Healing Waters: Rites of Purpose

An Embodied Inquiry Into Unity, Empowerment and Resilience

November 20–22, 2026 | Los Angeles
With Douglas Drummond and guest musician Nick Ayers

How do we become active participants in our own story and the life we want to lead?

We are living in a time when division is being amplified all around us. It can enter our relationships, shape how we see one another, and slowly create division within ourselves. We may begin to feel disconnected from our sense of purpose, uncertain of our power, or caught between who we are and who the world expects us to be.

Healing Waters: Rites of Purpose is a weekend 5Rhythms® retreat exploring how we reconnect with our agency, remain in relationship across difference, and participate more consciously in the lives and communities we want to create.

Through movement, music, embodied inquiry and the support of the group, we will explore unity not as sameness, but as the capacity to stay connected while honoring what makes each of us distinct. We can witness one another without needing to agree on everything. We can be recognized and celebrated for our differences without losing our sense of shared humanity.

This retreat is not about fixing ourselves or solving the world in a weekend. It is about creating the conditions in which something more honest and alive can emerge.

We will begin with intention and explore the expectations we carry of ourselves, one another and the world around us. Through embodied expression of choice, we will reconnect with our boundaries, desires and responsibility. From here, we enter the weekend's central inquiry:

How do we become active participants in our own story and the life we want to lead?

We will explore the stories we have inherited, the roles we have adapted to, and the places where meaningful choice is still available. The invitation is not to create a perfect future or force a dramatic breakthrough, but to listen for the values, resources and inner knowing that can help us move with greater purpose.

The phrase “rites of purpose” speaks to this movement. Rather than marking a passage into a prescribed identity, a rite of purpose asks us to choose how we want to live, what we wish to embody, and how we want to participate in this moment.

What matters to me now?
Where does my power live?
What am I ready to say yes to?
What am I ready to say no to?
What kind of life am I willing to help create?

The retreat will be held through a trauma-informed approach grounded in choice, consent, pacing and integration. No one will be pushed towards disclosure, intensity or emotional exposure. One per cent is full participation. You will be invited to move at your own pace, listen to the intelligence of your body and stay connected to the parts of yourself that may need more time.

Agency cannot be practised through pressure. It grows through meaningful choice.

Curiosity will be one of our central values. Rather than approaching ourselves or others through fixed conclusions, we will practise asking what else may be true. Curiosity allows us to meet our patterns without shame, to approach difference without immediately withdrawing or defending, and to discover new possibilities through movement.

The group becomes part of the resource.

Together, we build the muscles of reciprocity: giving and receiving support, holding our own center while meeting others, and discovering that empowerment does not require isolation. Unity does not ask us to abandon ourselves. It asks us to remain in relationship with courage, dignity and curiosity.

Douglas brings the orientation of a peacemaker to this work. In this context, peacemaking is not about avoiding tension or asking everyone to agree. It is the practice of creating the conditions in which difference can remain in relationship, difficult truths can be approached without dehumanizing one another, and each person can reconnect with their own agency.

Guided by the 5Rhythms map of Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical and Stillness, the weekend will feature a dynamic fusion of DJ’d journeys with Douglas and live music from guest musician Nick Ayers. Drawing from multi-genre textures, deep bass, world symphonics, four-to-the-floor rhythms and spacious live instrumentation, the soundscape will move between pulse, atmosphere, edge and release.

The music will not simply accompany the dance. It will become part of the inquiry: a rhythmic field that invites instinct, expression, surrender, play and connection. Held with grace and deep rhythmic fluency, the musical journey will create space for both individual discovery and collective ignition.

There will be depth, but also play.

There will be reflection, but also movement, laughter, rhythm, experimentation and surprise.

This is a journey into purpose that does not tell you who to become. It invites you to rediscover what matters, recognize the power you already carry and take one meaningful step towards the life you want to lead.

This retreat may be for you if you are:

Feeling disconnected from your sense of purpose or direction.

Craving a stronger relationship with your own agency and inner power.

Longing for community that welcomes difference without demanding sameness.

Navigating burnout, overwhelm or the pressure to hold everything together.

Seeking a more embodied way to explore resilience, change and belonging.

Ready to be witnessed without needing to perform or explain yourself.

No previous 5Rhythms experience is required. All bodies and levels of movement experience are welcome.