To Love and Be Loved

To Love and Be Loved

The basic need of the human heart is to love and be loved. Love is as natural in us, as the air we breathe and the ground we walk upon. It is here to be lived and shared. Yet often within ourselves and in our relationships, difficulties and blockages arise and we are challenged. Not all what we have inherited in childhood and the conditioning from society does necessarily lead to fulfillment or to loving relationships. The calling “to love and be loved” invites us to engage in learning skillful means and being willing to open and awaken. On the way you may find the treasure you have longed for all of your life, a greater connectedness with others and joy in sharing what is most important—love.

This retreat is an invitation for couples and singles to:

Meditation, direct experience, practical skills, sharing and teaching support us at this retreat to be at home and intimate within love’s nature. Each person is respected in his or her own organic growth throughout our time together. Couples are welcomed to practice together during the retreat to deepen their intimacy and connection. Singles are invited to choose new friends to connect with.

Below are the in-depth topics that are included (depending on the length of the training):

Connecting to yourself and the love alive in you:
Being present and connected, being real, following aliveness, loving yourself, the work of uncovering and opening the heart, healthy relating to feelings, thoughts and sensations, nourishing seeds of wellbeing in yourself, loving kindness practice for everyday life.

Grow in your capacity to authentically give:
Expressing genuine love with skillful means, strengthen courage to move toward connection, initiating and reaching out, dropping pretense and showing up, getting to know and understand the other persons world, busting ‘me’ centeredness and entering the ‘we’, caring without loosing yourself, moving through personal agendas (such as ‘I give so I will get’), fears (such as ‘rejection’), core beliefs (such as “I am not good enough’) and taking loving action anyway, being able to be with pain and joy, being present for another and offering what is beneficial, celebrating goodness and letting love lead your way.

Deepen your availability to fully receive:
Daring to open to another, risking to be vulnerable, willingness to be undefended and real, healthy safety and trust, engaging the senses, allowing nourishment in, how to deal with barriers, answering the question of being worthy of love and being loveable as you are, taking responsibility for your internal world, letting yourself be known, sharing your needs skillfully, leaving codependency and entering maturity, seeing the cup half full and eating the cake that is offered.

Communication: Deep Listening and loving speech
The power of appreciation, attentiveness toward self and other, radical acceptance, allowing each others experiences, acknowledgment of what is present, bestowing generous affection no matter what, kind honesty, awareness and mindfulness in communication, dealing with conflicts- a cry for intimacy, expressing requests/ boundaries/ needs and wants directly and simply, the end of projection/ reaction and the blossoming of intimacy and relating.

The circle of wellbeing in relationships:
Building mutual support, enjoying each other, enhancing each other’s talents and qualities, the importance of integrity, taking responsibility for one’s own issues, moving beyond game and blame, the circle of goodness where receiving and giving is one, loving touch, using difficulties as opportunities to grow, practices to nurture intimacy and connection, the art of having fun, relationship as a path to awaken, entering the circle of wellbeing and deepening into love together.

Offering your gift:
The power of intent and commitment
What are you committed to live in your life?
What do you want to grow in your relationships?
Are you awake to the love that is here now?
What would love do in this moment?
You are the gift.
May your relationships be blessed.