So that more men step up.

It all started with an honest conversation. Some time ago, I approached my spiritual director, Martin Borkovský, with a vision: to create a vibrant community in Bratislava where men could recharge and find true brotherhood in today’s digital world. This desire wasn't accidental. Seven years ago, a similar meeting in the Tatra Mountains fundamentally changed my perspective on life, relationships, and myself. I felt that I simply couldn't keep this experience to myself.

However, I wasn't sure if it would resonate with other men....

The reality exceeded all expectations. For our first retreat, The Warrior Archetype, 54 men joined us. For the second, The Lover Archetype, we had 52. The third part, The Prophet, was attended by 62 men, and we expect a similar turnout for our final retreat, The King.

As we grew, new challenges emerged:

1. Geographic Barriers: Many men from other parts of Slovakia want to participate, but family and work commitments don't allow them to travel to Bratislava for an entire day.
2. Continuity: Participants are eager to work with the materials during the two-month intervals between retreats.
3. Capacity: Our current facilities limit us to a maximum of 60 men per session.
4. Lack of Resources: In Slovakia, very few people—outside of a small circle of priests and laypeople—focus on the themes of male spirituality and initiation (the transition from boyhood to manhood).

A Video Podcast on the Legend of Parzival

We have already filmed 3 episodes of the video podcast and an introduction.

1. In total, we want to film over 40 episodes which we will then translate into English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Russian, Polish, Korean using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
2. Create social media content from them and promote taking responsibility for oneself and the community, especially among men.
3. Continue with 4 spiritual retreats next year as well.
4. Launch a video podcast for men.
5. Launch our own website, which we are already working on today, where we will communicate the topic of healthy masculine identity.

Martin Borkovský (Borko) has over 20 years of experience working with youth and men. In his work, he often uses legends and stories that mirror human life and call us toward maturity. One such story is the 12th-century legend of Parzival—a young man with a difficult fate who matures through many hardships and trials.

Together with actor Lukáš Andara, psychologist Zuzana Bernatová, and host Marek Zeleniak, we want to unveil this story through the Zephyr's Stories Online project. It is a story filled with life wisdom and provocative insights that are incredibly relevant for men today.

Why We Do What We Do

In the mainstream online world, you will find almost nothing about the true maturation of a boy, the beauty of his sexuality, or how a boy actually becomes a man. In our Christian environment, a man’s journey to adulthood is often presented merely as a process full of struggle. Awakening sexuality is viewed more as a "problem" than a growing blessing. We have reduced masculine strength to nothing more than a "difficult puberty". When a young man wants to venture out into the world, he is often told: "You’re only 18, you have no degree or experience—where do you think you’re going?"

At an age when our grandfathers were starting families, many of us today are just "grown-up children". And that is a problem. Jewish tradition begins taking a boy seriously around age 13; we wait until perhaps age 25. What happens during those twelve years in between?

In Slovakia, it is common for even adult men not to know what to do with themselves, their families, or the upbringing of their children. Why? Because no one ever taught them. Society emphasizes a man's ability to provide materially, but his inner world remains unnoticed.

This is exactly why we are launching Zephyr's Stories Online. We want to ensure that no one—young or old—will ever have to say: "No one ever told me, and life just slipped through my fingers."

Our Future Goals and Global Vision

Our goal is to create a video series based on Borko’s years of experience for audiences in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which we will then translate into English and Spanish using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

We want men all over the world to have the opportunity to discover the path to maturity—a path that accompanied humanity until the Industrial Revolution. We want to show them why we lost this path when we were uprooted from the land and lost our daily communal time, and how we can rediscover and experience it anew.

Do you want to be a part of this change?