Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) approved 10 CEUs toward CMPC recertification for individuals attending this training.
National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) approved 2.0 CEUs in category A for certified individuals attending this event.
"The BEST, most rewarding training/professional experience I have ever had! Chad and Scott delivered a masterclass in organic flow, compassion, instruction and humor." -2025 Retreat Participant
The Meditation Retreat for Mental Performance in Sport is an intensive, experiential professional development program designed for athletes, coaches, mental performance consultants, strength and conditioning coaches, performance and sport scientists, personal trainers, and tactical professionals who want to move beyond theory, and experience applied meditation. Grounded in evidence-based frameworks from sport psychology, kinesiology, and contemplative neuroscience, the retreat emphasizes the development of psychological skills and embodied meditation practices that enhance skill development and performance outcomes.
Participants will engage in expert-led didactic learning, experiential learning, and analysis and application to translate theory into applied, context-specific strategies for professional performance. The curriculum supports the design of individualized implementation plans, integration of training routines, and the cultivation of a collaborative community of practice to foster accountability, ongoing professional development, and ethically grounded, culturally responsive application.
Meditation and mindfulness is best taught from one’s own embodied experience. It’s not just a set of ideas or a particular intervention. This retreat directly explores the role of your personal practice and its impact on your professional and personal performance. This retreat will not train you to deliver the Inner Edge curriculum, but it is foundational to anyone who wants to effectively teach mindfulness and meditation in performance environments.
Meditation and mindfulness are emerging evidence-based trainings for enhancing cognitive and emotional performance. Promising *research in neuroscience, psychology, and sport, exercise, and performance psychology has shown that meditation can:
✅ Improve emotional regulation, neuroplasticity and experience of flow states.
✅ Reduce incidence of injury, ameliorate depression symptoms and improve well-being.
✅ Improve immune response and reduce cortisol levels.
✅Improve focus and attention by strengthening neural pathways related to cognitive control.
✅ Enhance emotional regulation, reducing stress and performance anxiety through activation of the prefrontal cortex.
✅ Increase resilience by regulating activity in the amygdala, leading to better adaptability under pressure.
✅ Boost creativity and problem-solving by improving adaptive thinking and cognitive flexibility.
✅ Enhance recovery and mental clarity, making it a key tool for sustaining high performance.
By experiencing meditation firsthand, you'll develop a deeper, evidence-based understanding of how to apply these principles in your coaching, training and performance.
"The authentic joy, passion, humor and interest that Chad and Scott brought to the retreat set the tone for my experience both professionally and personally. I left a better person and facilitator not only because of all the knowledge taught but because of the experiences. If I had to boil it down, it is because I learned more in my time at the retreat than any other professional development experience I have been a part of. "
-2025 Retreat Participant
This retreat is a unique opportunity to engage in a deliberate training process, equipping you with the confidence, knowledge, and practical skills to integrate meditation effectively into your coaching and training.
Through experiential learning, you’ll:
Move beyond breathwork and gain clarity on the distinctions and applications of mindfulness and meditation.
Engage in deep discussions on the real-world application of meditation in performance, backed by neuroscience research.
Expand your creativity and explore innovative ways to integrate mindfulness and meditation into your life and your mental performance training.
Build meaningful connections with a like-minded community in an environment that fosters personal and professional growth.
This retreat isn’t just about skill-building, it’s an opportunity for self-development and analysis. As professionals dedicated to serving others, this is your chance to turn inward, prioritize your own mental performance, and experience the transformative power of mindfulness and meditation firsthand.
By the end of this retreat, you’ll walk away with a deeper pedagogical foundation, new insights into contemplative science and performance enhancement, and a renewed sense of creativity and inspiration for your work.
This is a rare opportunity to step away from the day-to-day, immerse yourself in the practice, and return with the tools, confidence, and insight to train in meditation with authenticity and impact.
If you're ready to move beyond meditation as a concept and experience meditation in action, this retreat is for you.
Chad McGehee, MS (2026), MA, MAEd, is a meditation teacher, scientific collaborator and trusted coach working at the intersection of elite performance and rigorous meditation training. At the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department, Chad became the first ever Director of Meditation Training in major college sports. Chad is an honorary research affiliate of the Center for Healthy Minds at UW-Madison and co-founder of Inner Edge Meditation.
Chad’s work has been featured on ESPN, in the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Business Insider and as a co-author in peer-reviewed scientific journals. His training has been integrated into a range of environments including K-12 education, FBI SWAT Teams, the elite Hostage Rescue Team in Quantico, VA, Fortune 500 companies and elite athletics.
Chad has been teaching meditation, including retreats, for over fifteen years. He is passionate about bringing rigorous and accessible meditation training to life as strength and conditioning for the mind.
Scott Anderson, PhD, is a Kinesiologist, Educator and Meditator. Those interests intersect in his work as a teacher of both fitness and meditation. In the various contexts that he teaches within, the imminence of body in mind and mind in body are ever-present.
Since he was a child, Scott studied various forms of movement and meditation; first, as a D1 athlete, then as an ardent student of yoga. Yoga was accompanied by seated meditation, which led Scott to pursue a Ph.D. in Kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. As part of his doctoral work, Scott researched the influence of meditation on surgical outcomes, and how meditation supports greater resilience in high performing student-athletes in the University of Wisconsin - Madison Human Performance Laboratory. Scott has been a meditator for 40+ years.
This 4-day, in-person retreat will be held at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton, Wisconsin.
Holy Wisdom Monastery feature in the New York Times.
*Please note the Meditation Retreat for Mental Performance is a secular retreat but is held at Holy Wisdom Monastery, a Christian retreat center.
Holy Wisdom Monastery is the home and work place of the Benedictine Women of Madison. In 1953, the Benedictine sisters set down roots on a hill overlooking Lake Mendota and the skyline of Madison, Wisconsin. Today, Holy Wisdom Monastery manages 190 acres with a 10,000-year-old glacial lake, one of the ‘greenest’ LEED-certfied buildings in the country, wooded nature trails, restored prairie, gardens, orchards and the beginning of an oak savanna.
Click link to view the HWM Nature Trails.
Holy Wisdom Monastery is a 15min drive from Dane County Regional Airport (MSN), the main airport serving Madison and Middleton, Wisconsin.
Holy Wisdom Monastery
4200 County Road M
Middleton, Wisconsin 53562
All retreat participants are required to read and sign this participation waiver.
*$300 of the $500 deposit is non-refundable and non-transferable.
Due to the limited and immersive nature of this experience, registrations are refundable through April 20. After this date, all registrations are final. Registration remains open until May 15, pending availability.
A refund (less $300) will be made for cancellations submitted in writing before or on April 20, 2026.
Inner Edge Meditation requires a minimum of 12 registrants for this program. In the event the program is cancelled, Inner Edge Meditation is responsible only for a refund of the registration cost (less $300). Please be aware of this when making travel arrangements to attend this program.
If you have questions, please contact Erin at erin@inneredgemeditation.com
This retreat offers the opportunity to reset away from daily distractions
Training in meditation & mindfulness for mental performance in sport
4 days, 3 nights
Meals prepared with fresh, healthy, locally grown ingredients
Use of retreat grounds and nature trails
Transportation to and from the retreat is not included in the retreat registration fee.
Thursday: Arrival Day
Afternoon arrival at Holy Wisdom Monastery (15 mins from Madison airport)
3:00 PM-5:00 PM Check-in
5:15 PM Dinner with the group
6:30 PM-8:00 PM Retreat orientation/Opening session
Friday and Saturday
7:00 AM- 8:00 AM Morning practice or mindful cardio workout
8:00 AM- 9:00 AM Breakfast
9:00 AM- 12:00 PM Morning practice and learning session
12:00 PM- 1:00 PM Lunch
1:00 PM- 2:30 PM Rest/Open space
2:30 PM-5:00 PM Afternoon practice and learning session
5:00 PM- 6:00 PM Dinner
6:00 PM- 7:30 PM Rest/Open space
7:30 PM- 8:00 PM Evening talk and practice
Sunday: Closing Day
7:00 AM- 8:00 AM Morning practice or mindful cardio workout
8:00 AM- 9:00 AM Breakfast
9:00 AM- 12:00 PM Closing session
12:00 PM Closing lunch
Retreat Notes
Periods of this retreat will be done in silence and with limited access to phones/computers in order to more deeply and skillfully benefit from the retreat. During these times, we will have alternate ways for others to contact you in case of need.
This retreat is more than mindfulness. We will be exploring a range of meditation practices all aimed at training the mind for greater performance and well-being.
