An 11-Day Immersive Retreat with David Gandelman & Cody Edner

November 5–15, 2026

Awaken your energy and intuition in the sacred landscapes of Japan.

Join David Gandelman & Cody Edner for an intimate 11-day journey through Japan, where meditation, energy awareness, and intuitive development unfold within one of the most spiritually refined cultures on Earth.

From ancient pilgrimage routes and Zen gardens to mountain hot springs and historic temples, this retreat is designed to guide you into deeper states of presence, clarity, and inner listening—supported by Japan’s natural beauty, rhythm, and wisdom.

This is not a tour. It is a lived, embodied experience.

A Journey Through Inner and Outer Landscapes

Japan offers a rare balance of structure and stillness, ritual and simplicity. Awareness is woven into daily life—through walking, bathing, eating, and attention to detail.

Over eleven days, you will be guided through experiences that support settling rather than stimulation, listening rather than striving, and depth rather than intensity.

This retreat invites you to slow down enough to notice what is already present.

A NOTE FROM DAVID & CODY

This retreat is an invitation to return to yourself.

Japan holds a unique energetic quality. Refined, quiet, and deeply grounding. It supports a kind of awareness that doesn’t require effort, striving, or pushing.

Over these 11 days, we will guide you through meditation, energy practices, and intuitive exploration in a way that is gentle, practical, and integrated into everyday experience.

Our intention is not to overwhelm, but to create space to listen, to reset, and to reconnect with what is already present within you.

Energetic & Intuitive Practice

This retreat includes energy awareness, intuitive practices, and energy healing sessions guided by David and Cody.

Throughout our time together, participants will be invited into gentle energy-based meditation, intuitive awareness exercises, and group energetic work, including opportunities for energy readings and healing.

No prior experience is required.

If you are new to this kind of practice, we will share optional preparatory meditations before the retreat to help you feel grounded, familiar, and supported upon arrival.

All practices are taught progressively, respectfully, and with attention to individual pacing.

Book Your Spot

WHAT TO EXPECT

Meditation & Energy Work

Daily guided practices led by David and Cody to support grounding, clarity, and intuitive sensitivity.

Sacred Temples & Historic Sites

Time in and around Japan’s ancient temples, pilgrimage paths, and culturally significant spaces.

Walking Meditation & Nature Immersion

Mindful walking through forests and historic routes, including the Nakasendo Trail.

Hot Springs & Deep Rest

Overnight stays at a traditional onsen hotel, allowing the nervous system to unwind and reset.

Effortless Travel Through Japan

Carefully chosen meals and bento experiences that honor simplicity, presence, and nourishment.

Mindful Japanese Cuisine

Carefully chosen meals and bento experiences that honor simplicity, presence, and nourishment.

Guided & Supported Journey

An intimate container designed for meaningful connection, reflection, and personal insight.

Intuition & Inner Awareness

Spacious time to process, integrate, and listen inward—without pressure to “do” or perform.

PLACES WE WILL VISIT

Japan is experienced not through landmarks alone, but through atmosphere, rhythm, and presence.
Each place on this journey has been chosen for how it supports awareness, integration, and quiet insight.

Tokyo

Arrival · Grounding · Orientation

We begin and end in Tokyo, using the city as a gentle container rather than a rush of stimulation.

Tokyo offers a unique balance of modern life and deeply rooted ritual. Our time here is oriented toward grounding, arrival, and integration, allowing you to acclimate and settle into retreat pace.

Nakasendo Trail

Walking Meditation · Pilgrimage · Simplicity

The Nakasendo Trail is a historic mountain route once traveled by monks, samurai, and pilgrims moving between Kyoto and Tokyo.

Walking sections of this trail invites Slower rhythm, presence through movement, and connection to land, lineage, and simplicity.

This portion of the journey emphasizes walking meditation and embodied awareness.

Kiso Valley

Nature · Quiet Villages · Stillness

Nestled in the Japanese Alps, the Kiso Valley offers forested landscapes, rivers, and traditional towns largely untouched by modern development.

Here, the environment itself supports rest, nervous system regulation, and quiet reflection.

Traditional Onsen Stay

Restoration · Integration · Deep Rest

We spend time at a traditional onsen hotel, surrounded by nature.

Hot spring bathing is approached not as luxury, but as practice supporting physical release, energetic integration, and deep rest.

Kyoto

Temples · Zen Gardens · Inner Stillness

Kyoto carries centuries of spiritual refinement. Its temples and gardens invite patience, observation, and subtle awareness.

Here, form and emptiness meet, supporting insight without effort and depth without force.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

Accommodations

Thoughtfully selected stays throughout the journey.

Daily breakfast

Included at each location.

Select Group Dinners

Traditional Japanese cuisine shared together.

Airport transfers

Group transfers on Nov 5 and 15.

Ground Transportation

All trains and transfers.

Guided site visits

Temples, historic paths, and contemplative walks.

Meditation & Intuitive Practice

Embodied and progressive.

Group Energy Work

Healings and intuitive insight sessions.

What’s Not Included

International airfare

Some meals (to allow flexibility and choice)

Personal expenses

Travel insurance

WHO THIS RETREAT IS FOR

This retreat is for you if you:

Drawn to meditation and inner awareness
Interested in intuition without spiritual bypassing
Sensitive to environment and energy
Seeking depth without intensity
Ready to slow down and listen inward

No prior meditation or energy work experience is required.

Book Your Spot

YOUR GUIDES

David Gandelman is a spiritual teacher, author, and guide, whose mission is to awaken souls on their path of growing into being human, and living an enlightened, purpose-driven life.

He is the founder of the Meditation School app, and host of the Meditation School podcast as well as the Grounded Sleep podcast. He and Cody are the co-hosts of the Energy Matters podcast.

His meditations have been streamed millions of times. He has taught at Cornell University, NBC Universal, SAP, and numerous other organizations.

David holds a B.A. in Western philosophy from Rutgers University.

He spent several years living in ashrams in the Himalayas studying Eastern spiritual traditions. For seven years after that, he ran a school for intuitive development and mysticism in Hawaii.

His teaching style combines energetic experiences, ancient wisdom, and humor. Those who listen know he creates a welcoming space for folks looking to learn meditation and tap into their potential.

Sawako “Merrina” Suzuki is a Japanese-born spiritual teacher, clairvoyant, and former professor whose work supports people in releasing old programming and stepping into greater spiritual freedom. She is the founder of Delphina, an online school based in Hawaiʻi that offers meditation, energy healing, and intuitive development programs in Japanese for students in Japan and around the world.

Merrina holds a Ph.D. in Human Development (Educational Psychology) from the University of California, Berkeley, and spent over a decade as a tenured professor of Educational Leadership at Saint Mary’s College of California. After years of teaching and mentoring graduate students, she felt called to devote herself fully to spiritual work and founded Delphina.

Alongside her academic career, she trained deeply in meditation and clairvoyant practice. Her intuitive ability to see energy allows her to speak to the deeper essence of each person and help them release long-held patterns on an energetic level. She has led thousands of readings, classes, and long-term training programs, as well as retreats in Hawaiʻi, Sedona, Mt. Shasta, Sri Lanka, Bali, and multiple locations throughout Japan.

Born and raised in Japan and now living in Hawaiʻi, Merrina loves bridging Eastern and Western perspectives. She has a special passion for sharing the spirit of Japan—and the light of her Delphina community—with visitors, inviting people to experience temples, landscapes, and everyday culture as gateways into their own inner journey.

Her teaching style is clear, direct, and warmly playful. Students often say she can see beyond their roles and wounds and speak to who they really are, creating a deeply safe space for transformation—especially at important turning points in life.

Cody Edner has been teaching meditation and intuitive awareness for over 40 years.

He is the co-host of the Energy Matters podcast, and currently travels and teaches advanced intuitive training programs, workshops and seminars. He is also the former director of the Berkeley Psychic Institute of Santa Rosa and Aesclepion Wellness Center.

Cody first awakened to his intuitive gifts when he was 14 years old while watching his aunt receive a psychic reading. He suddenly realized that he was “reading along” with the psychic, having the same awareness and insights as the reader.

After that experience, Cody began to study meditation and metaphysics deeply. Even today, he continues to explore, learn and teach about what it means to be psychic.

Cody is an intuitive reader, healer and medium with 40+ years’ experience. He has done tens of thousands of energy readings & healings and taught thousands more to meditate and tap into their intuitive abilities. He currently spends his time between Colorado Springs and Leadville, Colorado.