The Oasis Within

A unique eight-day leadership retreat in the Sahara Desert

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The Oasis Within is a unique desert leadership retreat in the Sahara Desert. It is the opportunity for leaders, entrepreneurs, and changemakers to slow to the pace of the desert, strip away all distractions, and embark on a personal journey into the mystery of the unknown. To quiet the outside to hear your true voice and find your power deep inside. To discover more of yourself and who you are as a leader, entrepreneur, and creator.We invite you to join a small group on this powerful eight-day journey to one of the most remote areas in the world, the Sahara Desert. To be alone together in the deep desert. To expand and explore a deeper dimension of who you truly are.This is a space and time for you to bring your precious focus, questions, and inquiries.

Looking Deep Inside

What is the vision you hold for yourself as a leader, entrepreneur, and creator?What would it take for you to make a fundamental shift?A quantum leap?To BE exactly that leader you are looking for?

An Extraordinary Journey

Together, we create a space of possibility. You might find this retreat especially meaningful if you

  • Desire to rest more deeply inside yourself. With clarity. In your power. And create from there.

  • Would like to amplify your unique gifts — the ones that only YOU can bring to the world, your life, and your work.

  • Are ready to take a break from the breakneck speed of leading your team, project, or company — so you can reset and recalibrate to show up more aligned in your work.

  • Want to gently and deliberately investigate what is holding you back from stepping into the next level of your leadership — and shift these blocks toward more freedom, creative power, and direction.

  • Bring other powerful topics to the table to inquire and learn from in a unique environment.

The Three Phases

Our journey is deliberately laid out in three phases. Each phase is designed to invite you into an ancient, protocol-based ritual to inquire into yourself, your life purpose, and your emotional and physical well-being.

The Preparation

Mar 1st 2027: Opening group call to set our shared timeMar 1st - Mar 18th 2027: 1.5h 1on1 preparation coaching session

The Desert-Experience

Mar 19th - Mar 28th 2027
Desert experience in the Sahara Desert and solo Vision Quest

The Integration

Apr 5th - Apr 26th 2027: 1.5h Integration 1on1 coaching sessionApr 28th 2027: Integration group call and closure

We begin our journey three weeks before landing in Siwa. This preparation is a crucial part of the overall journey — helping you and the group tune in and open up to the time in the desert. In Egypt, you will transfer as a group from Cairo to Siwa and the Palm Garden, a communally held project that is our first landing spot. After acclimating, we will be driven out into the secluded dunes onto desert land, exclusively available for our group and our solo days and nights.The center point of this journey is embarking on a Vision Quest for three days and nights out on the desert land, all by yourself. A base camp will be set up on the same land (out of sight and sound) that serves as a center point of support and safety, if needed. We never know what the desert will reveal. "Expect nothing — be open for everything" becomes our starting point and a helpful mantra.We have dedicated time after the Vision Quest to land and begin integrating together. When you are back home, our 1-on-1 coaching call and the final group session are further integration and action support to bring your individual learnings into everyday life.

The Time in the Desert

The full program runs from Friday to the following Sunday. Eight full days in Siwa, two travel days. If you wish to stay longer after the program to extend your time in the desert, please get in touch.In this schedule, we will continue to adjust to what is needed by the group and by the participants.

Arrival & Landing

Mar 19th: Evening pickup in Cairo & night transfer to SiwaMar 20th: Arrival in Siwa in the morning at the Palm Garden. Explore the city. First in-person group experience. Sleep in the Palm Garden.Mar 21st: Siwa: Trip to the lakes or to the desert. Group and 1on1 process. Arrive at the desert base camp.

Out in the Desert

Mar 22nd: Acclimate to the desert. Night at basecamp.Mar 23rd: Solo day and nightMar 24th: Solo day and nightMar 25th: Solo day and nightMar 26th: Return to basecamp during the day. First integration.

Integration & Departure

Mar 27th: Integration process. Transfer to Cairo at night time possible if needed for travel on Mar 28th.
Mar 28th: morning transfer to Cairo
Extra days in Siwa: Please get in touch.

Learning happens in relationship

How We Will Work Together

We combine a unique mix of inner work — guided group and 1-on-1 coaching sessions — with solo visioning in the desert. We focus on inner shifts and your way of being, so you can later implement insights and changes in your world — your work, your company, your relationships. We invite you to show up fully as you are and bring an open mind and heart.The program consists of 1-on-1 and group sessions to:

  • Support you in identifying your deepest felt potential as a creator and leader

  • Enable you to BE more of who you are

  • Inquire into potential blockages within yourself that keep you from stepping fully into your loving power and flow

  • Explore how you might take the next step toward YOUR vision of who you want to become

  • Prepare for and integrate the solo journey in the desert

  • Author your own integration and action plan to apply your insights and learnings in your life and work

The heart as a compass

The Desert as a Teacher

Making a positive impact on the world and being a changemaker are exciting, rewarding, and full of creative power. This potential is a gift that often comes with high stakes and a price to pay.How do we sustainably hold ourselves when we try to bring positive change in our work and life?We live in a world that longs for people who are ready to step up and create a future to thrive in. For each one of us and the planet at large. Many of us see ourselves as such leaders and creators, but few of us authentically manage to act and show up as the leaders we envision ourselves to be.To lead others, your company, or your organization, you need first to lead yourself. This includes a willingness to be humble, to listen, to learn, to unlearn, to love, and to dare to embrace a radical journey that is unknown to most of us. To go to the desert is to embark into the Mystery. Silence and solitude are archetypal protocols on this journey, opening the door to yourself, your deepest longings, and visions.The true transformational work comes from you and the encounter with the desert. A question to ask yourself: Am I ready to show up for an adventure like this with my unconditional presence, an open mind, and an open heart?

The land as the ultimate guide

The Desert Lands of Siwa

The land of the Siwa Oasis in the Sahara has been a place where potential came to flower thousands of years ago. A water-rich oasis far out in the desert at the Egyptian border with Libya, with sweet and saltwater lakes, hot springs, palm gardens, and vast desert landscapes.For thousands of years, travelers passed through Siwa, and the ancient Oracle of Ammon drew even Alexander the Great to make the 900km journey to consult it about his leadership. This rich land will be the powerful container for our journey as we slow the pace of everyday life to sit in stillness, alone, to meet our deepest quests.

We are on this journey with you

About Us

Philip and Lars first met in the desert in 2024, when Philip reached out to plan a private vision quest for a small group. We soon discovered a shared interest not only in deep transformational work but also in organizational and systemic transformation, new forms of leadership, communal projects, and supporting others 1-on-1.We each bring a unique perspective. Both of us have worked in corporate and high-tech environments around the globe for years and are fully committed to personal transformation toward love, freedom, and authenticity. Lars brings 25 years of organizational development work as a systemic coach and published author, years as a breathwork facilitator, and 25+ years of holding desert retreats. Philip brings 20+ years of startup and entrepreneurial experience across San Francisco and Europe; experience as an advisor and investor in 100+ companies; communal organizing, retreat hosting, and facilitation; and years of 1-on-1 coaching and transformational group experience.With this combination of skill, experience, wisdom, and trust in the unfoldment, we are honored and feel privileged to invite you into this journey with us.

Lars Borgmann

My work around the world over the last three decades has shown me that despite our personal and cultural differences, we are very similar when it comes to our basic needs and dreams. We want to share, participate, influence, help, be acknowledged, grow, and do good. We want to be loved and to love! Working with this simple baseline in a down-to-earth, practical way has been the foundation of my professional engagement in creating results and transformations at the individual, team, and organizational levels.My approach today reflects 20 years of working with systemic complexity as an international organizational consultant. My personal journey is ongoing and fundamental to my way of being with life and work.My lifelong passion for the desert and for facilitating Vision-Quests has opened the door to deeper layers of existential encounters with people who are ready to take on groundbreaking shifts in their personal and professional lives. On a Soul level, I have a strong commitment to supporting people as they go into the unknown, hosting Shamanic-based retreats and Vision-Quests around the world in places such as Sinai and Siwa (Egypt), the Sahara (Morocco), and the remote Astaroussia Mountains of Crete (Greece).

Philip Stehlik

I work with entrepreneurs and leaders on inner shifts to make powerful outer creation possible.
I offer 1-on-1 coaching, intensive formats, and transformational group experiences and retreats, inviting people into spaces where leadership, depth, expansion, and honest self-inquiry converge.My approach is grounded in Gestalt Therapy, years of designing and facilitating transformational spaces, and my committed spiritual path toward showing up fully human in everything I do. My work is based on the experience that the most impactful leaders are those willing to meet themselves first. I weave coaching, entrepreneurship, community, and the land into a practice of accompanying others on the path toward greater freedom, clarity, and creative power.Before dedicating myself fully to this work, I spent two decades building at the intersection of technology, finance, and systemic change. I co-founded two “billion-dollar companies” - Taulia (now SAP) and Centrifuge - invested in 100+ startups and VC funds, and worked closely with exceptional founders and creators across Europe and the US. I know firsthand the joys, hardships, sacrifices, and deep questions that come with building something that matters on a global scale.

Your Investment

The Desert Leadership Retreat includes:

  • Preparatory group call

  • Preparatory 1on1 1coaching session (1.5h)

  • 8 days in Siwa Oasis and the desert

  • Transfer via minibus from Cairo airport to Siwa Oasis and back

  • Lodging, food, and drink as part of our program time in Siwa at the Palm Garden and on the desert lands

  • Group and individual sessions as needed in Siwa

  • Your vision quest on the desert land

  • All program-relevant transport within Siwa

  • Post-program group integration call

  • 1on1 integration coaching session (1.5h)

Your investment: 4850 EUR

Payment is due in advance to reserve your spot

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have further questions, reach out to us at any time.

We invite you to find your full YES to this experience before you commit. The kind of YES that lets you show up from start to finish. And we also know that life happens and sometimes brings unexpected circumstances that might lead to your cancellation.

  1. Up to 60 days before program start: 80% refund
  2. 14-30 days before program start: 50% refund.
  3. Less than 14 days before program start: We will not be able to offer a refund at this time. But you will receive a voucher for your 1on1 coaching sessions that you can use within 12 months after the program.

To allow for the best scheduling options, and due to the global nature of the group we are inviting, the 1on1 coaching sessions are held online. If it turns out you are in the same place as Lars or Philip during the program time and want an in-person coaching experience, we will try to accommodate an in-person session.

You can find the program information here.

We offer omnivore, vegetarian, and vegan food options. Please reach out if you have further specific needs.

It is no pre-requisite to have desert experience. If you have pressing questions about the desert, please reach out to us at any time. We will share all further information in the preparatory program phase.

The Siwa Oasis is far out in the Sahara Desert, so there is no direct impact from what's happening in Iran. We were in Siwa in 2025 and 2026, including at the beginning of the Iran-US-Israel war, and we felt no direct negative impact on our groups or us. We are aware that, sadly, for Israeli and US citizens, it might not be the best time to travel to mostly Arab/Muslim countries in that part of the world. For us, however, it was no issue. We'll continue to be aware of the situation as we go through summer and into fall.

We will sleep in large Bedouin tents on simple beds in the Palm Garden in Siwa. One tent holds between two to three people, depending on needs. We do not offer solo tents. During the vision quest, you will create your personal space. Some choose to sleep only with a sleeping bag under the stars, while others have a small tent.

We intentionally keep the group small to assure an intimate, focused setting that allows for deep presence. We accept a maximum of 10 participants on this journey.

We have worked with companies and corporations for many years and can accommodate corporate invoicing for educational and leadership training. Please reach out to us to discuss your specific needs.

We encourage you to slow down as much as you can and be present for this precious time in the desert. When we are out in the desert, we won't have reception, and we encourage you to leave devices at our location in town. In Siwa city, the mobile reception is strong; calls and online work are possible. We will have a dynamic schedule while we are in town to navigate any unexpected changes. We invite you to check what is essential, so you can tune into the desert and the experience we are embarking on with presence and intention. All that said: If you have specific needs to be online at a certain time, please let us know, and we can work out a plan together to accommodate them.

Join Our Journey

Are you interested in joining us on this extraordinary journey?Reach out via the form below. We are excited to be with you.