Wild Women Skydancing

A Women's Tantra Retreat

8 - 11 March 2012
n!au ma farm, Little Karoo

On female sexual energy

Sexual energy is a tremendous source of vitality and life force. When we own and live our sexual energy, we incarnate – we come to embody the goddess within. We wake up to the moment. Through our sexual flow as women, the worlds are birthed. And yet this potential lies dormant in so many of us. The snake, the kundalini, the origin of our embodied vitality, is there, at the base of the spine, but it slumbers, and it rarely gets touched.Until the wild woman in us wakes up to who she really is.

Skydancing

Tantra is a deep celebration of the power of the feminine. In Tibet, female practitioner of Tantra is called a Dakini - a skydancer. Skydancing is what happens when a woman's sexual energy starts to move up her body, though her heart and comes showering out the crown of her head. The whole body goes into an exquisite dance that happens in receptivity and relaxation.
Shakti, a practiced Dakini, invites you to come taste with us the nectar of the feminine that flows from skydancing. In this workshop, I will assist you to

• direct the flow of energy in your body through meditation, movement and breath work
• share the ecstasy and depth of the feminine with other women in dancing, chanting and story circles and
• find your own skydance as it is in the naked truth of your being, this moment.

Skydancing is a deeply authentic expression of the wild woman in all of us. This teaching from woman to woman takes some doing in our current western mind set. Women have been brought up to believe that most or all of their sexual expression is wrong and must only be presented in an acceptable way according to the culture. Skydancing invites a great unlearning. In this unlearning our true being begins to emerge and we dance again. It happens when we let go, and allow what wants to dance through us.

In my work with Tantra, an ancient eastern tradition that follows sexual energy as a doorway to consciousness, I have learnt that sexual awakening is linked to the opening of the chakras or "energy wheels" (represented by the spirals on the front page image). When the opening of the chakras happens in the body, it literally feels like an energy snake that uncoils at the base of the body and rises up through the crown of the head. For me personally, this rising brings a soft ecstasy that ripples onto the farthest shores of my life… It also brings a deep contentment with existence.

Sexual energy becomes illuminated when the repressions that block us at each of the chakras or energy points in the body are lifted. These repressions are the result of our conditioning, our patterning and the scars that are left by our life experiences. I believe that it is possible to bring our repressions to awareness and release them by working in a sacred circle of women.

What happens on the retreat

My focus is on the awakening of consciousness, not on teaching technique or improving performance (though these things follow of their own accord). I use the following methods to evoke awareness:

• We process body memories through acting and embodiment.
• We deepen awareness of female sexuality through breath work and other Tantric techniques.
• We reflect on our stories and vision our "this-here-now" realities through creating with the earth and writing.
• We meditate and do guided visualizations to deepen our awareness of essence flowing through us.
• We use sound, chanting, movements and dancing focused on a particular expression of our sexual energy to awaken the body to its inherent knowing.
• We have strong interactions with nature and the elements to reconnect us to our being-of-the-earth, the origin of our sexual energy.

The facilitator, Shakti Malan

I have been running retreats and courses on the Sacred Feminine for many years. I have a Ph.D. (UCT) in social anthropology. For more on me, see shakti.co.za and totalitytherapy.com

The venue

The farm n'au !ma, which is run in deep respect for nature as a place of retreat and ceremony, is situated between Montague and Ladysmith, at the foot of the Anysberg. Accommodation is provided in beautiful Karoo style houses with broad verandas, fireplaces, gas stoves and fridges. There is an exquisite kloof on the farm, and some delicious dams. The night sky of the Karoo is something to experience. The farm is about 4 – 5 hours from Cape Town, and 3 hours from George. For images and reflections on last year's retreat, see http://www.women.shakti.co.za/2009/08/womens-tantra-retreat-images-and.html

Bookings, costs and times

The cost of the weekend, which includes accommodation for three nights, is R2 750. Places are limited. A non-refundable deposit of R1 000 is required to secure your place and full payment is due by 1 March 2012 . Banking details:

Dr S.Malan
Standard Bank current account
Merriman Square branch (02-11-09-00)
Account number: 073152811

Meals will be arranged amongst us.
We will assist with coordinating travel where possible.
Bookings: Book with ahriangaia@gmail.com

The retreat will start Thursday 6pm and end Sunday lunchtime.

"Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity, we will harness for God the energies of love; and then for the second time in the history of the world, humanity will have discovered fire!" – Theilard de Chardin

Woman Awake
A Retreat for Women

21 - 24 October 2011
N!au 'Ma, Little Karoo

Who is the retreat for?

This retreat is a follow-up on the Wild Woman/Skydancing retreat that I have presented at this location for several years. It is suitable to women who have either done a woman's retreat with me before, or have done significant personal or group work with me.

Retreat focus

In the Skydancing Retreat and Chakra Workshop that women have attended with me so far, we have encouraged the awakening of female sexual energy in the first to third chakras. This retreat is focusing on the awakening of the fourth to seventh chakra in women, and specifically, the directing of sexual energy or kundalini through these chakras.

Retreat themes

1. Wild at Heart

The heart chakra wakes up when we become willing to feel everything and still let our hearts remain open. Come take the space to feel your wild, uncontained heart, and to give it wings - let it fly - take it Skydancing!

2. Divine Will

Beyond the heat chakra, our personal will merges with divine will. The power that moves through us becomes cosmic rather than personal. Bring your sexual energy and come dance in the fields of the tao or the dharma.

3. Cosmic Senses

When our sexual energy wakes up through the third eye or sixth chakra, our intuition, spontaneity and extrasensory perception open up. Come let me guide you into this journey of delicious, mystical sensory discovery.

4. The One Self

The crown of our physical body's sexual experience is when our sexual energy moves through our crown chakras. This takes us into a deep and ecstatic experience of oneness with all that is.

What will we be doing?

blissdance
meditation
immersion in nature
landscape art
dialogue, women's circles and lots of sharing

Cost and Bookings

Cost is R2 750, which includes accommodation but not meals (we will share these amongst ourselves).

Bookings with Annwen Mazetti annwenmazetti@gmail.com

Sky Dancing for Women

June 20 / 10am-6pm / Oakland (RSVP required) Cost $160
http://womenskydancing.eventbrite.com/

Skydancing is what happens when a woman drops into the full bliss of her sexual womanhood. Women's sexuality is a powerful gateway to liberation, and yet on that is not much understood in our world. Our sexuality has been conditioned to be masculine rather than feminine. Not that men want it so. In fact, man's deepest yearning is for woman to step into the fullness of her feminine sexuality.

Skydancing is an essential expression of the wild woman in all of us. When our energy is freed up, it awakens in the yoni (vagina) and spirals up through the body, taking us into an ecstatic dance of letting-go. This teaching from woman to woman takes some doing in our current western mindset. Women have been brought up to believe that most or all of their sexual expression is wrong and must only be presented in an acceptable way according to the culture.

The purpose of this workshop is to guide women into the opening, release and receptivity that turns our sexuality into a force of awakening. Some themes that may be covered in this workshop (depending on the requirements of the group):

* Awakening sexual energy
* Opening to desire
* Directing sexual energy
* The essential qualities of the feminine
* Sexuality, belonging and relationships
* Virgin, whore, women’s union
* Listening to yoni
* Connecting heart and sex

The methods we use are breathwork, subtle movement, dancing, conversation and enactment. As this energy is very alive in my body, I am able to transmit it to the women in the group. This transmission is one of the key methods that makes this workshop so powerful.

No nakedness is required and no direct sexual contact with others. It is entirely possible to wake up the beauty and power of your own sexuality through dropping into the bliss of your own experience - which is what we will be doing on this workshop.

To get a taste of how I work, read this article that was recently published in 24.com

Women's Workshop in Jhb 6 March

Tantric Practice for Women
First Chakra Workshop: Loving your Body

Facilitated by Dakinis Wendy and Shakti

Date: Sunday 6th March

Time: 6 - 10pm

Cost: R550

Venue: Parktown, Johannesburg

The first chakra opens when we say yes to our bodies. This happens effortlessly when we drop our criticisms. In this workshop you will be guided through beautiful creative exercises that invite you to look in to your relationship with your body. Opening the first chakra guides you to your bliss, which is deeply connected to your sacred sexual energy and power as a woman.

Breathing and movement in the pelvic area help to ignite the spark of our real aliveness.

.

Tantric Practice for Women

Tantra, the art of conscious sexuality, is a practice that has since ancient times been led by women. What has been a secret and mystical practice has now become accessible to seekers who are exploring awareness. It is a special calling in our lives as Dakinis to support women into the full flowering of where our sexuality can take us. The main elements of this workshop are:

• Discovering the unique qualities of female sexuality

• Opening to the flow of sexual energy/kundalini through meditation, dance and breath work

• Unblocking and integrating what prevents energy flow through us

Working with the chakras

Chakras are points of consciousness along the central energy channel in our bodies. We can experience the flow of energy with presence when the chakras open. With Tantric awareness, our sexual vitality starts to move up our bodies like a snake uncoiling, originating with the first chakra, and culminating in full body bliss six chakras later. For more on the unique qualities of each chakra, see http://shakti.co.za/blog/2008/04/tantra-and-chakras_14.html

Growing with other women

Attending women's Tantra workshops creates a space for fluid community and support amongst women. We learn from each other and share in our experiences. The unfolding of our personal awareness can be deepened significantly through regular practice in a conscious group context.

Method

The focus is on the movement of sexual energy in your own body; on getting to know your own body, and becoming attuned to how energy moves through you. The kinds of methods we use are:

Breath work
Guided meditations
Group discussions and sharing
Shamanic journeywork

Collaging, journaling and other creative expressions
Movement and dance

For booking contact Dakini Wendy on 082 369 5437

First Chakra Women's Workshops February and March

Tantric Practice for Women

Starting this month, will again be presenting day workshops for women gradually taking you through all the main themes of this practice.

Tantric Practice for Women

Tantra, the art of conscious sexuality, is a practice that has since ancient times been led by women. What has been a secret and mystical practice has now become accessible to seekers who are on a committed path of awareness. It is a special calling in my life to support women into the full flowering of where our sexuality can take us. The main elements of this work are:
• Understanding the unique qualities of female sexuality
• Opening to the flow of sexual energy/ kundalini through meditation, dance and breath work
• Unleashing blocks or integrating what has prevented this full flow through the chakras.

Working with the chakras

Tantra is a practice that cultivates awareness of our oneness with existence through sexual awakening. This happens through the opening of the chakras. Chakras are energy centers in the body where consciousness collects around particular patterns. Typically in sexual encounter, we send our sexual energy outwards. We may experience deep bliss for a while, but generally this does not last. With Tantric awareness, our sexual vitality starts to move up our bodies like a snake that uncoils, from the root or base of the body all the way up through the crown. Sexual energy moves from the first chakra up. This process is often known at the Uncoiling of the Snake (sexual energy or kundalini). For more on the unique qualities of each chakra, see http://shakti.co.za/blog/2008/04/tantra-and-chakras_14.html

Many women have negative body memories from sexual experience. These can be from a range of sources, including direct invasion, inappropriate contact, painful or insensitive sex and judgments about the realm of the sexual. While engaging your personal healing journey in this realm will be intensified by private sessions with me, the continuous course will create a space for us to collectively and individually release and integrate past inhibiting memories. For more on my approach to this work, see http://totalitytherapy.com/blog/2009/02/sexual-healing-copyright-shakti-malan.html

A continuous course

From this month, I will again be running an ongoing course on Tantra for women. The course will consist of regular day workshops in which we will systematically work through the chakras. There are four of five themes per chakra. Each workshop will be an exploration of one or two of these themes dealing with specific elements of women’s sexuality related to that chakra.

You will benefit most from the workshops if you attend them from the beginning. However, the workshops will be structured in such a way that you can attend any workshop at any stage (that is, you can enter and exit the process as it suits you.) I will advertise each workshop in a separate mail as well.

Growing with other women

This continuous course will create a space for fluid community and support amongst women. We learn from each other and share in our experiences. The unfolding of our personal awareness can be deepened significantly through regular practice in a conscious group context.

Method

The kinds of methods I use are:

Breath work
Guided meditations
Group discussions and sharing
Shamanic journeywork
Body tracking
Collaging, journaling and other creative expressions
Movement and dance

The methods will be an encouragement of the subtlety in women’s sexuality. The focus is on the movement of sexual energy in your own body; on getting to know your own body, and becoming attuned to how energy moves through you.

February and March workshops
First Chakra: Being in This Womanly Body

Times: 9.00 am - 4.30pm
Cost: R700pp per workshop
Place: Fish Hoek (20 Feb), Phakalane Hout Bay (27 March)
Bookings: Shakti@shakti.co.za

Sunday 20 February: Body and Desire

Morning: Saying yes to the body

The first chakra will only open when we say yes to being embodied, to being on the planet in a body. We women often view our own bodies critically. In this workshop, you will learn ways of coming to love your body through beautiful creative exercises. We will also begin to experience how sexual energy moves in a woman’s body trough breathing working with the perineum and movement in the pelvic area. This is the beginning of the journey of waking up female sexual energy in your being.

Afternoon: Embracing desire

The flow of our sexual energy starts at the root or first chakra, which is the seat of our desire. In its primal form, this energy is raw sexual desire, our primary eroticism. In order to practice Tantra, it is essential that we first embrace our dragon fire – our capacity for desire. In my experience, women often suppress or deny this quality of our sexuality. In this workshop I invite you to a fun, safe exploration of your desire. With it with come a flourish of new life force available to you.

Sunday 27 March: The Cosmic Dance of Life and Death

Morning: Our cosmic sexuality

Women’s sexuality has a cosmic quality to it. It is elemental. It rises up in our bodies through the earth. Come discover and celebrate the flow of this energy with me in a morning of dancing and breath meditation.

Afternoon: The dance of life and death

One of the main factors that block our flow in the first chakra is our survival fear. If you are staying in a relationship because you are afraid of not being able to provide a livelihood for yourself outside of it, this factor will impact on your first chakra sexual energy. At the root of it, all our survival fears relate to the fear of death. There is a beautiful Tantric meditation that helps us to accept and embrace the inevitable passing of things. This will be the focus of our workshop. As you come to accept death, you are ready to be fully alive.

Wild Women Skydancing

A Women's Tantra Retreat

29 April - 2 May 2011
n!au ma farm, Little Karoo

On female sexual energy

Sexual energy is a tremendous source of vitality and life force. When we own and live our sexual energy, we incarnate – we come to embody the goddess within. We wake up to the moment. Through our sexual flow as women, the worlds are birthed. And yet this potential lies dormant in so many of us. The snake, the kundalini, the origin of our embodied vitality, is there, at the base of the spine, but it slumbers, and it rarely gets touched.Until the wild woman in us wakes up to who she really is.

Skydancing

Tantra is a deep celebration of the power of the feminine. In Tibet, female practitioner of Tantra is called a Dakini - a skydancer. Skydancing is what happens when a woman's sexual energy starts to move up her body, though her heart and comes showering out the crown of her head. The whole body goes into an exquisite dance that happens in receptivity and relaxation.
Shakti, a practiced Dakini, invites you to come taste with us the nectar of the feminine that flows from skydancing. In this workshop, I will assist you to

• direct the flow of energy in your body through meditation, movement and breath work
• share the ecstasy and depth of the feminine with other women in dancing, chanting and story circles and
• find your own skydance as it is in the naked truth of your being, this moment.

Skydancing is a deeply authentic expression of the wild woman in all of us. This teaching from woman to woman takes some doing in our current western mind set. Women have been brought up to believe that most or all of their sexual expression is wrong and must only be presented in an acceptable way according to the culture. Skydancing invites a great unlearning. In this unlearning our true being begins to emerge and we dance again. It happens when we let go, and allow what wants to dance through us.

In my work with Tantra, an ancient eastern tradition that follows sexual energy as a doorway to consciousness, I have learnt that sexual awakening is linked to the opening of the chakras or "energy wheels" (represented by the spirals on the front page image). When the opening of the chakras happens in the body, it literally feels like an energy snake that uncoils at the base of the body and rises up through the crown of the head. For me personally, this rising brings a soft ecstasy that ripples onto the farthest shores of my life… It also brings a deep contentment with existence.

Sexual energy becomes illuminated when the repressions that block us at each of the chakras or energy points in the body are lifted. These repressions are the result of our conditioning, our patterning and the scars that are left by our life experiences. I believe that it is possible to bring our repressions to awareness and release them by working in a sacred circle of women.

What happens on the retreat

My focus is on the awakening of consciousness, not on teaching technique or improving performance (though these things follow of their own accord). I use the following methods to evoke awareness:

• We process body memories through acting and embodiment.
• We deepen awareness of female sexuality through breath work and other Tantric techniques.
• We reflect on our stories and vision our "this-here-now" realities through creating with the earth and writing.
• We meditate and do guided visualizations to deepen our awareness of essence flowing through us.
• We use sound, chanting, movements and dancing focused on a particular expression of our sexual energy to awaken the body to its inherent knowing.
• We have strong interactions with nature and the elements to reconnect us to our being-of-the-earth, the origin of our sexual energy.

The facilitator, Shakti Malan

I have been running retreats and courses on the Sacred Feminine for many years. I have a Ph.D. (UCT) in social anthropology. For more on me, see shakti.co.za and totalitytherapy.com

The venue

The farm n'au !ma, which is run in deep respect for nature as a place of retreat and ceremony, is situated between Montague and Ladysmith, at the foot of the Anysberg. Accommodation is provided in beautiful Karoo style houses with broad verandas, fireplaces, gas stoves and fridges. There is an exquisite kloof on the farm, and some delicious dams. The night sky of the Karoo is something to experience. The farm is about 4 – 5 hours from Cape Town, and 3 hours from George. For images and reflections on last year's retreat, see http://www.women.shakti.co.za/2009/08/womens-tantra-retreat-images-and.html

Bookings, costs and times

The cost of the weekend, which includes accommodation for three nights, is R2 750. A deposit of R1 000 is required to secure your place and full payment is due by mid April. The retreat will be limited to 12 women. Banking details:

Dr S.Malan
Standard Bank current account
Merriman Square branch (02-11-09-00)
Account number: 073152811

Meals will be arranged amongst us.
I will assist with coordinating travel where possible.
For enquiries contact Shakti at 0833010399 or Shakti@shakti.co.za

The retreat will start Friday 6pm and end Monday lunchtime.

Africa Burns

For those of you who are keen to go to Africa Burns Festival, why not go the first few days of the festival and drive straight from there to the retreat? The farm is a comfortable drive from the Africa Burns venue.


"Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity, we will harness for God the energies of love; and then for the second time in the history of the world, humanity will have discovered fire!" – Theilard de Chardin

Third/ solar plexus chakra

The continuous course

I am running a series of courses for women on themes related to the main chakras or energy centers in the body along which sexual energy travels. Each theme is covered in a three hour workshop; you are welcome to attend any individual workshop as they are presented as loose standing experiences.

Third/solar plexus chakra

The third or solar plexus chakra is the center of our personal power. It is from here that we radiate our unique energy into the world. This center is dominated by the masculine energy flow through the chakras. It is the chakra that has been developing in the world over the last 2000 years - our individuation from the tribal mind, the development of reason, intellectual discernment, definition and duality. All women who have achieved in their own right have had to develop this center strongly - in many, if not most cases, to the detriment of our femininity. Often this development in us has been forced and not authentic; we have tried to be like men, and so deep down still struggle to embrace who we are and let our light shine powerfully in the world. It is essential for our evolution and our awakening that this chakra gets strong and alive in us as women. Sexually, a strong solar plexus chakra gives us the ability to choose our partners from a place of personal affinity rather than social conditioning or unconscious programming.

Upcoming Workshops

18 September: Sexuality, discernment and duality


The third chakra is the home of our analytical, defining and discerning abilities. While the world tends to place too much emphasis on these abilities, it is paradoxically also true that these skills are not clearly developed in most of us. The reason is that our discernment is clouded by unconscious processes and dualities. In this workshop, I will teach you techniques for developing crystal clear discernment and ways of integrating unconscious dualities.

25 September: Choosing from pure delight

Love and sexual attraction as experienced in the third chakra goes beyond our tribal impulse. If we respond from the third chakra, our romantic and sexual decisions are no longer dominated by the need to find acceptance. We choose from our own affinity and liking. This is an essential step on the spiritual journey. In this workshop, we will work on your ability and willingness to choose pure enjoyment and to trust your liking.

16 October: Men, lovemaking and our inner masculine


A central direction of Tantra is the integration of masculine and feminine in each of us. The third chakra is masculine dominant, and thus a good place to explore our relationship as women with men and the masculine inside ourselves. This morning will be an exploration of

• men, male sexuality and relationships with men and
• ways of meeting and developing a relationship with our inner masculine.

My colleague Stephen Tredrea (see stephentredrea.com) will join us for this workshop.

Venue:

The address is 54 Peak Rd Fish Hoek, Cape Town. and my home is the middle (not top) level of a three storied house.

Directions from Muizenberg/Kalk Bay: Travel through Kalk Bay towards Simonstown. Pass through the town of Fish Hoek. Fish Hoek Main Road ends in a T-junction with a circle. Turn right at this circle. You are now in Kommetjie Road. Then see below.

Directions from Noordhoek: At the Noordhoek traffic lights (just past Sun Valley shopping mall) turn right. At the T, turn right again. You are not on Kommetjie Road. Then see below.

Coming along Kommetjie Rd, turn up towards the mountain into Highway Rd (a big rd with a vet on the corner). Take second rd right, and then right again into Peak Rd. Park at the end of the tar road and walk a few metres back. Please do not park just before the driveway as this makes it difficult for my landlady (who is on the top floor) to come in and out. Walk down to the garages and turn left onto the path to my front door. Call me on 0833010399 if you need help finding me.

Times:

Workshops are from 10am - 1pm; with the option of staying for tea afterward.

Bookings:
Please contact me on shakti@shakti.co.za to book for a workshop. Your booking is confirmed when I receive proof of payment.

Cost:
The cost of each workshop is R350.

My banking details are:
Dr. S. Malan
Standard Bank current account
Merriman Square branch (02-11-09-00)
Account number: 073152811

With love
Shakti