THE HEALING SHAME RETREAT

"Stop trying to fix yourself. You were never broken..."

THE HEALING SHAME RETREAT

Spiritual Awakening & Transforming the Core Wound of Unworthiness

with JEFF FOSTER and MATT LICATA, Ph.D.

A leading-edge exploration of the power of self-compassion with two unique teachers.

***Dear friends, as we're curently about 90% full, before you register for the retreat, please check with Sunrise Ranch to ensure there are accommodations at the Ranch which suit your preferences - https://sunriseranch.org/event/the-healing-shame-retreat/. Please note that in addition to accommodations on the Ranch, there is also a nearby hotel (La Quinta) where some have stayed during prior retreats. If you decide to stay at the hotel, please note you will still need to register at the Ranch as a “commuter” in order to attend.***

What if... 

• Everything you think is wrong with you, is actually right?


• Spiritual Enlightenment is already here, shining through the simplicity of this moment, exactly as it is?


• The divine perfection you’ve always been seeking is actually contained in the midst of your tender vulnerability and glorious human imperfections?


• There is precious alchemical medicine hidden inside your pain, and your deepest longings, aches, doubts, grief and heartbreak are portals to joy and healing?

              JEFF FOSTER                              MATT LICATA

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?

Come join JEFF FOSTER, a non-dual spiritual teacher who is also a survivor of suicidal depression and chronic self-loathing, and MATT LICATA, a psychotherapist who has spent nearly 25 years on the cutting-edge of meditation, emotional integration, and trauma healing, in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado for an immersive five-day dive into the depths of self-love and radical self-acceptance. With their trademark gentleness and humour, Matt and Jeff bring a powerful core teaching of Presence which lovingly dismantles shame at its very root and wakes us up to the miracle of being alive…

You will learn...

• How to stop running from life and finally rest deeply.


• Why “working on yourself” doesn’t always work.


• How true healing can happen… when you stop “trying” to heal!


• Why you don’t need to “silence your mind", “get rid of your ego", or "transcend your body" anymore; rediscovering a grounded, embodied and honest spirituality.


• How meditation can be simlple and effortless: a fresh approach to spiritual practice.


• Why “doing nothing” can sometimes be the best solution of all.


• How you can discover joy and peace even in the midst of pain and discomfort.


• Why shame, unworthiness and even disgust can be portals to Wholeness.

After many years of speaking with thousands of people all over the world, Matt and Jeff have realised that underneath nearly all of our suffering, spiritual seeking and exhausting self-improvement quest, is a primordial sense that we are “not good enough”, that there is “something missing” at our core.

Their radical invitation? Paradoxically, when we stop trying to fix or transcend ourselves, we can begin to discover that we were never broken, and there was never anything to “fix”. When we stop seeking “a different moment” and instead – healing the addiction of a lifetime - dive courageously into this one, we can actually find the one thing we were always longing for: INTIMACY WITH LIFE ITSELF.

“After dozens of retreats, thousands of dollars spent on self-help books, therapists and meditation classes… I finally learned how to meet my deepest pain and shame… and even find joy and humour there”. - 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

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, humour 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 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

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!

***Dear friends, as we're curently about 75% full, before you register for the retreat, please check with Sunrise Ranch to ensure there are accommodations at the Ranch which suit your preferences - https://sunriseranch.org/event/the-healing-shame-retreat/***

"Your pain, your sorrow, your doubts, your longings, your fearful thoughts: they are not mistakes, and they aren't asking to be 'healed'. They are asking to be held. Here, now, lightly, in the loving, healing arms of present awareness..." - Jeff Foster

“The aliveness we long for will never be found by eliminating the unwanted, but in embodied attunement to the love and information it carries.” - Matt Licata

HOW TO REGISTER - IMPORTANT

Please note that there are two registration processes required to attend the retreat...

(1) Please register and pay here on BrightStar for tuition. (2) In addition, you must also register directly with Sunrise Ranch, for accommodations and food, even if you plan to stay off campus. To complete this second phase of registration, where you will select and pay for accommodations, please visit the retreat's Sunrise Ranch registration page >>> here. <<<

Gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian food options are available. Other special dietary requirements should be pre-arranged with Sunrise Ranch when you book. If you prefer to register with Sunrise Ranch by phone, or if you have food/accommodation questions for Sunrise Ranch, please call 1-877-786-0078 toll-free or (970) 679-4200. Accommodation costs (including all meals) are: Commuter $60/day. Camping $77/night. Rooms from $97/night.

***Dear friends, as we're curently about 90% full, before you register for the retreat, please check with Sunrise Ranch to ensure there are accommodations at the Ranch which suit your preferences - https://sunriseranch.org/event/the-healing-shame-retreat/. Please note that in addition to staying on the Ranch, there is also a hotel nearby (La Quinta) where some have stayed in the past, which offers a shuttle to/ from the Ranch each day. If you decide to stay at the hotel, please note that you will still need to register with the Ranch as a “commuter” in order to attend the retreat.***

MORE INFORMATION

The retreat is not designed to work personally with psychological or emotional disorders, or for those with severe trauma, anxiety, or depression. If you are suffering from clinical forms of these conditions, please consider whether this retreat is appropriate for you, as you keep in mind that we will not be able to provide personal psychological work during the retreat.

If you are currently in psychotherapy, please consult with your therapist to make an informed decision together whether attending this retreat will be likely (or not) to support the work you are doing together given your unique situation. While we will be addressing therapeutic, contemplative, relational, and body-based ways of responding to difficult emotions and ways of organizing our experience, the retreat is not a therapy group and not able to provide the individual, unique guidance that many require when working with psychological and emotional suffering. 

While not formally a silent meditation retreat, it is similar in spirit, as we take time out of our busy lives to rest, to inquire, to open our hearts, to listen, to play, and to remember something we may have forgotten....

TESTIMONIALS FROM PAST PARTICIPANTS

“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.”

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

“After a lifetime of spiritual quest, 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 infinite tenderness that addresses the human being. Infinite, beautiful, human mystery..."

“Over 25 years of jumping from one "next best method" to the next, feels like it's finally over. The lessons are so easily applied in daily life, 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!”

“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..”

“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…”

“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!”

PRESENTER BIOS

Jeff Foster studied Astrophysics at Cambridge University. In his mid-twenties, after a long period of depression and illness, he became addicted to the idea of ‘spiritual enlightenment’ and embarked on an intensive spiritual quest for the ultimate truth of existence.

The spiritual search came crashing down with the clear recognition of the non-dual nature of everything, and the discovery of the extraordinary in the ordinary. In the clarity of this seeing, life became what it always was: intimate, open, loving and spontaneous, and Jeff was left with a deep understanding of the root illusion behind all human suffering, and a love of the present moment.

Jeff was voted #59 on Watkins Review’s list of the world’s 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People. Jeff has published five books in over ten languages. His latest book "The Way of Rest: Finding the Courage to Hold Everything in Love" is published by Sounds True.

Jeff's website can be found at: http://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/

Follow Jeff on Facebook: https://facebook.com/LifeWithoutACentre/

Matt Licata, PhD is a psychotherapist, writer, and teacher based out of Boulder, Colorado, with students, clients, and patients worldwide. He is author of The Path is Everywhere: Uncovering the Jewels Hidden Within You.

Matt has spent the last 25 years on the forefront of the integration of Western, developmental and depth-psychology with mindfulness-based, contemplative, meditative approaches to psychological growth, emotional healing, and spiritual transformation. Trained in the US, Canada, and Asia, Matt teaches from an integral perspective, with careful attention to the full-spectrum of human experience, incorporating the latest research in somatic psychology, interpersonal neurobiology, and developmental analytic theory.

In addition to training in developmental, analytic, and depth-psychology, Matt has been deeply influenced over the last nearly three decades by the world's wisdom traditions, especially Vajrayana Buddhism, Sufism, and the religions of India, where he spent more than two years in focused study and practice. Matt's doctoral dissertation involved an in-depth study of the ways spiritual belief and practice can serve a defensive function, in the avoidance of unresolved somatic, emotional, and developmental wounding.

Most recently, in addition to his teaching and clinical practice, Matt served as Director of Professional Studies for Sounds True, where he designed in-depth training materials for practicing clinicians alongside some of the country's most respected psychologists, psychotherapists, neuroscientists, and healers.

To learn more about Matt and his work, please see http://www.mattlicataphd.com

Follow Matt on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattlicataphd