Joy. Connection. Freedom.
Experience it. Bring it home.
Upcoming retreats:
Joy Connection Freedom: Exploring a meaningful and fulfilling life
October 15-18, 2026 Cummington, MA
Joy Connection Freedom for Small business owners
February 18-21, 2027 Williamsport, MD
Joy Connection Freedom: Exploring a meaningful and fulfilling life
April 2027 Mid-Atlantic
How do you create a meaningful and fulfilling life?
Join Jonathan Bardzik for a four-day, luxurious retreat in a peaceful natural setting. Experience joy, connection and freedom — and really good food — with an intimate, like-minded, community of people. Share guided conversations about how to bring this home into your daily life. This is time to reflect on the truly important questions in your life that often get lost in the busyness of our everyday..
Do you need some deep self care and peace?
Many of us are experiencing unease and uncertainty — from shifting job markets, dramatic political change, raising children, caring for parents or simply the rapid pace of our lives. Retreat is an opportunity for deep self care, to listen to the needs of your body, your thoughts and your heart. This is a gift of time to care for yourself — and to let me take care of you a bit too.
“The impact of this retreat has been profound. I now have a better sense of what my wellbeing looks like. I am striving to maintain this sense of wellbeing in my day-to-day life and using practices I learned at the retreat to do so.”
“I believe we are here in this life for two reasons: to care for each other and to experience joy.”
This retreat is about living a life centered in joy, rooted in connection — our greatest source of joy — and elevated by freedom from the voices of doubt and shame in our heads, leaving us free to listen to the voices in our hearts; to choose our own joy, and to be fully present in connection.
The details
Is this for me?
Are you asking yourself what makes your life meaningful and fulfilling, what is your life’s next big adventure, and what do you really want to prioritize in the time you have? This retreat is for anyone who is contemplating those questions or actively engaged in that journey. You might be contemplating a career change, experiencing a family transition or loss, or exploring a new sense of purpose.
The busyness of daily life often gets in the way of thinking about these questions and initiating change. This retreat is an opportunity to do both and create momentum and focus.
This retreat is specifically seeking a diverse group both to share our varied experiences and to see the commonalities in our humanity. You are invited and welcomed to show up exactly as you are in a space where we honor that for each other.
A time for peace
Retreat is a gift we give to ourselves of peace, deep self care, and a little pampering from me. The afternoons of this retreat focus on engaged rest, of listening to your body, mind and spirit — whether that inner voice tells you to go for a walk in nature, read a book, sit out on the deck with a warm cup of tea, or to take a long, indulgent nap. This is time to richly fulfill exactly what you need in the moment — a luxury in a world where we so often tell ourselves to push through and ignore what we really need right now.
What is included?
Four days and three nights experiencing joy, connection and freedom, and engaging in facilitated conversations about how to bring this home into your daily life. This retreat includes a pre-experience orientation and two follow up conversations with the group to continue the work of the retreat..
For this luxurious weekend “all inclusive includes your accommodations in a beautiful, natural setting, all experiences and materials, and great food — prepared by award-winning chef and author Jonathan Bardzik, tailored to your dietary joys and needs.
When do retreats take place?
Retreats are scheduled throughout the year. They typically begin with arrival on Thursday by noon, with departure Sunday by 12:30 PM.
What is the cost?
$3000 per person. Registration includes retreat programming, housing, and food. Participants are responsible for their own transportation. Room selection is in order of completed registration and down payment.
Bring a second person to share your room for $1,500 more. Payment may be made in full at time of registration or paid half upon registering with the second half due six weeks prior to the start of the retreat.
What does a retreat day look like?
6:45 Wake up to the smell of fresh-baked goods in the oven!
7:00 Sunrise and guided meditation
7:30-9:00 Breakfast and time for your own joy
9:00-11:30 Facilitated conversation: joy, connection + freedom
11:30-4:30 Time for joy: Enjoy lunch, go for a walk, read, journal, take a nap.
4:30 -6:30 Prepare dinner together: time for connection and cooking with Jonathan
6:30-7:30 Dinner, conversation and community
8:00-9:00 Evening reflections
9:00. Enjoy a few quiet moments outdoors, journal gratitude, bed time
Meet your host
Jonathan Bardzik is a renowned storyteller, cook, author and TV personality who creates joy and connection — especially through cooking and sharing food. Over the past 13 years, Jonathan has written and starred in his own television show — Jonathan’s Kitchen: Seasons to Taste —published three cookbooks, appeared on the TedX stage, morning news shows and with more than 900 live audiences.
Over the past five years, Jonathan has spent more than 9 months on self-guided retreat, gaining insight into living a meaningful and fulfilling life and how to create an effective and powerful retreat experience. He hosted his first retreat in February 2024.
During this retreat Jonathan will share his gift for creating joyful and connected spaces, his experience in holding a meaningful and effective retreat, and he will facilitate conversations about a life centered in joy, rooted in connection and elevated by freedom.
“Jonathan provided a safe space with a beautifully diverse group, creating a program that lived up to its goal and then some. His facilitation was thoughtful, impactful, and gave each one of us accountability and something to improve upon, not as a job, but a desire.”
What People Are Saying
“This retreat made me feel taken care of and loved. I have carried that feeling home with me and I plan to continue some of the practices from the retreat. I am so grateful to have had the time to retreat from life and return feeling renewed and refreshed.”
“It opened up a new way of thinking for me and I feel that it was an experience that I would love to share with the people in my life.”
“I loved the judgement -free space to be me. Both in groups and alone.”
“Jonathan is a warm and charismatic group facilitator. The stories he shares from his own experiences reflect the universal experience of being a growing, learning human. He is caring and responsive, checking in with his retreat attendees frequently throughout the experience, and adjusts elements as needed. I look forward to being a part of his future retreat offerings.”
Sign me up!
Ready to attend? Want to ask questions and learn more about this experience? Fill out the form below and I will reach out to schedule a call. Please include in the message box which upcoming retreat you are interested in.