PROGRAM NOTES FOR RECOGNIZING YOUR INHERENT SPLENDOR

See the schedule here!  Read about our presenters here!

Background information

Recognizing Your Essential Splendor will blend classical Tantric philosophy and practices with New Culture community-building processes.

For more information on New Culture, click here.

For more information on the distinction between traditional forms of Tantra and what is more appropriately called western neo-Tantra, click here.

For more information on classical Tantra, visit our resource list here.

Aligned Motive

In this retreat, we will focus specifically on three attitudes, known as the aligned motive, that are crucial for attaining the fruit of the Tantric path:
– Practice out of love and appreciation for oneself (rather than feeling broken and needing to fix oneself)

– Practice out of a desire to know what is true and be intimate with what is real (rather than making up stories and chasing peak experiences)

– Practice for the benefit of all beings (rather than becoming special or better than others).
 

Our daily teachings and practices will follow this arc:

Friday – ARRIVAL
Saturday – FOUNDATIONS
Sunday – LOVE FOR SELF
Monday – KNOW THE TRUTH
Tuesday – BENEFIT ALL BEINGS
Wednesday – COMPLETION

We will combine lecture, discussion, guided practices, and group explorations.

Program Descriptions:

* indicates that the workshop is highly recommended for all and required for new people.

*Welcome Circle – Friday 7:30-9:30pm

We’ll meet each other, start building community, and have a taste of the teachings we’ll be exploring during the retreat.  We’ll also learn essential details about our schedule, spaces, and guidelines.

Active Meditation – Premin – Daily 8:45-9:45am

The Osho active meditations are a practical introduction to meditation, where the restless mind and body with simple exercises can release stress and trauma and then let meditation happen on its own.

*Morning Circle – Daily 10-10:45am

The camp community comes together for appreciations, announcements, and other sharings.  Please attend if you can – new information and conversations about emerging issues happen here!

Teachings and Practices – Daily 11am-1pm

In these sessions, the presenter team will explore the theme of the day with teachings and guided practices.  This is the core of our learning together.  Topics are listed on the schedule but are subject to change depending on the flow of the event.

Friday: ARRIVAL – Recognizing what you are

Saturday: FOUNDATIONS – How and why to practice / View, path, and fruit / Overview of aligned motive

Sunday: LOVE FOR SELF –  Immersion into true self

Monday: KNOW THE TRUTH – Questioning stories / Digesting emotions / Dropping deflation and inflation

Tuesday: BENEFIT ALL BEINGS – Expanded I-sense / Dedicating the Merits / Ethical practice

Wednesday: COMPLETION – Integration practices

*ZEGG Forum – Forum Team – Daily 2:30-4pm

The ZEGG Forum process is a transformational container created by free-love radical communitarians and tuned for bringing up what’s under the surface in COMMUNITY. When undertaken with a group of sovereign beings who are dedicated to individual and collective transformation, it provides a cauldron for personal growth and community resilience unlike any other. 

The goal of Forum is to reveal what is alive but not known to all.  The community sits in a circle, forming a stage for one person at a time to stand and show what is true for them.  Facilitators may assist the person (or “presenter”) to reveal themselves more deeply.  Afterward, community members may offer reflections, or “mirrors,” on what they saw.

Especially when interpersonal conflicts and polarizing issues arise, each person shares from the heart and is facilitated to go to the root of their truth, not just their superficial egoic needs. 

When we “get” each other, we go the extra mile to figure things out. Empathy motivates the group to find a collective solution, while understanding gives the raw material needed for the solution. 

Three Centers of Consent – Audrey –  Saturday 5-6pm

Consent workshop based on exploring the wisdom of the head, heart, and belly centers.  Full description TBA.

Touch Meditation – Saturday 7:30-8:30pm

This will be an opportunity to explore the teachings of the day using guided touch of self and others.  The touch may be nurturing, playful, exploratory – but not with the intention of raising sexual energy or arousal.  Everyone can participate in a way that works for them.

Conscious Cuddles –  Saturday 8:45-10pm

Join us for a nurturing, non-sexual cuddle gathering focused on connection and consensual, loving touch.  Everyone is at choice about how to participate.  The facilitators will start us off with some simple cuddle-inspiring activities, and then be available for support as needed.

Self-Led Nature Walks – Sunday/Monday/Tuesday 4:30-5:30pm 

Explore the beautiful woods, rocks, and waters of our land, while practicing a meditation based on the theme of the day.  These walks are optional. 

*Sensual Temple Orientation – Sunday 7:30-8:15pm 

The Sensual Temple is a warm and inviting space to explore the themes of the day by engaging all of the senses. This Temple is a meditative space where solo and partner practices involving sensual and sexual pleasure are welcome. This short session will introduce the space and its etiquette.  

Sensual Temple Opening – Sunday 8:45-10pm

After a short break, those who wish will proceed to the Sensual Temple for its official opening. All are invited to explore the Sensual Temple – the opening activities will be sensual but nonsexual, and the Temple team will create a clear transition when the space becomes open for sexual expression.

Self-Touch: Between the Fire and the Poison

After the Temple Opening is complete, we will proceed to a meditative self-touch guided practice aimed at balancing attention between the “fire” of awareness of essence nature and the “poison” of sensual pleasure.  When properly performed, this practice eliminates grasping and transforms the “poison” into nectar.

Kirtan and Dancing  – Monday 7:30-8:30pm

Let’s join our voices and move our bodies in ecstatic devotion!

Partner Touch: Between the Fire and the Poison – Monday 9-10pm

This session will build on the previous evening’s session and add the element of connection with a partner.  

Love Ceremony: Honoring the Divine in Each Other – Tuesday 7:30-9:30pm

Allow us to invite you into a series of partnered and group interactions that will celebrate the wondrous mystery that is you and your fellow participants. We will start with a traditional Tantric meditation of clearing the bodymind of all preconceived ideas of self, invoking Divine Awareness into our bodies, and honoring ourselves as deity.  After this, we will move into structured interactions where we will honor the other members of the community.  This ceremony will focus on emotional connection and nurturing touch.  All participants are always “at choice” to modify the interactions so that they are comfortable with them, or simply to witness.

Closing Circle – Wednesday 12-1pm

Honoring the experience of the past six days, we will connect, reflect, and bid farewell to this incarnation of our community.