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Integral Becoming: A Whole-Being Approach to Growth and Healing
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Integral Becoming: A Whole-Being Approach to Growth and Healing
Home
Embodied Awakening into Unique Self
About
Whole-Self Evolution Sessions
Embodied Awakening Circle
Mentorship
Unique Self Awakening
Designing Your Unique Meditation Practice
Benefits
Videos
Blog
Poetry
FAQs
Books
Upcoming Events
Contact
Home
Embodied Awakening into Unique Self
About
Whole-Self Evolution Sessions
Embodied Awakening Circle
Mentorship
Unique Self Awakening
Designing Your Unique Meditation Practice
Benefits
Videos
Blog
Poetry
FAQs
Books
Upcoming Events
Contact
Clarifying Your Unique Self: The Sacred Upgrade from Idealized Image to Embodied Essence
Tom Ronen Goddard, PhD, CCEP 4/3/25 Tom Ronen Goddard, PhD, CCEP 4/3/25

Clarifying Your Unique Self: The Sacred Upgrade from Idealized Image to Embodied Essence

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From Burden to Blessing: Reclaiming the Idealized Self-Image
Tom Ronen Goddard, PhD, CCEP 4/2/25 Tom Ronen Goddard, PhD, CCEP 4/2/25

From Burden to Blessing: Reclaiming the Idealized Self-Image

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The Battle Between Who You Were and Who You’re Becoming
Tom Ronen Goddard, PhD, CCEP 3/9/25 Tom Ronen Goddard, PhD, CCEP 3/9/25

The Battle Between Who You Were and Who You’re Becoming

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Why Trying to “Get Rid of Ego” Can Backfire (and What to Do Instead)
Tom Ronen Goddard, PhD, CCEP 2/20/25 Tom Ronen Goddard, PhD, CCEP 2/20/25

Why Trying to “Get Rid of Ego” Can Backfire (and What to Do Instead)

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IS THIS FOR YOU?

You'll know

This retreat is for people who are ready to practice, not just learn. You don't need background in any of the traditions mentioned above. You don't need to have done somatic work before, or to know what "non-dual" means. What matters is that something in the description above rang true — some version of that gap is mine, and I'm ready to close it.

You might be someone who's been in therapy for years and knows their patterns intimately, but still finds them running the show. You might be a meditator who's touched something deep on the cushion but can't bring it into your relationships. You might be a healer or practitioner who gives this kind of presence to others but hasn't received it yourself. You might be in a major life transition — a career change, a loss, a midlife reckoning — and you sense that what's needed isn't more figuring out, but more inhabiting.

What connects these people is a willingness to be in the body, to be witnessed in the vulnerable places, and to let something already known become something actually lived.

This retreat is not therapy or clinical treatment, and isn't suited for someone who prefers to observe rather than participate, or who needs wheelchair-accessible facilities (Spring Forest has uneven terrain and stairs).

THE ARC

Four Days. Five Movements.

The retreat doesn't march forward — it spirals. Each movement returns to the body with more depth, more permission, more recognition.

Thursday Evening — Arriving We gather. We orient. We begin to notice the lenses through which we've been looking — at ourselves and the world. The container forms and the body starts to settle into a different rhythm.

Friday — Mapping the Selves Where am I starting from? Through journaling, dyad work, somatic practice, and breathwork, we meet the parts of ourselves we've built to survive — not to exile them, but to see them clearly. We locate the "false core sentence," the deepest lie you've believed about yourself, and discover that even your defenses contain distorted light.

Saturday — The Crossing The essential turn. Through individual somatic explorations, recognition practices, and guided walks in the forest, you cross from the familiar self into something the traditions call True Self — the direct experience that separation was never real. Then the deeper move: True Self is true, but it's not the whole story. Something singular begins to emerge. You are not separate from the whole, and you are irreducibly you.

Sunday Morning — Living It From realization to responsibility. What is the specific gift you're here to give? What commitment emerges from what you've experienced? We prepare for re-entry: how will you live this when you go home?

Sunday Afternoon — Embodied Integration We close not with words but with the body. DanceWave at Living Arts Collective becomes the culminating ritual — a full-body integration of the journey. Awakening is not escape from the body. It is full inhabitation.

YOUR GUIDE

Ronen Goddard

PhD in Psychology · Certified Core Energetics Practitioner (Institute of Core Energetics) · Senior student and lineage holder with Marc Gafni since 2010 · Integral framework practitioner since the late 1990s · Three decades of tantric training in the Rudi-ji and Christopher Wallis lineages, rooted in Kashmir Shaivism

I came to this work because understanding wasn't enough — I needed to live it.

I've spent fifteen years immersed in Unique Self teaching as both practice and transmission. My tantra training spans three decades in lineages rooted in Kashmir Shaivism — traditions of awakening through the body, through sensation, through everything you already are.

I am not here to fix you. What I offer is accompaniment — presence that holds space while your own system remembers its rhythm. Sometimes I'm a mirror. Sometimes a midwife. Always a fellow pilgrim.

This retreat is offered through Integral Becoming.

PRACTICAL DETAILS

Everything You Need to Know

Dates & Times Arrive: Thursday, May 28, 2026 by 5:00 PM Depart: Sunday, May 31, 2026 after 2:00 PM Duration: 4 days / 3 nights

Location Spring Forest Community 1907 New Sharon Church Rd Hillsborough, NC 27278 In the Piedmont countryside between Durham and Hillsborough, ~25 miles from RDU Airport.

What's Included All program sessions and practices · 3 nights lodging at Spring Forest · Plant-based meals (Thursday dinner through Sunday lunch) · Transport to closing ceremony venue · All teaching materials

Lodging & Meals Rooms are shared or private based on preference and availability (same price). Meals are plant-based, prepared on-site. Dietary restrictions accommodated with advance notice — include details in your application.

INVESTMENT & REGISTRATION

Reserve Your Place

Early Bird: $995 — through April 15, 2026 Standard: $1,200 — after April 15, 2026

Special Fees for Couples (up to 2 couples): The fee for a second member of the couple is $700.

Squad Rate: Coming with 2+ friends? Reply to any email or note it in your application for group pricing.

Price includes all sessions, three nights' lodging, plant-based meals, transportation to the closing ceremony, and all teaching materials.

Up to 5 hours of post-retreat group integration sessions are included at no additional charge — because real integration happens after you go home.

Payment accepted via PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle; alternative arrangements available for international participants.

How it works: Complete the application below. Upon acceptance, you'll receive payment instructions to reserve your spot. Capacity is limited to 10 participants. The application is brief — it helps us ensure this retreat is a good fit for where you are right now.

Cancellation policy: 50% refund if cancelled 14+ days before. No refund within 14 days.

Questions? Email ronengoddard@gmail.com

QUESTIONS

Frequently Asked

  • Answer: Yes. Most participants won't arrive with background in these specific traditions. What matters is your willingness to practice — to be in your body, to be witnessed, and to engage the exercises. You don't need to study anything in advance.

  • Answer: No. In the Kashmir Shaivism tradition that informs this retreat, tantric means that every dimension of experience — sensation, emotion, desire, thought — is a valid doorway to recognition of your true nature. This is not the popularized "California Tantra" of Western imagination. There is no sexual content in this retreat.

  • Answer: The retreat weaves together somatic exercises (grounding, breathwork, movement), recognition practices (moments of turning attention toward awareness itself), relational work (dyads, witnessed speaking, small group sharing), journaling, guided walks, and a closing ecstatic dance ceremony. About 60% is experiential and body-based, 25% is relational, and 15% is teaching to orient the experience.

  • Answer: The work is designed to meet you where you are. You will be supported by an experienced Core Energetics practitioner (Ronen) throughout. The container is held carefully — you'll never be pushed beyond what your system is ready for. If you feel overwhelmed, that's actually valuable information, and you'll be accompanied through it, not left alone with it

  • Answer: Spring Forest Community has uneven terrain and stairs. Most practices involve standing or movement. If you have specific mobility concerns, please note them in your application and we'll discuss whether the setting can accommodate your needs.

  • Answer: Comfortable clothes you can move in, layers for the forest, a journal, any personal meditation supplies you use (cushion, shawl, etc.), and an open willingness to be surprised. A detailed packing list will be sent upon acceptance.

  • Answer: 50% refund if you cancel 14 or more days before the retreat. No refund within 14 days of the start date. If the retreat is cancelled by the organizer, you'll receive a full refund.

You are not a project to be improved. You are a mystery to be lived.

Ten places. Four days. One invitation.

APPLY NOW
APPLY NOW
 
 

Email Dr. Goddard

Services offered are educational and developmental in nature and are not a substitute for licensed mental-health care.

Recent Writing by Ronen Goddard

Ronen Goddard, PhD, CCEP writes regularly on embodiment, somatic practice, and psychospiritual development. Recent essays explore the gap between intellectual understanding and lived experience, the role of the body in transformation, and the intersection of Core Energetics, Kashmir Shaivism, and Unique Self realization.

Read more at tomronengoddard.substack.com