the risk of intimacy

ritual prayerformance as relational healing:

practicing the art of being seen

with Adriana Rizzolo, Harshada Wagner, Alexandra Gonzalez, Angel Hura and YOU! This an interactive immersion where all will be involved.

November 22’nd-24’th

live in-person retreat in new york city (TRIBECA) @ CHURCH STREET School for Music and art 10 white st.

$800 for a regular ticket – 2 tickets left***

payment plans starting $267/month

Following your “dreams,” is scary af always, but especially without the tools and community to create with.

We got you.

Read this to see if this weekend is for you…

  • folks that know we cannot hold the immensity of grief, rage and tap into our aliveness inside alone

  • interested in practicing witnessing as a way of expanding our capacity to hold empathy, compassion and real love the transforms us.

  • humans who hear the call out of toxic patriarchal spirituality and area already inside a wider, more feminine path of relatedness in our devotion to God.

  • curious what to do with the energy that arises that stops us form being authentic

  • ready to relate to your wounding with more confidence and share your shadow and wisdom as a healing act.

  • both terrified and obsessed with being seen as a way of supporting the service that we came to step into, also known as our soul's calling.

  • constantly craving the space to hear themselves more clearly when in relationship to others and who honor the ancient path of following the nature world and web we are all connected to

  • teachers, whether teaching over Zoom or in person, as well as for healers, coaches, podcasters, writers, actors, and people seeking to deepen their connection with their body (physical, emotional and soul) and explore the healing power of intimacy between strangers and a community of humans who care.

  • non dancers and dancers, writers, teachers, healers and guides.

  • still embracing their identity as artists or who may struggle with artistic self-acceptance. (Just be sure you have the capacity to work somatically with the charge that naturally arises. We will be supporting that also, and you will learn more through this weekend, but this is an experiential space so you will be asked to participate which does take a level of readiness.)

    "Your work has allowed me to connect with a spirituality I didn't think I'd ever have but always longed for within myself and is allowing me to break open and safely heal intimacy wounding that I didn't think I could ever heal. I'm feeling so grateful today. Thank you for all that you do and the healing you give to the collective." -Kelly Jo

Sometimes people don’t understand why we host our events in NYC…

But while our return to nature and Mother Earth is essential, so is our return to humanity.

So is building a capacity to not just get “overwhelmed” when there are heightened sensory experiences.

Learning what to do with overwhelm and numbness, is an essential skill for relating.

This is what we teach in Body Temple more than anything.

Yes, your parasympathetic practices are essential.

But so are the ones that light and fuel the fire in you to create.

“I’ve never really thought myself as a dancer. All my life I was too shy. Too shy about my body. I’m a very physical person; I hike, I bike… But dancing in my body released things that I never even knew were there. Thank you. I’ve been dancing since I got back from retreat in Mauliki and it’s changed my body, my emotions. It’s allowed me to express things I was afraid to express in the past”. -Karin Gumstrup

“THE HUMAN HEART IS A THEATRE OF LONGING” - JOHN O’DONAHUE

For artists, creatives, and individuals already on a path of devotion seeking to learn about movement, sound, somatic meditation, and being seen.

AN EXPLORATION INTO SOMATICS, TANTRIC MEDITATION, Body Temple Dance, exploring the role of ritual AND SACRED THEATRE FOR EMBODIED LOVE & LIBERATION

These practices offer a path to connecting with our truth and accessing greater confidence. For those who are teaching, sharing their voice through music, art (in any medium,) that know how healing and terrifying it is to create and put yourself out there.

By addressing attachment wounds and the edges we have around being seen, we can cultivate a deeper sense of self and navigate the risks involved in intimacy.

It's important to acknowledge that our nervous system may still be impacted by these disturbances.

For anyone who loves and is also terrified of being seen. Who wants to practice being vulnerable with confidence!

“Thank you so much for this amazing weekend, and your encouragement to come!! It was one of those things that I knew my soul needed but I didn’t know how much until I came. I felt so safe in your container, all the somatic work we did truly released everything I needed to. I danced, cried, yelled, laughed, it was magical I keep singing the mantra everyday, it was like hearing it my heart recognized it and a deeper connection to the Mother emerged. You brought together an amazing group of people and lead in such a unique and powerful way. Thank you for letting me part of it. I can’t wait for the next one!!!” Moni Aryuvedic practitioner and yoga teacher

Being our authentic selves relentlessly and letting everything else flow from there is where it’s at…but how do we do that exactly?

I know you know how we do it, and it ain’t alone!

This retreat is for people who are ready to step into a whole new relationship with the healers that they are through the body.

Through play, grieving and going to our direct relationship with the Great mystery Herself. Not as in to “get” anything, but become more here, more alive, more able to act in service to love.

Throughout the weekend we will be practicing ways to unlock creative energy by exploring different improvisational exercises including Body Temple Dance, ritual theatre and intimacy and inner yoga practices.

We will learn and practice the languages of the body and perform group rituals.

We will explore the role of the nervous system in the choices we make (or don’t,) together we will build a sacred container for shifts to happen easily and naturally.

This weekend retreat will be a rite of passage out of the patriarchal ways of praying and living in devotion to love and into the feminine path of right relationship and aliveness.

⚔️ We are definitely creating a space for imperfection and creativity, purely for the sake of it. This gives us an opportunity to explore and practice outside the confines of capitalism and see what new edge wants to be met. By doing so, we can discover new possibilities and expand our capacity to embrace our humanity, as well as the horrific and deeply beautiful love that is on this path - a journey of grief and aliveness.

⚔️ You will walk away with tools and a community that is upholding both ancient and new ways of worship and owning what we want, in service to uplifting humanity and creating with care and a heart-centered clarity.

⚔️ The topics we will cover will be rage, grief, sexuality, belonging, aliveness, and how we only need our body and community to heal and transform adversity into the medicine we carry to create and give birth to new worlds.

⚔️ Learn the languages of the body, writing and the three phases of body temple dance

⚔️ Guided by Adriana Rizzolo, and the community of teachers/healers (list of facilitators and collaborators will be announced before retreat)

⚔️ BTD with more physical ritual on themes of sacred sexuality, grief and underworld (Mirabai Starr might come do a short reading of her new book, fingers crossed, she’s the queen of the underworld in my eyes)

⚔️ Movement and performance as a way of building capacity and connecting to our ancestral resiliency

⚔️ Creating right relationship through rage and remembering our creativity as service

“Adriana’s work has been some of the most exciting and grounding trainings I have taken. She has so much energy and is able to connect with her students in a way that brings light to your deepest emotions, that otherwise might have continued to be ignored. Adriana has taught me to love harder the parts of me I was told was wrong. Her work is an ecstatic celebration with the shadow self. A coming home to the parts of you that seem scary. I absolutely love working with Adriana and highly recommend her work to anyone ready to dive head first full of laughter, crying, screaming, and love, into the expansiveness of their soul.”

Rough Schedule:

Friday the 22nd

7-10p


Saturday the 23rd

10-1 session
1-3 lunch
3-6 session
6-8 dinner
8-10 session

Sunday the 24th

12-2 session
2-6 lunch/break to prepare your offering
6-9 Temple of Shakti

LOCATION:

Church Street School for Music and Art, 41 White Street, New York, NY 10013 - close to almost all trains!!!

NOT INCLUDED IN THE RETREAT:

Meals, travel, and accommodation: we can send you a list of hotels nearby support@bodytemple.church

REFUNDS:

We do not offer refunds, we highly recommend that you purchase travel insurance to protect you from the financial loss of your investment for any unforeseen, last-minute cancellations. 
With most agencies, insurance must be purchased within 14 days of making a travel reservation.  Here’s a sample provider for travel insurance: worldnomads.com

Open to everybody & all genders who can and will center the feminine.

*If you haven’t attended Body Temple but want to come please email us because we would really love to have you there, or join the Temple of Shakti Membership (and receive a discount to come to NYC)

  • Adriana Rizzolo

    Adriana Rizzolo is the founder of Body Temple Church, Power of Love School, and the creator of Body Temple Dance. She is a spiritual mentor, somatic healer, writer, adult sex educator, and guide for the great unknown.

    Adriana’s offerings have developed through many years of experience with therapeutic yoga training, voice and movement training, trauma release training and somatic education, intimacy and relational healing, devotional practice and study in Tantra & Bhakti Yoga, lived experience “doing the work,” 11 years of sobriety and healing from personal & familial trauma.

    Adriana helps people heal trauma and patterns of helplessness, awaken their power, and feel at home in their bodies to start living life in alignment with their soul’s truth. Through her many years of coaching, teaching, and facilitation, she has helped thousands of people around the world awaken to their aliveness.

  • Harshada

    Harshada David Wagner is a master meditation instructor, author, artist, dad, and wisdom teacher with more than 25 years of teaching experience. Classically trained in the wisdom traditions of Yoga, Bhakti, Vedanta, and Tantra, his teachings come from his decades of working with people helping them learn to live more fulfilling, soul-centered, purpose driven lives. The Sanskrit name Harshada was given to him by Gurumayi Chidvilasananda in 1996,  meaning "the bringer of joy, laughter, and delight".

    ​Harshada is a teacher of "applied yoga philosophy" he offers teachings and practices from the yoga tradition, but only ones that help people to get free, transform their vision of life, and serve their world in a better way. 

     He's known as a down-to-earth, lighthearted teacher who is able to help people get to the "deep stuff" fast. He offers a balance of grounded, approachable style of teaching with the most profound ancient wisdom and classical mystic practices. He is a dynamic speaker and storyteller and is considered one of the best meditation teachers of his generation. 

  • Alexandra Gonzalez

    Alexandra Gonzalez (she/her) is a decolonizing, decentering & divesting Yoga sadhāka, somatic care facilitator and animist.

    Her practice is rooted in the holistic & healing traditional & mystical Mahāyoga and her devotion to the Great Mother.

    The foundation of her knowledge is through nervous system regulation, breath work, meditation, BodyTemple Dance (a spiritual & emotional free-form movement practice) and archetypal Maiden to Mother Rites of Passage & education for people weaving and strengthening the connection of the Divine & their humanness for the goal of collective liberation through our connection to Earth, the body, our community & care.

    Her mentors include Adriana Rizzolo, Harshada Wagner & Sarah Durham Wilson.

  • Angel Hura

    Ángel Hura (Miguel Ángel) is a two-spirit Puerto Rican-Dominican somatic healer, ceremonialist & healing justice facilitator with a decade of experience working as a public health practitioner in the fields of sexual health, human rights, and mental health for queer and BIPOC liberation. 

    Angel’s integrates their experiences as a community health worker and sex educator into their somatic healing practice to guide people back to their soul's purpose, ancestors, and joy. Angel’s mission is to teach effective healing and burnout prevention practices to empower changemakers experiencing stress and systemic oppression through breathwork, shamanic dance, somatic movement healing, meditation, and resiliency coaching. They believe all bodies, all minds, and all spirits deserve healing, justice, joy, equality, and liberation.