The Invitation
In a world where attention is engineered for profit, where we face a collapse in trust, and where democratic institutions struggle to keep pace with technological change—we invite you to pause and reconnect with what you know to be true: that decisions must come from hearts nurtured by humanity, love, and compassion.
June 26 - 29, 2026
A Three-Day Immersion in Contemplative Leadership for the AI Age
This three-day residential retreat offers senior public leaders, policymakers, journalists, civic actors, scholars, and tech leaders a rare opportunity to step back from speed, noise, and constant decision pressure, and to reconnect with the deeper moral and human foundations of their work. Drawing on contemplative traditions adapted for public life, the retreat creates a disciplined yet spacious environment in which participants can strengthen ethical judgment, cultivate sustained attention, and explore how human discernment can be protected within AI-mediated systems.
Retreat Outcome
The retreat culminates in the co-creation of the Broughton Declaration on AI and Human Flourishing, including a set of Principles for Trustworthy Governance in the Age of AI. Participants will also leave with a personal and institutional Rule of Life for the AI Age. Together, these outputs aim to shape policy, guide personal leadership, and contribute to global discourse on AI and the human experience.
Retreat Details
Dates: June 26 - 29, 2026
Location: Broughton Sanctuary, Yorkshire Dales, UK
Cohort Size: 25-30 senior leaders
Group Booking: Limited Availability. Please contact us at info@gcrd.org.uk.
Retreat Overview: Visit here for details.
What to Expect
This retreat is structured around contemplative practice, policy discernment, and time in nature.
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Morning Reflection, Silence, Lectio Politica/Divina
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Small Group Reflections, walk and talk sessions,
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Policy Circles & Discernment Workshops
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Silent Walking Meditation, Wellness Time, Centering Reflection, Community Dinner, Evening Examen & Rest
What Sets this Contemplative Policy Retreat Apart
This contemplative policy retreat follows a gentle but intentional daily rhythm inspired by the Benedictine balance of prayer and work. Each day weaves together periods of silence, contemplative practice, shared meals, reflective dialogue, and focused policy workshops. Practices such as Lectio Divina, meditation, and the daily examen are adapted as secularisable disciplines of attention, accessible to participants from diverse professional, religious, and cultural backgrounds.
01 / Historic Location
The retreat will be held at the 3,000-acre Broughton Sanctuary, just outside Skipton, at the foothills of the Yorkshire Dales. Established in 1097, Broughton Hall is a house of transformation, home to the Tempest family for over 900 years. The Sanctuary is home to one of Britain's most exciting nature recovery projects, a heartfelt commitment based upon extensive tree-planting and rewilding. In 2025, beavers joined the Sanctuary alongside native cattle and Iron Age pigs.
Avalon, the Sanctuary’s state-of-the-art wellbeing retreat centre, will serve participants’ inner voyage of mind, body, and spirit. Named in National Geographic's"Cool List 2024" as one of the 30 most exciting destinations to visit in the world, Broughton Sanctuary provides the perfect setting for leaders seeking to reconnect with presence, purpose, and moral clarity.
02 / Expert Facilitation
Ambassador Professor Mohammadou M.O. Kah, Former Chair, UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development.
Asheesh Khaneja, Innovation Catalyst, Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation.
Dr. Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob, Founding Executive Director, Global Centre for Rehumanising Democracy
Together, they will lead the retreat’s Policy Circles—structured dialogues designed to help participants engage complex policy challenges with both analytical clarity and moral depth.
03 / Collaborative Energy
Connection is a core part of the retreats. You’ll learn just as much from the group as from the content itself. By the departure day, you will have built something rare and essential: a peer network that continues beyond the retreat, sustaining you when the work gets hard.
The intimacy of 25–30 participants creates space for genuine encounter. You'll sit in clearness committees where peers hold your dilemmas with fierce tenderness, asking questions that help you see what you cannot see alone.
It is from this contemplative space that we will draft the Broughton Declaration on AI for Human Flourishing. Its principles will address, among others, human dignity and the inviolability of moral agency in the age of automated systems and the protection of human connection as critical democratic infrastructure.
Book Now
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Places are limited
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Book Now 〰️ Places are limited 〰️
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RETREAT TUITION:
Civil Society & Academia: £400
Government & Public Sector: £500
Corporate & Private Sector: £600
Tuition Includes:
✓ Four-day retreat programme • All teaching sessions and workshops
✓ Clearness Committees, Policy Design Labs
✓ All retreat materials, handbook, and reading packet
✓ Post-retreat peer accountability circles
ACCOMMODATION OPTIONS (4 nights - arrival 6 April, departure 10 April)
1) Retreat House Standard. Price for 1 person. Single Occupation = £720.00
A double bed in a double room in a retreat house, a mix of ensuite and shared bathroom accommodation. Catering included
2) Broughton Hall Standard Shared Bathroom. Price for 1 Person. Single Occupation = £1,100.00
A bed in a bedroom in Broughton Hall with a shared bathroom. Catering included.
3) Broughton Hall Premium Ensuite Bathroom. Price for 1 Person. Single Occupation = £1,320.00
A double bed in a double room in Broughton Hall with an ensuite bathroom. Catering included.
4) Broughton Hall Deluxe Ensuite. Price for 1 Person. Single Occupation = £1,680.00
A double bed in a double room in Broughton Hall with an ensuite bathroom. Catering included.
✓ Use of group rooms and facilities
✓ Access to Broughton Hall or Retreat Houses across the estate✓ Enjoy Forest Bathing, The Odyssey journey, Access to Avalon Wellbeing Centre, woodland sauna, cold immersion, wild swimming
MEALS
Meals are served at Utopia, Broughton's acclaimed walled garden bistro designed by Sir Michael Hopkins with gardens by Dan Pearson. All meals are thoughtfully prepared to nourish body and mind. Your breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner are included in the accommodation cost.
Contact us at info@gcrd.org.uk for group booking.
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Served in Utopia, our plant-based retreat menu is available from £85 + VAT per person per day, and included in the accommodation cost, covering breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner.
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DAY ONE | Friday 26 June
The Examined Life in the Age of Machines
3:00–5:00 pm
Arrival and Check-In
5:30 pm
Opening Gathering
Welcome, introductions, and orientation
6:30 pm
Threshold Ceremony — The Gate of Transformation
7:00 pm
Dinner
DAY TWO | Saturday 27 June
Democracy, Knowledge, and the Algorithmic Condition
7:30 am
Morning Yoga or Prayer at the Broughton Chapel
8:30 am
Breakfast
10:00–12:00
POLICY CIRCLE I
Democracy Under Algorithmic Pressure
● Contributes to the Broughton Declaration
FRAMING
Democratic systems rest on assumptions about human deliberation, informed consent, and the dignity of participation. AI systems are reshaping each of these — altering how information flows, how decisions are made, and how power is exercised.
QUESTIONS EXPLORED
– How does algorithmic curation transform democratic deliberation?
– What does informed consent mean in systems citizens cannot understand?
– What obligations do technologists, governments, and international bodies hold toward democracy?
– What would it mean to centre human rights, dignity, and social justice as primary design and governance principles?
12:00 noon
Lunch
2:00–3:30 pm
POLICY CIRCLE II
AI & Consciousness — The Inner Life of Machines
● Contributes to the Broughton Declaration
FRAMING
This session examines whether AI systems may develop forms of inner states that carry moral relevance, and what follows if they do.
QUESTIONS EXPLORED
– Can AI systems meaningfully exhibit consciousness or emotion?
– What does current science suggest about artificial sentience?
– What are the ethical and governance implications of morally relevant machine states?
– Who is responsible for forecasting and managing these risks?
3:30 pm
Contemplative Integration — Walking Dialogue
What must remain irreducibly human in an age of intelligent systems — and what must never be delegated?
5:00–6:00 pm
DECLARATION DRAFTING SESSION I — First Synthesis
Participants distil key insights from the day's dialogue.
– Core claims
– Emerging tensions
– Initial principles
6:30 pm
Dinner
DAY THREE | Sunday 28 June
Living and Working With AI
7:30 am
Morning Yoga or Prayer at the Broughton Chapel
8:30 am
Breakfast
10:00–11:30 am
POLICY CIRCLE III
Spirituality and the Moral Architecture of an AI World
● Contributes to the Broughton Declaration
FRAMING
Beyond governance frameworks, the AI age demands moral formation — cultivating judgment, responsibility, and care in systems that cannot themselves possess them.
QUESTIONS EXPLORED
– What virtues are required of leaders in an AI-mediated world?
– How can judgment, empathy, and moral courage be sustained under automation?
– What ethical dilemmas emerge as AI becomes embedded in institutions?
– What does it mean to be human in an age of intelligent systems?
– How do we protect attention, depth, and inner life?
– What implications arise for education, ethics, and human relationships?
11:30–12:00
Contemplative Interval
Silence, Walking, or Rest
12:00 noon
Lunch
1:30–3:30 pm
Broughton Rewilding Tour
3:30–4:30 pm
Protected Time
Silence, Walking, Individual Wellness, or Rest
4:30 – 5:30pm
DECLARATION DRAFTING SESSION II — Convergence
Facilitators present emerging structure for discussion:
Diagnosis
Principles
Responsibilities
5:30–7:30 pm
Personal Time for Rule of Life & Public Commitment
Participants develop a one-page Rule of Life for the AI Age, translating insight into personal and institutional commitments
7:30 pm
The Vigil for the Human Future
A closing evening of reflection: philosophy, moral imagination, democratic responsibility. Holding at Broughton Fire Temple – depending on weather.
DAY FOUR | Monday 29 June
Return — Carrying the Renewed Life Forward
8:00 am
Breakfast
9:00–9:30 am
Closing Circle & Declaration Reading
Presentation of the near-final Declaration. Participants affirm and offer one commitment to carry forward.
10:00 am
Departure
RETREAT OUTPUT
The Broughton Declaration on AI, Democracy, and Human Flourishing
A concise, high-level articulation of shared principles for governing AI in ways that sustain trust, democratic life, and human dignity — supported by principles, policy insights, and participant comments and commitments.