Online Zoom Forum: Sexual Energies Through the Autumn of Life: Spiritual and Social Perspectives.
Date: Wednesday 13 September 2023.
Time: 7pm-9pm (UK time).
Event Description:
Format: There will be five talks, each of 10 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of discussion among the speakers, the chair, and the audience, followed by Q & A.
Chair:
Phyllida Anam Aire:
Bio: I just love being a fully paid-up participant in this amazing drama of Life. Somehow, I don’t see it as MY Life rather, I have the awful privilege of being called to experience a very short spiral in this dramatic and dynamic mystery of Love made flesh.
Nearing my 80th birthday is such a rich and splendid privilege, one that fills me with deep gratitude to Life Itself. Joy has been a constant companion these past years.
Speakers:
Mary Sharpe:
Title: How to be a Sexy Senior.
Description: Karezza or Synergy love making is a sensual form of intimate connection that is particularly well suited to those in the autumn years of life. The focus is on deep connection with one’s partner rather than sexual performance. As a result it enhances physical, mental, emotional and even spiritual wellbeing in each person on a sustainable basis.
Bio: After many years as a lawyer dealing with family law, crime and sexual offending, Mary decided to seek out better solutions for people. She studied sacred sexual practices at the University of Cambridge. Mary and her husband run an education charity based in Edinburgh, The Reward Foundation, researching what helps and what hinders intimate relationships.
Prof Richard Roberts:
Title: On the Absence and Presence of Tantra:
Description: Exploration of the topic of sexual energy and ageing - with the inclusion of the explorer’s own experience - is not an easy prospect; and this is for a range of reasons. In general terms, it would appear that as ageing progresses, women continue to enjoy a greater ease in making community and just plain talking, whilst by contrast men progress further into isolation as they approach death. Whilst the female (Neo-)Tantrikas I have encountered talk very freely amongst themselves about their sexuality, and about how their personal needs are (or are not) being met, male initiates are by contrast more hesitant. Moreover, ‘Tantra’ is a polyvalent term: there are many traditions; it is a contested concept; and Tantric practices have been and remain controversial in both their contexts of origin and in their Western diasporic manifestations. As regards the latter, the brilliant yet problematic figure of Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh 1931-1990) has been of critical importance. From Easter 2016, I undertook Jan Day’s eighteen-month Living Tantra training, and then acted as an assistant through the following cycle. This was undoubtedly an extremely powerful and transformatory experience. Seen in retrospect, participant observation in Neo-Tantra deepened rather than resolved many of the questions I took with me on repeated expeditions into this sacred space. Having undergone radical re-embodiment, and had the door to intimacy opened more widely than ever before, the diminution of sexual energy that comes with ageing is a warning. How should one respond?
Bio: Richard H. Roberts (né Vodvárka) is Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies (Lancaster University), and held the Chair of Divinity at the University of St Andrews during a time of dramatic change in university governance. Currently, Richard Roberts is Honorary Fellow at New College, University of Edinburgh. His research interests include ‘managerial modernity’; the interface between music, performance and ritual; place and identity; shamanism and altered states of consciousness; critical interrogation of the polarisation between theology and religious studies; and the existential and theological issues concerned with sexuality and embodiment.
Alison Whiteford:
Bio: I trained in Psychology at Aberdeen University, then Drama in Education at Newcastle University. In my thirties I trained in Dreamwork at Wellspring and in my forties I did a counselling course.
In my sixties I now spend my time running dream groups, gardening, walking and volunteering.
When I was in the spring of life I walked around this planet not knowing how to be in my body. It was too heavy and dense and I didn’t know how to be here and do this life. Then I met a spiritual teacher who did a fire dance which led me to other dancing and my life changed and I started being grateful for having a body and the adventure began.
Croilán:
Title: Growing into Love with Life.
Description: I used to dread becoming old and I was terrified of the idea that I could end up alone. And here I am at 57 years old, post menopause, single and it is not at all what I expected. I will share some of my story of how maturation through healing is helping me to open into my own heart, to love my embodiment, sensuality, and creative energies. And how I came to realise that my true lover is life.
Bio: Croilán MBACP (Snr Accred) has been working as a psychotherapist, bodywork therapist, trainer, and yoga teacher for over 25 years. Her early career was in contemporary dance performing and teaching. In her journey of personal healing and search for understanding of holistic health, she has engaged in 25 years Shamanic experiencing, including Dzogchen (Tibetan Buddhism), Atman teachings (Hinduism/Yoga Philosophy) and has latterly found roots in Celtic Consciousness as an Initiate of Brigid of Ireland. Croilán is known for her sincerity, warmth, and dedication to healing and consciousness.
Mary Horan:
Title: Is it just Biology?
Description: I will talk about my own experience of being with and loving Tom for fifty years and how my relationship with sexuality has developed.
Bio: Like most Irish people, I was reared a Catholic but found that the church didn't offer many answers. Neither did yoga, meditation, bible study, the course in miracles or new age philosophy. Catholicism probably affected my attitudes to sex and sexuality.
Then finally my spiritual teacher found me 20 years ago. When he said, "we live on the Earth not in the Sky. We are spirited beings who live in nature".....I knew that I had waited all my life to hear those words. Since then, fire dances, sweat lodges, breathwork, plant medicine and more recently dreamwork have played an important role in my life.
I birthed four children and worked in various areas to do with education, biology and psychology. Even though I delighted in mothering and loved my work, I have always felt hemmed in by the roles I play in society. Only now, a Mamó, in the late autumn of life, am I freeing my voice and embracing the wildness and spontaneity that I have hidden/ suppressed all my life.
It has been difficult and liberating to write this bio because I am shy to reveal myself, even to those closest to me.
An archive recording will be made for the EICSP archive.
NB: There will be no refund if you cancel your booking.
Cost: By Donation. For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(for late inquiries on the day, then email, do not phone.
If you book on the day of the event you will be emailed the Zoom sign-in details 1-2 hours before the event).