New Man

The vision for this retreat is to call in an ancient wisdom, the noble spirit of the Shambhala Warrior and the Green Man, which are often dormant in our collective psyche. It can serve us as a spark to ignite searching for a new response to confusion, suffering and truth seeking for modern people. It is an expedition to dig out noble values in mankind. It is a remedy for the new age man, superficially spiritual but impotent in taking direct action. It is a call for the Warrior of compassion without boosting the own spiritual ego and neediness to show off. Humanity and Earth need these who stand up for the Earth, for the sacred, for the power of vulnerable connections, who share and spread love with consciousness and awareness of their own actions. A Man who turns to another human to be held with love and mirrored sharply, yet softly opening to own blind spots.

A HUMan in a male body who celebrates mature masculine in a woman and his own feminine within, without projecting it outside anymore.  Therefore, he can be truly free of a neediness for sexual connection. He is on the search within to extract golden nuggets of inherit wisdom, simplicity, courage, kindness and tenderness, power of not being afraid to fall down and being vulnerable, cutting through bullshit with a sword of clarity and compassion.

A HUMan in a female body who stops projecting masculine onto men as it often leads to “metoo” campaigns and disempowerment of own feminine, to say provocatively. She can take care of her own wounds of rejection, betrayal, abandonment by owning her co-creation and input into creating it, as well as holding a stable presence to let them be seen and healed within. She can learn to state her own boundaries and execute them clearly without letting indulgence and moments of dormant fogginess to cause self abuse.

A New Man can be a union of a Shambhala Warrior from Eastern buddhist tradition and a Green Man from Scandinavia and Anglo-Saxon pagan cultures. It is a descendant of Vikings, though evolutionary upgraded by refusing to use violence, seeing each life as sacred and valuable. One is not afraid of their own power and taking an intense yet conscious action if needed.

As we can foresee a New Man is a vast, unknown territory to discover together without expectations, but with curiosity and an aspiration to help building a new world together, thus becoming the change that is needed. Stepping into simplicity, connection and vulnerability is the ground for it.

A masculine empowerment group of all genders led by a woman can be a great opportunity to open some new horizons, a challenge to face and a deep look within.

Where is my value coming from? Do I still need to prove myself?

Can I see a masculine principle in a woman? Can a woman be my brother or reflect a father principle to me?

Being a man, do I allow my feminine for sisterhood connections with women?

Being a woman, do I allow my masculine for brotherhood connections with men?

Is my sight clear or I am misled by appearances and projections?

We have been living in an exciting and intense time, full of suffering and thus potential to liberate oneself and awaken to the true nature of reality. Men have been facing big challenges now. Women have done significant personal and collective work, healing themselves and stepping into self empowerment for the last 30 years. Most men were busy with fighting for their own and family survival, making careers, proving to be worthy of love etc. Some men have done their personal growth job in order to step in now, to help their brothers to rise up and go through the storm.

Some women have gone into a dark dead end valley of blame and guilt towards men. Revengeful feminism, cutting off men’s balls, castrating their masculine power and yet, entangling in toxic relations with them. However, some women have done their personal growth around healing wounded, broken hearts and owning the shadow of dark masculine within, that allows them to stop projecting and open up to a real heart connection with men.

What is really crucial now, is to come out of our confused, messy, arrogant life as humanity that is at the edge of extinction. Though new world can be only born if we, as men and women, do it together.

In order to manifest it, women need to reclaim their healthy masculine and men their healthy feminine instead of projecting it into each other. And we even should support and learn from each other sharing these journeys, forgetting the patriarchal gender war.

How to proceed from this point?

It seems like the time is ripe to reclaim phallus power in the world. Yet, it is not enough to have a penis to own phallus power. It does not really belong to any gender as well. It is as important to be claimed by men as by women, which requires from the latter to finally stop projecting their inner masculine on men and take responsibility for themselves and their own feeling of safety, clear direction and being loved.

Saying all this, men do have a significant role in reclaiming a phallus power. It does matter what body we have been inhibiting. A penis can bring both light and darkness into our life in very tangible ways. Masculine essence expresses itself differently through the male or female body and it needs adequate and wise handling.

Phallus energy has the power to heal, open up and awaken. It is the primal power of light of consciousness on the way of descending. It can be called in, gathered with a focus and directed through a body for the selfless sake. It does not serve ego’s desire to conquer, posses or increase self value. It is not subject to any manipulation or ego bribe.

For women, it is time to learn to recognise confusion within and pausing any action also contributes to the growth of own masculine. Finding noble values you want to stand up for, learning to live by these standards, stop belittling oneself and others, questioning motives within, stalking own shadow, polishing and growing own potential, asking for support, going for what you truly desire, acknowledging your lust and directing it to your heart, these are all things you can do to own your masculine and stop blaming and expecting men to deliver what is missing in your life. Paradoxically your feminine will be empowered when you decide to step into mature masculine within. You will feel safe, seen, self recognised and acknowledged. You will know more of who you are. Your feminine will be able to relax and start to flow as there is an open, inner eye that is watching for your safety, caring and taking action when it is needed. If your feminine does not flow, it is difficult to express freely the totality of your feminine who loves also pleasure and can surrender to her own juice, it is a vivid sign and a call for your masculine to be strengthened.

It is important to first heal oneself among people of the own gender as one can share similar experiences and a journey. The significance of men circles can not be overestimated. Thus, the moment comes to proceed with healing and evolution. Surrendering to the feminine essence within, is the next step after constituting a healthy ego structure. In Tantra, the feminine core is described as a dark all pervading vastness, an abyss of the unknown, the Great Mother as it gives birth to all phenomena. Heart sutra expresses it: Form is empty and emptiness is form. Prajnaparamita is a sanskrit name for it. The Mother of all Buddhas, which means wisdom gives birth and is the essence of our true nature. Wisdom is not knowledge, the former is non conceptual and comes from within, the latter is gained and acquired from outside.

The feminine principle is usually projected onto women in a patriarchy, which is a culture and a system of justified violence and separation risen out of fear. We can investigate how the feminine principle is treated by looking into women’s roles and the evolution of that in different societies. We can also look at how the Earth is exploited, abused and raped without any consideration, which no living being deserves.

To bring change, men need to step out of entangled relationships with women – mothers, lovers, sisters and their own feminine projected outside. It would be helpful to realise the own ego gains from subconsciously running games of victim-savior-perpetrator, needy-avoiding relationship patterns, fear of intimacy, fear of being suffocated and absorbed etc. Embracing one’s own feminine means reconnecting with a deep trust in life, innate space of wisdom, intuition, inner guidance, the ecstatic current of life, fiery creativity, sensual and sensitive self, powerful vulnerability of heart.

Recommended article to read more about this topic: “Mistrust to the feminine – wound of patriarchy”.

It feels like the archetype of the Green Man has been awakening in our human consciousness from a long dream. It was partially resurrected by Scandinavian men and their caring for nature and children, yet cut off from animalistic penetrative powers.

The Green Man to come is deeply connected with nature, an earthly man walking barefoot through the forest, listening to nature devas and spirits, making fire in the woods and sitting alone in the darkness praying to its spirit, bridging modern and ancient realities. He loves to celebrate, connect and self-express through his body and voice. He deeply cares about others – women, children, brothers, nature. His wild untamed bodymind and spirit is fulfilled with life itself. He can bow and recognise the feminine essence within and outside. He knows that there is no life without her as she is life itself. He is deeply connected also with the water element as the essence of life. Therefore, he can openly cry, be vulnerable, broken and yet powerful, with nothing to prove or to become. He knows he is enough. Magic is his reality, igniting sparks of joy as he is free, not bound by illusions, yet a vulnerably human. He loves kids, playing with them as equals, seeing them as powerful manifestors of magic and flow of creativity. He fully surrenders into love making, sexuality is his prayer. Nature can also be his lover. This is an archetype.

What wants to be revealed through me?

In ancient Far Eastern cultures, buddhist tales speak of a magical Shambhala kingdom of enlightened society living in peace and happiness together. Who is a Shambhala Warrior nowadays? There is a great book on that by Trungpa Rinpoche, a precious one to read. My understanding is to bring back the noble values to our human existence. To stand up for them, even if there is no gain and also in lost cases. We miss the power of truth in words in the present world, clarity of communication, courage to speak up, chant out, to take unpopular decisions, to contain our own power if it does not serve a common good, transparency, radical honesty, stability while facing emotions or attractions, presence and mindfulness, deeply listening to the space and to unspoken voices of the ones who can not have a strong voice yet, putting our own gain and interest aside for the sake of the whole.

What wants to be revealed through me?

The process will be designed to a particular group of individuals which will show up. Modern practices include all levels of existence of body-heart-mind-spirit coming from an understanding of wisdom of buddhist Tantra that aims to embody the awakened (body)mind. Fully owning sexual energy, bringing it into the core, emboding the masculine and feminine as well as establishing a stable, peaceful mind and opening a powerful, vulnerable space of heart. This will be the fundament for all practices.

• inspirational teachings
• cutting through challenge
• circles of radical honesty and compassion
• body work including activating own sexual energy flow and learning to direct it
• vision quest
• sitting meditation
• rituals
• dance
• insight and truth seeking

It is for men and women of any sex orientation or age who deeply care about our common future and want to embody the mature masculine. For ones who:

• are willing to embark for a self discovery process
• have healthy ego structure and the ability to set up and communicate their own boundaries
• healed major traumas
• are free of mental illnesses
• do not have severe addictions

Some aims of the retreat process are to deepen a process of self-discovery as a human being, awakening and integrating different parts of oneself on many levels.

Authenticity, transparency, safety, trust, mutual support are core values in this retreat.

It is a Tantra (awakening) retreat. After reading a completed registration form and sometimes having an additional short call, we can suggest a more adequate retreat or an individual session first. We also reserve the right to refuse admission based on our best knowledge of the content of this retreat for the sake of the participant and the group.

Please make yourself familiar with the initial participation requirements, and after a fair self-assessment please decide whether it is the right retreat for you. If you have any doubts, we are here to help.

Everyone is responsible for the nature of their own experience and journey. We support everyone to follow their own process gradually without group pressure or expectations.

All choices are made by participants. There can be some nudity and intimacy, energetic or physical, with oneself or others based on individual boundaries stated in the moment and personal choices.

After completing and sending the application form for the retreat, next steps of the registration process, like the agreement of participation, terms and dates of payments, will be sent by email.

Dates: 13 – 17 May 2024. Check-in at 3 pm, check-out at 12 pm

Venue: south Portugal, an ecological resort, near San Teotonio, reg. Beja – Alentejo (1,5 hour drive from Faro airport and 2,5 hour drive from Lisbon airport)

Price for retreat (non-refundable): 450 – 800 euro, you decide, based on your financial situation and generosity. Paid within a week after your registration.

Accommodation and veggie food (non-refundable): 135 euro per night (price for min. 10 people). 50 % is paid within a week after your registration, the rest upon arrival in cash.

Language: English (and Polish if necessary)

Registration via the registration form here. After registration, further registration steps will be sent (participation agreement, deposit payment etc.)

Registration is closed a week before the start of the retreat.

Contact: estera@esterasaraswati.com

Welcome everyone into this joined adventure. It feels thrilling and exciting to be part of building a new imprint for the New Earth. We can do it! Together