Monastery, The

The Monastery follows two groups of men and women who separately live, study, work and think with all-male and all-female monastic regimes. Five men filmed for 40 days in one secluded location while five women filmed for 40 days at another. None of the participants know the particulars of where they were going and what they will do on a daily basis, but all of them know they would live in a monastery where they are subject to the rules and traditions of monastic life. TLC's cameras have unprecedented access to the inner sanctum sanctorum of both monasteries – and the individuality and commonality each affords. The documentary series bridges the divide and makes a connection between the countercultural values of monastic life and the real struggles of the secular life. The men and women chosen for The Monastery come from all walks of life and are facing inner struggles. And each will begin a parallel journey both spiritually and psychologically. The series is the story of the participants as they live in a monastery, not about the dynamics of the monastic community itself.