) page.”