True Intimacy | Ian Wilkes

Dearest Family,

True Intimacy is a 5-day initiatory experience and workshop for couples and singles on how to both heal and awaken through the art and beauty of relationships.

This workshop was born out of a deeply felt need to unite the worlds of personal healing and Tantra into one coherent and clear path. Shadow work, inner child work, embodied polarity practice, trauma release, and relationship therapy all come together as a foundation for genuine harmony, healing, and authentic awakening in relationships.

We will share with you proven methods and practices to work with and take care of each other’s nervous systems, integrate your psychological shadows, heal emotional wounds, and open to Spirit in a safe, practical way together. This workshop is open to couples and singles, with no previous experience required.

In our perspective, the personal and spiritual dimensions must be understood simultaneously to manifest an authentic, lasting unfolding of compassion, love, and true spiritual intimacy.

In this workshop we will bring light and clarity to the questions:

Why do I keep running into triggers, patterns of intense conflict or sexual stagnancy, or wanting to run away from intimacy?
Where do these triggers come from, and how can I heal them to experience the love I’ve always wanted?
How can I create spirals of healing and deepening in love instead of cycles of conflict, further wounding, and re-traumatization?
How can we authentically walk the spiritual path together without bypassing emotional wounding and trauma

And much more ..

We hope to have you with us on this journey to re-writing the story of what true beauty and lasting love can look like in intimate relationships. By healing the relationship to ourselves, we heal each other, our past, our future and this Earth.

Pillars of Our Work

Embodied Practice

Tantra

Sacred Connection

Shadow Work

We will explore and experience what it means to truly embody our most powerful masc/fem qualities, our most vulnerable emotions and psychological shadows to create depth, transparency, openness and evoke love in ourselves and our partners.

We will use traditional Tantric rituals, meditations and practices as a way to awaken to the essence of who we are, control our sexual energy for the purpose of amplifying love and worship each other as expressions of the sacred masculine and feminine.

We will connect with wounded parts of our hearts and learn how to reveal, hold and heal those parts of us through embodied intimate connection, group healing work and intimacy practice.

We will explore the hidden, disconnected and undesirable parts of our psyche and learn how to embody and integrate them in ourselves, in our relationships, and love making in a healthy and safe way so that no part of us is left unacknowledged.

What you will learn

To communicate in a way that takes care of each other’s nervous systems without making each other wrong for how you’re feeling.

To understand the source of your emotional triggers in relationships and how to heal them.

To express your needs and boundaries while simultaneously honoring your partners without abandoning either of your hearts.

The pillars of Tantric sexuality.

To release traumatic and emotional charges in an embodied and safe way with one another.

To identify your core childhood wound, how it shows up in your relationship, and how to work towards healing it together as opposed to re-traumatizing each other unconsciously.

To walk the spiritual path in relationships by using romantic love as a way to awaken the essence of who you are.

To embody your innate masculine and feminine gifts as a way to awaken, heal the nervous system and amplify the arc of sexual polarity in relationships.

To perform traditional Tantric rituals at home as a way to open to the spiritual dimension of your being.

Accommodation & Location

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THE LOCATION

Nimis Community in Dretzel, Germany

We are hosted by a beautiful self-sustainable community/retreat center located just 2hrs west of Berlin.

The center is rustic and simple, yet providing all that is needed for comfort and a sense of being deeply immersed in nature. The center is surrounded by national forest evoking a feeling of sacredness, peace and spaciousness, ideal for our work together.

ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD

For accommodation there are large canvas bell tents complete with beds and furniture that can be booked as a single or double. There is also space for bringing your own tent and camping. On site there are dry toilets, showers and also a sauna which will run every evening.

There will be a light breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food we will eat will be all organic (mostly grown at the community) and vegan with the option for farm fresh eggs from the chickens living there.

Schedule

Thursday 6/July

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday 7-10/July

1:30pm to 3:30pm

Check-in

3:30pm to 5:30pm

Opening Ceremony

5:30pm to 7pm

Dinner

7pm to 9pm

Evening Session

9am to 1pm

Morning Session

(including short breakfast break)

1pm to 3pm

Lunch

3pm to 6pm

Afternoon Session

6pm to 7:30pm

Dinner

7:30pm to 9pm

Tantric Ritual

Tuesday 11/July

9am to 1pm

Final Sharing/Integration

11am to 12:30pm

Brunch

12:30pm to 1:30pm

Closing Ceremony

Facilitators

Ian Wilkes

Transformational Coach and Mentor

Ian is a men's work facilitator and coach, couples intimacy coach, breathwork and trauma release facilitator, kambô practitioner and yoga/meditation teacher.

In 2012, Ian left his life as a night club promoter and hotel manager in New York City on a spontaneous longing for meaning and depth.

Ian then spent 10 years and continuing in deep practice and study of ancient spiritual traditions and healing arts around the world. From living in ashrams in India, to Buddhist monasteries in Myanmar, to being an apprentice to an Ayahuasca shaman in the Amazon to studying with masters of modern healing modalities, to spending months in silent retreats, his longing for truth lead him to experience life changing healing and profound experiences of truth.

Because of his deep curiosity and openness to all angles of healing and spiritual awakening he studied and immersed himself deeply in many paths and modalities including Yoga, meditation, trauma release, psychotherapy, inner child work, Tantra, relationship therapy, plant medicine, shadow work, group therapy and men's work.

Ian now combines his vast knowledge of all these modalities and the experience of his personal healing and awakening journey to skillfully meet individuals and groups where they are to provide a holistic and tangible path to the inner work.

Valentina Cannavó

Tantra, Yoga and Meditation Teacher

Valentina is is yoga/meditation and Tantra teacher with over 10 years of teaching and intensive practice experience.

In her early 20's she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease which is deemed incurable by western medicine standards. Through the deep fire of her heart, her unwavering dedication to the spiritual path and an aspiration to heal herself she spent months in deep practice, including long periods of fasting, extensive dark retreats, and other intensive yogic disciplines. Through her persistence and dedication, her symptoms of the disease began to lessen until they completely disappeared, a miracle by western medical thinking.

She now shares her experience and journey with other women who suffer from MS and teaches yoga, meditation, feminine embodiment work, and Tantra from that place of profound depth and dedication to the teachings.

Valentina is currently one of the senior pre-board members and teachers at the world renowned Hridaya Yoga centers in Lyon France and Mazunte Mexico. She coordinates and teaches many of their top programs and retreats and is one the most highly respected and senior teacher of Tantric Ritual in the community.

Registration

This will be a very intimate retreat and our capacity is limited to 30 total practitioners, 13 masculine and 13 feminine.

Attending as a couple or single is welcome.

Prices are per person.

Prices are in $USD

ACCOMMODATION INFORMATION:

Each bell tent comes with a bed (or two) and all bedding. Price is per person and includes a breakfast snack, lunch and dinner on the full days, dinner on arrival day and brunch on departure day.

If needed, you can book the pick-up service for the transportation between the center and the train station (10 EUR/person).

Testimonials

Wren & Jack, from England

"True Intimacy is without a doubt the most profound, healing and transformational workshop we have ever attended.

We were taught tools for conflict resolution that go beyond the theoretical and burst our hearts so wide open that we can now hold ourselves and each other in an ocean of love and compassion. This ability to live from the heart has the power to dissolve conflict and return us both to the divinity of our love. All of a sudden, the need to be “right” or hold grudges dissolves. This quote comes to mind:

“Outside of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there”

The fusion of psychological theory, embodiment practices, tantra and spiritual philosophy makes for the most profound healing experience that fills in all of the gaps where other modalities are lacking. It is truly WHOLEistic: you come away with a sense of wholeness, union and deep inner knowing.

Thanks to the course we now know the most intimate parts of ourselves and each other and how our traumas show up in relationship. We were given a road map of such deep inner knowing that it went beyond any therapy either of us have received.

Ian and Vale are EXPERT space holders. They not only created a beautiful, sacred space but they also have an incredible capacity for holding and guiding people through raw, vulnerable moments as well as trauma in a way that looks effortless but is evidently the result of years of study and application.

Ian and Vale are the true embodiment of their teachings and their love is divine. They were such a source of inspiration to us that we are now continuing to work one-to-one with them so that we too can evolve into the embodiment of true intimacy."

"Ian and Valentina’s True Intimacy retreat was without exaggeration the most profound experience of my life.

I have been on a deep healing journey for many years but what they led us through in a mere 4 days exceeded all expectations. The love and care they have for all participants and the arc of the workshop was truly transformative and I am forever grateful. Healing my heart was the most important thing I have ever done and I feel truly free for the first time in my life."

Nick, from the United States

Lian from the Netherlands

"I felt reborn after the retreat with a very clear vision and feeling on what love means to me.

Also, after the first week I crashed down. Even though it was really hard, I knew it was a chance to let love in on a deeper level. After a few days of fighting against it, I could surrender and let love in. There are no words to describe this richness I can experience inside of myself now... I'm so grateful for your profound way of teaching and I would love to attend another one later on. As a psychologist coming from a lot of science, I got fascinated with spirituality years ago and you guys again proved me why. Life really is a miracle and you guys are so extremely capable of letting people experience that so that they not only can remind themself who they are, but also use tools to keep on doing this themselves. You two are a gift!"