My experience was enlightening to say the least. Really glad I took a leap and decided to try this out. I’ve always been taught not to dig into rumors and have an experience for yourself. When anything is in its infancy expect bumps along the road. I don’t know Gervais or Kat or any of the staff personally and I care to let that happen organically, all I know from what I see is effort and as far as I’m concerned, they try to bring the best experience they know how. So staying off the rumors in the thread this is what I’ve got.

Prep classes give you a chance to get in contact with those you’ll participate with and develop a relationship with a group of people you will be spending some intimate moments of your life with for 2 days. Alot of questions are asked and as I take the facilitators as “matter of fact”, not necessarily rude which is fine with me. My wife had a ton of questions and they seemed to get answered quite well.

Before the ceremony, the asking for firewood and the like was interesting but no issue to me, the way I saw it was you could grab something, or decide not to. I used to be a trainer so I don’t get too caught up over prices of things, prices reflect perceived value of the seller and the buyer so the tag didn’t bother me when considering this ceremony. I thought it was either this or fly to Peru.

The space is fine, If I wanted something private I would’ve paid for a private ceremony. Understanding the variable of being around other humans who can be loud, snoring, laughing, crying kind of helps so you’re not disappointed no matter who you’re next to.

Most of all what I can speak about and what I know is what I saw and experienced. I had some of the most transformative time of my life in that ceremony. I dealt with some things that meant a great deal to me. The volunteers and facilitators work as hard as they know how (which is all I asked for not perfection) any gaps that I noticed I’m confident will be fixed with time, experience, and healthy conversations. Music was enjoyable and when I felt any of it was too much or I wanted to go deeper I had earplugs and a something to cover my eyes available. Understanding that things aren’t perfect and still being okay is the hardest thing we deal with in this new society so I try to take things as they are and if it’s something that needs adjustment offering that criticism face to face.

When it was over, I saw a ton of people talking, crying and being open. Some learned some major things about themselves, others didn’t get much of an experience at all. It was a spectrum and I was okay whether I learned anything or not, expectation is a killer of experience, so I try and spin whatever I can to at least be a lesson for me moving forward.

Hope this helps, safe journeys all!