Meet the Dark Haven Stewards
Keen Being - Visionary Steward/Founder, Darkness Facilitator
Keen Being - Visionary Steward/Founder, Darkness Facilitator
Keen Being - Visionary Steward/Founder, Darkness Facilitator
Keen Being, founder of Dark Havens, brings over thirty years of experience in spiritual practice and mentorship. His journey includes multiple Darkness Retreats, vision quests, extended water fasts, and indigenous facilitator training with the Shipibo-Conibo in Peru.
Keen’s deep exploration of the shadow and the transformative power of dar
Keen Being, founder of Dark Havens, brings over thirty years of experience in spiritual practice and mentorship. His journey includes multiple Darkness Retreats, vision quests, extended water fasts, and indigenous facilitator training with the Shipibo-Conibo in Peru.
Keen’s deep exploration of the shadow and the transformative power of darkness has shaped his unique approach to guiding others through Darkness Retreats and Spiritual Retreats.
As a certified yoga instructor, meditation guide, energy healer, poet, and darkness retreat pioneer, Keen assists others in their journey toward self-realization, embodied awareness, and inner peace through the profound sanctuary of Dark Havens.
Nick Jankel - Co-Founder, Strategy, Branding and Design
Keen Being - Visionary Steward/Founder, Darkness Facilitator
Keen Being - Visionary Steward/Founder, Darkness Facilitator
Nick Jankel: Transforming Leadership and Darkness Retreats
Nick Jankel is a human development pioneer, contemporary wisdom teacher, and transformation expert guiding individuals and organizations through deep personal and systemic change. As a leader in Dark Havens, he brings his expertise in Darkness Retreats to facilitate profound transf
Nick Jankel: Transforming Leadership and Darkness Retreats
Nick Jankel is a human development pioneer, contemporary wisdom teacher, and transformation expert guiding individuals and organizations through deep personal and systemic change. As a leader in Dark Havens, he brings his expertise in Darkness Retreats to facilitate profound transformation and regenerative leadership.
Nick has worked globally with senior leaders in Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and major institutions, shaping future-ready leadership strategies that integrate consciousness expansion, neuroscience, and contemplative wisdom. He is a global top 50 keynote speaker, futurist, and founder of 10 purpose-driven enterprises, including a sustainability consultancy in London and a transformational media company in Los Angeles.
His lifelong journey—beginning with his first award-winning enterprise at age 15—has been an initiation into the mysteries of transformation, much like the sacred process of deep inner work experienced in darkness retreats.
As CEO and co-founder of Switch On Leadership (SOL) and steward of the FutureWise Institute, Nick continues to innovate at the intersection of brain, behavioral, contemplative, and complexity science. His original theory, Bio-Transformation, synthesizes insights from trauma-informed healing, spiritual wisdom, and neuroscience, creating pathways for rapid and sustainable change—a concept that deeply aligns with the introspective and initiatory power of Darkness Retreats at Dark Havens.
Through his appearances as a transformational coach on BBC and MTV, his six books on transformation, and his workshops from Los Angeles to Shanghai, Nick has helped millions navigate deep personal and professional evolution. His work has been featured at events like Aspen Ideas Festival, Conscious Life Expo, and Science & Non-Duality (SAND), and he has been a guest on over 100 podcasts and radio shows, including Coast-To-Coast and Hay House Radio.
Nick Jankel’s work at Dark Havens reflects his commitment to awakening human potential through deep rest, self-inquiry, and the radical transformation possible within the cocoon of darkness.
Alison McAulay - Somatic Steward
Keen Being - Visionary Steward/Founder, Darkness Facilitator
Alison McAulay - Somatic Steward
Alison McAulay is a registered biodynamic craniosacral therapist, trauma-informed integrative healer, and somatic guide specializing in Darkness Retreats . At Dark Havens, she brings a deep understanding of nervous system regulation, embodiment, and transformation, ensuring a safe and supportive journey into the dark.
As a co-developer of
Alison McAulay is a registered biodynamic craniosacral therapist, trauma-informed integrative healer, and somatic guide specializing in Darkness Retreats . At Dark Havens, she brings a deep understanding of nervous system regulation, embodiment, and transformation, ensuring a safe and supportive journey into the dark.
As a co-developer of Bio-Transformation® (BTT), Alison integrates brain and behavior science with contemplative practices, aligning with the profound self-exploration experienced in darkness retreats. Her work bridges neuroscience, trauma healing, and somatic wisdom, offering participants tools for lasting personal and spiritual transformation.
She is the co-founder of Switch On Leadership, delivering transformational programs for global companies like Intel and Unilever. With experience as a somatic therapist in the CA State Prison system and as a lecturer at USF, Alison is dedicated to fostering embodied, relational, and spiritual intelligence—key aspects of the inner journey within Dark Havens' darkness retreats.
A former US team gymnast and professional dancer, Alison overcame chronic pain through craniosacral therapy, deepening her commitment to healing through somatic integration, breathwork, and energetic practices. She now helps clients ranging from athletes to executives navigate profound transformation through darkness retreats, spiritual retreats, and deep somatic healing.
Learn more about Alison at AlisonMcAulay.com and experience the power of darkness retreats at Dark Havens
Tiffany Baker- Darkness Speaks Podcast Co-Host Steward
Tiffany Baker- Darkness Speaks Podcast Co-Host Steward
Tiffany Baker- Darkness Speaks Podcast Co-Host Steward
Tiffany Baker is a death doula, grief tender, ceremonialist, auditory creatrix, and transition guide, supporting individuals through Darkness Retreats and Spiritual Retreats at Dark Havens. Her work focuses on embracing the portals of change, transformation, and death as sacred initiations, guiding participants through deep inner transitions within the cocoon of darkness.
As a fearless wayfinder, Tiffany encourages individuals to "Name the Thing"—facilitating the profound conversations that lead to breakthroughs in self-awareness, emotional integration, and connection. Through her business, Hallowed Harvest End of Life Doulas, she supports individuals and families in navigating end-of-life transitions with consciousness and embodiment.
At Dark Havens, Tiffany weaves her expertise in ceremony, somatic awareness, and auditory healing into the darkness retreat experience, creating a space where shadow work, grief processing, and spiritual transformation unfold naturally. Her presence within Darkness Retreats and Spiritual Retreats allows participants to surrender to the depths of stillness, embrace impermanence, and awaken to the wisdom held in the void.
Stephanine Fulgencio - Somatic Steward
Tiffany Baker- Darkness Speaks Podcast Co-Host Steward
Tiffany Baker- Darkness Speaks Podcast Co-Host Steward
With nearly 20 years as a therapist, Stephanie Fulgencio has developed a holistic and integrative approach that aligns deeply with the transformative experiences of Darkness Retreats and Spiritual Retreats. She utilizes a holistic and integrative approach that considers the whole person—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Somatic therapy, which she emphasizes, is based on the belief that experiences, emotions, and traumas are stored in both the mind and body, using the body as part of the healing process.
Her somatic method incorporates elements of Internal Family Systems, Brain-spotting, and Somatic Experiencing to uncover insights rarely accessible to the conscious mind. Alongside therapeutic modalities, she integrates holistic practices like meditation, breathwork, and EFT Tapping to support healing and integration.
Kat Vandagrift - Administrative Steward
Kat Vandagrift - Administrative Steward
Kat Vandagrift - Administrative Steward
Kat Vandagrift is dedicated to encouraging a return to nature while advocating for spiritual and holistic practices. An educator with over 20 years of experience, Kat was inspired by her own 5 year journey of healing from a debilitating physical disease through diet, spiritual practices, and self-love.
She passionately promotes the use of lifestyle, living water, somatic movement, sacred ceremonies, and dark retreats as transformational tools. Kat integrates ceremony into her work to create meaningful and sacred experiences, fostering deep healing and transformation.
Harrison Sokoloff - Harmony Steward
Kat Vandagrift - Administrative Steward
Kat Vandagrift - Administrative Steward
Harrison received his 200 RYS certificate through Yogasoul Bhakti Center in 2024, but his journey into yoga, meditation, and spiritual transformation began years earlier. Since 2017, he has been immersed in deep meditation practice, which ultimately led him to explore Darkness Retreats and Spiritual Retreats at Dark Havens.
In 2023, during one of his darkness retreats, Harrison received a profound message: "You trust your limited mind more than your limitless Heart. Trust your Heart." Shortly after, he left his career in the music industry—where he worked as an A&R and publisher—to fully surrender to the path of the unknown.
Now, Harrison dedicates himself to teaching yoga, guiding meditation, and leading mindfulness practices. He currently facilitates Lotus Sangha, a meditation and mindfulness community in Nashville, TN, and brings his wisdom from darkness retreats into his teachings, helping others integrate stillness, self-inquiry, and embodied transformation.