Sevenoaks is part of a network of spiritual groups teaching the Pathwork, with centers throughout the United States, Europe, and South America.

Sevenoaks is a flourishing center for spiritual education and personal growth founded in 1972 by Susan and Donovan Thesenga, who still live and work at the center. They have been joined by a faculty of twenty teachers, and a Center staff of fifteen. The principal work of the center is to teach the Pathwork, a contemporary non-denominational path that teaches practical spiritual wisdom. Students learn the causes of their present dissatisfactions in life and how to change the inner self so that their outer lives may be filled with more love and more joy. At the same time, students learn how to connect with and be guided by the Higher Self—the source of love, wisdom, and positive power residing in the core of every human being.

A participant in a recent Pathwork workshop said:

"I can't thank you enough for such a beautiful and soul-searching experience. I had no idea that a place existed that could bring a person to such depth. I truly believe I was given a gift from God for guiding me to Sevenoaks. The work you bring to the world is saving people's souls."

The Pathwork incorporates personal psychological work with perennial spiritual wisdom, including prayer and meditative practices. The Pathwork honors each person’s uniqueness while also promoting a profound sense of community. Those engaged in this work pursue spiritual understanding with an open mind, sharing common principles, while respecting different religious traditions.

The Pathwork has published five books, including Fear No Evil by Eva Pierrakos and Donovan Thesenga and The Undefended Self by Susan Thesenga.

At The Pathwork is taught at the Sevenoaks Center through weekend workshops and ongoing classes, including a five-year Transformation Program. Helpers and teachers of this work are also trained at the center; training takes a minimum of ten years. Many people have felt their lives were transformed by their work at Sevenoaks. Students have written:

"For me the Transformation Program opened a door into a new kind of life. It has been an unswerving path to personal dignity, self-knowledge, and soulful awareness—the ending of survival and the beginning of living.”

--Brian Stokes, President, Caduceus Medical Systems, Pittsboro, N.C.

“I feel I’ve grown more in the past one and a half years in this program than I have in the previous ten years.”

--Dr. Stephanie Blackton, Chiropractor, Ruckersville, Va.

“The Transformation Program has provided the safe container and the guidance to go into my deepest feelings. … After four years in the program I’m learning to be present to my life and to the aliveness of all of my feelings. I now find periods of calming peace, moments of profound joy, greater success in my earthly endeavors, and, most of all, deep and loving connection to others.”

--Zimri Putney, President, NextGen Venture Capital, Fairfax, Va.

Sevenoaks also rents its facilities to groups seeking a place for retreat and renewal. Culpeper Memorial Hospital, the Southern Environmental Law Center of Charlottesville, Va., the School of Traditional Acupuncture of Columbia, Maryland, and the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C. have all used the facility for recent workshops or retreats.