Waking Up, Cleaning Up: Inviting Every Part of Ourselves into the Light (Residential)

Registration is open!

Waking Up, Cleaning Up invites practitioners into a dynamic exploration of awakening and emotional integration. This retreat brings together traditional Buddhist practices and the somatic tools of Core Energetics to help us meet the shadow material that keeps us feeling separate. It’s for anyone who has tasted spacious awareness—and still finds themselves triggered in the messy moments of real life.

By weaving Vajrayana-inspired awakening practices with Core Energetics somatic work–gentle movement, voice, and relational exercises–we will illuminate our shadows, soften entrenched emotional patterns, and welcome every part of ourselves into the light. Open to all who are willing and ready to explore what still feels hidden, this retreat will touch on themes such as discipline, rules, and authority; family as a vehicle for awakening; our reactions to politics and world events; sexual dynamics in spiritual relationships; and more.

Please join us to:

• Explore the interplay between “waking up” and “cleaning up” as intertwined paths of transformation.
• Investigate emotional patterns, shadow material, and uncomfortable energies, and invite them into embodied awareness.
• Incorporate the powerful tools of Core Energetics, a somatic practice rooted in Reichian body psychotherapy and the Western psychoanalytic tradition. 
• Learn how spiritual bypassing and over-identification can soften through integrated practice.
• Cultivate curiosity, humor, and a willingness to be surprised through integrated practice.

You’ve meditated for years. You’ve studied nonduality, practiced loving-kindness, and maybe even glimpsed emptiness itself. Then your partner says that one thing, and poof—it all goes out the window.

This retreat explores the dance between Waking Up—practices that help us realize our true nature—and Cleaning Up, the shadow work and emotional patterning that keep us feeling separate. When we lean too far in one direction, our practice can lose its balance. Waking up without cleaning up risks becoming spiritual bypassing, where transcendent and blissful experiences are used to avoid feeling and integrating our unresolved material. Cleaning up without Waking up can help us become emotionally mature but still identified with a separate self—perhaps a kinder, gentler self, but separate nonetheless.

Alongside traditional Buddhist techniques of awakening, this retreat incorporates the powerful tools of Core Energetics, a somatic practice rooted in Reichian body psychotherapy and the Western psychoanalytic tradition. 

Through movement, voice, and relational exercises, we will explore energies we might normally avoid. Rather than seeking to transcend our emotions, we will welcome them fully in a direct, embodied way. What might happen if we dove straight into what makes us most uncomfortable? All somatic work will be offered gently, with respect for personal boundaries and individual choice.

This retreat will explore topics of discipline, rules, and authority; family as a vehicle for awakening; our reactions to politics and world events; sexual dynamics in spiritual relationships; and more. Although inspired by Vajrayana teachings, this retreat is open to everyone. Curiosity, a sense of humor, and a readiness to be surprised are all you need. All are welcome.

This retreat also serves as the capstone to a Core Energetics research project. For more information about participating in this research prior to the retreat, please click here to visit the research portal.

Applicants chosen to participate in the research project will receive a 10% discount on the retreat. Research participation is optional; participants should register for the retreat as usual, and if selected, the discount will be applied as a refund with details provided directly by Daniel.

Typical Retreat Schedule

(All times are Eastern time zone)

First Day — Orientation at 6:45 pm. Opening session begins around 7:00 pm.

Last Day —The closing session ends around 11:00 am.

These times are just for reference. An expanded schedule will be provided in pre-retreat information emailed during the week prior to the event.

Important Health Information

COVID-19 testing is no longer required. Masks are optional and encouraged if you are at higher risk. We encourage you to stay at home if you are symptomatic to protect others.

Scholarships

Cancellation Policy

We understand that personal circumstances may require you to cancel your registration. In these cases, please contact us right away at register@naturaldharma.org. Cancellations affect our ability to offer rooms to others and create additional work for our staff, therefore we charge the following fees to help mitigate these costs.

For cancellations (based on program start date):

• > 45 days: 100% refund minus a $75 admin. fee.
• 31-45 days: 50% refund of the required deposit; or 75% refund if registration paid in full.
• 21-30 days: 50% refund of total registration cost
• < 21 days: nonrefundable

If you must cancel due to an emergency or extenuating circumstances, please contact us at register@naturaldharma.org.

Natural Dharma Fellowship Full Calendar