USA April retreat *cancelled*

*We are sorry but this event has been cancelled*

FALLING IN LOVE WITH WHERE YOU ARE:
EMBRACING THE JOY AND HEARTBREAK OF SPIRITUAL AWAKENING
A 5-Day Journey of Presence, Self-Acceptance, and Opening the Heart
with Jeff Foster & Matt Licata Ph.D.

FOR MORE INFO AND TO BOOK:
>> https://tickets.brightstarevents.com/event/falling-in-love-with-where-you-are-

What if…
-The deep rest, freedom and aliveness you long for is not found in mending, fixing, or even healing yourself, but in embracing the “glorious mess” of your humanity, and surrendering to the beautiful imperfection of your life?
-Spiritual enlightenment is already here, shining through the ordinariness of the present moment, closer than your next breath?
-The safety and courage you’ve always been seeking is actually contained in the midst of your tender vulnerability, uncertainty, brokenness and “shame”?
-There is precious alchemical medicine hidden inside your pain, and your deepest longings, aches, doubts and sorrows are actual portals to joy?
-You are perfect, and loveable, and whole, exactly as you are?

AN INVITATION INTO A LIFE OF PRESENCE…

Has your life become an endless “self-improvement project?” After years of working on yourself, meditation, therapy, spiritual seeking, and trying to “quiet your mind” or “lose your ego,” do you still feel far from where you wanted to be? Do you long to slow down, rest, come out of repetitive and exhausting thinking, and be deeply embraced, exactly as you are?

This retreat is an invitation to profound rest, compassion, and self-realization. Through mindful awareness, kindness and befriending, and the therapeutic power of love, together we will “end the inner war” with our experience and to awaken to the sacredness of our ordinary lives. With their trademark gentleness and humor, Matt and Jeff bring a powerful core teaching of Presence – from both spiritual, meditative, and psychological perspectives – which lovingly dismantles self-abadonment and shame at its very root and wakes us up to the miracle of being alive.

TOGETHER, IN A SAFE AND EMPATHIC ENVIRONMENT, WE WILL EXPLORE…

-A deep sense of rest and freedom that is always present, and ending the “inner war” with ourselves and with life.
-Uncovering the alchemcial medicine hidden in even our most challenging experiences of disappointment, uncertainty, loss, and grief.
-Why “working on yourself” doesn’t always work, and how a radical transformation can happen when you stop “trying” to heal.
-Cutting through old spiritual and therapeutic myths, such as the need to transcend our human experience, silence our minds, or heal our past… and rediscovering a grounded, embodied, and very human spirituality.
-A simple, creative, and loving approach to meditation, spiritual practice, and psychological inquiry which is unique to each of us.
-How shame, unworthiness, and feelings of hopelessness and despair can be portals to wholeness and spiritual discovery.

YOUR TWO TRUSTED TEACHERS…

JEFF FOSTER is a spiritual teacher whose personal journey through suicidal shame and depression led him to the discovery of nonduality (wholeness). MATT LICATA is a depth-oriented psychotherapist who has spent the last 25 years at the intersection of meditative awareness, emotional healing, and shadow integration. For years, they have been having a dynamic ongoing conversation about radically re-envisioning spirituality and the journey of healing: as a full and courageous embrace of our vulnerable humanness. They are now inviting you to join them in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado for five days of rest, exploration, play, discovery, presence, and compassion.

Weaving together the wisdom of the meditative traditions and the emotionally-attuned and shadow-sensitive approaches of depth psychology, Matt and Jeff will share with you a simple yet radical and perhaps life-changing invitation, one of true friendship: with our thoughts and feelings, with our bodies and minds, with each other, with our joys and sorrows, with our deepest inner life.

For Matt and Jeff, spirituality is deeply serious, yet at the same time, perhaps paradoxically, their humorous, light, and playful approach has helped so many over the years to disarm their defenses, step off the battlefield with themselves and engage the journey more artistically, playfully, and poetically, with a profound new sense of compassion, kindness, and love.

Simply put, Matt and Jeff are very ordinary people who have discovered something truly extraordinary – a key to inner peace and aliveness – and they would love to share that discovery with you. Through their spacious kindness, understanding, and hard-won insight and realization, they will invite you into an empathic, warm, creative field of permission where our deepest wounds can melt away and we can reconnect with the truth of what we are.

FIVE DAYS OF HEALING FRIENDSHIP, DEEP REST, AND PROFOUND SELF-EXPLORATION…

Each day on the retreat you will rest in Presence with author and spiritual teacher Jeff Foster, who will help you drop out of your busy mind and connect with the living moment, your body and your feelings in his own unique, playful, human way. Through heartfelt talks, restful guided mindfulness meditations, silence, personal stories and honest dialogues, he will remind you that you are perfect and whole, exactly as you are. He will help you stay present and connected with yourself, no matter what life throws at you.

You will also explore the alchemy of psychological and emotional integration with psychotherapist and author Matt Licata, PhD, who will guide you into the mysteries of the heart with playfulness, humor, and compassion. Drawing on contemplative spirituality, the latest psychological research, and the power of the poetic imagination, you will discover the inherent wisdom buried in even your deepest pain, confusion, and longing.

In the evening there will usually be a dialogue on stage between Matt and Jeff, where, through poetry, humor, conversation and personal stories, they will explore the ground of a loving, embodied, nondual Presence – the place where spirituality and therapy come together, the Home we never left – and how the Divine expresses itself in the chaotic, sweet, glorious, sacred mess of our ordinary lives. Usually, during one or two nights on retreat, we will have an evening of movement and music, which many find deeply nurturing and supportive in the integration of the teaching.

In the space between meetings, you are free to walk, rest and play in the holding field of the Rocky Mountains, and enjoy delicious and nourishing food prepared by expert chefs at Sunrise Ranch, using ingredients grown locally using sustainable methods, and served with love. You may spend time alone and in silence, or connect and share with your fellow retreatants, however your heart guides you. We look forward to meeting you in Colorado!

TESTIMONIALS

“Matt and Jeff have so much to offer.. their wisdom, humor and compassion is through the roof and through the heart! I was saturated with love at this retreat. It was wonderful and I am reconsidering what is possible…” – Participant

“Sitting in the many sessions, meeting people I might not normally meet, but hearing their archetypal struggles, having the time and space to connect to an understanding that goes beyond, and coming away with a resonance from all this that has me gently smiling as I type you this message” – Participant

“The experience was such a beautiful death for me. A death to my identity, as a concrete thing, a death to the old idea of relationship & attachment, a death to my idea of the world as it is/was. What I created was a place of EVER fluxing, riding the wave of the flow, finding my balance in the flux. Letting life breath me. This portal of healing was ignited, again, by attending your retreat. The brain detoxing retreat!” – Participant

“Thank you for such a beautiful and powerful event. I came away with such a deeper understanding of the power of our presence and self-love through this practice. The retreat was lovely, and I felt such rest and relief.” – Participant

“It was a life game-changer, a beautiful, rich and exquisite line of demarcation in my non-path path, journey without destination” – Participant

“A wonder-filled event, I LOVED every minute of it!!! Your talks resonated deep within me, and I bow with sincere respect to your ability to hold this practice while listening to people’s stories..” – Participant

“It was an amazing experience of wisdom, depth and a generosity of sharing that organically opened my heart.” – Participant

“Such a deep offering allowing such a powerful shift into Being and Presence!” – Participant

“After a lifetime of spiritual seeking, after all the insights, experiences, revelations, I finally found the missing ingredient that gives the courage to stay here, now, without the reference to my personal drama. The tenderness that addresses the human being. Infinite, beautiful, human mystery…” – Participant

“Over 25 years of jumping from one ‘next best method’ to the next, feels like it’s finally over. These lessons are so easily applied in daily life, and I don’t have to burn special incense, ring a bell 33 times, or squeeze myself in a vice grip while chanting in a foreign tongue. Loving this!” – Participant

FOR MORE INFO AND TO BOOK:
>> https://tickets.brightstarevents.com/event/falling-in-love-with-where-you-are-