It seems for myself and many I know, it is ever more challenging to relate
to Self, fellow humans, and the world as wounded. In our wholeness how do
we open to be more full and expressive channels of creation?
How beautiful, magical, abundant, and delicious can life and this Earth be?
Change is happens.
In this presentation we will explore the questions of how we dance with
Change.
Do we have choice?
And if so, what are the choices that can make a difference?
What is Heaven and Hell?
Mom, Dad ........... Are we there yet?
How do we be an active part of flavoring our individual and collective
experience on Earth?
What does Sacred Sexual Healing and The Shaman Method of Sex Magic have to
offer?
Presentation #2: Ethics and Boundaries for Today's Practitioners in the Sacred Sexual Healing Arts
Presentation #3: Africa's Significant Role in the World of the Temple Arts
Africa is know as the Seat of Humanity. This is a presentation and open discussion on the impact and significance of the Ancient African Temple Arts. Together we will explore what Africa's role has been? What it is now?
And, what will the future hold?
Bio:
BABA DEZ NICHOLS is a Internationally renowned speaker and teacher, Daka, author, singer-songwriter, and transformational guide, trained in the Sacred Temple Arts to share, inspire, and support others in their integration of the divine masculine and feminine (Shiva/Shakti) energies within.
He is the founder of the Sedona Temple and School of Temple Arts and the Annual Daka-Dakini Conferences for sacred sexual healers, Tantra teachers and practitioners.
He has studied, assisted, and been blessed with the presence and wisdom of many masters around the world for over 30 years. His path is to travel worldwide and help others deepen in their truth and power, find healing & enjoyment in transformation, and manifest grounded results.
He is currently on tour promoting the release of his documentary Sex Magic, his book Sacred Sexual Healing: The Shaman Method of Sex Magic and his music CD Thank the Moon.
Presentation #1: How the Old Wounds Sing: The body's way of releasing sexual trauma
Sexual trauma can occur through the subtlest of means. Its impact on our individual lives and on society is vastly underestimated. This paper is a reflection on my understanding of sexual trauma and on how I listen to the songs being sung by these old wounds.
What causes sexual trauma? Is it only sexual touch? What about the impact of sexual innuendo and emotional incest? What is the impact of sexual trauma at various stages of our lives?
Sexual trauma memories are often held in the unconscious. Here we take a good look at how these unconscious memories make themselves known - through body/celllular memory, through associations in sexual life and through erotic fantasy. When we recognize these ways in which the body reveals its stories, we can encourage the old songs to be sung so that what was denied, can now be accepted and integrated into the body. An excellent tool for working with the body's response to trauma memory is following the rhythm of contraction and expansion that happens in the nervous system when old trauma gets touched. I discuss how I do this in practice.
The practice of Tantra asks of us to be total - to be willing to feel every emotion that arises, to sit in the fire of sometimes unbearable sensation. When we can be with the body's wise response in patience and totality, a deep integration happens in us. We find our "NO". We find our "YES." We honour our past stories and let them go. We come closer to the realization of who we really are.
"How much bliss can you stand?" The methods and fuctions of Bliss in Tantra
Expanding our capacity for bliss is a central intension in Tantra. Why is this so? Because bliss takes us into a direct experience of our oneness with existence. It is the manifestation of that reality. The method that Tantra uses to expand our capacity for bliss is paradoxical. A central tenet here is that our capacity for bliss is directly equivalent to our capacity to feel everything that is there in our lives. How deeply are you willing to feel repressed emotions and sensations in your body? The degree to which you are willing to sit in that fire will be the degree to which you have access to the bliss that is the life blood of existence.
I explore in this presentation ways I use as Tantrika to facilitate an opening to bliss. This includes:
dropping body armoring through movement and dance
using breath and sound to deepen presence
accessing deeply buried emotions and sensations through touch, role play and erotic enactment
finding the inner love affair between masculine and feminine
the use of light trance and other shamanic tools
I discuss some case studies of the deep, and often paradoxical, integration that happens for people when they open to how much bliss they can stand.
Presentation #2: Tantra, the way of the feminine - exploring the female approach to sexuality.
Bio:
Shakti Malan is a dakini and member of the Advait Tantraschool; see tantraschool.co.za. She has a strong and well established practice based in Cape Town and runs retreats across the country. Her work includes individual and couple sessions, in-depth courses, workshops and longer retreats on the practice of Tantra; see http://shakti.co.za. Two specific areas of focus in her practice are female sexuality and blissdance, an expression of Tantra in dance and movement.
Shakti's first immersion into meditation practice came through the Christian Mystical tradition, for which she has deep appreciation. Tai Chi and yoga taught her the beauty of presence in the body, and how to follow the wisdom of the body-mind. Dancing, and particularly Biodanza, really opened her to the passion that flows through our cells, and that enables such deep creativity.
Life also brought Shakti significant work with Shamanism (Native American, Celtic and African traditions), which opened her eyes to the multi-dimensionality of our world, and the worlds beyond.
At the end of 2001 Shakti had a series of experiences that made clear to her that her life is about only one thing: awareness, awakening – and that catapulted her into my path as a Tantrika. Through visions she was told that her real name is Shakti, and that this name carried the direction of her work in the world. Then followed four years of deep immersion in spiritual practice. Like the old Christian desert fathers, Shakti went to live in the desert for a while, and went through a significant dissolving of self. Here her Tantra practice started. In 2003, Shakti met Leslie Temple Thurston, an Advaita teacher whose processing and meditation techniques have radically changed her life. A few years later, she met Rahasya, director of the Advait Tantraschool who initiated her into the work of the dakini. His extroadinary guidance opened her to the radical, experiential wisdom of Tantra as a path of awakening.
Shakti has a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology, practice also as a social sustainability specialist, and is a trained teacher and process work psychology facilitator.
Presentation: Where the triangle starts: the ins and outs of female sexuality
Women's genitals, or yonis, are steeped in mystery. For many women the bodily functions of this area down there are at the very least unclear, while for others it can reach the point that they are shrouded in a veil of secrecy and shame.
Today, there is still controversy over what actually constitutes a woman¹s genital anatomy. This is despite the fact that we live in a world of abundant information. We have at our fingertips a multitude of scientific knowledge about gynaecological functions yet we are also privy to useful advertising that tells us how to keep the vagina sanitary; how and when to get it tested for diseases, lumps and bumps; how to rid it of odours; how to stay safe from STDs; and what the perfect vulva looks like. Many people remain unaware of the exact functions and locations of the various parts which make up women's genitalia. We frequently use the word vagina to name women's entire genitals and it has become commonly assumedmthat this is the correct name for girl parts. The vagina is just one part of a much larger whole that encompasses the inner and outer bits of a woman¹s sexual organ.
Bio:
Andrew Barnes is a sex therapist, counsellor and bodyworker who draws from his Masters of Health Science in Sexology from the University of Sydney. Combined with his studies in massage, bodywork, Tantra, Taoist and Quodoska to work with women's sexual and self-esteem issues. Andrew has also completed training with Dr Betty Dodson in women’s sex and orgasm coaching.
Andrew is the founder of the Academy of Therapeutic Arts in Brisbane – a government registered massage training school www.therapeuticarts.edu.au.
He is also a birth supporter or Doula, has worked as a hug therapist and has coordinated volunteer support groups and programs in women’s rehabilitation centres, substance abuse detox units, men’s maximum security jails and at the Royal Children’s Hospital Brisbane.
Andrew is in high demand as an international expert and speaker on massage therapy (Ka Huna, Lomi Lomi, Balinese, Pregnancy massage), sexuality, bodywork and healing. His travels see him teaching post-graduate courses to therapists, as well as corporate training and consulting with International companies like Dermalogica and health spas around the world.
In 2006 Andrew was requested by the Australian Association of Massage Therapists (AAMT) to develop national policies, procedures and techniques in breast massage and he is now the AAMT breast massage expert.
In recent years, Andrew created and runs Awakening Within women’s retreats that combine spiritual sexuality and personal development including body de-armouring, a journey of deep healing, acceptance and opening to one's true feminine potential. www.awakeningwithin.com.au
Andrew is a Cuddle Party facilitator and also the author of the (soon to be released) book, “Heart of the Flower: the book of Yonis”. Each women writes candidly with wit, wisdom, passion, even despair about her relationship with her vulva. www.heartoftheflower.com
Presentation: Tantra as a vocation: The understanding, training and work of Dakinis
The compassion, totality and rarity of the Dakini. Historic and geographic variations on the archetype. Discerning and pioneering the modern expression and teaching modalities of the Dakini. The re-establishment of the feminine as primary in Tantra.
Gifts, Siddhis, Miracles and Magic. The relationship of Tantra to religions, governments and social control. Secret teachings of Tantra and Mystery Schools and why they are secret.
Bio:
Rahasya was born in Zambia in 1962, raised with considerable freedom, curry and yoga. He moved to South Africa in 1970 and hs lived here, mostly in Johannesburg ever since. Rahasya escaped mandatory military service in the army of apartheid, worked underground on two of the world's deepest gold mines, worked on films as AD, stunt man and fight sequence director. He had a career in Graphic Design, started a successful small business and fathered two children. Along the way, Rahasya followed his deep interest in martial arts, massage, meditation and sacred sexuality. A long time fan, admirer, lover, of Osho, Rahasya finally got to Puna and took Sannyas on the 21st of March 2000. A little while later, his sexuality was completed, desire dropped, and after some months of celibate bliss, he started helping others with sexual healing and tantric practice. Those he worked with encouraged him to a more open, available way of teaching, which continues...
Shima spent many years exploring the teachings of awareness. Towards the end of this journey, cocooned in the ancient mysteries of tantra, Swami Rahasya and Shima became lovers.
Over the next several years a deep and permanent transformation happened where upon Shima began teaching.
She has a small number of students and on rare occassion offers a retreat into tantra.
Shima is a founding member and teacher of the Advait Tantra School in South Africa. She lives in the rain forest of Johanesburg where she spends her days in contemplation and bliss.
Presentation #2 - Spontaneous Desire - tantra on the seat of your pants
What is presence .... What methods or tantra evoke presence into your living ....
In this sharing we explore the method of the dakini and session’s work.
When there is willingness to enter into the unknown, in this case a tantra session, without pre-conception, boundaries or expectation extroadanary presence enters the moment.
You will meet the way of desire and how desire becomes the guide of the session. One ultimately finds the discernment of the urge of existence. In this way, the dakini is the body of the goddess.
Allowing this urge to be your only guide in a session brings you into dharma. This with a dollop of grace evokes the essence of magic which calls the moment as a match calls fire.
The focus of Uta’s work is heart-centred sexuality and sacred sexual healing. Her background is in Taoism, Shiatsu and NLP. She holds a Certificate in Sex Education from the IASHS (Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality) and is in on-going training with teachers of sacred sexuality as well as continuing deepening her knowledge of modern western approaches to sexual healing.
For Uta, sacred sexual healing begins with connection. In a place of connection and safety, in a space of love, the Heart opens. Feeling that expansive state in which every cell is permeated with aliveness and bliss reconnects you with the Sacred. It is an experience of fluidity - an experience of an orgasmic energy state. When connected with the Heart, open and in touch with one‘s own Essence, orgasmic energy and that blissful state of being can be carried over into daily life bringing the Sacred and bliss into mundane existence.
Bio:
Uta works in London with a wide range of clients, exploring with them how they can integrate sexuality, Heart and the Sacred into their daily lives. She blends a variety of effective methods including bodywork, energy work, Qi Gong, internal alchemy meditations and NLP. In her work with women, she has found the Jade Egg practices invaluable in connecting women with their feminine Essence. The Jade Egg is a key tool in awakening and cultivating female sexual energy. It is a healing tool that enables women to reconnect with their sexuality and facilitates healing of sexual wounds.
Qi Gong is the art of exercising the Jing (essence), Qi (energy) and Shen (Spirit). Gentle movements and conscious breathing cause the internal qi to manifest in awareness.
All are welcome to attend and please wear loose fitting, comfortable clothing, i.e a T-shirt and tracksuit pants.
Bio:
Growing up on a farm afforded Wendy a lot of space and freedom. She lived in London in her twenties and followed her interest in music and dancing.
After moving to Johannesburg she took up tai ji and karate. Shortly after that she met Rahasya and began her path in Tantra.
The work of A.H. Almaas has been a strong influence in her spiritual journey.
Wendy has been teaching in the Advait Tantra School for approximately four years. Her methods include various meditation practices, inquiry, exploring the masculine and feminine energies, qi gong, body work, massage and tantric sex.
When it comes to sex, sexuality and intimacy most people want more. The question is more of what…and why not?
Ultimately, it seems, we seek release, but again, release from what? trueSex is a perspective in which these questions find their deepest answer. In fact, they simply dissolve and disappear. Perfect instant sex sells, however in reality, the promises of more, better and different remain ultimately unfulfilled, because it is not method and technique that is lacking, but a true understanding and awareness of who and what we are.
To know the pulse, flow and glow of true sex we need to allow that we are each an expression of One, living as a mutuality of two – the duality of Masculine and Feminine.
The old separation of spirituality and sexuality has wounded our capacity to live as love, to engage and relate with Life and each other as whole. It separated the Masculine (Father, Sky, Formlessness, God) from the Feminine (Mother, Earth, Form, Goddess) and fostered in us an identification with one or the other as what we are.
The essential requirement of the emergence that is currently occurring in the world is that we release identification, at every level, and make ourselves available to existence as conscious co-creators, leaning into the mystery of an uncreated future. We know who and what we are. Who and what we become is entirely in our own hands. There are no blueprints, only the irrepressible urge of the true authentic human being to emerge. Whatever that may be and however that may look, it begins in our most fundamental creative action. The fundamental requirement for the emergence of a true human being has to be true sex.
The central tenets of trueSex are:
Sexuality is the spirituality of the body
The moment is the lover, you are the beloved.
Trust surrender itself until you surrender trust itself.
As you wish, beloved.
The intention of trueSex is to bridge the gap between mainstream sexuality and sacred sexuality by offering a way of re-languaging ourselves as males and females in the world, so that we may engage and relate in the awareness of who and what we truly are, for the sake of the whole.
Our responsibility is to sexualize our spirituality, not spiritualize our sexuality. Sexuality is the spirituality of the body. Our accountability in this regard is expressed in, as and through our sexual practice. As such, true sexuality is true spirituality. Ultimately, our spirituality is not true unless our sexuality, and therefore our sexing, is true.
Bio:
Stephen Norval, founder and co-creator of the truePoint Organisation (www.truepoint.co.za), offers a highly experiential series of perspectives on emergence and conscious co-creation. These perspectives teach a method of enquiry that enables us to explore and verify our natural intelligence. This method of inquiry makes the emergence of our true authentic self possible.
Stephen has offered consciousness seminars in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, London, Zimbabwe and Mauritius over the past 17 years. He is relentlessly committed to teaching, sharing and revealing consciousness through awakening and inspiring awareness and conscious co-creation in the world. In service and devotion to this, he recently co-founded trueSex with his life-partner, Samadhi.
Discovering Biodanza, in 2000, was like discovering an oasis, after many years of crawling in a desert.
Finally! A place where I could drink thirstily from the source of Life… and express from a renewable source of Joy!
At first, I sipped tentatively… with trepidation… just testing this new “miracle water”.
But, now, almost 10 years later, my thirst for rediscovering Life having been quenched, and the safety of my authentic self-expression having been re-established, I drink from its source, regularly, and (almost) without restraint!
Through my years of doing Biodanza, “Dancing with Life” - I have gently grown, blossomed, and flourished, in never-ending cycles of renewal and new self discovery.
In doing so, I have also found the exquisite bliss in “dancing my dance”… in a process that is surprisingly with “effortless ease”!
Continually “dancing my dance”, remains an incredibly powerful, yet soft and progressive, way of my coming to know - and become – my “Authentic” self… a self less bounded by norms, habits and attitudes that no longer serve or suit me… letting go of burdensome “baggage” to take pleasure in all aspects of Life, to rejoice with Life, and to allow myself to love all those that are part of Life, and in my life!
But, it is as a Biodanza Facilitator, that I am further enriched… I am constantly awed by the gracious blossoming of those that come to our classes; people who courageously find and “dance their dance”. Every week, I am honoured to witness the spontaneous joy, fun and laughter, the fluid new movements and the emergence of confidence, of people who embrace Biodanza and those within our weekly groups, in particular!
Through Biodanza I rediscovered my “Joie de Vivre”… as a Facilitator I am blessed to be part of the unfolding of the “Joie de Vivre” of others!
Bio:
Freelance Consultant using A.T.L. (above-the-line), Through-the-line and Activation projects.
Project Activation Programmes - i.e. orchestration of projects, bridging across a number of disciplines e.g. promotions, with A.T.L. & Eventing/face-to-face elements, with grassroots interface.
Uta Demontis
Dakini Wendy
Stephen Norval
Virginie Charlier