De qué se trata
SELF-DISCOVERY THRU AUTHENTIC RELATING & CONSCIOUS INTIMACY
Personal development workshops, events & residentials with an over-arching fcous on Authentic Relating (AR), but also including related fields such as Contemporary Tantra, Conscious Intimacy, and other approaches to fuller Self-Expression - to support the Melbourne Self-Discovery Community
By the way there is also a new related Meetup Group you might like to join as well: https://www.meetup.com/authentic-relating-and-conscious-connections-melbourne/ (Amusingly this was exactly the name we were originally going to use, but we chose Conscious Intimacy instead due to also including Tantra events and similar as well.)
--------------------------------------
** What is the Purpose of this Group? **
Bringing people together in co-empowerment and conscious community. Creating opportunities for those interested in the often overlapping fields of Authentic Relating (AR), Contemporary Tantra, Conscious Dance and other embodied self-discovery - for confidence, skills, knowledge, relationship mastery or effective self-discovery and personal empowerment.
Since around 2012, Melbourne (Australia) has boomed with offerings that include the word (and concept of) 'Tantra'. Many of these are fantastic grounded opportunities to for self-development and personal empowerment. This group mostly offers events by local practitioners, some of whom have been running workshops since that time, and even pioneers who already facilitated events back when Melbourne was just another place on the map and not the 'crazy workshop world' it has more recently become! :)
Since around 2018 (although Arven Alexander has been quietly pioneering this field in our city since 2006) at last 'Authentic Relating' is starting to become a term some people have heard of too.
Our main purpose is to provide real-life events for people to learn about and practice skills in human relating at a deeper level than our culture teaches us. Since 2020 this also includes online events as well.
NOTE: Our new owner/manager (who stepped in very kindly when the group was about to fold at the start of 2021) is part of Authentic Seattle, and will also be posting online events that they host within the AEST timezone. They are the only person outside Melbourne who will post online events here.
--------------------------------------
** What is 'Authentic Relating'? **
We live in a society that encourages - even 'trains' - us to express ourselves based on hierarchies, competition, 'power-over', false/created 'image', imagined projections and ideas that impressive performance is more valuable than being genuine. Not to mention the idea that it's best not to be open and vulnerable and express deep feelings in case we look weak or feel exposed, or - 'my goodness' - a bit uncomfortable.
Authentic Relating (AR) is a term used to describe a field in which people are exploring how to communicate more deeply from behind these conditioned fears. To be real rather than to bury themselves behind false social masks and perfectionist ideas. The value of doing this is discovering who we truly are and in having much more satisfying relationships of all kinds with others.
People who run 'AR' events are NOT making a claim that they are perfect or 'better' than anyone. It's a field like any other that can be explored by anyone who is interested, and you never actually reach perfection - you just keep going through layer after layer and benefit after benefit as you grow.
The actual title of this group might be better stated as "Moving Towards More Authentic Relating", however 'AR' is already the common name of a field that is very well established in the USA and parts of Europe, so it seems silly to invent some kind of longer and variant title.
Learning Authentic Relating can happen in many different ways, including:
- Connection games or practices
Events such as 'Circling', 'Authentic Relating Games', and 'Meisner Technique training' are examples of specific workshops founded very solidly on AR principles. Each one has its own character and style, and go deeper in different ways. For instance some people love the privacy and focus of Circling and are nervous about the larger social aspect of AR Games. While other people love the relative informality and fun of AR Games, and find Circling to be too intense. There is no 'one approach fits all' assumptions about AR. It is a good idea for each individual to find their own best path.
- Other Relating workshops
As potent and effective as the magical AR workshops are, they are of course not the only way to learn to relate more richly and genuinely, and this group offers a variety of other events too. From Contemporary Tantra to discussions of alternative relating styles. The field of Conscious Dance too can be an excellent place to become more fully in touch with oneself and explore connections with others.
- Consciously Exploring our Hidden Edges.
Some events and residentials offer chances to look at culturally neglected aspects of our erotic selves, and how to claim back personal power this way. These can be fantastic, but obviously don't suit everyone. As above, always follow what interests - and feels right for - you. Yet also, just because something doesn't match what you want, it may nonetheless suit someone else very well, so please respect that difference too.
--------------------------------------
** What is Conscious Intimacy? (Often taught under headings like'Tantra' or 'Contemporary Tantra') **
Original or 'Classical' Tantra is a complex spiritual discipline with roots in countries such as India and Tibet. (Among it's many branches were teachings about intimacy and about using sexuality as a pathway to self-discovery.)
Contemporary Tantra is something quite different - a many-branching system of personal development based on a range of principles such as embodiment, authentic relating, intentional intimacy, conscious sexuality, and awareness of subtle energies. Its origins were in places like Europe and the USA in the 1960s, when returning travellers started to incorporate some of the practices and perspectives they had learned in classical Tantra with the growing humanistic psychology movement.
Since these new offerings included teachings about sexuality, and nothing like that existed in the European-type countries, the word 'Tantra' has become falsely associated with being all about sex. Classical Tantra isn't, and never was, mainly about sexuality - though some individual workshops and events can be, which is fine
Some folk say - with some justification - that pretty much everything called 'Tantra' in countries like Australia is not actually (see the origins above) Tantra at all, and should be called something else. However, this title is now so embedded in popular understanding about fields like intentional intimacy, authentic relating, and conscious sexuality that we will continue to use it here, though we prefer to call it 'Contemporary Tantra' so as to acknowledge the difference.
We feel that Contemporary Tantra is actually part of a much broader field indeed (more accurately labelled 'Conscious Intimacy'), whose real foundations rest in exploring authentic communication and self-expression, and being truly present to others without agendas.
--------------------------------------
** Celebrate & Respect the Individual **
We believe in empowering unique individuals to be more in touch with their inner resources, personal wisdom, and unique choices, edges and preferences. This group is unlikely to post events run by organizations that operate as hierarchies with teachers putting themselves on pedestals in any way. Or courses or classes that expect people to rigidly follow a particular system without the flexibility to truly honour the different needs and sensitivities of the individual.
Likewise we want to be clear that 'Tantra' does not depend on a binary of male-bodied and female-bodied person. Any human beings can connect 'Tantrically' if they have the mutual desire and chemistry
Some workshops will be for specific groups of people, because environments where participants feel very natural and comfortable unsurprisingly allows them to feel more, and to be less guarded/closed. This means that they can more easily gain specific benefits from participating that won't be available to them in environments that don't feel as natural or comfortable.
An obvious example is that a workshop on erotic intimacy for lesbians is NOT discriminatory because men aren't allowed to attend. In the same way, a Tantra workshop for heterosexual people is NOT discriminatory because it chooses to have a heterosexual focus.
Diversity is also awesome of course, and there is so much also to be learned in engaging with wider ranges of people as well as in more focussed spaces. Other workshops will be wide-open for anyone to attend, because celebrating and acknowledging the value of diversity (and meeting and engaging with others who are not so similar to ourselves) is also an awesome thing. Acknowledgement of, and respect for, differences is a wonderful thing.
Both approaches are equally valuable and deserve to be honored. They are not contradictory perspectives or in opposition with each other. The power of specialisation and the beauty of diversity are both wonderful!
--------------------------------------
** Want to Know More? **
If you'd like more information about any specific event please contact the organiser of the event directly. As you will have gathered from the information above, one facilitator's approach to Contemporary Tantra can be utterly different from someone else's. These differences are great as it means many doorways of possibility exist - just explore which approach or approaches suit you best.