Standing & Being Happiness

A 3 day Advanced Retreat for Women with Sofia Diaz in Berkeley

An invitation to three days of liberation & joy, in deep intimacy in the company of trusted women.

How many times have we felt so much from the pit of our heart, we wanted to howl, but didn't? How many times did the world need our strength more than our RAW expression? How many times was what we felt so great that expressing it was more than the environment seemed to be able to handle? How many times was gently accepting what was sooo not “OK” the very way to preserve gentleness and LOVE at the cost of a bodily ache?

I do not know a day that goes by in a woman's intimate life that all of these is not only true, but an understatement. In these times we have a back-log of expression that is limiting our feeling of NOW, and, you know what?, the feeling of NOW is Joyous Victory. We were victorious in those (and these) troubling times and yet we don't yet feel it, the WHY is more than psychological, the WHY is in what we have held in our biology, in our understandings of our Embodiment. Our embodiment is utterly delightful Love as only each one of us is designed to shine.

There is a way to know the apparent "failure" of love, as JOY itself, as the brightness of LOVE itself. We Know this feeling, this reality and it seems far from us from a back-log of unexpressed Grief. To express Grief is the liberation of our present joyful form. Our Care has sustained the Good, the True and the Beautiful. Let Us, please, live from this place together while and as we express the most harrowing emotions our circumstances could not allow in order to realize our deepest compassion.

We are 360 degrees of sacred art. From every direction we can possibly be viewed, we are only working LOVE out.

Let's gather and clean the vessel of our being, only together is this possible, only held can our vessels make the uncommon music of how deeply we feel, only together can we release the howl of how deeply we feel and relearn the expression of our deepest intuition of indestructible Joy. To do this we will gather together for 3 full days, diving deep…for liberation. This is advanced work,it will include a grief circle, so come only if you are ready & moved to dive in with your heart offering & giving. It is limited to 15 participants only.

We will spend time getting to know the truth of the moment in the mundane practices of plumbing our bodies with physically devotional positions, in sounding the sublime wisdom sounds of our collective humanity. Finding ways to trust the magnificence of what we all have lived in order to release the conventionally unacceptable sound of our grief and thus our sound of the GREAT JOY of the care and privilege it is to be alive as a Woman.

This time together is designed and aimed toward catharsis, but not as a drama and not aimed toward catharsis itself but toward the spaciousness that comes from telling the truth at a guttural and non-intellectualizable manner with the intent of using the spaciousness left over from telling the truth. It is to give peace and wisdom as the simple smile that is the authentic and unstoppable shine of our unobstructed hearts to all the concentric circles of care most dear to each and all of us.

Fees:

Notes:

Space is limited to only 15 participants. Register early to reserve your space.

Cancellation policy:

Before March 1st, 2008, $0 processing fee subtracted. No refund after March 1st.

Late payments policies:

No late payments are considered, you WILL lose your space and your total deposit. Your payments need to be received BEFORE due dates (please put the dates and amounts due in your calendar to remind your self).

Registration:

To register please call Mersedeh at 707-685-9320 or click the registration button above.

Schedule

9am - 6pm Friday-Sunday

What to bring:

Come with comfortable clothing to move, bring your yoga mat, journal, water bottle & H20.

About the location:

About the Instructor

Sofia Diaz is a gifted teacher of Hatha yoga, sacred movement and feminine spiritual practice, deriving her style of teaching and body philosophy from the south temple arts and their accompanying scriptures. Along with 23 years of intensive study and daily practice of several traditions of yoga, she has apprenticed since 1982, to the dance and music masters of the Balasaraswati lineage of the sacred dance, Bharata Natyam.

She holds a Bachelors Degree in dance from Mills College in Oakland, California, and a Masters Degree in religious studies from the University of Colorado. She has most recently taught at the Department of Somatic Psychology at Naropa University and the University of Colorado in Boulder. Sofia has also founded a school of Hatha Yoga and sacred movement arts in Boulder Colorado.

She has published writings on yoga and sacred movement in both academic and popular journals and travels frequently, teaching women's yoga intensives throughout the world.

For more information, please visit Sofia Yoga

Please call (707-685-9320) or email if you have any questions.

Your treasure house is within; it contains all you'll ever need. - Hui-Hai