Tantra Zouk Retreat...with Horses

Transformational artist Jena la Flamme presents…

Friday, November 5 - Monday, November 8, 2021

A weekend of Zouk, Tantra, great Music, & Natural Horsemanship, to awaken Zouk dancers into deeper flow & connection, overflowing magic, & unapologetic pleasure & bliss … in the majesty of Mother Nature.

Bring new inspiration, sacredness & sensuality into your Zouk dance, through the magical junction of Zouk, Tantra & Horse Connection.

ANTHONY & ANNA [SF] TZOUL & ASHE [NEVADA CITY]

RAMSES & JENA [SF] JAPHY & the HORSES [UKIAH]

Dance Zouk with Awakened Senses,
a Liberated Soul and a Deep Connection
to the Sensitive Creature Within us all.

During my twenty years of teaching men and women to experience body confidence and sacred sexuality, without guilt and shame, I discovered that the fastest way to reach these goals is to think of your body as an animal.

If you’re feeling blocked—in your dance, your relationships, your emotions, or anything—the problem is not your animal body.

The problem is you haven’t been listening to him/her!

When you start to respect your body, and truly listen to his/her messages, you’ll be amazed how he/she will blossom and open up to your desires, on the dance floor, in love, and in life.

It’s that simple.

Once I became aware of this truth, I stopped condemning my body and started listening. I realized that the more I listened, and the more deeply I connected to Nature, the more in tune I became.

And then I discovered Natural Horsemanship.

Natural Horsemanship is a philosophy and method that emphasizes creating rapport and connection with the horses, and rejects brutality and violence as a means to “discipline” the horses.

Relating with a horse teaches us how to relate to our bodies and to life itself, with sensitivity and presence. Horses are a portal to the soul and amazing creatures for healing, relaxation and rejuvenation, and can enhance our capacity to dance, especially partner dance.

Seasoned zoukers might comment that the zouk is “addictive,” the reason being the pure high of the “zone” that is attainable in the dance. For example, the spinal undulations and head movements that are characteristic of zouk, are movements known to alter the state of consciousness, and create peak experiences.

The architecture of zouk leads to peak experiences, because the movements open up so much flow in the body.

Conscious breathing can enhance the movements all the more, bringing more chi in the body, and supporting a transcendental experience.

Tantra is a philosophy of living from ancient India that is extremely relevant to modern life, and is a wonderful companion for Brazilian Zouk partner dance.

Tantra teaches that everything in life can be a meditation and an opportunity for personal transformation, including dance. The dance of Zouk becomes a symbol for our broader dance with life.

Experienced zoukers know that when you get into a flow with another dancer and the music, it’s like the whole world disappears, and all that’s left is peace. The silence of the mind many seek in sitting meditation, we discover in the momentum of dance.

In Tantra Zouk with Horses, the practices of Tantra, and the experience of Deep Nature Connection with the Healing Horses, are all complementary to the dance of Zouk.

You absorb the gifts of the other modalities and they give you an energetic foundation that you bring to the dancefloor to naturally integrate with your zouk dance.

Imagine yourself on a dance floor, dancing your ideal dance:

Without the distraction of nervous thoughts getting in the way of your flow

With a high degree of sensitivity to your partner

Feeling even more sensual and connected, with your partner and yourself

Experiencing greater degrees of magic unfolding with every dance as you feel supported by the Earth, the music, and the spirit of the dance

The Tantra Zouk Retreat ...with Horses is for beginner or advanced dancers alike.

For beginners there are daily, dedicated beginner classes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This container is designed for accelerated learning, and you’ll be amazed at yourself by the end of the closing Zouk party on Sunday night.

waking up to sunshine reflecting off a golden meadow, with the silhouette of horses grazing freely & encountering a sensitive creature who calms your soul & empowers your primal wisdom.

feeling exquisitely connected with your own body, sensuality, spirituality & pleasure as you walk across the land with a swing in your step in anticipation of your next delicious zouk dance.

forging intimate connections with other humans through dance, the discovery of Tantra, and the process of slowing down and bonding with Nature.

ZOUK + TANTRA +
NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP
=

In the Tantra Zouk Retreat …with Horses you will experience:

Why we so deeply want to connect and why we dance

How to improve your dance by awakening your five senses

How to use your breath to amplify the magic of the dance while it feels smoother and more connected

How to activate your chakras, the subtle energy centers in the body, in order to have a deeper connection with yourself and your partners when you dance

Align with your path as an eternal student of this sacred, sensual dance of Zouk.

✦ have a change of scenery, and feel the pull of Nature beckoning you outside, including to dance

✦ surrender deeply to your passion for dance

✦ feel more living and connected with your own sensitive animal body

✦ touch and be in the presence of horses

✦ relish your sensuality and your spirituality simultaneously

✦ connect to your new dimensions in your dance through Tantric techniques

✦ and let your soul be awakened and free

…then the Tantra Zouk Retreat ... with Horses is for you.

✦ Friday night to Monday morning programming, including 3 nights of accommodation at Running Springs Ranch, an 80 acre property comprised of meadows, forest and a pond, down the road from Orr Hot Springs, Ukiah, California

✦ Experience the transformative powers of

Zouk – Awaken your divine sensuality, liberate your soul through movement, and experience the magic of intimate connection in dance

Tantra – Become more grounded and at ease with yourself, with presence and awareness. Liberate your Erotic Innocence

Horses – Touch, feel and bond with our healing horses

✦ Train in Natural Horsemanship, aka “Pleasurable Horsemanship,” which leads you to feeling pleasure with the horses while you learn more about yourself

✦ All farm-to-table and organic meals

✦ Zouk dancing galore - 3 zouk parties with live DJs and a dance floor in a historic redwood barn

✦ Sunset picnic and zouk party with panoramic mountain and ocean views

✦ Gentle Tantra practices for women and men that are complementary to the dance in the “Great Glade”

✦ An abundance of nature and wildlife all around you

✦ Optional: 15 minute drive to Orr hot springs after the retreat for a safe, relaxing, private tub experience or miles from Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve

This Tantra Zouk Retreat ...with Horses, is for you if:

You receive healing from partner dancing, and feel called to go deeper with your dance

You feel a level of humility and openness to new dimensions of the dance, no matter how long you’ve been dancing

You feel called to strengthen your relationship with dance as a sacred, sensual practice

Tantra is the celebration of the indivisible connection between our sexuality and our spirituality, that together power up our whole lives.

Through ancient practices derived from Tantra, adapted and made relevant to the modern being, you can experience transformation in your sexuality, love relationships, dance, and your overall relationship with life.

Adding principles of Tantra to your Zouk helps you to:

✦ Feel a natural ease with pleasure, sensuality and sensitivity in your body, and more connection to what lights you up, turns you on, and liberates you to be fully yourself in your dance.

✦ Be less critical and more tuned in to the wisdom of your body as a trust-worthy guide to lead you home to feeling really, really good in your skin, on and off the dance floor.

✦ Release old, inherited shame that holds you back from enjoying the sensual and spiritual dimensions of yourself to the fullest, in intimacy, including dancing.

✦ Liberate yourself from family conditioning that limits your pleasure, your creative expression, or your dance.

✦ Maintain healthy boundaries with ease and say “no” or “yes” anytime you want. Feel empowered that you can protect yourself in any situation, so that you feel safe expressing your innate freedom and natural, carefree exuberance with the world, including on the dance floor.

✦ Feel safe unleashing your primal nature, even if you’ve felt shut down, repressed or numb. Embrace your primal attractiveness and magnetism, and enjoy having fun with your natural born, undomesticated, sensual power, including while dancing.

✦ Develop the power in your body so that you have more intense, vivid and pleasurable experiences while you dance, and use the power of your pleasure to bring healing to any area of your life.

✦ Feel free to be fully yourself, and express any side of your personality, any way you want, including your spirituality and sensuality. Define being turned-on, spiritual and sensual on your own terms.

Horse-whispering, also known as Natural Horsemanship, is a method of horse training that has grown rapidly in popularity since the 1980s. The techniques embody the expression of "a kinder and gentler cowgirl or cowboy,” who develops rapport with the horses using methods derived from observation of the natural behavior of free-roaming horses, and rejects abusive training methods.

Science teaches us that being close to livestock (like horses), increases the power of our immune system. Your intimate contact with the horses will strengthen your resilience and vitality.

Just as in zouk dancing, two bodies appear to be weaving in and out from each other, one of Tantra’s definitions is “to weave,”. Through practicing Tantra, you weave together the physical body, the Shakti, with the divine consciousness, the Shiva, and as a result, pure bliss is experienced.

Practicing Tantra includes connecting with Nature, so hosting our retreat on a beautiful, 80-acre private ranch with horses, a flowing spring and a pond enhances the depth of the practice that is available to us here.

Practicing Tantra can give you more focus and mental clarity, strength, balance, flexibility, less stress, relaxation, better sleep, and healthy hormones.

By slowing down the breath and quieting the mind through Tantra, it’s easier to be present and “in the flow” for the activities that lie ahead—with the horses, each other, and the land.

MEET THE TANTRA ZOUK WITH HORSES TEAM

Divider Text

JENA LA FLAMME aka DJ FLAME

Jena la Flamme is a leading Sacred Sexual Empowerment coach, Priestess of Pleasure, dancer, DJ, musician, and Tantra Zouk teacher. She is also a shamanic ceremonialist, and carrier of Sacred Cacao medicine.

Her teachings show that pleasure is not a contradiction to a healthy, fulfilled life, but a necessary, essential ingredient. Jena's mission is to spread the knowledge that our bodies are sacred and so is our pleasure, sensuality and sexuality. Jena shows people around the world how to be in tune with the innate, pleasure-loving, sensual wisdom of their bodies, and what she calls their Erotic Innocence.

Through her private coaching, workshops, ceremonies and retreats, Jena helps people reconnect with their bodies as wise, intelligent, intuitive, pleasure-loving animals… in this case that know how to dance.

Jena's unique approach has made her a sought-after teacher and she has been featured in Elle, Glamour, The New York Times and Prevention magazine.

When DJing, Jena combines all of these forces in her DJ sets and musical journeys. Each track is a prayer to awaken your fullest aliveness. Each set is to make you laugh and smile and dance and shake and be as free as you truly are in your heart under it all.

Jena has DJed &/or taught Tantra Zouk at the following locations.

JAPHY SHEFFERLY

Japhy has been a practitioner of natural horsemanship for 10 years. He works with troubled horses to create willing partners. He is an avid rodeo competitor participating in team and tie down roping. He is a talented healing horse clinician.

With a soft voice and calm hands, Japhy is able to take his students through the mind of the horse to build confidence and trust. His methodology is inspired by the legendary horseman Ray Hunt, known as the father of modern horsemanship.

When not on a horse, Japhy is a passionate partner dancer with four years of experience in Zouk. He is also an Electrical Engineer at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles designing innovative solutions for using cell phones in vehicles.

TZOUL & ASHE

Nevada County’s beloved Brazilian Zouk instructors, Tzoul and Ashe have been teaching and performing together for three years, hosting four weekly classes and a monthly social.

Ashe, a mystic of movement, started as a full-time yoga teacher at age 15 before moving back to her native land of Grass Valley, Ca in 2019 where she started her journey with Zouk.

Tzoul, the scientist of partner dance, has been teaching an array of partner dances since 2016. The duo came together to focus their energy on Brazilian Zouk and cultivate a loving relationship. Known for his great energy and ability to connect students to the rhythms, Tzoul brings his broad understanding of why partner dancing works to the class.

RAMSES AMADEUS

Ramses has been involved with music, dance, and expressive arts for 14 years. He's been dancing zouk and contact improvisation for the last 4 years, with his main focus being connection, expression, empathy, sensuality and affection. His passion is discovering expression through movement and sharing it with his dance partner.

Ramses is a classically trained musician. He began his musical journey with the piano and fell in love with it. A few years later, he blasted off to the next level musically with his studies of composition, performance, music theory, singing, and drums.

His engagement with music and expressive arts has since evolved to incorporate Latin partner dancing, starting with salsa, bachata, swing, Fusion, and at his self-proclaimed "last stop” on the journey, Zouk and contact improv. The latter are Ramses' main source of deep connection with himself and with his partners.

ANNA O'CONNELL

Anna has been dancing since age 7 and teaching dance since age 13. She is classically trained in Russian Ballet, Modern and Lyrical dance. She has a strong passion to bring people into their true authentic self through movement and breath.

Anna spends most of her time engaging with clients as a licensed professional clinical counselor and using her masters degree in dance movement therapy.

Anna has been dancing Brazilian Zouk for five years and teaching for 2 years. She is excited to bring more people into the love of Zouk and experience the human to human connection it offers.

ANTHONY UMINA

Anthony is a world renowned, professional dance instructor with over 17 years of experience. He dances Salsa on2/on1, Cha-Cha, Bachata & most recently Brazilian Zouk since 2014, and has trained, taught, and performed in over 25 countries. Anthony has danced for, trained and partnered with some of the biggest names in the dance world: Luda, Kadu & Larissa, Water Fernandes, Bruno Galhardo & Renata Pecanha, and William & Paloma, to name a few.

Anthony currently teaches Brazilian Zouk in San Francisco where he started and built the Zouk scene from scratch into a large, beautiful thriving community of dancers! Anthony organizes the Zouk Me Summer Fest & TranscendÂnce Summer Fest in San Francisco.

Anthony is also in practice as a clinical Doctor specializing in Pre-Natal & Pediatric patient care with an emphasis on Cognitive Neural Development. Furthermore, he works in education decentralization with his startup company WorldSchool.org.

Enjoy a weekend of Ayurvedic food–the food of Yogis. We serve vegetarian meals that are cleansing and healing, with flavors like turmeric, ginger, and lemon, cardamom, cinnamon, and honey. Energize your body with superfood smoothies, including Maca, Cacao, Medicinal Mushrooms–Chaga, Reishi, Lion’s Mane, and Cordyceps.

Our meals will include elements of “Sattvic” eating, a yogic approach to nourishment that places emphasis on locally sourced, seasonal foods, fruits, nuts, seeds, oils, ripe vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, and Ayurvedic treats such as Golden Milk and medjool dates.

Being a Tantra Zouker includes eating with your senses awakened and turned on!

FRIDAY
✦ Late afternoon arrival. Pitch your tent if you’re camping
✦ Beginner/warm up zouk class
✦ Dinner, welcome circle & intention setting
✦ Opening Zouk Party with live DJs

SATURDAY
✦ Natural horsemanship for Dancers- Japhy & 4 horses
✦ Breakfast
✦ Tantra for Dancers - Jena
✦ LUNCH
✦ Free time: Swim and lounge at the pond or explore the land, rest, etc.
✦ Zouk classes – beginner and open level
✦ SUNSET PICNIC DINNER & ZOUK PARTY on the RIDGE with live DJ sets

SUNDAY
✦ Natural horsemanship for Dancers - Japhy & 4 horses
✦ Breakfast
✦ Tantra for Dancers - Jena la Flamme
✦ LUNCH
✦ More free time: play and swim with the horses at the pond, rest, etc.
✦ Zouk classes – beginner and open level
✦ DINNER
✦ Finale ZOUK PARTY in the Barn with live DJ sets

MONDAY
✦ Breakfast and kiss the horses bye bye for now.

Optional: Montgomery Hike & Orr Hot Spring soak on Monday afternoon. Book the hot springs early if you intend to go there, but don’t mention this retreat as they don’t allow groups.

Normally this retreat is $1999 but right now because of the state of the world, our way of contributing to you stepping into your highest expression as a dancer, as an artist, and as a Tantric being is offering a Special price.

There are 30 spots available

Full training, all organic meals
private bedroom in a cabin - for one person or up to 4 people

Full training
All organic meals
Tent or car camping option

HOW TO REGISTER

Reserve your spot with a $200 deposit here:

HOW TO GET THERE

Running Springs Ranch is approximately 2.5 hours drive North of San Francisco. We’ll help you find a carpool if you’d like to share the drive.

15 minutes down the road from Running Springs Ranch is the acclaimed Orr Hot Springs, a small, tranquil, clothing optional resort settled deep in the rolling hills, at the headwaters of Big River.

Book a private tub for one or two, for a 12 – 4 PM or 5 – 9 PM hot springs soak on Monday, November 8, after we finish. I will make some reservations for us just in case :)

Drive a few minutes more down the road from Orr, and step into the majesty of Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve. Home to a redwood tree once thought to be the tallest tree in the world, you’ll find an easy two-mile-long loop trail that takes you on an amazing tour of many of the beautiful giants. Enter a mystical world of ancient redwoods, rich in solitude and silence.

Come, activate the spirit of your dance, enhance your power to connect with yourself and others, and give life to your spiritual, sensual genius.

We’d love to share these beautiful, long Indian summer days together with you and the horses on the gorgeous Running Spring Ranch before the cold of Fall truly sets in.

There are only 30 spots in this exclusive retreat, so get in the saddle, Tantra Zoukers, and let’s Tantra Zouk in style.

Giddy up and reserve your spot now.

With so much love,

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