P5 Sarah – This has become a really safe space that held me and allowed me to confront pain that I know about in my head but I haven’t sat with or confronted and I felt so held. I envisioned this place as a golden orb and set that intention and came this morning with that intention and it really did allow me to feel this immense pain that doesn’t need to be fixed. It is light. It is heavy. It is everything. It just it. I am so grateful for this time and space. I have a deep sense that is not my job to hold my truth it is my truth’s job to hold me. I have been trying to hold all of me but I can’t because it is huge and expansive. I would describe the course as a mixture of teachings, embodiment exercises, and individual and shared experiences all organised around premises and principles that underlie processes of moving from states of disconnection, disillusionment and being on ‘auto-pilot’ so to speak, to states of intentionality, awakeness and awe with the world. It felt like an intense, powerful and transformative process. I went into the course with certain intentions, and the course definitely provided the space for these to be met and explored, but I also realised that my original intentions were almost only scraping the surface. I feel like the shifts that ended up taking place went much deeper that I could have ever expected – and that was completely the work of your facilitation style, exercise and the group dynamic. What worked for you; what didn’t work for you; what could have been done differently? • I really liked the variety of learning experiences (i.e. taught through spoken word, embodiment exercises, exercises done alone and exercises done as a group) that the course facilitated. The size of the group also felt just right – not too big or small but still small enough to feel really intimate and connected. The structure of doing exercises or learning through ‘masterclass’ type experiences and then having check ins along the way worked really well. I felt the longer days could have been broken up into slightly shorter bites with quick breaks in between for more snacking. At times I felt my physical state was compromised (being super hungry/needing to wee badly  but also really not wanting to miss out on any of the info/experiences) and that that affected how I was able to show up in the space. Although at the same time I appreciate how some of the content we went through needed longer chunks of time to get through. I also would have loved to hear more about where different spiritual practices and traditions that were integrated into the course originate from – e.g. brief acknowledgements of where the practice of opening of sacred space at the beginning of each day was from, for example. Even just very brief mentions of origins would be great as I appreciate how going into more depth about origins could disrupt the flow of the exercises and teachings. I liked the flexibility of the course approach- planning the exercises and structure in response to our questionnaires and to questions during the days themselves – e.g. doing the conflict exercise in response to julia’s question. That gave a sense of real intention and specificity in response to the particular group dynamic. If you were telling another person about this course how, in one or two sentences, would you describe what it is about? I would describe the course as a mixture of teachings, embodiment exercises, and individual and shared experiences all organised around premises and principles that underlie processes of moving from states of disconnection, disillusionment and being on ‘auto-pilot’ so to speak, to states of intentionality, awakeness and awe with the world. It felt like an intense, powerful and transformative process. Can speak more generally to the structure, flow, pace, pitch, facilitation style, actual exercises, the stand alone teaching pieces and your levels of understanding. Although the course had a deliciously slow pace which I loved, at times I felt we could have gone even slower and delved more into concepts that I felt were left slightly underexplored (e.g. intuition, the heroines journey). We spent a substantial time on innocence (learning and innocence walk, and then integrating this into the greatness exercise). It would have been great to spend more time on some of these other parts that we spent less time on. I think the length of the course being ~2 and a bit days was a perfect amount of time though- so maybe it could be good t o shorten the amount of areas explored and embodied and delve more deeply into those. That being said, the amount that we were able to cover and experience in only 2 and a bit days was incredible, and your facilitation style and structure really enabled that amount to be covered + the group setting helped with continually pushing and exploring and not getting tired or despondent. I really loved all of the embodied exercises we did as they related so well to things we were exploring more cerebrally. The creative body mapping was also an incredible experience of creative flow for me – really glad that we ended up staying and doing it straight after the end of the day instead of waiting and doing it individually at home as I felt the collective space and doing it straight away facilitated a lot of the feeling of creative flow that I got out of the exercise. Other things to speak to: - Did we meet our collective intentions? o Yes. I think the course was held within the collective agreements we made at the beginning nicely, and each person seemed to have really moved through and explored more of their own intentions – or went through them to a deeper level. The group also felt incredibly connected and bonded as a collective afterwards which felt like a really nice resolution to the experience. - How would you describe the various “shifts” that took place? o I would say the shifts were personally unexpected which I loved. I went into the course with certain intentions, and the course definitely provided the space for these to be met and explored, but I also realised that my original intentions were almost only scraping the surface. I feel like the shifts that ended up taking place went much deeper that I could have ever expected – and that was completely the work of your facilitation style, exercise and the group dynamic. - Could I accurately describe the 3 days as “transformative”? o Absolutely. I would say that it would be transformative in both expected and completely unexpected ways for anyone who does the course, if they are simply open to give and receive. - How was the space held? o The space was held beautifully; the intentionality of it really did make a difference to how I felt and engaged in it. The opening of the space at the beginning and the repeated check-ins were parts of this that I appreciated particularly. It could have been lovely to have been more intentional in how the space was closed. Even though the receiving our greatness exercise was the perfect ‘last’ exercise we could have done, it would have been nice to have done one last grounding breath/meditation exercise as a group before closing. - Would you say this was a healing experience? o I wouldn’t say it was a healing experience, but it was most definitely an experience that gave me an awareness of my own ability to heal and receive healing. I would describe it more as an experience that opened me up to my own wounds and my own power to heal them/receive healing for them. - How did you find the holding of creative tension through the masterclass (dipping into the identity and egoic agenda/beliefs etc AND learning about your superconscious/Greatness? o I really liked how they were placed alongside one another in the structure of the course – it gave me an experience of how my thoughts and feelings responded to the existence of creative tension and an exercise in learning to accept this. - Do you feel you sufficiently grasped the premises including the structure of “high level creative functioning”, thoughts and feelings, Ego/Identity and Greatness/Essence, and piece around the structure of consciousness and how “it” creates reality? o By the end of the course, yes. It was difficult to piece how they all fit together from the beginning and for the first full day. I also sometimes lost track of how things fit together and then would have quick moments where I could mentally hold how everything fit together. Could be nice to have a one page sheet of short explanations or a dynamic diagrammatic representation of how the course/concepts fit together. - How would it work with those less familiar/open to the content? o I think there could be more resistance and questioning of ideas with people not as open and ready to engage with the content – but it is also likely that those who are drawn to the course would be open and eager to learn/experience. - Would you like an email of the flip chart as a reminder of themes and premises? o Yes! The course was uncomfortable and challenging – what aspects of my thinking and identity were challenged? Explaining which bits of the course were uncomfortable and why. I found that I became more aware of some of the beliefs I hold through engaging in the course even before the learning piece on ego/identity and beliefs – became aware of the part of my thinking/identity that needs to please or give a ‘right’ answer or fix particularly. I found this realisation confrontational and difficult to grapple with. I felt the most uncomfortable during parts of the course where I felt aware of my ability to go ‘deeper’ in response to exercises but I wasn’t going there/really engaging honestly with myself. In hindsight I feel this was a bit of a precipice in terms of pushing through these uncomfortable moments to get to real growth spaces. Would me or my peers be interested in a separate course on sacred sexuality, power of the Heart-Brain, Quantum Field and Experiences of the SuperConscious from other perspectives Yes definitely. Reflections on The Invitation: Being alone and liking the company I keep in empty moments means being ok and kind and loving and gentle with my brokenness. Trusting it and the darkness that surrounds it in my head and in my womb. I am scared on the pain in my womb and sitting with it because it is physically painful as fuck. I don’t know what it means. I don’t know if I should have to endure it. I can feel its hot warmth that proceeds its hot pain now. My body isn’t broken My body isn’t broken My body isn’t broken When a moment is empty my body isn’t broken. When magic and spirit exist my body isn’t broken. Magic and spirit exist and my body isn’t broken. Magic and spirit are alive and my body is not broken or alone. “I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.” This is not a trick question. Being alone with myself and liking my company in freedom and trust. This is a journey. Being along with myself and liking my company because myself=alive Being alone with my full self Being with others in my full self In my alive self Being alone and with others in my alive self with magic and spirit. I am not fearful of being alone with myself; it is the empty moments I am afraid of. Their reflection back at me. My reflection. I am fearful of myself being alone in empty moments. Aliveness cannot erase empty moments. Aliveness can hold me, alone with myself, in empty moments. It can hold me and rock me if I trust it. I can trust it. I trust aliveness in my body I trust aliveness in my body I trust aliveness in my body Trusting my body and trusting the world are the same thing. My own sense of cultivated trust in my body and the world have been shut out by minute betrayals of myself and my truth; staying when I want to go, not asking for help when I need it, giving of my time and energy and words until they are empty and unhelpful. I feel my truth deep inside me. It is powerful and everpresent and I have tried to warp and squeeze and box it into an identity of a girl who is ‘authentic’. It cannot be warped and squeezed and boxed into any kind of story. It cannot be defined. It cannot be broken. I have searched for truth in a world outside of myself that I do not trust. This has led me to studying courses with the words “evidence-based” in them. It has led me to a dark room where I battle for affirmation and love from others instead of for my truth which is love. My truth can melt and expand and float. It can hold me. I need to let it hold me without trying to hold all of it. It can heal. It is imbued with magic and spirit and wisdom. It is sacred. It wants to move and be free and be with others and trust the world.