You don't have to know where you're going. You only have to be willing to make the journey.
Dante begins his journey lost in a dark wood. He doesn't know where he is going, or even how to get there. Neither do we.
Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost.Dante, Inferno. Translated by Longfellow.
The Dante Project invites you to become a pilgrim alongside Dante. This is not a literature course or a religious study. It is an opportunity to encounter one of the world's great journeys and discover what it might illuminate about our own.
One year. Three realms. A map for your own life.
The Dante Project is a twelve-month guided journey through the three realms of the Divine Comedy, used as a map for your own life. Up to twelve people. Two guides. One year of honest, deep, and often paradoxical work.
We will laugh, we will cry, we will see, and we will become. We will celebrate it all.
Two guides, one small room
Judith Cohen
MCC, CPCC, MSW. Judith has been a transformational coach for more than 30 years, and a psychotherapist and trainer before that. She is known in the coaching world as the coach other coaches come to, and as someone who has done the work she teaches.
Leonid Frolov
CPCC, PCC, BS, MA. Teacher, facilitator, content creator, and the one who first brought the Divine Comedy into the room, with over a decade of helping people live the life they are meant to live.
For people who like to go deep
- You are a coach or a leader who wants to go deeper in your own work, so you can go deeper with the people you serve.
- You recognize that you are still longing. We are not trying to fix anything. Your life is fine. And still there is always a sense of something else, which we call a longing for wholeness.
- Something has shifted: work, a relationship, your sense of who you are.
- You know this work cannot be done alone, and you seek like-minded and like-hearted people to journey with.
This is advanced work, for people who have already done a good deal of work on themselves. If you do not want this kind of depth right now, that is completely okay. It is not for everyone. This is not therapy, and it is not a book club.
What might Dante's journey invite us to discover about our own?
Read the ten invitations
- Allow yourself to get lost.Sometimes the path we have been following no longer takes us where we want to go. Being lost may be the beginning of a different kind of knowing.
- Don't make the journey alone.Dante needs Virgil. We, too, need companions who can walk beside us, see what we cannot yet see, and sometimes point toward a path we would not have found on our own.
- Be willing to see what is.The journey asks Dante to encounter what he would rather avoid. Change begins when we become willing to meet reality rather than remain inside the safety of our familiar stories.
- Let experience teach you.Dante doesn't simply receive a map. He travels the terrain. What he encounters changes what he knows, and who he is.
- Examine what you love.For Dante, love is not simply a feeling. What we love directs us. The question is not only "What do I want?" but "What is my life oriented toward?"
- Question what you think you know.Again and again, Dante discovers that his understanding is incomplete. The journey asks us to loosen our certainty enough to become available to something we cannot yet see.
- Take responsibility for your choices.We are not merely characters in a story written by someone else. Our choices, attachments, habits, and ways of seeing help create the life we are living.
- Allow yourself to be changed.A journey like this cannot leave us exactly where it found us. At some point, we have to release something familiar and make room for who we are becoming.
- Trust that there is more to the journey than you can see.Dante's vision keeps expanding as he travels. What appears to be the whole story from one vantage point may look entirely different from another.
- Become capable of seeing and loving more fully.The journey ultimately leads not simply away from suffering, but toward greater freedom, relationship, love, and participation in life.
Here are ten invitations. Come spend a year discovering what they might mean in your own life.
Look at what is really here
The first realm is about honesty and being lost. A yearning for wholeness is innate in all of us. To the degree that we deny that yearning, we create our own personal hells. We look at the stories you have been carrying, the shame and grief underneath them, and the parts of yourself you have kept in the dark. Nothing changes until it is seen.
Learn to stand in the in-between
The middle realm is the space after the old way has ended and before the new one has arrived. It is uncomfortable, and most people rush it. Here you learn to stay, release what is finished, and trust the climb.
Let the good in
For many people this is the hardest realm of all. Abundance, love, and ease ask you to receive, and receiving takes practice. We end the year here, learning to live in what you have made room for.
What you leave with
A year is a real commitment, so here is what it is for. In a word: wholeness. Most people resist looking at the shadow, and most people do not know how to live in the light either. But you are not most people. You have the courage and deep desire to open the door and step into all that is there for you. This year is a map for navigating it all. By the end of it:
And on an ordinary Tuesday morning
- You answer the hard email honestly instead of putting it off for a week.
- You say no without three paragraphs of apology.
- You stop rehearsing the same old argument in your head.
- You hear a compliment and simply say thank you.
- If you are a coach, you take your clients deeper, because you have been there yourself.
You will now be able to celebrate what you resisted before. Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven become invitations instead of problems. Being lost is the entryway to finding yourself.
- Wake up as the creator and artist of your own life.
- Playfully participate in the game of life.
- Celebrate your wins and your losses, because both are gifts life is offering you.
- Look forward to what is coming this day.
- Navigate the day with ease, effortlessly.
- Excitement for the possibilities of each moment.
Small by design
Before you book
Do I need to have read Dante?
No. You do not need to have read a word of the Divine Comedy. We bring the story into the room. This is not a literature course.
Is this therapy?
No. This is deep personal work in a small group, guided by two experienced coaches. Judith's background as a psychotherapist means the room is held with real care, but this is not therapy.
Is it religious?
No. This is not a religious study. Dante's journey is used as a map for your own life, and people of every belief and none are welcome.
How much time does it take?
Two live group sessions a month, on the second and fourth Thursdays, plus personal coaching in between. Most people also give themselves a little time each week to reflect.
What about time zones?
Judith is in the US and Leonid is in Barcelona, so session times are chosen to work across both sides of the Atlantic. You will get the exact times in your conversation.
What is the investment?
Investment and payment plans are shared in your one-on-one conversation, so we can make sure this is the right fit first.
What if I am not sure it is for me?
That is exactly what the conversation is for. There is no pressure and no obligation. If it is not the right time, we will tell you.
Every seat starts with a conversation
This is a big commitment, and it is not for everyone. We want the right people in the room, so every seat starts with a one-on-one conversation to see if it is right for you.
- Tell us you are interested.
- Book a one-on-one conversation with Judith or Leonid.
- Book a conversation with both Judith and Leonid.
- If it is a fit on both sides, your seat is held for February.
Twelve seats. Conversations are open now.
Investment and payment plans are shared in your conversation.
Tell us you are interested
Leave your name and email and Judith or Leonid will be in touch personally.