May 3-5, 2024
Dancing Shiva Tantra Monastery - Black Mountain, NC
One more ticket remaining!
Please join us in the mountains of western North Carolina for a weekend of conscious kink and pleasure exploration. We’ll be working with the healing power of pleasure and the notion that you cannot fully connect to your pleasure without acknowledging the full range of human emotions - from ecstasy and joy to anger and grief. The flow of the weekend will include gentle introductory, warm up exercises to guide you into an experience of power dynamics play. It will culminate in the creation of a transformational personal kink scene, followed by group aftercare and an integration circle.
You will be invited to sense into deeper layers of your own pleasure, to discover ways of relating to others that help you connect to your soul and previously disowned parts of yourself. We will draw on tantric principles of eroticism, shadow work and community support to explore new realms.
There will likely be nudity at this event, so in order to attend, you'll need to be willing to witness the nudity of others. Your own nudity is not required. Similarly, there will be erotic play at this event, so attendees need to be willing to witness the play of others. The instruction for this retreat will not include any genital touch.
The workshop will be facilitated by Xilverfox (Mana Vermeulen-McLeod) and Sarah Belzile, and graciously supported by our host - Garrell Bevirt of Dancing Shiva. All three of us are passionate about conscious kink as a modality for somatic healing and personal transformation. Throughout the weekend, we will be sharing snippets of our own journeys with kink, as well as helpful tools and practices to support you in leaning into your own tender edges for growth and learning.
Who is this workshop for
Folks of all genders and sexual preferences who are kink-curious. No previous kink experience is necessary, only a willingness to explore and to show up fully for yourself, with an open-mind and heart.
Additionally, this workshop will be great for folks who have some kink experience and are curious about the more spiritual and transformational aspects of kink play.
Folks who are prepared to uphold and embody high levels of respect and consent. This work can bring up a lot of feelings and intensity. While this work can be deeply healing for those who have experienced non-consensual domination and other forms of sexual abuse, this workshop may not be appropriate for those who are in an acute state of recovering from sexual trauma. If you are unsure about this, please reach out to us directly to have a conversation about if this would be a supportive experience for you.
Unfortunately, Dancing Shiva is not a venue that is accessible for people with some mobility challenges. There are steep hills and stairs. There are no flush toilets, only composting toilets - and they are wonderfully maintained and very pleasant to use.
From Previous Participants:
I have never left a workshop feeling like I actually belonged with the family we created together. There isn't any one element that made it happen--it was a result of everything and everyone coming together in the perfect way, as exactly who they were, everyone surrendered to the principles and guidelines established, and supported so beautifully by the brilliance, skill, and heartful, soulful presences of Sarah, Mana, and Garrell. Thank you for everything!
Thank you. Everyone was so present and so alive to the deep and healing potential of this work. It made it a life-transforming experience.
In one sense, there is no such thing as kink :) There is only human experience, and 'kinky' is one way of conceptualizing it. That kink scenarios can be deep drama therapy, that impact play is bodywork, and that Conscious Kink is a healing modality and soul retrieval practice. I am still in awe.
The facilitators are very experienced and make a very comfortable container !
What’s possible
- Identify and integrate previously disowned aspects of yourself
- Learn new practices and techniques for connecting more deeply with yourself and others
- Release shame and limiting beliefs around your sexuality
- Freedom to try new things in a supportive environment
- Grace around communicating your deep desires and boundaries
- Allowing the blessings of humor and joy to guide you through the process
What to expect
- The opportunity to play in a expertly held permission field of acceptance and erotic kindness
- Encountering like-minded explorers
- Integrate the support of the conscious kink community
- Clearly guided and structured exercises and practices to enable you to explore and discover
- A sense of playfulness and innocence
- High levels of consent - we will use safe words throughout and you will be invited to alter the practices to make them work for you and your body
Workshop boundaries
- For the instructional part of the workshop:
- no penetration (oral, genital or anal)
- use of safe words in all scene play (green, yellow, red)
- negotiation of scene boundaries and preferences beforehand
- The Saturday night temple space will be a "pink" temple - meaning that underwear stays on, and erotic play is welcome.
- Participants need to be able to establish and verbally communicate their own boundaries.
Registration Details
The event will start on Friday May 3rd at 3:00 pm and finish on Sunday May 5th at 6:00 pm (Eastern Time)
Regular Tuition Ticket: $700
Early Bird Ticket: $550 (Until March 31)
Camping Discount: $50 off (enter CAMPING at checkout)
Non Residential Discount: $75 off (enter NONRES at checkout) This discount may be used by anyone who is staying off premises (meals are still included in this ticket)
Your registration includes:
- Instruction, guidance and space-holding for your journey with the Pleasure of Conscious Kink
- Six healthy, fresh meals made with locally sourced ingredients and prepared with love
- Two nights of accommodation at Dancing Shiva
- Follow Up Integration Zoom call
- Discount on follow up integration coaching with Mana or Sarah
Cancellation Policy
Cancellations with more than 72 hours notice will refund minus $100 fee. Cancellations less than 72 hours notice will receive a 25% refund.
More about Dancing Shiva
Dancing Shiva Tantra Monastery & Ashram is a special place! It is quickly becoming one of my spiritual homes. I love it because there is rigorous spiritual practice and complete acceptance of eroticism and the fullness of who we are as human beings. "The Healing Power of Pleasure" is one of the tantric principles.... see below!
To help you get a feel for the place itself, here are some pictures:
This is what some of the public/shared spaces at Dancing Shiva are like
And here's what some of the accommodations spaces look like - clean, simple rooms.
