Hollow Bone Initiative
Moving the collective beyond fear.
Shifting the nature of exchange.
A regenerative commons exploring a new nature of exchange.
The Asheville Declaration
Shope Creek was the birthplace. Asheville will be Hollow Bone's first permanent home.
We are exploring three properties for Hollow Bone's first permanent sanctuary. OM Sanctuary — an existing nonprofit retreat property recovering from Hurricane Helene — is the clearest alignment we have encountered so far.
The conversation is beginning. The outcome remains open. The location does not.
The Two Questions
What would become possible if we changed the conditions?
Hollow Bone began with two fundamental questions:
Can we move the collective beyond fear?
Can we create places where people feel safe enough to release inherited fear, reconnect with themselves and experience what becomes possible beyond survival?
Can we shift the nature of exchange?
Can healing, wisdom, land, creativity and technology circulate through a system based on participation, stewardship and reciprocity — not only transaction?
These are not abstract philosophical questions.
Hollow Bone exists to answer them in real life.
The Origin
Shope Creek Was the Birthplace
Before Hollow Bone was an organization, it was an experience.
On 131 acres outside Asheville, Stephen and Mary Sedmak opened their family land to children, teachers, artists, musicians, healers, founders and seekers.
For more than a decade, Shope Creek demonstrated what could happen when people gathered in nature without every interaction beginning with a price. Forest Floor brought generations of children into relationship with the land. Informal gatherings became places of healing, learning, music, storytelling and unexpected connection.
Then came Camp Mary. A small group gathered without knowing exactly what would happen. They came from different worlds and carried different stories, disciplines and forms of wisdom.
Something became visible: The experience was real. The need was real. And the vision was larger than one family home.
Shope Creek will remain Stephen and Mary's home, a sacred origin point and a place where selected experiences may continue.
It gave Hollow Bone its beginning. Now Hollow Bone must become something capable of serving the world beyond it.
Visit Shope Creek Wilderness ↗The Evolution
From a Place to an Initiative
Hollow Bone is not one property. It is a mission and stewardship framework in development—an operating model and shared philosophy capable of supporting many places, programs and communities.
The initiative will:
The land may change. The expression may change. The purpose remains.
The Ecosystem
A Living Experiment in Consciousness, Exchange, Stewardship, Enterprise & Continuity
Hollow Bone is not one program or one property. It is an ecosystem of interconnected layers — each one a different way of exploring the same two questions.
Living Laboratory
The Field
A carefully held environment where sound, light, frequency, nervous-system support and emerging wellness technologies are explored as personal and exploratory modalities — not clinical claims. The Field is a laboratory, not a clinic.
The Gathering
Camp Mary
A signature gathering of artists, founders, musicians, healers, teachers, elders, children and storytellers discovering what becomes possible together.
Story & Documentary
The Deer Trail
The film and story layer of the initiative — documenting the living birth of Hollow Bone and the search for its permanent home.
Living Library
The Elder Network
A living library of human wisdom — books, music, films, oral histories and relationships preserving the wisdom of people who have lived deeply.
Regenerative Enterprise
The Steward Companies
Mission-aligned companies dedicating founder equity to Hollow Bone — building a living endowment through enterprise rather than donation alone.
Classroom & Participant
The Land
Shope Creek Wilderness is the first living demonstration site — not a commercial retreat center, but the test site where the model became real.
Built to survive any one founder, property, company, or generation.
Our First Home
Hollow Bone Has Chosen Asheville
Hollow Bone Initiative is not tied to one property — but we have identified Asheville, North Carolina, as the location for our first permanent sanctuary.
The first Hollow Bone campus will be created within the greater Asheville region. We are currently exploring three properties capable of becoming its home.
One has drawn our attention most strongly:
OM Sanctuary
OM Sanctuary is an existing nonprofit retreat property approximately 1.5 miles from downtown Asheville. Set across roughly 54 acres, it includes protected forest, trails, gardens, wellness spaces and lodging for approximately 35 guests.
It was built around a vision remarkably aligned with Hollow Bone: nature, healing, education, renewal, conservation and human transformation.
The property is currently operated by an existing nonprofit and has remained only partially operational during its recovery from Hurricane Helene.
We are drawn to OM Sanctuary because of the clear resonance between its founding vision and our own. Our hope is simply to begin a conversation — to meet the people who have cared for this place, to listen, and to explore together whether there might be a shared path forward.
No acquisition, transfer or formal partnership has been proposed or completed. We are approaching OM, and two other aligned Asheville-area properties, with curiosity and respect — letting any relationship unfold through real conversation rather than assumption.
Why Asheville?
Because the Ecosystem Is Already Here
Asheville is not simply where Hollow Bone began. It is where the initiative's essential elements already live in unusually close proximity.
A Culture of Healing
Asheville has a deep and established community of integrative practitioners, therapists, bodyworkers, herbalists, educators, facilitators and people exploring new approaches to physical, emotional and spiritual restoration.
A Creative City Surrounded by Nature
Artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, craftspeople and storytellers live within minutes of mountains, forests, rivers and protected land. Hollow Bone is built around the relationship between creativity and healing; Asheville naturally holds both.
A Place Rebuilding
Hurricane Helene changed Western North Carolina. The region's recovery is physical, emotional, ecological and economic. That makes Asheville more than a beautiful setting for Hollow Bone. It makes the work relevant here. A region rebuilding itself can become a place where people come to rebuild their lives.
The People Are Already Here
The founding relationships that brought Hollow Bone into form are rooted in Asheville. The practitioners, artists, elders, land stewards, musicians, filmmakers and community builders do not need to be recruited from somewhere else. The circle is already forming.
Close Enough to Reach. Far Enough to Transform.
Asheville is accessible while still offering the feeling of entering another world. A sanctuary can exist close to the city, its airport, hospitals, universities and cultural life without losing its relationship with wilderness.
A Living Laboratory — Asheville allows Hollow Bone to bring together:
Few places hold all of those ingredients so naturally.
The Search
Three Properties. One Standard.
Hollow Bone is evaluating three potential Asheville-area properties. The right home must offer more than beautiful land. It must be capable of holding the complete vision:
OM Sanctuary currently represents the strongest visible alignment, but Hollow Bone will follow the mission — not force a predetermined outcome.
The property will not define Hollow Bone. Hollow Bone will recognize the property capable of holding it.
The Vision for the Sanctuary
A Place Designed for Restoration
A permanent Hollow Bone sanctuary would create one integrated home for:
Healing Retreats
Immersive experiences for people navigating medical trauma, chronic illness, nervous-system dysregulation, grief, burnout and major life transition.
Camp Mary
A signature gathering of artists, founders, musicians, healers, teachers, elders, children and storytellers discovering what becomes possible together.
Nature and Children
Outdoor education, rites of passage and direct relationship with the living world — continuing the spirit first demonstrated through Forest Floor at Shope Creek.
Creative Residencies
Space for musicians, writers, filmmakers, visual artists and cultural storytellers to create work rooted in meaning.
Practitioner Residencies
A rotating community of doctors, therapists, bodyworkers, educators, researchers, facilitators and wisdom keepers.
The Field
A carefully curated environment where sound, light, frequency, nervous-system support and emerging wellness technologies serve human restoration.
Legacy Lab
Books, music, films, oral histories and living archives preserving the wisdom of people who have lived deeply.
Community Recovery
Programming for people and communities recovering from disaster, disruption, displacement and collective trauma.
The Model
Healing Cannot Depend Exclusively on Ability to Pay
Hollow Bone is not rejecting money. It is changing what money is asked to do.
Traditional retreat and healthcare models begin with a transaction: What can you afford?
Hollow Bone begins with a different question: What do you need — and how can you participate?
Participation may take many forms:
Some people will give money. Some will give expertise. Some will give time. Some will arrive needing to receive before they are capable of giving anything.
The purpose is not to eliminate exchange. It is to restore exchange to relationship.
The Complete Ecosystem
Three companies. Two founder groups. One commitment.
The first steward companies are NUMINA Holdings, Your Health Is Your Wealth, and Third Wave Foods — spanning conscious technology, human health, media, publishing and plant nutrition. Each is exploring the dedication of founder equity to Hollow Bone, building a living endowment through which shared success can serve access, land, healing and future generations. Final ownership transfers and governance remain subject to definitive legal, tax and nonprofit documentation.
01 · Steward company · conscious technology & media
NUMINA Holdings
A holding company bringing conscious AI, media, publishing and wellness into one ecosystem focused on the intersection of technology, ritual and human connection.
Founder equity dedicated to Hollow Bone
Structure being finalized with legal counsel
02 · Steward company · human platform
Your Health Is Your Wealth
The digital and operating backbone. Past N9NE Records, publishing and events live inside YHIYW — connecting music, story, media and real-world experiences to the larger human framework.
Founder equity dedicated to Hollow Bone
Structure being finalized with legal counsel
03 · Steward company · plant nutrition
Third Wave Foods
Next-generation plant proteins, dairy alternatives and everyday foods — turning regeneration and better nourishment into products people can live with every day.
Founder equity dedicated to Hollow Bone
Structure being finalized with legal counsel
Founder Equity Dedicated With Intention
The commitment came before the next chapter.
Robert Davis and Loren Wallis lead Third Wave Foods. Craig Rose and aligned founding partners hold NUMINA Holdings and Your Health Is Your Wealth. Each founder group is exploring the dedication of founder equity to Hollow Bone so that, as the companies grow, part of the value they create can expand healing access, land stewardship and human possibility.
Hollow Bone is not presenting an investment opportunity here. This page describes a mission-aligned founder commitment; final ownership transfers and governance remain subject to definitive legal, tax and nonprofit documentation.
Leadership + Stewardship
The people holding the Hollow Bone mission.
Leadership
Joda Williams
Human-potential guide and whole-person healing practitioner translating Hollow Bone into lived care and experience.
Leadership
Stephen Sedmak
Originating philosophical voice whose teachings and lived example form the spiritual foundation of Hollow Bone.
Leadership
Craig Rose
Founding director and cultural catalyst connecting story, community, companies and resources to the mission.
Proposed Founding Council
Entrepreneur
Dave Duffin
Founder · Zuka Juice · Rumbi Island Grill · Zao Asian Cafe
Brand builder and legacy-focused founder exploring family, stewardship, and the future through My Psychedelic Family. His ventures have shaped how communities gather and connect.
Next Generation
Solomon Duffin
Dave's Son
Completing his Master's in Software Engineering before hiking the Appalachian Trail. Solomon represents the next generation of AI, software, and stewardship.
Healthcare Technology
Dale Sanders
Systems Thinker
Nationally recognized healthcare technology pioneer whose work in analytics and systems thinking has transformed how organizations improve human outcomes.
Entrepreneur
David Dame
Mentor · Board Advisor
Longtime friend of Dave Duffin. A trusted guide known for his steady presence, wisdom, and encouragement throughout the journey.
Extreme Athlete
Sean Dame
Wingsuit Pilot · Base Jumper
Creative entrepreneur exploring storytelling, branding, and adventure. Sean is a wingsuit pilot and BASE jumper pushing the edges of what is possible.
These are people Hollow Bone would like to invite into founding council and board service. They have not yet been asked and are not confirmed.
Flipping the Exchange
Before Wealth Is Created, a Channel Is Created for It to Flow Through
Hollow Bone is building a new relationship between enterprise, philanthropy and human participation through a three-company Signal Stack connected by two distinct founder groups.
Through the Hollow Bone Covenant™ working framework, the founder groups behind the first steward companies are dedicating a portion of founder equity to Hollow Bone through a mission-aligned trust or other legally approved structure, subject to final documentation.
If those companies succeed, part of that value can help fund:
This page is not an investment offering. It describes a founder-gift framework being documented with appropriate legal, tax and nonprofit counsel.
The question is no longer simply: "How much can this company create?"
It is also: "Before it creates wealth, where have we designed some of that wealth to flow?"
The Hollow Bone
A Vessel, Not the Source
A hollow bone does not claim to create the medicine. It becomes clear enough for the medicine to move through.
That is the role of this initiative. Hollow Bone does not own healing, wisdom, creativity or transformation. It creates the conditions through which they can circulate — between people, generations, organizations, businesses and land.
No single founder owns the movement.
No single property contains it.
No single method defines it.
The initiative is the vessel.
The people are the participants.
The work belongs to what becomes possible between them.
The Board
Philosophy. Translation. Structure. Participation.
Stephen Sedmak
Originator · Elder · Philosophical Founder
Stephen articulated the two foundational purposes of Hollow Bone: moving the collective beyond fear and shifting the nature of exchange. His life, writing, experiments and stewardship of Shope Creek provided the philosophical foundation.
Craig Rose
Founding Director · Creative Catalyst
Entrusted by Stephen to bring Hollow Bone into public form, Craig connects the people, stories, businesses, artists, capital and opportunities capable of turning the philosophy into a functioning initiative.
Joda Williams
Founding Steward · Human Potential and Healing Systems
Joda brings decades of experience in integrative health, nutrition, life coaching, botanical therapies and retreat development. A former Director of Life Coaching within a multidisciplinary wellness organization and the founder of Human Potential Initiatives, she helps translate Hollow Bone's philosophy into programs, participant care and healing experiences capable of serving the whole person.
Robert Davis
Co-Founder · Third Wave Foods
Robert has been creating the future of plant-based food since 1979 — developing Light Links, Alpha Dog, and co-founding Alpha Foods before co-founding Third Wave Foods. A Certified Professional Life Coach, clinical hypnotherapist, and author of A Personal Planetary Awakening, he brings together nourishment, spiritual evolution, and personal transformation as one of the steward company leaders dedicating founder equity to Hollow Bone.
We Are Growing the Board
We are actively seeking three founding board members to help hold the mission.
If the work resonates and you feel called to help build the institution, we'd welcome the conversation.
Begin a ConversationThe Documentary
The Moment a Vision Outgrew Its Birthplace
The Hollow Bone documentary began as an attempt to capture a retreat at Shope Creek. It became the record of something larger.
The film follows the gathering of artists, healers, founders, musicians, elders, children and builders — and the unexpected realization that Shope Creek was not the final destination. It was the beginning.
The documentary captures the living birth of Hollow Bone: the people, the conflict, the questions, the discoveries and the search for a permanent home.
Some visions are born in one place so they can eventually belong everywhere.
The Deer Trail · A Camp Mary Story · A Hollow Bone Initiative Film
The Activation
The Activation Phase
Hollow Bone is moving through its activation phase — from formation to launch:
Form the Founding Council
Stephen, Joda and Craig — the founding stewards — are seeking three to five people to join the founding council and board: the first to say yes, the first to write the checks, and the first to help fill the well. The first Camp Mary gathered a small circle of people we deeply respect on the land, and that conversation is now beginning.
Establish the Nonprofit & Legal Architecture
Ink the independent nonprofit, complete the governance and financial controls, and set the founder-equity dedications in place across the steward companies.
Complete the Documentary
Finish the film with Jackson Averett — the living archive of what Stephen and Mary built, the arc of the movement, and the search for a permanent home.
The Final Countdown — 40 Nights in Asheville
Host 40 nights in Asheville — a Start With I Love You exhibit and gathering — that will launch the documentary to the world.
Blast Off
After the 40 days, build toward the public launch of Hollow Bone — the programs, the sanctuary, the participation model — using the funds raised to carry the mission into its next chapter.
The Founding Invitation
We Are Not Asking You to Fund a House.
We Are Asking You to Help Build an Institution.
Hollow Bone is seeking founding council members who understand that this moment requires more than another wellness brand, retreat business or charitable program. We are building the structure that can hold the work for generations.
Fill the Well
$222,000
We are looking for three to five people to round out the board, raise the initial $222,000 — and then we are off.
Founding support will fund:
This is not an investment in Shope Creek.
It is not yet a representation that OM Sanctuary has agreed to a transaction.
It is a founding commitment to bring Hollow Bone Initiative into the world.
Shope Creek Proved the Vision.
Hollow Bone Will Carry It Forward.
The first gathering happened.
The documentary is underway.
The founding council is forming.
And somewhere beyond the gate is the place where the next chapter can begin.
Move beyond fear. Change the exchange. Become a hollow bone.
Follow the Work
Follow the work as it unfolds
No noise. A quiet signal — updates only when there's something worth sharing.