There is a place where all of you is not merely welcome, but essential.
A place where your unique shape fits, even with its barbs, its hard edges, and its numb spots. Even in its beauty, splendor, and pleasure.
“I stepped into the VC like a well-worn traveler, in need of care, nourishment, and rest. I kept hearing a voice calling me to this place, with the deep seeded notion that there was more. More to be had; of pleasure, of wellness, of wholeness, of community, and of my connection and relation to all that is about me, and so much more than me. The Verdant Collective is the oasis my soul needed…” – Meagan M.
The Verdant Collective Introductory Immersion
An Online and In-Person Introduction to New World Women’s Culture
Coming Fall 2024
We all come into The World endowed with a unique and essential shape. These shapes are both reflections of the possibilities of Life and responses to what currently exists and has been.
We have also all experienced being pruned by a much smaller world that requires of us that we fit in. This fitting-in process is far more catastrophic than we could ever fully measure. Not only does it stunt and silence each of us, it denies The World our full presence and participation. So much does not happen while we are attempting to do the thing nearly everyone else around us is busy doing, that nearly everyone in our lives expects and even wants us to do.
One of the casualties of this fitting-in process is our capacity to receive nourishment-dense pleasure of all kinds from The World and everything (everyone) in it. From here we might easily imagine (and we are endlessly told) our pleasure is mercurial (that we are hard to please), or even simply non-existent. When in fact our capacity for pleasure is infinite and wise and promiscuous – in the best kind of way.
Another casualty of this fitting-in process is that we’re taught to fear our own native wisdom, our intuition. The voice that so generously spoke to us when we were young, perhaps even before we could form words to express ourselves, becomes something to be feared, mistrusted, or outright dismissed. And then we cannot participate in fierce, loving, and honest women’s community – or really any relationships of depth – because we must silence ourselves and our wisdom. We must second-guess the reflections and observations that come, like second nature, to us.
The Verdant Collective is devoted to repairing this catastrophe, this assault not merely on women’s culture and female wellness but, in fact, the wellness of The World itself.
We are thrilled to offer an introductory immersive experience for women who would like to get their toes wet, with a gentle, immersive step into the heart of our community.
“I would have described the Verdant Collective as otherworldly if I had not experienced its container and practices as surprisingly familiar, dare I say, native. After over a decade of trying to heal from physical and sexual trauma, in addition to the cultural trauma of isolation and disconnection, I now have the ingredients of healing – pleasure and community – stamped into my cells.” – Olya M.
In this container we stretch our wisdom limbs and find the words to not merely express ourselves but acknowledge the impact we have on each other. We take each other seriously – even as we laugh at some of the most outrageous narratives we were asked to believe. We remember how to breathe deeply and, with this, we also remember our extraordinary capacity to feel.
“The Verdant Collective was a program that felt necessary for growth and healing to occur as a woman in this current cultural paradigm. Not only did it connect me to the sacred sexual power that lives deep within me; buried by what is not well in our world, it also became a course in nervous system mastery. I was able to attune to my Yeses and Nos in a way that allowed me to learn how they feel and sound and ultimately trust them in my body.”
– Genesa F.
We learn about both the miraculous and mechanical attributes of the nervous system, and how to befriend its capacities rather than fall victim to its vigilance.
We explore both the miraculous and mechanical aspects of our pleasure – all kinds of pleasure from the sensual and spiritual to the sexual.
“My pleasure was not only welcome, it was honored and held as an integral part of the wellness of the container and of my place and service to the world. Who knew that the way through trauma to the other side, to true healing, could be found in pleasure?” – Amanda M.
Perhaps most important of all, we remember how to be with each other as ourselves.
The single most strategic maneuver of the dominant culture is that it separated us from ourselves and each other. It taught us to fear our innate wisdom and perceptions. It told us to question our bodies, our spirits and our questions. We learned to focus our critical eye on ourselves rather than at the structures and narratives that require our radical attention to redress.
Once we have taken the first tentative steps online and found our wobbly legs, those who want more will gather together for a four-day in-person immersion.
And here you will experience the deepest magic of the Verdant Collective. Housed in the Women’s Hut you will take your place in the circle. Each women’s circle is unique and glorious.
But one thing we can promise is that if you dare to take your place, the circle will shine, pulsating with the never-before-seen brilliance of a generative ecosystem. And you will be an essential part of it.
“The teachings and practices were so well thought out and introduced and opened me to such new ways of being. The container was solid and held with such depth, integrity, wisdom and grace. The women this program attracted were amazing women I will forever love and feel in my heart.” – Denise K.
If you are hungry to remember yourself, to rekindle your pleasure in the world, with the world, with yourself, your partner, your community…
If you are enraged by what is unfolding in our culture and across the globe and you have felt impotent to address it because you cannot access your passion or your grief…
If you have grown up distrusting women, fearing intimacy with your sisters, and you fear this is hobbling your power in the world…
If you have come to dislike or even detest your body because it has caused pain and grief, or it doesn’t look like the bodies we are told are the ‘right’ bodies…
If you long for fierce, deep, vibrant, joyful women’s community and you’ve been endlessly disappointed as you’ve searched for it…
We have a spot for you.
Structure and Logistics
You have two options to join us, either online only, or online plus a 4-Day In-person Immersion.
On-Line Segment:
Four 2.5-hour live zoom sessions over two weeks, dates TBD.
In-Person Weekend:
Thursday – Sunday outside of Boulder, CO, (specific dates TBD
Thursday, Friday 10 am – 5 pm
Saturday 10 am – 9 pm (includes a dinner that we will provide)
Sunday 10 am – 3 pm
Online integration session 4:30 – 6 pm MST/6:30 – 8 pm EST
Limited to 15 participants
Please note:
The online sessions will not be recorded. Please plan to be present for all sessions.
Participation in the online sessions is required in order to join the in-person Immersion. The In-Person Immersion will take place outside of Boulder in a private home. The home comes with two playful and very furry dogs. If you are very allergic, unfortunately, you might not be able to participate.
Accommodations and food are not included, but we will provide snacks, tea, and hot water, and we will provide dinner on Saturday night. We have a growing community of women in the area who are sometimes willing to host out-of-town participants. We can connect you with them once you are signed up, but we cannot guarantee anything.
In order to make this program more accessible we are offering three payment tiers. Please choose the option that best suits your financial circumstances.
A Note on Investment: Please choose your right tuition level carefully, remembering that our experience of our financial capacity is so deeply subjective, influenced by the incessant messaging from the dominant culture and a flawed image of wealth. Let’s be guided by way-shower Betty Martin who reminds us that ‘when we give what we can and not what we can’t, the magick happens.” This is made all the more possible by those of us who have even just a little more than we need contributing towards those who do not; and those who need help having the courage to receive it when it is offered with full heart. Thank you, in advance, for your thoughtful consideration of your capacity and/or your need.
Investment
Coming Fall 2024
Payment plans are available. Email us at info@theverdantcollective.com to set one up.
You can also apply for a partial scholarship here.
What We’ll Get Up To
Online
An experiential introduction to your Triune Autonomic Nervous System and your Learning Zone, with tools and practices to help you support and relate more with this essential aspect of your being
An invitation into a relationship with your arousal as it is now, stripping away judgment and coming forward with curiosity for what might come next
Practices to have you tuning into the sensations and the pleasure that is available to you in each and every moment
A taste of women’s community that preferences belonging over fitting in, respect over politeness, and includes all of the ways that we are both expensive to and generative for the group
An introduction to what we mean when we talk about wellness, wholeness, and belonging, with an invitation that you come to your own lived understandings, learning to view and experience these ways of being in your everyday life
In-Person
Intelligent, honest and caring women’s community like you’ve never experienced before, both structured and spontaneous
Mirrorwork and art-making
Consent practices to have you in touch with the complexity and nuances of yes, no, and maybe
Receiving (clothed) touch, that can include your whole body, always directed by you
Offering touch to a sister, as directed by her – an opportunity to acknowledge and possibly begin to heal the wounding you may have experienced with women and to find self-compassion and care through empathy for another woman
Ritual communal work to nurture and heal the unique and complex relationships we have with our bodies, including optional nudity
The Verdant Collective Introductory Immersion
An Online and In-Person Introduction to New World Women’s Culture
Coming Fall 2024
FAQs
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We recognize that gender is a spectrum, not a binary, and that biological sex and gender are not the same thing. We also recognize that sex is very real and measurable, and that it has an impact on our experience in the world, and the ways that the world treats us. Everyone needs spaces to unfold and explore their unique experiences with other people of the same background, as well as spaces to hear about and connect with the experiences of people who are different. We have designed this program to be an affinity space for biological females who identify as women to explore their unique experience of embodiment in the world.
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The Verdant Collective is a community of women who prioritize care and respect for each others’ personal choices. We are each responsible for tending to ourselves, which includes our physical health and well-being and care for the ecosystem we are all a part of. If you are sick in any way, it is heartbreaking but critical that you do not join us. You can read more details here.
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We offer a 50% refund up to 4 weeks before the start of the program (September 25th). After that, no refunds or transfers will be granted.
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The Verdant Collective is a sober program. As your facilitators and guides, we are responsible for supporting you, which includes your capacity to get the most out of our programs. We can only do that if we are informed about all substances you’re currently taking (including prescription medications as well as ones that are self-prescribed, i.e., microdosing or medical marijuana). While we are not at all against medications, herbs, or plant medicines including microdosing or medical marijuana, using substances of any kind – even in small dosages – can have an impact on pleasure, arousal, and your autonomic nervous system and we need to be empowered to help track your experience well.
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This means that we include teachings about the autonomic nervous system (where trauma gets stored in our bodies) to help you learn to navigate your nervous system. We have also designed this program to engage and strengthen the social nervous system, moving you out of trauma and into resource and wellness. That being said, The Verdant Collective is not a training in trauma work, nor is it the space to do your trauma work. By this we mean, if we find that you are having experiences that warrant individualized care, we will help you to find a practitioner to work with one-on-one.
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You will have opportunities to participate in experiential practices that will invite you to take your clothing off, and to engage in guided, one-way touch, both giving and receiving. How much — or how little — you participate is completely up to you. You get to choose how much you participate in all the parts of our time together, but especially anything that includes nudity and touch. There is no expectation for how your participation will look. Your boundaries are essential for the wellness of our communal container and will be not merely welcomed but encouraged.