Be Your Own Guru
What if you didn't need someone else to tell you what you need?
Most spiritual paths give us practices. Meditate this way. Breathe this way. Repeat this mantra. Follow this routine.
Practices can be incredibly powerful. But you are not the same person every day.
Your body changes. Your relationships change. Your fears, desires, creativity, confidence and sense of purpose change.
What if you could learn to read your own system and choose the practices that meet you where you actually are?
Don't Believe.
Don't Disbelieve.
Experiment.
Tantra invites us neither into blind belief nor automatic disbelief. It invites investigation.
Direct Experience
What do you actually notice in your body, energy, relationships and life?
Teacher Guidance
Learn from people who have walked the path and can offer maps, practices and guidance.
Accumulated Wisdom
Draw from teachings and traditions preserved by generations of practitioners before us.
The Bee and the Flowers
Around a thousand years ago lived one of Tantra's great philosophers and practitioners, Abhinavagupta.
Abhinavagupta did not learn from only one teacher. He studied with many teachers across different streams of Tantric practice and philosophy.
He described himself through the image of a bee moving from flower to flower , gathering nectar from different branches of the tradition.
He practiced, contemplated and synthesized what he received, eventually producing some of the most comprehensive writings on Tantric philosophy and practice that survive today.
He wasn't simply collecting beliefs.
He was investigating Reality.
A thousand years later, we are still learning from him.
Through the work of Sanskrit scholar and Tantric practitioner Christopher Wallis (Hareesh) , we study Classical Tantra, including the works and worldview of Abhinavagupta.
Ancient teachings become available to us again. We can study them, practice them in our own bodies and lives, and ask a wonderfully Tantric question:
Is this true in my experience?
The Flowers We Have Visited
Our own journeys have followed this same spirit of exploration.
Our shared roots include Tantra and Kriya Yoga, shaped by teachers including ScottieO and his teacher Sunyata Saraswati.
Our exploration of Classical Tantra has been deeply informed by Christopher Wallis (Hareesh) and his work translating and teaching the ancient Tantric traditions.
Together and individually, our paths have also taken us through intimacy and relational practices with Monique Darling and Reid Mihalko, Authentic Relating, yogic practice, energy work, Sufi poetry, contemplative teachings, Zouk, Contact Improvisation, Ecstatic Dance, improv and play.
We have learned from teachers including Sadhguru, Sara Ness, Hazel Grace Yates, Layla Martin and Laurence Lanoff, alongside many teachers, dancers, communities and fellow practitioners who have crossed our paths.
Some flowers taught us stillness.
Some taught us energy.
Some taught us relationship.
Some taught us movement.
Some taught us devotion.
Some taught us expression and play.
And then there is the most important laboratory of all:
Life itself.
Become the Bee
Be Your Own Guru doesn't mean rejecting teachers. It means learning from teachers without giving away your capacity to experience, question and discern.
Honor the teachers who cultivated them.
Taste deeply.
Notice what nourishes you.
Make your own honey.
We will give you maps. We will share practices. We will offer guidance and the accumulated wisdom that was shared with us.
Then we invite you to become the laboratory.
The Chakras Become a Map of You
Instead of simply asking whether a chakra is "open" or "blocked," we use each energetic center as a doorway into self-inquiry.
Safety ยท Stability ยท Grounding
Explore your relationship with safety, basic needs, stability, belonging and the physical world.
Pleasure ยท Sensuality ยท Creativity
Explore emotions, creativity, sensuality, pleasure, desire and sexual identity.
Power ยท Confidence ยท Self-Worth
Explore personal power, decision-making, confidence, motivation and self-worth.
Love ยท Compassion ยท Connection
Explore love, forgiveness, compassion, attachment and how you connect with others.
Truth ยท Communication ยท Expression
Explore your voice, communication, authentic expression and capacity to speak truth.
Intuition ยท Insight ยท Inner Wisdom
Explore intuition, imagination, insight and your relationship with inner knowing.
Consciousness ยท Connection ยท Oneness
Explore spiritual connection, universal awareness and consciousness.
Joy ยท Play ยท Divine Mischief
Explore laughter, spontaneity, play and the sacred art of not taking yourself too seriously.
This Isn't About Memorizing Chakras
The chakra system gives us the map.
The real curriculum is you.
Learn
Understand the map.
Observe
See how it appears in your life.
Experiment
Practice and notice what changes.
Integrate
Adapt your practice to what you need.
Learn to Tailor Your Sadhana
Throughout the journey, you'll explore practices associated with each chakra, including movement, meditation, breath, sound, creativity, sensuality, grounding, inquiry, relationship and play.
You'll learn how to modify your daily GAIASETS practice to emphasize what is asking for attention in your life.
Your practice begins to evolve with you.
The questions begin to change:
Where am I right now?
What feels alive?
What feels contracted or neglected?
What is asking for attention?
What practice might serve me?
What happens when I actually try it?
How the Journey Works
Learn the Map
Explore the prerecorded teaching for that week's chakra, including its qualities, inquiry and practices.
Experience It
Join the 90-minute live online laboratory for embodiment, practice, inquiry and connection.
Live the Experiment
Bring the practice into your week and observe what actually changes in your life.
What You Receive
โ 8 weeks of live 90-minute online sessions
โ Prerecorded teachings for each chakra
โ Chakra self-inquiry to illuminate patterns in your life
โ Embodied practices for each energetic center
โ Guidance for adapting your GAIASETS daily practice
โ A growing toolbox of meditation, breath, movement, sound, creativity, sensuality, relationship and play
โ A framework for continuing to experiment with your spiritual practice long after the course ends
Monkey ยท Dala ยท Lea
We are practitioners first and teachers second. The practices we share are practices we have lived, questioned, experimented with and brought into our own lives.
We aren't here to become your gurus. We're here to share the maps and practices that have served us and help you develop the capacity to listen more deeply to yourself.
The Retreat Opens the Door.
This Journey Helps You Live It.
Be Your Own Guru also serves as the integration journey for Awaken to Oneness, helping you bring the insights, practices and energy of the retreat into everyday life.
Sliding Scale
Everyone receives the same journey. Choose the level that reflects your current access to resources.
For those for whom the sustaining rate would create meaningful financial strain.
CHOOSE $222The rate we invite you to choose when it is comfortably accessible to you.
CHOOSE $444For those with greater financial abundance who want to help make the work accessible to others.
CHOOSE $666Awaken to Oneness participants receive special integration pricing.
Be Your Own Guru
Don't believe. Don't disbelieve. Experiment.
Eight weeks. Eight energetic centers.
A lifetime of learning to listen.
