The Best Books, Apps, Retreats, and Trainings for Spiritual Growth: the Ultimate Guide to Self-Improvement & Emotional Mastery

I’ve been on a deep journey of transformation—from anxiety and confusion, to learning Taoism in the Wudang Mountains of China to reaching millions through my filmmaking, teaching, and storytelling.

I’ve dedicated my life to answering one question: How do we awaken—both individually and collectively—to create a more balanced world?

In this guide, I share the most powerful resources, retreats, books, and practices that have personally transformed my life. Whether you’re just starting your journey or looking for the next step, this is your ultimate roadmap to growth.

Balance is Possible!

With love,
George

Contents

• Retreats & Trainings for Personal Growth
  
  • Meditation & Awareness
  • Healing & Communication
  • Taoist Wisdom & Tai Chi
  • Masculine & Feminine Initiation
• Finding Your Tribe: Community
• Transformational Books for Inner & Outer Growth
  
  • Wisdom and Spiritual
  • Communication & Emotional Healing
  • Planet & Activism
  • Productivity & Focus
  • Healthy Masculine Leadership
• Intelligence News sources and Conscious Media
• Spiritual Festivals
• Internet Blockers: The Key to Getting Things Done
  
  • My Internet Blocker Setup
  • Best Internet Blocking Apps
• My Favourite Productivity & Learning Apps
  
  • Learning & Audio
  • Note-Taking & Writing
  • Thought Expansion
  • Productivity & Security
• How You Can Contribute to System Change

Disclosure: Some of the links are affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission to support our mission if you decide to purchase through the link. This is at no additional cost to you.

🌿 Retreats & Trainings for Personal Growth

Meditation & Awareness

• Vipassana Meditation (10-day silent retreats for deep self-awareness. Some of the most transformational life experiences I’ve had.)
• Plum Village (Founded by Thich Nhat Hanh, combining mindfulness, Zen practice, and social engagement.)
• Awaken Your Potential (my own retreat, we’ve had 100s of people go through the process. We weave ancient wisdom with cutting edge transformational methods to help you awaken your potential)

Healing & Communication

• Nonviolent Communication Intensives (Mastering the art of compassionate dialogue. Their 10 day intensives are stunning. Start with their 2 day weekend events, held around the world)

Taoist Wisdom & Tai Chi

• Master Gu at Wudang Taoist Wellness Academy (How my journey began. Learn Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and Taoist philosophy from the legendary Wudang Mountains, China.)
• Chungliang Al Huang - Living Tao (My second Tai Chi Master. Joyful Tai Chi movement taught by a living legend in Oregon/California)

Masculine & Feminine Initiation

• The Unmasked Man / The Unmasked Woman (Shadow work, emotional resilience, and authentic leadership. Incredible, life changing experiences)
• ManKind Project (Men’s circles and rites of passage into integrity and responsibility.)

🌍 Finding Your Tribe: Community

• Ecstatic Dance (This is how I found my tribe, I love to dance but I don’t like alcohol. This is how I found other spiritual explorers*. Search ‘Ecstatic Dance in my city’ and give an event a go!)***
• Wayfinders (Our own online community uncovering wisdom for people and planet)
• Lovejam UK (A beautiful community of like minded spiritual explorers in the UK)
• AndSoul (Want to live with conscious, creative humans in London?)

📚 Transformational Books for Inner & Outer Growth

🌀 Wisdom and Spiritual

• Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life – Wayne Dyer. My first real "waking up" book. This brought the Tao Te Ching into my life and helped me shift from resistance to flow.
• The Power of Now – Eckhart Tolle. A game-changer in understanding presence and escaping the grip of overthinking. Learning to "be here, now" transformed how I move through life.
• 365 Tao – Deng Ming-Dao. A book I return to again and again. Daily reflections on balance, nature, and effortless action (wu wei) in simple yet profound ways.
• The Tao of Pooh – Benjamin Hoff. A beautifully light-hearted yet deep book that explains Taoist philosophy through Winnie the Pooh. If you want an easy entry into Taoism, this is it.
• The Matter With Things – Iain McGilchrist. One of the most profound explorations of consciousness, perception, and reality I’ve ever read. It changed how I understand the divided nature of the brain and how that shapes our world. It’s 2000+ pages, only for the brave! Choose the chapters that resonate.

💛 Communication & Emotional Healing

• No Bad Parts – Richard Schwartz. I recommend this book to EVERYONE. So powerful to finally learn how to become compassionate to yourself.
• The Body Keeps the Score – Bessel van der Kolk. Essential reading for understanding trauma and how it gets stored in the body.
• Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art – James Nestor. The breath is one of the simplest yet most profound healing tools. This book revealed how modern life has disrupted natural breathing—and how to reclaim it.
• Nonviolent Communication – Marshall Rosenberg. One of the most practical and transformative books on compassionate communication. Changed how I navigate conflict and connect with others.
• Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment – Amir Levine & Rachel Heller. Helped me understand attachment styles and how they shape relationships. A must-read if you want deeper intimacy and security in love.

🌍 Planet & Activism

• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – Yuval Noah Harari. A mind-expanding look at human history, storytelling, and how myths shape our societies.
• The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible – Charles Eisenstein. A deeply inspiring book about interconnection, hope, and shifting the story of humanity from separation to unity.
• Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change – George Marshall. Explains why climate change is such a hard issue for humans to act on—and how we can reframe the conversation.
• Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World – Jason Hickel. An argument for abandoning the obsession with economic growth and shifting toward a regenerative, sustainable future.
• Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows – Melanie Joy. A powerful book on cognitive dissonance, compassion, and our relationship with animals.
• The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Peter Wohlleben. A stunning look at how trees communicate, support one another, and form their own communities—changing how I see the natural world.
• Climate: A New Story – Charles Eisenstein. A refreshing take on climate activism, focusing on healing our relationship with the Earth rather than just reducing carbon emissions.
• Humankind: A Hopeful History – Rutger Bregman. A radical rethinking of human nature, arguing that people are fundamentally good—and why believing in human kindness could change the world.

🚀 Productivity & Focus

• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World – Cal Newport. Helped me create space for deep, meaningful work by minimizing distractions.
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity – David Allen. The GTD method completely changed how I approach productivity and mental clarity.
• The Power of Full Engagement – Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz. Taught me that managing energy, not time, is the key to sustainable high performance.

🗣️ Healthy Masculine Leadership

• The Way of the Superior Man – David Deida. A bold, unfiltered take on masculine energy, purpose, and relationships. Some parts are controversial, but it's a thought-provoking read.
• From the Core – John Wineland. A powerful exploration of masculinity, presence, and leading with integrity in an evolving world.

📰 Intelligence News sources and Conscious Media

• The Week (A weekly digest of global news with a balanced perspective.)
• The Economist (Global issues with an economic and political focus.)
• Resurgence & Ecologist (Environmental activism, spiritual ecology, and regenerative culture.)

🎭 Spiritual Festivals

Spiritual festivals are such a beautiful way to connect with like minded explorers. These festivals are in the UK, search for spiritual festivals in your country:

• Medicine Festival (A gathering focused on ecological healing, sacred ceremony, and indigenous wisdom.)
• LoveJam (A heart-centered festival blending music, movement, and community building.)
• Buddhafield Festival (A unique mix of meditation, dharma talks, and nature connection.)

🚀 Internet Blockers: The Key to Getting Things Done

If you find yourself doom scrolling or endlessly stuck on the internet, don’t blame yourself. Social media companies spend billions of dollars engineering apps to keep us addicted, so they can sell our attention to advertisers.

To break free from destructive habits, you need to make empowering habits easier and the distractions harder.

🔥 Find Your Why First

The best way to overcome procrastination isn’t just blocking distractions—it’s finding a life mission that fuels you. When you’re passionate about something, it naturally pulls you forward. A strong why overcomes weak distractions.

🛑 My Internet Blocker Setup

Even with purpose, I found it helpful to restrict my internet access.

📱 Phone: No internet, Instagram or email access AT ALL.

💻 Laptop: I can only access the internet via my laptop. And it is only accessible at set times.

This means I don’t have to rely on willpower—the decision is already made for me.

🔒 Best Internet Blocking Apps

• 📱 Mobile: Opal or Freedom (Blocks distracting apps & websites)
• 💻 Desktop: Cold Turkey (Hardcore website & app blocker, perfect for deep work)

📱 My Favourite Productivity & Learning Apps

🎧 Learning & Audio

• Audible – Audiobooks for learning on the go.
• Otter.ai – Automatically transcribes speech into text. I use this while walking to capture ideas effortlessly.

📝 Note-Taking & Writing

• Evernote – My ultimate knowledge hub. Every book I’ve read, every course I’ve taken, and every idea I capture is tagged & searchable.
• Notion – Beautiful for big projects, but I still prefer Evernote for its easier note organisation.

🧠 Thought Expansion

• ChatGPT – My thinking partner. Some great questions I ask:
  • "How can I make this more memorable?"
  • "What are the obstacles people might have in understanding this?"

✅ Productivity & Security

• Todoist – My go-to task management app.
• Dashlane – Password manager. Saves so much time and mental energy.

🌿 Movement & Wellbeing

• Taoist Wellness Online – Our Tai Chi academy now has an app, so you can practice wherever you are! Search Taoist Wellness Online on the app store

🌎 How You Can Contribute to System Change

True peace is not just personal—it extends to our relationships, communities, and the planet. If you are seeking meaningful ways to contribute, these organisations are actively making a difference:

• 350.org (Grassroots climate action, fighting fossil fuels, and promoting renewables.)
• Friends of the Earth (A global network advocating for environmental and social justice.)
• Greenpeace (Activism against deforestation, plastic pollution, and corporate exploitation.)
• Extinction Rebellion (Nonviolent resistance to hold governments accountable for climate action.)

💡 Over to You

Wisdom is knowledge applied. It’s now over to you to take action and see what resonates ✨

I’d love to hear from you. Comment below or connect with me on Instagram / Facebook. Share what’s working for you, ask questions, or recommend your own favorite resources.

If this guide has inspired you, pass it on—send it to a friend who’s on their own path of growth.

Remember: Balance is possible. Change is possible. The world transforms when we do.

I’m wishing you the best on your journey of awakening!

Take that next step. The journey begins now. 🚀🫶☯️