An immersive leadership experience grounded in neuroscience and embodied intelligence, resulting in aligned leadership with clean vision, clarity of direction, and impactful outcomes.

Set in the high Sonoran Desert, the Arizona ranch collaborates with the historic Tubac Ranch (built in the 1800s), preserving its essence and partnership with nature.

The ranch is restored with care, respect, and restraint, honoring the landscape and its historic charm.

Nothing is excessive or distracting from the transformative journey.

The land is open. The rhythm is slow. The silence is your peace.

Here, simplicity calms the nervous system while the absence of excess reduces cognitive load. This historic space slows perception and grounds the body. Nothing here is accidental.

Food is prepared with care, using whole seasonal ingredients that support the nervous system and reflect the rhythm of the land.

Nature is not a backdrop; it is an active force.

It regulates. It slows perception. It brings back what is essential.

The desert does not add anything. It removes.

And in that space, vision becomes visible again.

A chef preparing food in the ranch kitchen

Whole seasonal ingredients, prepared with care.

This Is the Place for Clean Vision

There comes a point in leadership where more thinking no longer produces more clarity, where the system asks for something other than input.

The Care Ranch offers immersive leadership experiences designed for executives, senior leaders, and individuals who understand that clarity, resilience, and authority do not come from speed or control, but from being in alignment.

Leading well in complexity requires a different kind of skill: the ability to restore congruence in the nervous system, engage emotional resilience, and embody vision for sustainable, grounded, and trustworthy leadership.

Clarity that comes from congruence, not effort.
Calm that holds under pressure.
Leadership embodied, not performed.

Who This Is For

This experience is for leaders and individuals who sense:

Whether the question is fully formed or still emerging, what participants share is a sense that something is ready to shift.

The Care Ranch Method

Grounded in neuroscience and refined through practice.

We reveal great leadership by cultivating a relationship with the body and its nervous system. How you lead and decide is shaped by how your system operates, especially under pressure.

Lotte facilitating a session under the ramada Scott — inner reflection work Equine facilitated session with a horse
i.

Body Alignment Through Movement

A well organized body allows for the recalibration of neuromuscular pathways as a way to support the energetic ecosystem necessary to rebuild a relationship between the three intelligence centers of the body for more efficient and supportive physical awareness. This reawakening supports an integration and regulation of the nervous system.

ii.

Equine Facilitated Learning

Horses respond to what is real, not what is intended. They reflect incongruence in timing, presence, and boundaries instantly, making underlying patterns visible without interpretation. Being around horses allows us to see ourselves more clearly and understand our internal state more deeply, as they respond directly to our presence rather than our words.

iii.

Neuro-Kinesiology

Neuro-kinesiology is a body-based approach that works with the nervous system to identify where stress, patterns, or misalignment are held. Using gentle muscle testing, it brings unconscious information into awareness, allowing the body to restore balance, clarity, and congruence.

iv.

Coaching and EMDR

Individual one-on-one coaching designed for reflection and integration, supporting the processing of underlying patterns and translating insight into concrete decisions and action. Where relevant, EMDR is used to help shift deeply rooted patterns, allowing new perspectives and responses to emerge.

v.

Whole Food Nutrition

Meals are prepared with whole, seasonal ingredients chosen to support nervous system regulation and reflect the rhythm of the land. Nutrition here is not an accessory; it is part of the regulation itself.

vi.

Nature and Physiology

The environment, the rhythm of the day, and the nourishment support regulation, recovery, and integration at a physiological level.

We develop leadership by restoring alignment in the body and nervous system, allowing for clear perception and more precise decision-making. This is one integrated, multilayered approach, working through multiple entry points. Together, this creates a shift:

From thinking to sensing.
From reacting to responding.
From fragmentation to alignment.

At the center lies what we call the Wheel of Congruence, where vision, emotion, body, and action come back into alignment. You learn to read your body and emotions as information. Not something to push through, but something that informs direction.

Our Team

A multidisciplinary team working at the intersection of neuroscience, embodiment, nature, and leadership.

Led by a core team and extended by leading experts in their fields (some contributing long-term, others joining for specific retreats), to deepen the integrated approach.

The Care Ranch team

Margreet Malenstein

Founder & Vision Holder, Lead Trainer

As former co-owner of Bergman Clinics, an international healthcare group, I combine my firsthand executive experience with a deep focus on the body, the nervous system, and preventive care.

My work is grounded in a thorough understanding of human behavior and in how safety, alignment, and environment influence both healing and performance. Having navigated the pressures of executive leadership myself, I know what it means when the system is out of alignment, and what becomes possible when it is restored.

Through horses and neuro-kinesiology, I support leaders in recognizing where alignment is present and where it is not, and in restoring congruence from within.

The Care Ranch was born from a conviction that the principles we apply to leadership development should be accessible more broadly, which is why we also extend this work to young people through our non-profit branch.

Lotte van Dam

Co-Creator, Method Architect & Lead Trainer

My work focuses on personal leadership in complexity.

With a background in Psychology and International Business Administration, and over 20 years of leadership experience across hospitality, design, and healthcare (including executive and board-level roles), I understand both the outer complexity of leadership and the inner landscape that shapes it.

Rooted in neuroscience, neuroplasticity, and systemic coaching, I work at the intersection of perception, behavior, and the nervous system, using the body as a source of information.

Through coaching, EMDR, and integration work, I support leaders in recognizing patterns, processing underlying responses, and restoring alignment between body, emotion, and action.

This is where clarity emerges, congruence becomes visible, and leadership becomes grounded, with impact that extends into teams, organizations, and systems.

Scott Putman

Co-Creator, Method Architect & Lead Trainer

My work focuses on the relationship between movement, the nervous system, and perception.

With an international academic background (MFA, University of California), I developed EBAS (the Elemental Body Alignment System) as a way to work directly with the reorganization of neuromuscular pathways. Through movement, I support the body and brain in coming back into alignment, directly influencing how the nervous system regulates and how clarity is experienced.

The body reflects the internal state. Through movement and Equine Facilitated Learning, that state becomes visible, and adjustable through direct feedback.

Alignment is not explained. It is experienced. From there, the system reorganizes.

The Experience

The experience unfolds over six days, a rhythm of activation and integration. Structured, yet spacious.

Mornings begin in the body: movement, alignment, regulation. During the day, the work deepens: equine sessions, neuro-kinesiology, and coaching. Always alternating between experience, reflection, and integration. Late afternoons create space for reflection and sauna house experiences. Evenings settle under a sky filled with stars.

Each participant arrives with their own question, sometimes clear, sometimes not yet fully formed. Private sessions create precision. The group, intentionally small, creates reflection and perspective.

The pool at The Care Ranch with palm trees and mountain views

The Journey

The work begins before arrival and continues long after. A six-day immersion sits at the center, held on both sides by preparation and integration.

Participants walking through the desert trees
i

Preparing for the Experience

The journey begins before arrival. Each participant starts with an intake questionnaire and session, exploring context, key questions, and underlying patterns.

A preparation guide supports participants in:

  • Clarifying intention
  • Increasing awareness
  • Slowing down before entering the program

This ensures participants arrive focused and connected to what is ready to be explored.

ii

Six-Day Immersive Leadership Experience

Participants enter an environment designed to regulate the nervous system. As the system settles:

  • Perception sharpens
  • Internal noise reduces
  • Patterns become visible

Through Equine Facilitated Learning, neuro-kinesiology, body alignment, coaching, and nature-based practices, insight is not only understood; it is experienced and embodied.

iii

Integration: Sustaining Change

After the immersion, the process continues.

Participants are supported in translating insights into daily life and professional context through a structured integration phase, including follow-up session and integration guidance.

The focus is on:

  • Stabilizing new patterns
  • Maintaining clarity under pressure
  • Embedding change over time

Because transformation is not defined by the experience itself, but by what remains.

What Leaders Gain

A deeper connection to self and others.

Clarity of purpose

A reconnection with what truly matters, beyond pressure, expectation, or noise. Not driven by thought alone, but aligned with the whole system.

The ability to regulate under pressure

Learning how to access calm, focus, and precision in high-stakes environments. Not by pushing harder, but by regulating the nervous system.

Embodied self-awareness

Deep insight into patterns, roles, and behaviors, and how they show up in relation to others. Felt, not just understood.

Congruent leadership

When what you think, feel, and do align, decisions become cleaner, communication more direct, and leadership more effective.

Sustainable change

Through integration and one-on-one guidance, insights are translated into daily life and leadership practice. This is not a peak experience; it is a shift that holds.

Space to pause and reset

A rare interruption of speed. A place where slowing down is not a luxury, but the condition for clarity.

Through nature, horses, and human interaction, leaders experience what it means to be fully present, and to lead from that place.

Why This Matters for Organizations

Leaders return more coherent, not merely rested.

For HR leaders and organizations investing in senior talent, this experience supports what traditional leadership programs often cannot reach: preventive leadership care that addresses patterns before they become burnout, stronger leadership presence and trust within teams, sustainable performance under complexity, and a measurable shift in how leaders regulate, decide, and communicate.

The impact extends beyond the individual leader into teams, culture, and long-term organizational health.

From Leadership to Contribution

Because learning to regulate, to reconnect, and to find direction in yourself should be available earlier, not only when things break down.

The work at the heart of The Care Ranch (learning to regulate, to reconnect, and to find direction from within) is not only relevant for senior leaders. It is just as essential for young people who feel stuck, overwhelmed, or without direction.

The Care Ranch operates as a hybrid model. The for-profit leadership programs fund the non-profit branch, making this work accessible for young individuals who would otherwise not have access.

Through participation, you contribute to creating impact beyond the individual journey.

Practical Information

Location

The Care Ranch, Tubac Ranch, Arizona, USA

Duration

6 days / 5 nights

Group size

8–12 participants

Price

USD 5,950 per person

A bedroom at The Care Ranch with wooden beams, a small fireplace, and warm afternoon light A vintage upholstered chair beside a floor lamp A stone guest house at night, a single window glowing with warm light
Includes

Full program and personal guidance, private sessions (coaching, kinesiology, equine work), daily body alignment movement practice, accommodation (private casitas), nourishing meals and non-alcoholic beverages, on-site facilities (swimming pools, sauna house experience), and transfer to and from Tucson airport.

In Their Own Words

What stays with them, in their own voice.

The Care Ranch is a retreat for leaders to find themselves, learn the tools to stay true to themselves and then evolve to become better leaders. The location, instructors and the program offered an opportunity to self reflect and be open to new knowledge in a comprehensive mind and body regime.

Sara Ex-Wall Street Managing Director

This training came at exactly the right moment. I gained deeper insight into myself, my patterns, and the roles I take on, and how they relate to others. Within a carefully built program, held by expert and engaged coaches, space opened up for slowing down, awareness, and real change. What I take with me is not only insights, but also a sense of direction and movement that keeps working through my daily life.

Nicoline Beersen Director Quality and Information, Bergman Clinics

Forget other leadership courses. This retreat is unique. I knew I needed to hit the brakes and find my “off” switch again. On the plane to Arizona, with the pre-reading and provided playlist, I knew I was finally hitting the brakes. The Ranch was the perfect place to pause. What I loved was the combination of real, experience-based sessions and the 1:1 coaching that helped me integrate everything. I reconnected with my purpose, listening to my whole self, not just my head. The quality and attention to detail were top-notch. If you need a deep dive into your purpose to recharge your work and personal life, this is it.

A place where heritage is honored, simplicity restores the nervous system, and leadership returns to congruence.

Begin Your Journey

Participation is limited and based on application.

Where needed, we are happy to connect briefly to explore alignment and answer any questions.contact@thecareranch.com

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