This empirical study uses auto-ethnography to describe a higher education pedagogical process that facilitated largely doctoral students in preparing their candidacy proposals through the use of specific adult learning principles. Students' experiences and points of view of such a learning environment were explored, including: (1) how they contributed to their peers' learning; (2) how their peers contributed to their own individual learning; and (3) how the learning environment impacted the process. Key factors identified as pivotal to learning to learn, include creating a learning sanctuary and trusting relationships, engaging in mutual inquiry and the co-construction of meaning, and bridging research theory and practice. These factors enabled students to expand their identities to include a researcher identity and to negotiate deep knowledge at the personal level. Throughout this article, the students' points of view are used to elucidate shared and diverse experiences, in addition to supporting conclusions and recommendations for practice and further study. (Contains 1 footnote.)