Saturday, January 2nd, Sacred Embodiment Center, Asheville, 7 - 9 pm
After our survival instinct, sexual energy is the most powerful force in the human experience. It can drive us to noble and creative endeavors as well as to destructive and hurtful pursuits. We grow up in a culture with a lot of fear and shame around sexual energy, mainly due to its immense power and frequent misuse.
How do we access and guide this energy? With the heart. The energy of the heart contains and directs sexual energy so that it is a healing and transformative force. And what guides our heart? The overall spiritual purpose of our lives. When all three are combined (sex, heart, and spirit), we can live a deeply satisfying life of service to our ultimate vision.
Join us for an introduction to ideas and practices for improving our physical and emotionally-intimate relationships.
Free; donations welcome.
January 8th, Sacred Embodiment Center, Asheville, 8-11 pm
The main cause of depression is a lack of affection.
A cuddle party is a non-sexual gathering to share friendship, nurturing touch, and emotional intimacy. This playful and safe space includes talking about some basic communication and intimacy skills. $10/person, RSVP required. Online registration.
For more about cuddle parties, including what to wear and what to bring, visit www.cuddleparty.com.
January 15th - 17th
Ballentine, SC (outside Columbia)
Warm up your hearts and bodies at CSS's first annual retreat. A house on a lake with room for ten and expected highs of 70 degrees make for an enjoyable immersion in compassionate consciousness. Experience 48 hours of loving communication through clothes on, hands off exercises and intentionally harmonious interaction, and gain the inspiration and skill to make 2010 a year of unprecedented intimacy.
$200/person includes organic food and lodging. Previous experience with NVC required.
Beneath the veneer of civilization . . . lies not the barbarian and the animal, but the human in us who knows what is right and necessary for becoming fully human: birth in gentle surroundings, a rich nonhuman environment, juvenile tasks with simple tools, . . . play at being animals, . . . clan membership and small-group life, and the profound claims and liberation of ritual initiation and subsequent stages of adult mentorship. There is a secret person undamaged in each of us, aware of the validity of these conditions, sensitive to their right moments in our lives.