Review: The Arete Experience

admin — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:19:11 +0000

Location: San Francisco, CA and New York, NY
What it is: Arete is a weekend workshop course where the 7-16 participants find their truest, deepest self. This community reflects on what is shared and this experience helps reveal areas in your life where you are not being your truest, and are hence not expressing and achieving your fullest. By showing you how to catch these moments and how to practice changing them, Arete shows you how to create whatever you want in your life.
Growth Potential: This course allows the participants to open up and delve deep into themselves with confidence and support. For those just beginning on the personal growth path, being led so deep into your own psyche and learning so much about your own trappings and passions can be hugely enlightening… as long as you are able to clearly define your goals beyond a superficial level. Those who cannot identify any deeper personal goals have trouble making as much headway as those who are already in the practice of self-expression and growth.
Pop Potential: Arete is led by some of San Francisco’s “Transformation All-Stars.” Local life-coach celebs and up-and-coming powerhouses, both men and women, lead participants with finesse we haven’t seen since Dr. J and Larry Bird graced the courts. The small course makes this an incredible value for participants. Other than that, it’s a total word of mouth operation, and no hard sell – this keeps the Arete community, as a whole, small and tightknit, leaving very little room for anything else “pop”. And I think we like it that way.
“Get Real” Potential: After the experience, folks are sometimes so swept away that they get a little heady and “transformation-eyed.” You might get emails from people about the state of beauty in their morning cereal. It’s a little like people speaking the lesson without studying the book sometimes. If participants check out and just take notes, rather than letting go into the experience, you get a lot of folks who know that everything is perfect, without really knowing why.
What I Got out of it: Arete opened up some areas of my heart and brain that were new to me. The course then helped me to understand where these areas/actions originated from – which is just as helpful as also being given the tools, love and support needed to go back out into the world to face and change them, and take back lives that our rightfully ours.
Learn more about The Arete Experience

Review: A.W.E. Authentic Woman Experience

sherox — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 17:57:34 +0000

What it is: This is an intimate (10-15 participants) weekend course, just for women, led by a pair of radiant, brilliant women life coaches who actually hold advanced degrees. As they say, “This course is for women who desire to deepen their relationships, live passionately and feel more engaged and fulfilled in life”.
The first half of the course is women-only bonding, opening, and experiencing the journey to radiance, following a model of distinctions and exercises. The second half of the course is where women explore their relationship to men and intimacy with men. Hand-picked and copiously trained fellas are brought in to contribute this part of the course.
Growth Potential: Limitless, in that women have the opportunity to leave their stories about men in the past, through a particular exercise more powerful than any other I have experienced. This is where many women receive the lasting benefits of the course, although the model is useful for learning to open oneself. The other exercises provide a safe space to express past-based fears about connecting with women, creating a new experience of other women through trust, nurturing, and fun.
Pop Potential: I don’t think Madonna will be tracking down this course anytime soon. She seems to have her hands full of Kabbalah and kids. This course is primarily local, non-famous, and non-commercial.
“Get Real” Potential: I am soooo not uptight but when they wanted certain parts of my anatomy (not linked to my vocal chords) to audibly express themselves, I was all “get real!” I was somewhat distressed that the word “pussy” was tossed out freely and without warning by my courseleaders. For me, that’s an intimate word I reserve for my closest girlfriends and lovers. What happened to good old fashioned “vagina”? There were definitely moments when the little voice in my head was alternately giggling and groaning.
What I got out of it: For me, it was worth every cent. To be opened in that way at that time in my life was exactly what I needed. To have the opportunity to do some deep work on the way I experience men was life-changing. I met some beautiful, radiant women in the process. Unfortunately one of the women dropped out before the end of the course, which was troubling.
Read more about A.W.E. Authentic Woman Experience

Growth Pop » experience

Review: The Arete Experience

Review: A.W.E. Authentic Woman Experience