The Art of Re:Connective Loving
Part II
Empowering Love
Explorations into Liberating Love, Conscious Relating and Ethical (Non-)Monogamies
An intensive 7 day seminar and experiential space
Circles and Re:Connective Spaces – Dialogue and Presentations – Conscious and Authentic Relating – Self and Collective Relational Explorations – Reflection and Awareness Practices – Constellation Work – Self-Inquiry – Shadow and Inner Parts Work – Embodiment, Somatics and Bodywork – Movement, Dance and Contact Improvisation – Conscious and Sensual Touch – Meditation – Yoga – Breathwork – Consent and Conscious Communication – Ritual – (Primal) Play and Performance – Co-Creation
Upcoming Seminars
12.-18.09.2025 – Monte Mariposa, Tavira, Portugal – English
12.-18.10.2025 – Stillerhof, Wessobrunn, Germany – German
Further details below.
The Invitation
- Do you want to grow, heal and diver deeper into different ideas, practices, experiences and shapes of love and loving?
- Do you want to deepen the connection to yourself, authentically and transparently connect with other beings, and co-create a community of trust and care?
- Do you want to explore different ways, shapes and possibilities of freely and ethically connecting to yourself and others beyond the norms of exclusive/monogamous/romantic love?
- Do you want to learn how to navigate, shape and live conscious loving relationships in daily life and get to know different techniques, tools and methods to sustain them?
- Do you want to learn more about the shadow side of the norms of “love” within society and yourself and face and work through your own internalized limiting beliefs and patterns, shadows, pain, fears and insecurities?
- Do you want to further develop your awareness, empathy, sensibility, as well as communication, boundary awareness, consent forming, social and intimate skills?
- Do you want to play, enjoy and celebrate the gifts of life and love?
- Do you want co-create a more loving, connected, communitarian, peaceful and regenerative world and practice how to love and be loved in daily life in the transition to a new culture of love?
The Seminar
The Empowering Love seminar is for you if you have come to a point in your life where you feel you are stuck in your (love) relationships, you struggle with loving yourself and others, you are feeling lonely and disconnected from the world around you, you are feeling that the norms of culture and society limit your capacity to love, you experienced a “(spiritual) awakening” or you have realized that there is often something strange, limiting, self-serving or even pathological, abusive and violent in today’s (so-called) love relationships.
This seminar is for you if you are ready to deeply challenge yourself, grow and explore what it means to live in loving connection – consciously, freely and authentically without the usual hiding, manipulation, coercion, limiting, dominating, cheating, passive aggression and lying so common in today’s “love” relationships. To live love freely requires a deep shift in our minds, our consciousness, our value system, our ingrained patterns of behaviour, our emotional world as well as in our communication and in the ways we navigate life and relationships. It also requires us to grow spiritually, heal our wounds and traumas, re-connect with our inner child and to face our own shadows and insecurities. In short, living love freely requires nothing less than a new awareness of love, a new culture and politics of love, a new art of loving, a reconnection with the love of our soul.
Empowering Love is for you if you have chosen to live love beyond the ordinary and wish to explore different approaches to living love, learn about the political, spiritual and ethical implications of non-conventional love (i.e. ethical non-monogamies, conscious monogamy, polyamory, open relationships, tantric relationships, relationship anarchism), learn techniques for how to navigate complex love relationships in your daily life, learn how to communicate compassionately and be in touch with yourself and your emotions and feelings, while also reconnecting with your heart’s longing, your soul’s wisdom, your body’s life force as well as your needs, desires, wishes, dreams and boundaries.
We will create reconnective spaces of trust and care that engage your body, mind, heart and soul and encourage you to deeply reconnect with yourself and from that space then to consciously connect with others in transparency and vulnerability, experiencing and practising what it means to be in loving community, to be ethically connected in truth and authenticity in a world of disconnection, alienation, exploitation, trauma and suffering.
It’s important that you come with an open mind and a readiness to challenge yourself – within a space that is created to carry and nurture you throughout this process. A challenge holds great potential for growth, expansion, understanding, awakening, realization – if experienced and integrated consciously and held in a caring and compassionate space.
Topics
- The Art of Re:Connective Loving
- Loving Qualities of the Self – Consciousness, Awareness, Understanding, Presence and Loving Kindness in Self and Relationships
- Ways and Forms of Relating I – The Relationship Escalator, the Exclusive Monogamous Couple and its Shadow
- Ways and Forms of Relating II – Ethical Non-Monogamy and Polyamory
- Ways and Forms of Relating III – Non-Normative Relating and Relationship Anarchy
- Tools for the Art of Re:Connective Loving I – (Self-)Awareness, Non-Judgement, Shadow and Trauma Work
- Tools for the Art of Re:Connective Loving II – Reconnecting with the Self – Boundaries, Needs, Desires
- Tools for the Art of Re:Connective Loving III – Conscious Compassionate Communication
- Tools for the Art of Re:Connective Loving IV – Authenticity, Transparency and Consent
- Re-birthing Love – (Non-)Attachment, Freedom and Commitment
- The Art of Healing Love
Approaches, Practices, Methods & Techniques
Approaches, Practices, Methods & Techniques that give shape to the Empowering Love seminar include:
- Presencing
- Compassionate Inquiry
- Constellation Work
- Somatics and Nervous System Regulation
- Embodiment
- Bodywork
- Circles
- Shadow and Inner Parts Work
- Conscious and Authentic Relating
- Exploration and Experiment
- Reflective, Relational and Awareness Practices
- Improvisation (Contact Dance and Performance)
- Process Work
- Conscious and Sensual Touch
- Free Dance and Movement
- Conscious Communication
- The Wheel of Consent
- Co-Creation
- Ritual
- Yoga
- Breathwork
- Meditation
- Samu
- Play
Sample Schedule
depending on flow, intuition and collective needs
| Time | Seminar Event |
|---|---|
|
8-9 |
Morning Presencing (e.g. Meditation, Yoga, Breathwork, Autogenic Training, Embodiment, Somatic & Movement Practices, Nervous System Regulation, Dance…) |
|
9-9.30 |
Break |
|
9.30-10 |
Clan Sharing Circles |
|
10-11.30 |
1st Re:Connective Space (e.g. Circles, Presentations, Dialogue, Constellation Work, Reflection, Somatics, Embodiment, Relational and Awareness Practices, Shadow and Inner Parts Work, Process Work, Conscious Touch and Relating – all centered around specific questions and topics related to love) |
|
11.30-12.30 |
Breakfast/Brunch/Lunch/Munch |
|
12.30-13.15 |
Break |
|
13.15-13.30 |
(Free) Dance, Movement and Improvisation Space |
|
13.30-15.30 |
2nd Re:Connective Space |
|
15.30-16 |
Break |
|
16-17.30 |
3rd Re:Connective Space |
|
17.30-18.30 |
Break |
|
18.30-20 |
Dinner / Break |
|
20-22ish |
Evening Re:Connective Space (e.g. Sweat Lodge, Bodywork, Massage, (Free/Ecstatic) Dance, Open Spaces, Conscious and Sensual Touch, Co-Creations, Play, Performance, Contact Improvisation…) |
Literature and Link List
Here are some suggested readings and links which you may want to look at before the seminar. (To be completed.)
Links
Books
- Amy Gahran: Stepping Off the Relationship Escalator: Uncommon Love and Life. 2017.
- Franklin Veaux, Janet Hardy: More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory. Thorntree Press. 2014.
- Christopher Ryan, Cacilda Jetha: Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships. Harper Perennial. 2011.
- Betty Martin, Robyn Dalzen: The Art of Receiving and Giving: The Wheel of Consent. Luminare Press. 2021.
- Jessica Fern: Polywise: A Deeper Dive into Navigating Open Relationships. Scribe. 2023.
Facilitators
The seminar will be facilitated by Dr. Lars Weckbecker, founder of Ayama, and Yvonne Iwa Naumann. Both are extremely passionate about their work and will guide you through the seminar and your processes with loving presence and kindness, competence, compassion and non-judgement.
To learn more about their work, click on their names or images.
Accommodation & Facilities
Monte Mariposa, Portugal:
Monte Mariposa is a charming retreat centre settled in nature, free from the impact of mass tourism. It’s quietness, relaxed atmosphere and rustic simplicity provides a safe and comforting space for the practice of The Art of Re:Connective Loving.
Accommodation is in simple, but comfortable rooms or wooden bungalows which sleep two people each. In addition, we will also offer a communal sleeping space.
For further details about the seminar venue, click here.
Stillerhof, Germany:
Stillerhof is a large seminar venue / youth centre and the perfect playground for our explorations in a private setting with surrounding nature. It is rustic and simple and has a beautiful (wooden) seminar space.
Accommodation is in simple single or double rooms or in dormitories. In addition, we will also offer a communal sleeping space. The venue sleeps 44 people and we will only be up to 24, so there is plenty of space.
Food
The food is co-created, wholesome and vegan (with vegetarian options) and is prepared collectively by cooking groups who design their own menu. Details to follow.
Samu
For about 30 minutes every day we will practice Samu together, which in Zen Buddhism refers to (physical) work done as a meditative practice that serves to anchor spiritual experience within daily life.
Seminar Contribution
Includes seminar fee, all activities and lodging.
In addition to the seminar contribution, please plan to spend about 50-60 Euro for food.
Money is not our primary motivation and we try to keep our seminars accessible to those with less money. We don’t like “exclusive” and acknowledge that we live in a world where material wealth is extremely unfairly distributed. If the price prevents you from participation, please let us know and we will try to find a solution. For seminars held in Portugal, Portuguese nationals receive 15% discount.
We offer a sliding scale of possible contributions. Please consider the average of each price range as our normal price. A lower price is for people with low income or limited economic means. A higher price is for people with higher than average wealth and those who wish to support our work and making the seminars accessible to those wit less money.
Payment
Once we have confirmed you participation, please pay a deposit of 200 Euro within 7 days to confirm your reservation. The outstanding balance is due upon arrival.
Cancellation and Refund
In case you have to cancel your participation, we will keep the deposit to cover the costs we have for the seminar venue, admin, etc. In case you are able to provide a new suitable person that can take your place, we are happy to transfer 80% of the value of your deposit to the new person. Admission is at our discretion. In case the seminar is fully booked and attended (22 participants), we will refund you 80% of your deposit after the end of the seminar. In either case we will keep 20% of your deposit as admin fees. If you have an emergency or illness, please contact us, we will find a fair solution.
In case we have to cancel the seminar for any reason, we will return the deposit in full to you.
Upcoming Empowering Love Seminars
Location: Monte Mariposa, Tavira, Algarve, Portugal (View on Map)
Start: Saturday 12.09.2025 at 16h, arrival from 14h
End: Thursday 18.09.2025 at 16h
Language: English
Contribution: Very Early Bird – 530 – 580 Euro (until 28.06.) / Early Bird – 580 – 630 Euro (until 28.07.) / Regular – 630 – 680 Euro (Application Deadline 28.08.)
Location: Stillerhof, Wessobrunn, Bavaria, Germany (View on Map)
Start: Sunday 12..10.2025 at 18h, arrival from 17h
End: Friday 18.10.2025 at 11h
Language: German
Contribution: Very Early Bird – 440 – 490 Euro (until 28.07.) / Early Bird – 490 – 540 Euro (until 28.08.) / Regular – 540 – 590 Euro (Application Deadline 28.09.)
To view all upcoming Ayama events, view our event calendar.
Application
Before applying, you should have participated in our Embodying Love seminar or have basic awareness and knowledge of most topics and issues addressed in it and ideally have some experience with conscious relating spaces.
Please first read our Ethical Guidelines for Seminars. Then hit the “Apply” button below and fill in and send the form provided. We will get back to you within a few days to confirm your participation.