Sexuality holds great possibilities for personal and spiritual growth. Sexuality also affords the opportunity and possibilities to generate and feel genuine intimacy. By bringing awareness and understanding to our usual masks and defenses we are better able to meet the Core Spirit in you and me. This is true intimacy. Thus, our sexual passion is a glimpse of our longing for this merging. The goal of this retreat is to awaken and cultivate this sexual energy so it can carry us into ecstatic experiences of this cosmic embrace while healing all aspects of our lives.

Our culture reinforced by many religious and spiritual teachings and society view sex and spirit as separate and opposite. Yet, the cruel irony is that our culture seems obsessed with sex. Despite our trying to undo them, unconsciously these messages still have a powerful influence on us. This disconnect is why many continue to feel guilt, shame and confusion around their sexuality.

At the retreat, we will manifest together how we can heal this split between our Body/Soul and Sex/Spirit connection. Join us in the celebration of sexuality as an innocent and sacred expression of the cosmic and life force. Together, and in community, we will share tools to reclaim our innate emotional, spiritual & sexual wholeness.

Some of the issues we will be addressing?:

• What are sexual and spiritual energies, are they real and/or related?
• How do we transform sexual confusion, compulsion and secrets into erotic aliveness?
• Does gender and sexual orientation make a difference?
• Can feminine and masculine energies be exquisitely negotiated?
• How can we develop and expand our capacity for ecstasy and intimacy?

We will create an atmosphere of extraordinary safety and each participant will experience profound yet subtle shifts in perception. Awakening the erotic self, we will explore and experiment at many levels of intimacy, while learning to self-heal in the mysterious power of community.

The self or soul possesses an innate intelligence. Though, usually locked within the body by the powers of guilt, shame, and unsound cultural perceptions, it can if released guide you through a personal metamorphosis with wisdom and grace. The goal of the retreat is to facilitate and lighten your journey into discovering your spiritual and sexual self.

We will use music, stories, ritual, and playful celebration to reconnect us with the spirit, passion, humor and excitement in our sexuality, our lives, and with one another.

This retreat is designed for:

• Men and women in recovery from addiction and traumatic or difficult personal histories. (Those who have 12-Step experience will discover a loving complementary process. This Institute's award-winning research sheds light on where addiction recovery and the healing of an entire culture intersects- a place of creative positivism.)
• People of all sexual orientations, cultures and lifestyles (diversity is the ground of our healing landscape).
• Anyone in therapy and/or on a personal journey toward wholeness.
• Single or partnered individuals desiring an expanded capacity for more intimate relations and needs fulfillment.
• Therapists and counselors recovering more of their own True Self while building new skills*.

Facilitation:

The retreat leader will be DR. MICHAEL PICUCCI, originator of Authentic Process Therapy (APT), author of The Journey Toward Complete Recovery: Reclaiming Your Emotional, Spiritual & Sexual Wholeness, cofounder of The Institute for Staged Recovery (ISR), The Institute for Authentic Process Healing (IAPH) and recipient of national and state awards for Outstanding Leadership in Research and Applications for reducing human suffering

Michael recently returned from the First International Conference on Sex & Spirit sponsored by the Findhorn Foundation in Forres, Scotland.

Cofacilitating will be DR. ELIAS GUERRERO , the first physician certified in APT, co-founder of both Institutes, and a long time health care activist. Elias has had a life-long curiosity into the functions of sex as it relates to spirit and how that applies to the connection between our experience of heaven and earth. The passion for fusing sexual and spiritual energies are what has significantly contributed to Elias and Michael's relationship and workshops they have co-created together.

Other Institute faculty & core members will be on hand to make their own unique contributions to the process.

The Institute Curriculum:

This retreat is a "standalone" experience, meaning that each participant will have an opportunity to fully experience Authentic Process Healing. It will also be the 2nd module in a three year, nine retreat curriculum of our Life Mastery Course and Community. One can choose to do any one retreat or all of them. All of the retreats are different and complete experiences in themselves. The next retreat will be June, 2002.

Retreat Location, Arrival & Departure:

The retreat will be held at the beautiful Wisdom House Retreat Center in Litchfield, CT. We start Friday evening (dinner at 6:00, opening session at 7:30) and you can arrive any time after 4:00 PM. Departure is after lunch on Sunday. Directions will be made available to registrants.

Retreat Fees:

The fee is $360 per person and includes workshop, meals, and lodging (double occupancy). For a private room add $40. A deposit of $175 reserves your space with balances due on arrival at retreat. Partial tuition scholarships may be available based on need and space availability. For tuition assistance, call John McCormack at 718-318-0468 or email him at john@theinstitute.org

Registration Form:

Click here for a printable form which you can fill out and mail in .

Retreat is cosponsored by:

THE INSTITUTE FOR AUTHENTIC PROCESS HEALING

*Health Care Providers: CEUs are available for participation. Thirteen hours pending approval by NYS OASAS. For practitioners or students who want to enter the Authentic Process Therapy (APT) Certification Program, this retreat is part of the core curriculum and counts toward certification hours.

Read the Report from our latest retreat : "Reinventing Ourselves".

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