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كُنKUNKUN

Kun Academy · in-person retreats led by Samer Hassan, ICF MCC

A journey that returns you to yourself.

Ihya — revival — is Kun's family of in-person retreats, led by Samer Hassan and built on Somatic Thinking™. We don't promise to change you. We help you come back to what you already knew the day you were truly present.

“When you feel you have lost yourself, the journey of revival begins.”

You don't need a new life so much as you need to live your life anew. So we step out of the noise — small circles, in nature, a few days that are lived, not explained — until the body listens again, the self settles, and the mind returns to its place as a partner, not a master.

Led personally by Samer Hassan, ICF MCC · built on Somatic Thinking™ · small circles, in nature (Egypt · the Gulf · Europe).

A lone figure at first light on a desert ridge, warm gold dawn ahead — “the return.”

The one story

Six retreats. One story: a human remembering themselves after a long absence.

Ihya is not a workshop, a lecture, or a course — and it is not a vacation. It is an opportunity to remember. Each retreat is a chapter of the same arc, and the arc is simple:

When you reconcile with your body, your self heals. When the inside quiets, your connections clarify. And from there, your impact begins.

That is the whole map: it begins from the body, extends to the self, then to the people around you (connection), then to your work (impact), reaching your creativity (innovation) — until the circle completes in the Grand Journey.

You don't have to walk all of it. It's enough to begin from the door that calls you now — each station opens to the next on its own.

Who comes to Ihya.

People who feel the days passing while they run on preservation, not presence — “I'm not broken, but something in me has gone very quiet.” Professionals, creatives, leaders, parents. Most come alone, and leave among people. No fitness required — the work is awareness, not exertion. And it meets you from inside your own beliefs and values, never against them.

The method behind it

Learning that is lived, not explained.

We don't hand you concepts to take notes on; we design an environment your senses can't ignore. It runs on Somatic Thinking™ — working with thoughts, bodily sensations, and behaviour together until awareness rises — sharpened by sensory acuity (الإرهاف الحسّي), and carried by Sensory Engineering: the light, sound, texture, movement, food, and silence of each day shaped on purpose, from waking to sleep. You work in a conscious circle — somatic group coaching, intentional silence, conscious movement — so the change isn't a handout you carry home, but a shift in how you are.

This comes from a tradition that never split the body from the self. Lived practice leads; science (embodied cognition, interoception) and a deep heritage stand as corroborating witnesses, never the borrowed authority.

The six doorways

Begin where it calls you. Stack them in any order. The whole circle comes last. Each retreat is complete in itself — residential, in nature, in a small circle, with its own focus and its own people. Take one, or stack several in any order over time; everything compounds. The seventh, the Grand Journey, gathers them all — and it's the one retreat that asks you to have lived at least one revival retreat first.

Plain names and the feeling each opens — no prices here; each retreat's own page carries dates and fees once they're set.

Two ways in. Same six doors.

Come to be revived — to set the weight down and come back to yourself. Or come to work on something specific — your body, your bonds, your ideas, your impact. Either way you begin at the same six doors below; each one holds both. (Each card shows both: Restore & Recover — what you set down · Work on — the focus you pick up.)

Show me by:
Restore & Recoverset the noise down
Working onstillness & clearer decisions
Duration~3 days · a long weekend (Thursday arrival → Sunday)
FormatResidential, full board · Egypt, the Gulf, or Europe
PrerequisiteNo prerequisite · the gentlest doorway
1Door

Reviving the Self

Refine the interior. Reclaim your stillness.

The most accessible doorway. For the high-functioning person whose engine is still running but whose inside has gone quiet — living on preservation energy, not presence. Over a long weekend we go inward to clear the draining habits and the noise, and rediscover that simplicity is a kind of rest, and that silence, when you listen to it, is medicine. You leave carrying something hard to describe, but unmistakable in how you are with others.

Who it's for

Anyone who senses “I'm not broken — but something in me has gone very quiet.” Professionals, leaders, creatives, parents — especially those who've absorbed the culture that confuses rest with laziness.

What you'll live

  • Somatic Thinking™ practice in an immersive container.
  • A rhythm unlike ordinary life.
  • Conscious silence and stillness.
  • A small circle that grows real over a few days.

Outcomes

  • A calmer relationship with your thoughts and feelings.
  • The ability to stop instead of deplete.
  • An inner clarity that shows up in your daily decisions.

Not psychotherapy — an educational awareness experience; no diagnosis, no treatment.

Register for the next retreat→

Upcoming — register your interest and we’ll reach you when the next circle opens.

Restore & Recovercome home to your body
Working onpresence you can feel
Duration4 days / 3 nights
FormatResidential, full board · Egypt, the Gulf, or Europe
PrerequisiteNo physical fitness required
2Door

Reviving the Body

Reconnect with your body, so you can hear yourself again.

When your body walks one road and your mind another, the signal between them goes faint. Over four days we rebuild that relationship — learning to listen to the fine signals of movement, waking up sensory acuity (الإرهاف الحسّي) so presence returns to ordinary moments. My own journey revealed that the body shapes thought — it is not a vessel for it. No physical fitness required — the retreat rests on bodily awareness, not exertion.

Who it's for

Anyone living from the neck up, out of touch with the body's quiet intelligence — and anyone who wants presence they can feel, not just understand.

What you'll live

  • Somatic Thinking™ exercises.
  • Sensory Engineering (light, sound, texture, movement designed from waking to sleep).
  • Somatic group-coaching sessions, silence and meditation.
  • Sunrise walks, conscious eating, fireside companionship · a letter to yourself, thirty days on.

Outcomes

  • A harmonious body–mind relationship built on listening, not control.
  • Sensory acuity as a daily skill.
  • Balance restored from deep bodily awareness · your natural rhythm, found again. (A follow-up circle meets ~two weeks after you return.)

Not psychotherapy — an educational awareness experience; no diagnosis, no treatment.

Register for the next retreat→

Upcoming — register your interest and we’ll reach you when the next circle opens.

Restore & Recoversoften, reconnect
Working onyour relationships
Duration3 days
FormatResidential, full board
PrerequisiteNo prerequisite
3Door

Reviving Connection

Connect from awareness, not from need.

We learn the art of real communication and living listening — how to be present in a relationship without losing yourself in it, and how to build companionship that grows from awareness rather than from need.

Who it's for

Anyone who wants deeper, cleaner relationships — with a partner, family, friends, colleagues — and who suspects the problem isn't technique but presence.

What you'll live

  • Somatic Thinking™ in relationship.
  • Living listening and conscious dialogue.
  • Boundaries that connect rather than wall off.
  • A circle that models the thing it teaches.

Outcomes

  • Presence that holds in the company of others.
  • Connection without self-erasure.
  • Relationships built on awareness, not need.
Register for the next retreat→

Upcoming — register your interest and we’ll reach you when the next circle opens.

Restore & Recoverunclench, breathe
Working onyour creative spring
Duration3 days
FormatResidential, full board
PrerequisiteNo prerequisite
4Door

Reviving Innovation

Leave the fear. Let the idea come.

Creativity rarely dies for lack of talent; it goes quiet under fear. Here we free the imagination from that fear and use Somatic Thinking™ as a path to renewal — expressing ourselves in new ways without losing our roots.

Who it's for

Makers, founders, writers, leaders — anyone whose creative spring has gone dry under pressure, deadlines, or self-doubt.

What you'll live

  • Somatic Thinking™ as a tool for creation.
  • Play and experiment in a safe circle.
  • Presence as the soil creativity actually grows in.

Outcomes

  • Imagination unhooked from fear.
  • A renewed, embodied way of making.
  • Expression that's new and rooted.
Register for the next retreat→

Upcoming — register your interest and we’ll reach you when the next circle opens.

Restore & Recoverstep off the treadmill
Working onyour work & leadership
Duration3 days
FormatResidential, full board
PrerequisiteNo prerequisite
5Door

Reviving Impact

Make your work look like you.

We revisit what work is for, and reconnect it to intention. We balance aims with outcomes and discover that real impact begins from a clean intention, not from noisy achievement — work that finally looks like you.

Who it's for

Leaders and professionals running on output who want their effort to mean something — purpose and presence brought to the work itself.

What you'll live

  • Somatic Thinking™ applied to work and leadership.
  • Realigning effort with intention.
  • Presence as the source of durable impact, not pressure.

Outcomes

  • Work reconnected to meaning.
  • Impact that lasts because it's clean.
  • Leadership grown from presence, not force.
Register for the next retreat→

Upcoming — register your interest and we’ll reach you when the next circle opens.

Restore & Recoverthe whole circle
Working onbody, self, connection & impact, woven
Duration7 days · in nature · the flagship
FormatResidential, in nature
PrerequisitePrerequisite: at least one revival retreat
6Door✦ Capstone

The Grand Journey

Seven days in nature — until you return whole.

The capstone that gathers everything before it: seven days in nature where body, self, relationships, and work meet in a single harmony. It is not the end of the road — it is its new beginning. Open to anyone who has already lived at least one of the revival retreats — the Grand Journey weaves together what they began.

Who it's for

Those who've walked at least one revival retreat and are ready to give the work the time it deserves — the full circle, in one immersion.

What you'll live

  • Every thread of Ihya, woven together.
  • Deep Somatic Thinking™ practice.
  • Sustained silence, movement, and circle in nature.
  • Integration that holds after you leave.

Outcomes

  • Body, self, connection, and impact in one rhythm.
  • A return that lasts.
  • The new beginning, not the finish line.
Register for the next retreat→

Upcoming — register your interest and we’ll reach you when the next circle opens.

Before you arrive

What a Kun retreat is — and isn't

So you arrive with the right expectation.

Not a workshop or a course.

No slides to survive, no notes to file. The learning is lived.

Not therapy.

An educational awareness experience — no diagnosis, no treatment. If you need clinical care, we'll say so honestly.

Not a vacation.

Rest, yes — but rest with a direction: a return, not an escape.

Not a performance.

No fitness, no prior Somatic Thinking, nothing to prove. You come as you are.

What it is: a small circle, in nature, where an environment is designed for your senses and a few honest days return you to yourself.

The Companionship

And around all of it — a home. The Companionship.

Most people arrive at Ihya alone. Almost no one leaves that way. When the retreat ends you don't simply go home — you join the Companionship (صحبة كُن): a living, worldwide community built on the same values we grow in every circle, where people work, play, and grow together. The return continues among your people.

Proof & credibility

Retreats led by the founder — with the track record behind them.

1000+
people trained
15+
countries
1M+
lives touched
500K+
sessions
Samer Hassan — Founder of Kun Academy
The Founder

Samer Hassan

Samer Hassan, ICF MCC — the highest credential in coaching. 15+ years of professional practice; 30+ years of martial and healing arts; creator of Somatic Thinking™, co-author of Coaching Presence (McGraw-Hill / Open University Press, 2021). He leads every Ihya retreat himself.

FAQ

No. It's an educational awareness experience — no diagnosis, no treatment. It's built to return you to your own presence and clarity, not to clinically treat a condition. If clinical care is what you need, we'll tell you honestly.

No to both. The retreats rest on awareness, not exertion, and they're built for beginners. You come exactly as you are.

Yes — most people do. You arrive alone and leave among people; the circle, and the Companionship after it, are part of the work.

Begin from the door that calls you now — most people start with Reviving the Self (the gentlest entry) or Reviving the Body. Each retreat is complete in itself, and you can stack them in any order. The Grand Journey is the capstone — it asks you to have lived at least one revival retreat first.

No. Ihya is open to everyone, of any background or belief, and it meets you from inside your own values, never against them. It draws on a deep human heritage and a faith of gratitude and presence — but it asks nothing of your creed.

In nature, in Egypt, the Gulf, and Europe (with more locations opening), in small circles. Each retreat opens for registration of interest first; dates and fees are confirmed per venue and shown on that retreat's own page. Register your interest and we'll reach you when the next circle opens.

Somatic Thinking™ is Samer Hassan's methodology, and it is the ground under all of Ihya: we work with thoughts, bodily sensations, and behaviour together until awareness rises — not concepts to memorise, but awareness that is lived. To understand it from the ground up, start with the first article in our series.

“What Is Somatic Thinking?” — read the article →

You don't need a new life. You need to live the one you have — anew.

Ihya is the few honest days that make that possible. Start from the door that calls you, or talk to us first and we'll help you choose.

In the words of the Qur'an:
“Whoever gives life to one, it is as though they gave life to all mankind.”
Qur'an · Al-Mā'idah 5:32
Revival ripples outward — but it begins with your own. Begin there.

Upcoming

Upcoming Ihya retreats — book your place.

A curated collection from Kun Academy — learning, events, and content in one place.

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Ihya, The Grand Journey, the Summer Retreat · Trentino، Italy · Seven days, in person
Event

Ihya, The Grand Journey, the Summer Retreat · Trentino، Italy · Seven days, in person

A seven-day, six-night retreat of walking among the Dolomite peaks of Val di Fassa, in Trentino, Italy, with Samer Hassan. The Grand Journey is Ihya's summer retreat, the one that gathers the threads of body, self, relationships, and work into a single harmony. Here the hike is the road the whole revival journey travels on: one step outward and one step inward, with the coach beside you on the trail. The walk is a journey inward: Each day we set out on a new trail among the Dolomite peaks, and each day's walk is devoted to reviving one part of you, in the order Ihya's retreats follow: we begin with reviving the body, then the self, then connection, then innovation, then impact, until the last day gathers every thread into one journey. Samer walks the trail with you, and the inner journey unfolds as the day does: a question at the climb, long stretches of silence, a conversation that finds its own moment, and in the evening a circle that gathers what the day opened. You walk and enjoy the hike, and at the same time you travel inward, accompanied rather than alone. What surrounds you on the trail: The dirt trail climbs through meadows thick with yellow and white summer flowers, then drops to a stream tumbling over stones. Blond-maned horses graze free in the open meadow, cows rest on the slope, and a red-capped mushroom waits in the grass by your boot. Above, the pale Dolomite peaks hold the valley like two open arms, changing colour with the light, hidden by cloud one hour and revealed by sun the next. At the yellow trail sign on the pass you stop to catch your breath, and the whole valley lies below you. The air is cold and clean, and the only sounds are water, your steps, and your breathing. We walk at the group's pace, with no racing and no climbing. These are walking trails, not rock faces. Revival after revival: Reviving the body: the first climb, legs that work, breath that widens, and the body's signals returning as a guide you hear before the mind has its say. Reviving the self: long silence on the trail, where the mind slows to the pace of the feet and you meet yourself once the noise stops. Reviving connection: hours spent walking beside someone, a conversation opening that the city never allows, then sitting together in the evening having seen the same mountain. Reviving innovation: a horizon that widens the higher you go, and ideas that arrive on their own once the mind rests from its tasks. Reviving impact: what you carry down the mountain with you, a clearer view of your next step, and what the mountain teaches about pace: one step, then the next, never the whole road at once. And on the last day, the Grand Journey itself: every thread, body, self, connection, innovation, and impact, in a single harmony you take back into your life. What you take home from the mountain: • A harmonious relationship between body and mind, built on listening rather than control, sensory acuity as a daily skill, and your natural rhythm found again. • A calmer relationship with your thoughts and feelings, the ability to stop instead of deplete, and an inner clarity that shows in your daily decisions. • Presence that holds in the company of others, connection without self-erasure, and relationships built on awareness rather than need. • Imagination unhooked from fear, and expression that is new and rooted at once. • Work reconnected to meaning, impact that lasts because it is clean, and leadership grown from presence rather than force. • Body, self, connection, and impact in one rhythm, a return that lasts, and a new beginning rather than a finish line. The company: A small circle of like-minded people who came for a reason close to yours. You walk together by day and gather as one circle in the evening, with the mountain a quiet companion throughout. There are no lectures to sit through and no notes to keep. The learning lives in the body, on the trail, before it is put into words. Who it is for: For anyone who feels the days passing while running on preservation rather than presence, and wants seven full days set aside for themselves in the arms of nature, away from the noise. No mountain experience is needed. The trails are walked at a comfortable pace, and most guests need no more than ordinary fitness and a good pair of walking shoes. You come as you are. The retreat is led in Arabic and English together, and Samer moves between the two as the circle needs. Led by: The retreat is led by Samer Hassan, creator of Somatic Thinking, a published coaching methodology built on presence and profound listening, and an ICF Master Certified Coach (MCC). Registration and deposit: Places are held with a deposit. The figure shown on this page is the current estimate; the full cost and the venue are confirmed two months before the retreat, so that everyone has time to arrange a visa where one is needed. The deposit holds your place in the circle, and the plan reaches you as it is confirmed. The deposit is refundable at any time until the full cost and venue are announced, plus fourteen days after. Registration asks for your name, email, WhatsApp number, and nationality (for visa planning), along with your room preference and whether a companion is joining you. A visa note: The retreat sits inside the Schengen area. Once the venue is confirmed, Kun provides an invitation letter and a booking confirmation to support your visa application. When and where: Monday 26 July to Sunday 1 August 2027, seven days and six nights, in Val di Fassa, Trentino, Italy. In person, residential.

Peace of MindConfidenceClaritySelf-AwarenessFulfillmentPersonal DevelopmentEmotional IntelligenceBalance

In-person·Jul 26, 2027·Italy

Ihya: Reviving the Body · October 2026 · Egypt
Event

Ihya: Reviving the Body · October 2026 · Egypt

When you make peace with your body, your self begins to heal. Reviving the Body is where Ihya begins: the first doorway into Kun's family of residential retreats built on Somatic Thinking™ and led personally by Samer Hassan, ICF MCC. It is made for anyone whose body walks one road while the mind walks another, until the signal between them goes faint: living from the neck up, cut off from the body's own quiet intelligence. Over four days and three nights, from a Thursday-afternoon arrival to a Sunday-afternoon return, a small circle rebuilds that relationship. You learn to listen to the finer signals: the weight of a footstep, the rhythm of a breath, the feel of a body finally at rest, until sensory acuity returns as a daily skill. Sensory Engineering shapes every day on purpose: light, sound, texture, movement, food, and silence, from waking to sleep. Sunrise walks, conscious eating, evenings by the fire, and spaces built for silence and stillness. No fitness is required; the retreat rests on bodily awareness, not exertion. And this edition holds eight people only. A circle kept deliberately small, built for depth rather than crowd, where each participant has a private in-person coaching session with Samer Hassan, using advanced Somatic Thinking™ technique, reaching what the circle alone cannot. You leave with a calmer relationship with your body, built on listening rather than control, a sensory acuity that stays with you day to day, and a balance that returns from deep bodily awareness. My own journey showed me that the body shapes thought. It is not a vessel for it, and this retreat was born from that certainty. This is an educational awareness experience, not therapy: no diagnosis, no treatment. And when the retreat ends you do not simply go home. You join the Companionship, Kun's living worldwide community, and a follow-up circle meets roughly two weeks after you return, to help what began in your body hold. Whoever gives life to one, it is as though they gave life to all mankind, the Qur'an teaches (Al-Ma'idah 5:32). Revival ripples outward, and for the body, it begins with the body itself. Begin there. This edition gathers at Diwa Lodge in Tunis Village, Fayoum, in the Egyptian countryside where the first Ihya circles began.

Peace of MindClaritySelf-AwarenessCharisma & PresenceBalance

In-person·Oct 22, 2026·Egypt

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