Step 1

The course is held in Swedish. If you need it, we provide simultaneous interpretation into English at no extra cost, so tell us when you register your interest, or at the latest in the conversation, and we will arrange it.

The earlier we know, the easier it is for us to plan the week around it, so do say so sooner rather than later.

The week is about your own life, as it looks right now. You work with feelings you recognise but rarely give room to, anger, grief, despair or stress, and you do it both in the group and on your own, with course leaders who are there all week.

You hand in your phone when you arrive and it is quiet outside the course room, so the week becomes yours in a way everyday life rarely allows. We promise nothing about what you will arrive at, and what you do with it afterwards is yours.

Step 1 is a course in its own right. It requires nothing before and commits you to nothing after, but Step 2 and Step 3 are there for those who want to go on. Much of the work is about what you have pushed away, the needs you have learned not to acknowledge, and about what they cost you today.

In fact it begins a month before you arrive. You receive a form where you describe your life so far, some thirty questions about parents, upbringing, relationships, work and what has shaped you. You send it in no later than two weeks before the course starts, and the course leadership reads it before you meet. There is more about that on the page about what happens before you get a place.

We work with breathing, body awareness, meditation and guided reflection, that is, with things that take you out of your head and into your body, because what you carry rarely sits in your thoughts. The week alternates between working in the whole group and in smaller groups, and some of it you do on your own.

Besides the course leaders there are group leaders and assistants on site all week, and if you need to talk one to one that can be arranged. That safety is there so you dare look at what you would rather walk around.

You need no prior knowledge, and most of the people who come here have never done anything like it before. Perhaps you have a pattern that keeps returning and that you do not quite understand, perhaps an emptiness that will not lift, or a feeling that you lost your direction somewhere along the way. Some come after a crisis, while others are feeling well and want to get to know themselves in depth, and both reasons are good enough.

Before you get a place, you book a phone slot and we talk. It is not a test. We want to hear where you are right now, and you can ask us anything you like. Sometimes we come to the conclusion that the timing is not right, and then we say so. Only after the conversation do you decide, and only then does it cost anything.

What we do is personal development, not medical care. We make no diagnoses and prescribe nothing.

If you are in treatment at the moment, we talk about it in the conversation, along with how you are doing in general. A divorce, a loss or a crisis in life, on the other hand, is often exactly what brings people here, so do not let that hold you back.

Many people find us while looking for a retreat. If you are looking for one, you are in the right place, as long as you want to work on yourself, because the week is work together with others rather than rest. What sets the different forms apart has a page of its own.

The week has a few rules, and we go through them together in the conversation before you decide. Some are also further down this page, such as the phone being handed in, the silence outside the course room and the fact that you get no schedule in advance.

If you already know that one of them would be impossible for you, do say so in the conversation. It is better that we know beforehand than that you discover it on site.

Your family can always reach you through us if something is important and urgent, so that is one worry you can leave at home.

We plan every day for you. The course leaders and group leaders guide you through the week, and you get the information you need as the day and the week unfold. The days are full, from early morning to late evening, with breaks in between for rest, reflection and perhaps a walk down to the lake. That does not mean everyone does the same amount. If you have little energy to spare, say so in the conversation beforehand, and we will arrange the week around that.

So you get no schedule in advance, and that is deliberate: “it will be that we meet in the course room at a set time and then we see what happens. That is part of being in the present.” The week still has an order, and it is built for reasons, but what comes when is something we tell you on site.

Outside the course room there is silence. That may sound harsh, but it tends to become a relief, because you are free of all social demands and do not need to be responsible for anyone but yourself. Inside the course room we talk, and during the last day and night the silence is lifted.

The last day and night is a little different from the rest of the week, and there is more about it on the page After the course.

The week is intense and emotionally demanding, and we would rather say so plainly, because it does happen that it gets hard. That is not a sign that something has gone wrong.

There are at most twenty of you in the group. The week moves between work in the whole group and in smaller groups with the group leaders, and there are also opportunities for one-to-one conversations if you need them. You share what you want to share, at the pace that feels right for you.

The group leaders stay with you through the whole week and rotate between the smaller groups. They are different as people and have different specialist knowledge, so you meet several of them rather than one. You also have a room of your own, so there is always somewhere to withdraw to and be by yourself.

Course leaders, group leaders and assistants are on site all week, and there is always someone on the staff on call, at night as well. A doctor is available to the staff by phone during the week. The doctor’s role is to assess and refer onwards, not to treat anyone on site.

The assistants have taken Step 1 and Step 2 themselves, so they know what the week feels like from the inside. The therapeutic work, however, is led by the leaders, not by the assistants.

A few days after you get home, a group leader or course leader calls you, and that call is included. If you want to know more about us, who we are and safety and suitability have pages of their own.

Step 1 starts from your life as it is now, and already there we work with childhood, as you get to know your inner child and what she or he would have needed while growing up. That gives a first understanding of how patterns you live in today were formed.

In Step 2 we then go deeper, and with a sharper focus, into childhood and the early patterns from your family of origin. Your adult relationships, with intimacy, boundaries and attachment patterns, belong to Step 3a, and the question of who you are beyond body, thoughts and feelings to Step 3b. You need not think that far ahead now, and many of our participants find that Step 1 gives them exactly what they need.

You stay in a room of your own with shower and toilet at Aspö kursgård, on an island in lake Båven in Södermanland. Meals and lodging are included, as are bed linen and towels.

The price is SEK 39,000 per step, the same figure for you as a private individual (VAT is then included) and for companies (VAT is then added). If you would like to spread the payment, it can be split interest-free over 6 or 12 months. Prices and payment has all the details, and the dates are at the bottom of this page.

Förmodligen det jobbigaste jag nånsin gjort frivilligt, men så nödvändigt och så bra för min personliga utveckling. Kommer sannolikt gå steg 2 så snart jag har kommit över hur jobbigt det var.

Probably the hardest thing I have ever done voluntarily, but so necessary and so good for my development. I will most likely take Step 2 as soon as I have got over how hard it was.

Både den häftigaste, coolaste, givande och läskigaste utmaning jag gjort och ställts inför.

The most exciting, the coolest, the most rewarding and the scariest challenge I have ever taken on and faced.

More reviews are on a page of their own. The rating of 4.99 out of 5 is calculated on all reviews, not on a selection.

Can I be advised not to come?

Yes, it happens, but not very often. In the conversation we listen to how you are doing, and sometimes we come to the conclusion that what you need right now is a completely different kind of help. Then we say so, and it is no judgement of you.

Do I have to take more courses afterwards?

No, you can feel entirely comfortable taking just one. Step 1 is complete in itself. At the same time it is common for curiosity about going further to be awakened after the first week, which is why Step 2 and Step 3 are there for those who want them.

What does registering interest mean?

Nothing binding. You get a reply by e-mail with a link where you book a time for the longer conversation. Do send it even if you mostly have questions, and we will get back to you. All common questions are on a page of their own.