Man and Woman Awake
Tantra Intensive Retreat
with Shakti Malan and Aaron Swanson
21 (public holiday) - 25 March 2012
Illovo, KZN
Tantra Intensive Retreat
with Shakti Malan and Aaron Swanson
21 (public holiday) - 25 March 2012
Illovo, KZN
This Retreat
The meeting and merging of masculine and feminine is a primary objective of Tantric practice. In human evolution, the year 2012 signals the time when the inner marriage between masculine and feminine becomes more available to us - and the imperative is strong for us to use the opportunity. When masculine and feminine merge, we awake to the truth of who we really are - the Beloved as such. On the way there, it is important for Man to open to fully embodying the Masculine, and for Woman to embody the Feminine. Once this has happened, we can open to the other, and start dancing with the Soulmate Within.
The feminine, as represented in Tantra by Shakti, is not afraid of the dark underworld. She creates the world of illusions. She is comfortable exploring and integrating what is in the unconscious. She explores dark eros and finds the gifts in those corners of existence that have been shunned. She smells, drinks, feels, hears, tastes. She receives the mystery and opens to that which is beyond the known.
The masculine, as represented in Tantra by Shiva, holds one pointed focus and stillness. Shiva sits in deep meditation on Mount Khailash, and is undisturbed by the movement of the elements around him. His quality is presence, and when he acts, he does so with skillful means. His attitude to the feminine is total love and devotion. He is the arrow that enters where the feminine guides and takes the energy upward towards transcendent oneness with all that is.
The Facilitators
You have an opportunity on this retreat to explore the dance of Man and Woman Awakening with two facilitators who have been exploring and living these qualities deeply in their personal Tantric practice.
Shakti is a dakini or teacher of the mysteries of Tantra and member of the Advait Tantraschool (tantraschool.co.za). Shakti is based in Cape Town, South Africa but teaches and practices across the world. Her central approach is to enter the totality of experience as a gateway to awakening. Shakti believes that sexuality is the field which most powerfully directs us to this gateway. For more on her work, see www.shakti.co.za and www.totalitytherapy.com
About Shakti Malan (Ph.D)
Shakti's purpose as Tantric dakini is to facilitate your awakening to the essence of who you really are, while remaining fully functional in your body. Many traditions of enlightenment view the body as that which is to be transcended. Tantra sees the body as a vehicle for awakening. The process of dropping through veils of illusion can be very impactful on our nervous system, and every aspect of our physical and energetic bodies. Because Shakti values the body as the vehicle through which you can share your awakening with the world, she aims to ensure that your energetic and physical bodies are fully prepared for the process of waking up. This requires totality of the seeker - the willingness to have every aspect of your energetic and physical reality be purified by the power of truth. As this happens, conversely, the body becomes capable of sensing and experiencing on increasingly subtle and refined levels. Thus, the physical vessel of the body becomes a suitable instrument to transmit the essence of the awakened state.
Shakti has a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology, a discipline that teaches the practitioner to listen to the reality of groups and individuals from an insider perspective, through immersion in the texture of their lives. She spent many years translating the realities of vulnerable communities to decision makers in government, development organizations and corporates in the fields of poverty management, economic development and environmental management. Shakti’s training as dakini comes through the Advaita tradition and many years of immersion in meditation and conscious body practices.
About Aaron Swanson
From his early twenties, Aaron's life has been immersed in the study of Tantra and meditation. He has worked with the Tantric teachings of Bernie Prior, Barry Long, Saniel Bonder and David Deida, as well as Ipsalu Tantra, the intimacy practices of the Realization Process created by Judith Blackstone and the Womb Wisdom work of Padma Aon, exploring specifically these aspects of Tantric practice: Resting in Non Dual stillness, being present as Awareness fully in the body, conducting energy or Shakti throughout the body, and opening the heart and body fully to the mystery of Woman.
Aaron's exploration of consciousness and meditation practices has been through the work of masters such as Anadi, Adyashanti, John DeRuiter and Leslie Temple Thurston, through whose work he has discovered the ever deepening awakening of Pure Awareness beyond Form and its continuing clarification and evolution in the marriage of Spirit and Form within the Non Dual Ground of Being.
Aaron believes that Tantra is a path to embodied wholeness where we have the opportunity to bring the light of Pure Awareness and Divine Love deep into the body where all shadows and incongruencies in ones being must be faced with both the impeccable dedication of Spiritual Warriorship and the Heart of a sensitive Lover. Through the meeting of the Masculine and Feminine we have the opportunity to realize God in the Forms of the World, and support the evolution of our precious World into higher forms of development. It is a path of utter care and devotion that lovingly requires everything
Aaron's exploration of consciousness and meditation practices has been through the work of masters such as Anadi, Adyashanti, John DeRuiter and Leslie Temple Thurston, through whose work he has discovered the ever deepening awakening of Pure Awareness beyond Form and its continuing clarification and evolution in the marriage of Spirit and Form within the Non Dual Ground of Being.
Aaron believes that Tantra is a path to embodied wholeness where we have the opportunity to bring the light of Pure Awareness and Divine Love deep into the body where all shadows and incongruencies in ones being must be faced with both the impeccable dedication of Spiritual Warriorship and the Heart of a sensitive Lover. Through the meeting of the Masculine and Feminine we have the opportunity to realize God in the Forms of the World, and support the evolution of our precious World into higher forms of development. It is a path of utter care and devotion that lovingly requires everything
Themes
On this retreat, we will explore the following themes:
- The qualities of the awakened feminine and masculine
- Awakened female and male sexuality
- Practices for fully embodying the masculine and the feminine
- Practices for the meeting of male and female
- Connecting sex and soul in Tantric lovemaking
- Exploring both unconscious and conscious aspects of our sexuality
Methods
The methods we will use are:
body awareness and sensitizing techniques
immersion in deep Tantric meditation
active meditations
blissdance, a tantric free movement form developed by Shakti
enactments and roleplay
guided conversations
immersion in deep Tantric meditation
active meditations
blissdance, a tantric free movement form developed by Shakti
enactments and roleplay
guided conversations
Who is the retreat for?
This retreat is suitable for all sincere seekers of truth of any gender or orientation, single or partnered. You do not need a partner to attend.
The venue: Chubby's Bush Camp, Illovo KZN
Chubby's Bush Camp offers guests the ultimate intimate, relaxing bush experience. it is located in a Malaria free environment and easily accessible from both Durban and Pietermaritzburg on good tar roads.
Cost and bookings
Cost: R4 400 includes facilitation and meals
Bookings: Book with Pieta Erasmus: peeb@iafrica.com. Book soon as places are limited.
Full payment to be made into the following account:
Dr. S. Malan
Standard Bank current account
Thibault Square branch (02-11-09-00)
Account number: 073152811
posted by Shakti @ 21:50
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