They Came, they Saw…they Participated!

……the School of Awakening opens its arms to the media

Malika and Sidika (the marketing team) tell the story of our first media weekend

Malika

Inviting the media to observe and experience what you do can be a gamble – it can be a quick way to reach thousands of people, but there’s always a chance they could misinterpret or misrepresent what you do. We decided to take that gamble and invited nine members of the media to Croydon Hall in January to observe and participate in Tantra singles and couples meditations, and experience the holistic healing we offer. Croydon Hall on the edge of Exmoor National Park in Somerset have been graciously hosting our residential groups for the last 10 years so we were very happy when they joined us in our invitation to the media.

The snow did its best to scupper us and with just a few days to go and Croydon Hall completely snowed in, it looked like we might have to cancel. Sarita, however, was adamant that we shouldn’t cancel because of the weather! Perhaps she whispered in the ear of the weather elementals – for amazingly two days before we were due to start, the temperature began to rise, and everyone finally made it in one piece. The Friday night started with a press conference, with Sarita and Suta answering questions.

Saturday was Singles Tantra day – what would the media make of it?!! Much to my surprise, they all wanted to participate, which I thought was very brave of them, and I was also really happy that the journalists would get to taste for themselves the Tantra experience. It’s one thing reading (or writing) about Tantra or even photographing or asking someone how they experience it – it’s another thing entirely to actually experience it yourself. You could say it’s a bit like the difference between reading the ingredients on the wrapper of a bar of chocolate as opposed to unwrapping it, breaking off a piece, putting it on your mouth and letting it melt all over your tongue – savouring every subtle nuance of flavour….Mmmm! Only one of the journalists had done a Tantra group before, 10 years ago, so it was all pretty much new territory. Sarita and Suta planned a really beautiful group, including a meditation from the Vigyan Bhirav Tantra and the Meditation of Liberation – the stunning human yantra was captured on film at last! Well done Sidika for clambering up the ladder for the aerial shots!

We were all kept on our toes with a packed schedule of interviewing and session giving, which included our wonderful therapists giving 36 sessions in two days!!

The Croydon Hall chefs surpassed themselves on Saturday evening and presented us with a spectacular and absolutely delicious sushi banquet. The Q&A and sharing which followed gave our fantastic team of Tantra teachers the chance to share their wisdom and answer questions from journalists and the audience (including me!!), which they handled with grace and humour. An evening of spa and bar was most welcome at the end of a very busy day!

On Sunday, we experienced Couples Tantra. I took part in this day, and the presence of love and intimacy was so beautiful and so strong, I was blown away. We did such gorgeous meditations as the tea ceremony and Satyam Shivam Sundaram – with the women feeling themselves to be beauty, the men feeling themselves to be godliness, and the two meeting as Truth.

We ended the day with an extremely touching and beautiful candlelit ceremony, where we passed the flame of Tantra round our circle. All the journalists were without exception extremely touched by what they had experienced and all ready to go away and write movingly about their time at Croydon Hall.

It was so wonderful to experience what an amazing team of therapists, teachers and organisers we have at the School of Awakening. This weekend was a complete unknown for us, but we all pulled together so well and gave the journalists a taste of the beauty and power of Tantra, which will really raise its profile in such a positive way. We felt we went some way to redress the stereotype of Tantra that is commonly portrayed in the media.

The weekend was filmed for the Holistic Channel and for Ambient Productions, and we will let you know when the documentaries and promo pieces are available and also when the articles come out.

With love,

Malika xxxxxxx

And a bit from Sidika too….

Wow…what a weekend! I was particularly touched on our first evening just before the press conference when we invited the film makers and journalists to introduce themselves. Robert shared that he and his colleague Nicola from the Holistic Channel were making a documentary about how Love transforms Consciousness – he gave a very moving and impassioned talk as to the necessity for this in our war-torn world. (I think Sarita wanted to adopt him as part of the Tantra team!) Then Merlina from Ambient Media shared about the documentary she would be making – a piece featuring original artwork and visual poetry based around her personal journey of discovery, exploring what Tantra is and how it relate to her own experiences. Finally the journalists introduced themselves, the publications they were writing for and a bit about their particular interest in Tantra and their writing angle. Although everyone who had been invited to participate in this media event had agreed in advance that they were very happy to be photographed, filmed and interviewed, it was good to hear that these journalists and film makers were here to support us in spreading this amazing work.

As I wasn’t participating in most of the meditations, I was able to feast my eyes on the beauty around me as seasoned Tantric participants mixed with journalists and underwent the alchemy of Tantra. For much of the time during the Couples Day, I was happily behind the camera lens as Merlina had entrusted me with her camera so that I could film her participating. Years ago, I’d dreamed of making a beautiful, inspiring and transformative film and now I was getting a piece of the action. Some of the couples meditations had me misty-eyed – they were so beautiful and intimate. I really hope that the tenderness and love I saw between couples is conveyed on the video and allows viewers to get a real feeling of how powerful and beautiful this work is.

In between filming the group meditations, our valiant film-makers, packed up their gear and headed off for the Zen Room where we had set up a sessions clinic to allow the journalists to experience the various healing arts that the School teaches. A few choice shots with some willing models and then off to the Study (or should I say, Studio?) for filming interviews with teachers and practitioners.

We’ll be putting some video profiles on our website for the teachers and organisers so that people can get a better sense of who we are and what we are offering – and generally what a lovely bunch of people we are! There were some butterflies beforehand as for most of us this was our first time on camera. Lots of last minute coaching going on and questions such as ‘Is my hair OK?’ and ‘Do I look alright in this dress?’! You’ll be able to judge for yourself very soon as the clips will be appearing on our ‘About Us’ page.

On Sunday night, after we waved goodbye to the last of the media and some of the other participants, most of us retired to the spa to enjoy the saunas, steam room and flotation tank before flopping into bed.

On Monday, as most of the School’s team were uncharacteristically assembled in one location, we had planned a team meeting. We tackled a very ambitious agenda including a review of the weekend, future plans for the School, marketing and business ideas brainstorming and a spontaneous photo shoot (see left)! Lots of ideas came bubbling up including other media events and all kinds of weird and wonderful offerings which we’ll be revealing to you in our newsletter, blog and website over the coming months…Watch this space!

Love to you,

Sidika