School
for The Work

No prior experience with The Work is necessary. This is the School of You, and it has no grade levels. It’s just you, Katie, her staff, Katie’s brilliant curriculum, and the four questions.

Two words: Byron Katie. She will be sitting with you through all nine days, facilitating The Work, answering your questions, and sharing her awareness. A competent, dedicated staff works with Katie to make your School the most powerful experience possible.

In another sense, you will be your own teacher, giving yourself the understanding that only you can provide. Katie and her staff are there to support you at every step along the way. And every classmate you work with will be your teacher, and you will be theirs.

The day begins at 7 a.m. The group gathers for a breakfast, and morning meditation, which is followed by an opportunity to share your insights. The schedule for the rest of the day is morning session, lunch, afternoon session, dinner, and evening session.

Katie’s curriculum is very rich and thorough, and it is her heart’s desire that everyone get what they came for: their own freedom. So expect long hours, and all exercises and sessions are optional—this is made clear every day. With very rare exceptions, participants find that they just can’t get enough of the curriculum, it is so fabulous (according to them). The long hours are Katie’s response to their requests, and never something Katie is imposing on them.

Katie’s first School lasted for twenty-eight days, and people found it difficult to get away from their jobs and life for such a long time. Later, by request, she reduced the School to fourteen days. Still later, because so many people who wanted to attend the School said that they could afford only a week away from their families, she reduced the fourteen days to nine, including the weekend before and after. Katie gives people the most that she can possibly give in such a short time.

You’ll be with and work among a couple of hundred of the most generous, open-minded, open-hearted people you’ve ever met. And they’ll all be serious about doing their own Work and facilitating yours.

All over the world. At a recent School in Los Angeles, we had students from Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Russia, Kazakhstan, Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, Indonesia—not to mention West Virginia, Utah, Texas, Nebraska, Hawaii …

The majority of our food selections are vegetarian, and often vegan. Organic ingredients are used whenever possible, and individual dietary requests can be accommodated if we know them ahead of time and if they are doctor-prescribed. Breakfasts include eggs or a similarly hearty main dish. Also, we serve one or more hot cereals, several types of fresh and dried fruit selections, and nondairy as well as dairy milks. Lunches and dinners feature at least two main dishes, a plentiful array of salads, and numerous side dishes of vegetables, legumes, and grains.

No. Some people do choose to have single rooms. It is suggested that participants have roommates, and that they room with someone they don’t know, because we have found that an unfamiliar roommate often stirs up stressful thoughts, and this gives people a chance to do The Work on thoughts that they have been suffering from their whole lives. The roommate exercises have transformed relationships with spouses, parents, children, business partners, and friends. Our experience is that by the end of the nine-day School everyone who had a roommate is very happy that they did. And often those who chose not to have a roommate feel that if given the opportunity again, they would say yes.

Licensed professionals such as marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, alcohol and drug-abuse counselors, nurses, teachers, massage therapists, and acupuncturists can receive continuing education credit for attending the School.

That’s up to you. The one thing that can be said with complete confidence is that, if your mind is open to inquiry, the School will change your life, and always in a positive way. The great majority of our graduates find their mental, and even physical, well-being enhanced. Their ability to manage stress is markedly improved. They become better listeners, better communicators, better friends, better family members. They become more creative in the face of life’s changes. They may find themselves responding calmly to situations that used to upset them. And the longer they keep doing The Work, the more that kind of realization will become a familiar experience.

I love that The Work is always free on my website. Everything you need to do The Work is there, as well as in my books, which are in as many libraries, school systems, prisons, and nonprofit organizations as we can afford to place them in. There is also a free Helpline on the website.

As for the price, it has not increased in more than a dozen years. I originally looked at all comparable seminars and workshops, and set the price for the School slightly below the median price. By now, the School is considerably underpriced. You can easily check this by searching for other nine-day workshops. If I didn’t think that the School’s value was far more than the price of tuition, I wouldn’t offer it.

To pay for the events, the venues need deposits that are very large, and the balance paid, whether or not the event takes place, and paid in full after the event even if the event must be cancelled for some reason and we still must give participants back their money. So I love that registrations show me whether to do the events or not. They guide me. Any time anyone registers for an event, it tells me their intention, and I love meeting that. It’s my life.

There is nothing like the School on the planet. It is pure, it is radical, and I love that everyone who can take the time and afford to do it has the opportunity to know that it exists. And many who can’t afford it are given financial aid; there are many scholarships and grants to teachers, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and others who do hospital, public schools and universities, prison, government, rehab, literacy work, etc. These people and institutions don’t always have the funds to allocate because their budgets are stretched to the point of bare essentials just to continue operating. The scholarships are not loans: they are gifts, with no strings attached. People do not pay them back. And there is a separate financial assistance program available to those who qualify. Some people find this extremely helpful. They pay back $10 a month or $100 a month, and they are consistently grateful for it. With very few exceptions, they don’t take on the obligation to repay the money unless they think they can keep their promise.

The money earned from the School allows me to pay for my website, my large office staff, my airfare and hotel expenses, bring staff with me, and support them, pay for their food, lodging in hotels, etc. (staff who can afford it buy their own airfare and pay their own expenses). The School venues cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, the airfare is expensive, and then I pay staff to hold registration all year, I pay for the office staff, accountants, taxes, insurance, employee health insurance, and the list runs on and on. And in this way the School is made possible.

Everything I have is in the four questions and turnarounds. When people go to my website, instructions for The Work are available front and center. That way, no one has to pay for anything. And if they have the time, the money, and the desire to attend the School, then their money supports not only the School, but our continued efforts to move The Work in the world.