Join us this summer for a one-of-a-kind meditation retreat designed for coaches, athletes, and mental performance coaches who want to move beyond theory, and experience meditation as an applied skill. This immersive retreat offers hands-on practice with various meditation techniques, deep discussions with experts, and an opportunity to explore the science-backed impact of mindfulness and meditation on performance.

The Science Behind Meditation & Performance 

Meditation and mindfulness are emerging evidence-based trainings for enhancing cognitive and emotional performance. Promising *research in neuroscience, psychology, and sport, exercise, and performance psychology has shown that meditation can:

✅ Improve emotional regulation, neuroplasticity and experience of flow states.

✅ Reduce incidence of injury, ameliorate depression symptoms and improve well-being.

✅ Improve immune response and reduce cortisol levels. 

✅Improve focus and attention by strengthening neural pathways related to cognitive control.

✅ Enhance emotional regulation, reducing stress and performance anxiety through activation of the prefrontal cortex.

✅ Increase resilience by regulating activity in the amygdala, leading to better adaptability under pressure.

✅ Boost creativity and problem-solving by improving adaptive thinking and cognitive flexibility.

✅ Enhance recovery and mental clarity, making it a key tool for sustaining high performance.

*Bibliography

By experiencing meditation firsthand, you'll develop a deeper, evidence-based understanding of how to apply these principles in your coaching, training and performance.

Why This Retreat?

This retreat is a unique opportunity to engage in a deliberate training process, equipping you with the confidence, knowledge, and practical skills to integrate meditation effectively into your coaching and training. 

Through experiential learning, you’ll:

• Move beyond breathwork and gain clarity on the distinctions and applications of mindfulness and meditation.
• Engage in deep discussions on the real-world application of meditation in performance, backed by neuroscience research.
• Expand your creativity and explore innovative ways to integrate mindfulness and meditation into your life and your mental performance training.
• Build meaningful connections with a like-minded community in an environment that fosters personal and professional growth.

More Than Just Training

This retreat isn’t just about skill-building—it’s an opportunity for self-development and reflection. As professionals dedicated to serving others, this is your chance to turn inward, prioritize your own mental performance, and experience the transformative power of mindfulness and meditation firsthand.

By the end of this retreat, you’ll walk away with a deeper pedagogical foundation, new insights into contemplative science and performance enhancement, and a renewed sense of creativity and inspiration for your work.

This is a rare opportunity to step away from the day-to-day, immerse yourself in the practice, and return with the tools, confidence, and insight to train in meditation with authenticity and impact. 

If you're ready to move beyond meditation as a concept and experience meditation as an application—this retreat is for you.

Chad McGehee, MS (2026), MA, MAEd, is a meditation teacher, scientific collaborator and trusted coach working at the intersection of elite performance and rigorous meditation training. At the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department, Chad became the first ever Director of Meditation Training in major college sports. Chad is an honorary research affiliate of the Center for Healthy Minds at UW-Madison and co-founder of Inner Edge Meditation.

Chad’s work has been featured on ESPN, in the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Business Insider and as a co-author in peer-reviewed scientific journals. His training has been integrated into a range of environments including K-12 education, FBI SWAT Teams, the elite Hostage Rescue Team in Quantico, VA, Fortune 500 companies and elite athletics. 

Chad has been teaching meditation, including retreats, for over fifteen years. He is passionate about bringing rigorous and accessible meditation training to life as strength and conditioning for the mind.

Chad McGehee, CV 2025

Scott Anderson, PhD, is a Kinesiologist, Educator and Meditator. Those interests intersect in his work as a teacher of both fitness and meditation. In the various contexts that he teaches within, the imminence of body in mind and mind in body are ever-present.

Since he was a child, Scott studied various forms of movement and meditation; first, as a D1 athlete, then as an ardent student of yoga. Yoga was accompanied by seated meditation, which led Scott to pursue a Ph.D. in Kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. As part of his doctoral work, Scott researched the influence of meditation on surgical outcomes, and how meditation supports greater resilience in high performing student-athletes in the University of Wisconsin - Madison Human Performance Laboratory. Scott has been a meditator for 40+ years.

https://scottandersonphd.life/

This 4-day, in-person retreat will be held at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton, Wisconsin. 

*Please note the Meditation Retreat for Mental Performance is a secular retreat but is held at Holy Wisdom Monastery, a Christian retreat center. 

Holy Wisdom Monastery is the home and work place of the Benedictine Women of Madison. In 1953, the Benedictine sisters set down roots on a hill overlooking Lake Mendota and the skyline of Madison, Wisconsin. Today, Holy Wisdom Monastery manages 190 acres with a 10,000-year-old glacial lake, one of the ‘greenest’ LEED-certfied buildings in the country, wooded nature trails, restored prairie, gardens, orchards and the beginning of an oak savanna.

Click link to view the HWM Nature Trails.

Holy Wisdom Monastery is a 15min drive from Dane County Regional Airport (MSN), the main airport serving Madison and Middleton, Wisconsin.

Holy Wisdom Monastery

4200 County Road M
Middleton, Wisconsin 53562