BEING PRESENT, THE ULTIMATE MEDICINE
HOW HEALING HAPPENS
WHEN 'YOU' GET OUT OF THE WAY
A Day with Matt Licata and Jeff Foster
Location: The StarHouse, 3476 Sunshine Canyon Dr., Boulder, CO 80302
Date: Saturday, March 28, 2015
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Cost: $95
* Don't forget to bring your own lunch! *
Join writer/psychotherapist Matt Licata, and UK author/spiritual teacher Jeff Foster for this special daylong gathering, to explore the intelligence, wisdom, and creativity buried in the darkness and the shadows of our experience, hidden in the so-called ‘negative’ and unwanted aspects of life.
This will be day of talks, taboo-breaking meditative dialogues and restful silences; a day of laughter, honesty and tears; a day of seeing our struggles, our fears, our sufferings in a fresh new light; a day of resting deeply, of letting go of the exhausting search for ‘something more’. A day of being present with whatever arises in ourselves and each other.
Whether you are struggling with your life and are looking for peace and space amidst the chaos, or you are a healer or therapist interested in meeting your clients in a new way, this meeting is for you.
When, just for a moment, we make the radical commitment of not trying to fix ourselves and each other, we may just discover that we were never broken, and that everything 'wrong' with us is absolutely 'right' from the perspective of the Universe. Our greatest pain may turn out to be our greatest teacher, our doubts our greatest gurus, our sorrow our most trustworthy friend.
There is such a tendency in our culture to avoid pain, sorrow, frustration and fear, distract ourselves from these very natural energies, label them as ‘wrong’ or 'bad' or ‘negative’ or 'unspiritual', meditate or medicate them away. Sometimes even trying to 'fix', 'accept' or 'heal' something within ourselves can be a subtle form of resistance!
Much of Western medicine is geared towards the removal of symptoms, the calming of disruption, the numbing of chaos and the journey towards ‘normality’. But sometimes we no longer have any interest in ‘returning to normal’! The ‘normal’ was the problem, not the solution! Sometimes powerful energies just want to move in us. Sometimes hearts just want to break wide open to make more room for love. Sometimes dreams need to die, plans need to crumble, doubt needs to rage. Sometimes all our ideas about life, 'spirituality' and even 'enlightenment' need to shatter.
When we turn towards the present moment, however powerfully the storm rages, with a spirit of curiosity, gentleness and honesty, we may just discover unexpected gifts. When we get out of the way, perhaps true healing (the remembering of wholeness) can happen.
"Let us see once and for all that sadness, grief, depression, and rage are not pathology, but path. Let us go directly into the darkness with each other, willing for our hearts to be shattered over and over and over again..."
- Matt Licata
"Just to sit, without expectation, with our pain, our grief or fear or loneliness or despair, without trying to 'fix' the present moment in any way .... this is how we begin to heal ourselves - and each other - through love, which is awareness. Beyond our roles, unprotected, unresolved, undefended, we truly meet."
- Jeff Foster
**Matt and Jeff will also be running a 5-day retreat in April 2015.**
ABOUT JEFF FOSTER
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 2014 list of the world’s 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People. Jeff has published five books in over six languages. His latest book Falling in Love With Where You Are is now available from Non-Duality Press.
Jeff's website can be found at: http://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/
ABOUT MATT LICATA
Matt Licata, PhD is a psychotherapist in private practice in Boulder, Colorado, and editor of A Healing Space, a blog dedicated to the exploration of vulnerability, intimacy, and the tender journey of embodied spirituality in contemporary times.
Matt is author of the forthcoming It's Okay to Be Broken: Embracing the Joy and Heartbreak of Spirtual Awakening, which is being published by Sounds True in 2015. He is also author of the forthcoming The Only Way Out is Through, a book which explores the ways spiritual beliefs and practices can be used defensively in the avoidance of unresolved emotional wounding.
Matt's website can be found at: http://alovinghealingspace.blogspot.com/
