The Sophia Institute to proud to bring you a very special hybrid event with
Mark Nepo

“You Don’t Have to Do it Alone: The Power of Friendship”

Friday, April 25, 2025
6 :00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET

Saturday, April 26, 2025
10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. ET

 Sunday, April 27, 2025
10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET

All registered participants will receive the video recording link to this program to watch at your convenience.
12 CEUs available by contacting:  info@thesophiainstitute.org

“A friend may be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

This retreat will center on Mark’s new book, You Don’t Have to Do It Alone: The Power of Friendship. Our time together will explore the gift and spirit of friendship. For friendship is indispensable. We may discover our dearest friends in the dark labyrinth of seeking truth together. Or, in a moment of feeling vulnerable, we may feel safe in the care of some trusted other. We often come upon our deepest friends when taking the long way home, when forced to put down our differences, when humbled to admit that we haven’t a clue where we’re going or how to get there. In the raw and tender space of such honesty, the net of friendship is woven. In fact, the root of the word friendship means “place of high safety.”

In these sessions, we will look closely at the discovery of our kinship, the nature of friendship, the inevitable trials by which our bond is strengthened or broken, the acceptance of our humanness, and the conduit that lasting friendship becomes to the larger forces of life.

“After a lifetime of trying to be a good friend, I feel called to affirm the spirit of friendship, to praise what it takes to love another well, and to better understand how friendship helps us live. So Come. Walk with me as we listen for how the spirit of friendship opens us to each other. Until we find the place of high safety where the most tender among us can show who we are, so we can come alive together, and affirm to each other that you don’t have do it alone.”
—Mark Nepo

Bring a journal.

“Mark Nepo is a Great Soul. His resonant heart—his frank and astonishing voice—befriend us mightily on this mysterious trail.”
—Naomi Shihab Nye, author of You and Yours, 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, and Red Suitcase

“Mark Nepo is one of the finest spiritual guides of our time.”
—Parker J. Palmer, author of A Hidden Wholeness and The Courage to Teach

“Mark Nepo joins a long tradition of truth-seeking, wild-hearted poets—Rumi, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Mary Oliver—and deserves a place in the center of the circle with them.”
—Elizabeth Lesser, Cofounder, Omega Institute, author of Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

“Nepo is a consummate storyteller with a rare gift for making the invisible visible.”
—Publishers Weekly

Meet Mark Nepo

With over a million copies sold, Mark Nepo has moved and inspired readers and seekers all over the world with his #1 New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening. Beloved as a poet, teacher, and storyteller, Mark has been called “one of the finest spiritual guides of our time,” “a consummate storyteller,” and “an eloquent spiritual teacher.” His work is widely accessible and used by many and his books have been translated into more than twenty languages. A bestselling author, he has published twenty-five books and recorded sixteen audio projects. He has received Life Achievement Awards from AgeNation (2015) and OMTimes (2023). In 2016, he was named by Watkins: Mind Body Spirit as one of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People, and was also chosen as one of OWN’s SuperSoul 100, a group of inspired leaders using their gifts and voices to elevate humanity.