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Introduction

What if everyday life could become your practice ground for profound growth and transformation? How would it feel to intentionally weave meditation, movement, learning, creativity, and self-reflection into the rhythm of your days? What aspects of your authentic self would unfold if supported by dedicated mentors and a like-minded community for a full year?

You are warmly invited to Life as Practice, a unique year-long group mentorship guided by Stockholm-based couple Stephen Reid and Laura Gottlieb. Running from September 2025 to August 2026, this immersive container is designed to help you integrate personal development into your daily existence, transforming routine into ritual and challenges into catalysts for growth. It’s a journey into living more consciously and embodying your practice fully, within a supportive community structure.

At the heart of the journey lies the Fivefold Focus, a holistic framework designed to cultivate well-being and growth across key dimensions of your life. This structure ensures a balanced approach, encouraging you to engage deeply with: Meditating, developing focus and insight through stillness; Moving, nurturing your physical vitality through consistent embodied practice; Learning, expanding your mind with curated readings and memory techniques; Creating, expressing your unique gifts through a personal project aided by cutting-edge tools; and Reflecting, deepening self-awareness through regular journaling. These five pillars form the core activities that will ground your practice throughout the year.

Holding and supporting this deep work is the Fivefold Container, the carefully crafted structure that provides rhythm, connection, and guidance throughout the year: Full Moon Meetings bring the entire group together for shared learning and guest insights; New Moon Pods foster intimacy and peer support in smaller, rotating groups; Wheel of the Year Rituals connect our practice to natural cycles and punctuate the year with adhiṭṭhāna weeks of strong determination; dedicated one-on-one mentoring sessions with both Laura and Stephen offer personalised guidance; and the potential for an in-person co-created gathering provides an opportunity for deeper interpersonal connection.

Together, the Fivefold Focus and the Fivefold Container create a powerful synergy, guiding you towards meaningful growth while providing the structure and community to sustain it. This year-long commitment is an invitation to step into a more integrated way of being, where practice isn’t separate from everyday life, but the very way you engage with it.

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The Fivefold Focus

Meditating

Assisting you to develop or maintain a strong meditation practice is a foundation of the course. Each quarter will have a different meditative focus inspired by the insight meditation tradition, especially the work of Rob Burbea:

• Samādhi: Cultivating deep concentration and calm abiding that creates a stable foundation for all other meditation practices.
• Mettā: Developing loving-kindness toward yourself and others that transforms your relationship with the world.
• Emptiness: Exploring the fluid, constructed nature of experience to loosen fixed views and open new dimensions of freedom.
• Soulmaking: Engaging sensitivity and imagination to discover deeper meaning and beauty in your lived experience.

We’ll spend some time in each monthly meeting discussing the current meditative focus, along with suggesting relevant dharma talks to listen to.

Moving

We’ll encourage you to maintain one or more movement practices throughout the course– this could be running, swimming, lifting, dance, yoga or something completely different. You’ll update your pod on your progress with the practice, and if you like, set goals or enter a competition during the year.

Learning

We’ll suggest a different book to read (or re-read) each quarter, resonant with the meditative focus, and spend some time at the monthly meeting discussing the latest chapters and any exercises within.

• Atomic Habits by James Clear: A practical guide to building good habits and breaking bad ones through small, consistent changes that compound over time.
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer: An eloquent weaving of indigenous wisdom with scientific knowledge that cultivates gratitude, reciprocity, and loving relationship with the natural world.
• Seeing That Frees by Rob Burbea: A profound meditation manual that guides you through increasingly subtle insights into emptiness and dependent arising.
• The Journey of Soul Initiation by Bill Plotkin: A nature-based field guide for discovering your unique purpose and gifts in service to life.

In addition, we’ll invite you to develop a good Anki flashcard habit, so that by the end of the year you could have learnt thousands of words in a new language, hundreds of tree or bird species, or accomplished some other feat of memory.

Creating

We’ll invite you to pursue a creative project throughout the year. Here are some examples to spark your imagination:

• Writing: A collection of personal essays on your bioregion; a speculative fiction novel exploring post-capitalist societies; a poetry collection tracking seasonal changes
• Audio/Visual: A podcast series interviewing elders in your community; a documentary film about local food systems; a music album inspired by your meditation experiences; a photography project capturing daily moments of beauty
• Anything else that brings you joy: Designing and launching a neighbourhood tool library; choreographing a dance piece inspired by the tarot; crafting a series of ritual objects for seasonal celebrations

Throughout the year, you’ll have opportunities to share your process and progress with the group. The focus is on the practice of creating rather than the final product, embracing both the challenges and breakthroughs that emerge.

We can provide support in using cutting-edge AI tools to maximise the amount of hours you spend in true creative flow, and minimise admin and rote tasks.

Reflecting

We’ll encourage you to grow or maintain a reflective journaling practice throughout the course. This could be handwritten and private, and/or you may choose to maintain an open digital log of your journey on Substack or similar.

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The Fivefold Container

Full moon meetings

We’ll meet as a whole group each month on the day of the full moon, 7pm-9pm Stockholm time. The first hour will be centered on the Five Focuses, with the second hour reserved for special guests and Q&A. You’ll also have the option of drawing a tarot card to reflect on across the month.

New moon pods

You’ll meet with your pod each month on the day of the new moon. Pods will be selected at random and change each quarter.

Wheel of the Year rituals

You’ll be invited to mark each quarter/cross-quarter observance of the Wheel of the Year with a nature-based ritual. In addition, the week after each observance will be an adhiṭṭhāna week (a week of strong determination/strong will), where you’re encouraged to make extra effort with each of the Five Focuses.

One-on-one mentoring sessions

You’ll be offered four one-on-one mentoring sessions throughout the year, two with Laura and two with Stephen.

An in-person co-created gathering

The group will have the option of arranging an in-person co-created gathering in summer 2026. This could be a camp at a larger event like Nowhere or The Borderland, or it could be a standalone gathering. We’ll support you with the preparation and planning, including showing you how to get the best out of Dandelion’s Gatherings feature.

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Who is this for?

Life as Practice is designed for individuals who:

• Feel called to deepen their personal practice and integrate it more fully into daily life
• Have some prior experience with meditation, self-reflection, or personal development work
• Desire both structure and community to support their practice
• Are willing to experiment with different modalities and approaches
• Can dedicate consistent time to their practice throughout the year

You don’t need to have prior experience in all five focus areas - part of the journey is developing these practices together. The container provides support for gradual growth in each dimension, meeting you where you are and helping you build consistency and depth over time. A diversity of experience within the group will be a valuable resource, creating opportunities for you to offer your wisdom in some areas while receiving guidance in others.

The programme is particularly well-suited for:

• Professionals seeking balance and deeper meaning alongside their careers
• Creatives looking to develop sustainable practice routines
• Experienced meditators wanting to expand their practice into other life domains
• Community builders interested in weaving personal and collective development
• Anyone at a transition point seeking structure and support for their next chapter

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Time commitment

To gain the full benefits of Life as Practice, participants should expect to dedicate:

• Structured group time: 4-6 hours per month
  • 2 hours for monthly full moon meetings
  • 1-2 hours for monthly new moon pods
  • 1-2 hours quarterly for the Wheel of the Year rituals
  • 4 one-on-one mentoring sessions (1 hour each) spread throughout the year
• Individual practice time: 10-15 hours per week
  • 30-45 minutes daily for meditation (beginners may start with less)
  • 2-3 hours weekly for movement practices
  • 2-3 hours weekly for reading and learning activities
  • 2-3 hours weekly for creative project work
  • 1-2 hours weekly for journaling and reflection

During adhiṭṭhāna weeks (the week following each seasonal observance), participants are encouraged to increase their practice time by approximately 30%.

The programme is designed with flexibility in mind, understanding that life’s rhythms vary. The container provides structure while allowing you to adapt the practices to your unique circumstances.

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Schedule

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Investment

We are offering three pricing tiers on an honesty basis:

• Early birds (apply by June 30), and those earning below €2000/month:
  • 4 payments of €499, or save ~€200 by paying in a single payment of €1799
• Standard:
  • 4 payments of €599, or save ~€200 by paying in a single payment of €2199
• Abundant (for folks with substantial disposable income or savings):
  • 4 payments of €699, or save ~€200 by paying in a single payment of €2599

This is around the cost of a week-long personal development retreat – yet Life as Practice offers a profoundly different kind of investment. Instead of a short, intensive burst, you receive a full year of continuous structure, guidance, and community support. This includes monthly group meetings, intimate pod check-ins, four one-on-one mentoring sessions, curated learning materials, ritual guidance, and the container to integrate these practices deeply into your daily life over twelve months. We believe this sustained approach offers exceptional value, fostering lasting transformation rather than a temporary peak experience. The tiered pricing aims to make the programme accessible while inviting those with greater means to contribute towards the sustainability of the offering.

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Your guides

Stephen Reid

Hello, I’m Stephen! I’m a technologist, facilitator and coach with training across fields including AI/ML, complexity science, physics, transformative coaching and insight meditation. Currently, I’m writing a book on Technological Metamodernism, hosting courses and residencies as a founder of Futurecraft, and leading the development of Dandelion as a founder of not-for-profit worker co-op Symbiota.

Previously, I founded The Psychedelic Society, which established Europe’s first legal psilocybin retreat programme, and had the honour of serving as youngest ever board member of Greenpeace UK.

My academic background includes an MPhys in Physics from the University of Oxford, where I specialised in quantum field theory, an MRes in Complexity Science from the University of Bristol, and a Professional Certificate in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence from UC Berkeley.

I now call Stockholm, Sweden home, where I’m an active contributor to Emerge Lakefront and a keen swimrunner.

Laura Gottlieb

Hi there, I’m Laura! I’m an integral facilitator and design researcher with a diverse background including philosophy, design, Bohmian dialogue, Authentic Relating, yoga, taekwondo and Zen Buddhism. I work for a major Swedish research institute and also facilitate residencies as a co-founder of Futurecraft. I hold qualifications as a facilitator with Ten Directions, Real LIFE, The Philosophy Foundation and Core Quadrant, and I’m currently in training as an Alethia Coach.

My academic training includes a BA in Philosophy from the University of Southampton, an MA in Information Experience Design from the Royal College of Art in London, and a PhD on Relational Sensitivity in Participatory Design from Mälardalen University.

When I’m not facilitating or researching, you’ll likely find me practicing kickboxing or creating tea ceremonies for friends.

Our journey together

We (Laura and Stephen) are partners in life as well as in this work, bringing our complementary skills and shared passion for integrative practice to this programme. As experienced facilitators, we’ve designed Life as Practice as a reflection of our own journey in weaving daily life with deep developmental work. We believe that transformation happens not just in retreat settings but in how we show up every day, and we’re excited to accompany you through a full solar cycle as you develop your own integrated approach. We look forward to meeting you and learning together throughout this year of practice!

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How to apply

To begin your journey with Life as Practice, complete our application form to share your background, current practices, and what draws you to this yearlong journey. Applications for the 2025-2026 cohort will remain open until August 7, 2025, or until all spaces are filled.

We review applications on a rolling basis and aim to respond within two weeks of your submission. As part of our selection process, we may invite you to a brief video conversation to explore alignment and answer any questions you might have about the programme. Upon acceptance, you’ll receive an invitation to secure your place with either a full payment or your first quarterly instalment.

If you’re interested in our early bird pricing, please submit your application by June 30, 2025, and complete your payment within two weeks of acceptance to qualify for the reduced rate.

Preparing for the Journey

Once your place is confirmed, you’ll receive a welcome package with initial resources and optional readings to start your preparation (though no prior work is required before our September start). We’ll grant you early access to our private Telegram community, allowing you to begin connecting with fellow participants before the official start date. You’ll also be invited to complete a pre-programme questionnaire that helps us tailor the experience to your specific needs and aspirations.

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Frequently asked questions