Intimacy Practices that are Gender-Continuum-friendly at Burningman - a highlight in my teaching career. My first year at the Festival was 1998, I knew no one except some new Tantric friends from the Bay area, and what an adventure it was! I identify as gender fluid (used to have to say Bi-sexual, but it's more accurate to say Fluid), having gone through cycles and different stages of connection and expression in my relationships. At the Man, I found participants in life that longed to have freedom of choice, no questions asked. Consenting Adults.
I began studying yoga at age 21, and am a lifelong dancer, teaching creative movement, theatre, yoga, lymph detox massage, post-op and baby & pregnancy massage. After a divorce, I wanted to combine my career with the spirituality that had deepened my personal path. So with 8+ years of advanced Taoist /Kriya Tantra Yoga training, I chose to teach my understanding of authentic Tantra as a pathway to refining the physical body for the evolution of the Soul (1998-2007).
I taught on my own and with others, and was privileged to work with Robert Frey, a distinguished teacher who struggled endlessly with matching girls and boys. In following his, and my students,' desires something continued to mystify me... I always objected to the patriarchal polarized tradition still being promulgated... you must choose one archetype: The Warrior rescues the Maiden. Shiva finds his Shakti. Gods and Goddesses.
What if you weren’t sure which one you were, or wanted? or didn’t want to be either? Why were all those New Age Tantrika single divas & burger heads pressuring me into making my events (hetero) gender-balanced for singles? (as if there IS such a thing as balancing gender? We need to grow to understand each other better. David Deida, listen and learn).
I taught on my own and with others, and was privileged to work with Robert Frey, a distinguished teacher who struggled endlessly with matching girls and boys. In following his, and my students,' desires something continued to mystify me... I always objected to the patriarchal polarized tradition still being promulgated... you must choose one archetype: The Warrior rescues the Maiden. Shiva finds his Shakti. Gods and Goddesses.
What if you weren’t sure which one you were, or wanted? or didn’t want to be either? Why were all those New Age Tantrika single divas & burger heads pressuring me into making my events (hetero) gender-balanced for singles? (as if there IS such a thing as balancing gender? We need to grow to understand each other better. David Deida, listen and learn).
Where was the Conscious New Paradigm of equality and unconditional LOVE for all expressions, without categorizing?
Knowing in my heart, we could/should be able to LOVE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US... NO MATTER (it's not about biology, dad)... In authentic Tantra Yoga traditions, we see the masculine & feminine intrinsically within each person, woven, integrated, vibrant. So, why couldn’t we/my students accept this in our modern day Tantric Puja events? I desired to heal the idea of polarized sexual/gender expression as being Only One or the Other, and I evolved my personal formats to be sure to include Gender Fluid Partners (LGBT).
My experiences at the Burningman Festival showed me there was an IDYLLIC LAND where I had a chance to reach partners of any choice, how to connect, to be intimate, to touch for healing, pleasure, respect, and joyfulness, and to celebrate the possibilities of any and every PAIRING. Honoring the sense that each of us can be safe... to choose to love, to share, without explanation, past or future, to acknowledge the power of NOW.
I was truly in an Intimacy Evolved Heaven there as a Facilitator of CHANGE, under the Tent in the vastness of the desert, no one judging, no rules, just consenting adults, with scores of people’s shining faces peering at me, breathing together, holding space with intense concentration, gathering energy, and bringing it home. HOW MANY PEOPLE I was able to teach - the importance of Touch for Transformation! Thank you for that freedom and opportunity.
Thanks, Burningman, for HERSTORY in Tantric HEAVEN, and many many more incredible adventures I cannot begin to unfold in this synopsis. I remain deeply grateful for my 8 years at BRC.
1998 -2000 - I am involved with the Temple of Ishtar, which morphs into the Love Temple. Our SF-based collective offers free Pujas every night, communication & connection adventures, introduction to Tantric practices.
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2001- I begin offering free Intimate Massage classes for Consenting Adult Pairs of any orientation, and each class, the crowd that gathers, grows a little bigger, and we eventually run out of room. Next year, I promised to get a bigger venue!
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2002 - I join The Infinite Oasis Village, and volunteer with the HeeBeeGeeBee Healers Camp, where dozens of folks gather to participate in free classes in yoga and other alternative health seminars all week at the Man. My classes are limited to 2 hours, I fill 2 and then another 2 impromptu. (40 pairs)
Here's the most popular format I ever offered! SO exhilarating to see people awakened, enlivened and encouraged, to make their own lives, and many more friends' lives, more juicy & vibrant.
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*Sacred Ceremony • opposite or same sex pairs welcome - bring your own partner • each pair stays together.* Let Marci Javril take you on a guided sensational experience, into timeless ecstatic states. Focused intention, partner yoga, orgasmic breathing, tantric & erotic touch. Develop an unspoken, highly charged energy between you that expands and electrifies every movement and moment, opening to more Love. *Each pair stays together in their own "nest" - optional sacred spot massage. Clothing Optional. Wear layers.
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2004 - my THM class was scheduled 2 times (3-hrs), an extra one got added, and we held 30+ pairs each time (96 pairs)! The Coupon system was very handy, and people waited patiently for a coveted spot.
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*My FINAL BRC CLASSes were so filled (there were only 2 because of Critical Tits parade), we allowed a ring of mats around the tent, where people sat in the hot sun instead of the shade, in order to learn this practice.
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2005: Tantric Healing Massage for Intimate Partners at the *HeeBeeGeeBee Healers Tent Classroom* with Marci Javril: Tantra Yoga Educator, Spiritual Minister, Master Bodyworker
- -Wed 8/31 & Thurs 9/1 from 3:30-5:30pm - -FREE! BUT... you must preregister to hold your space by picking up Coupon at 10am on the morning of class (88 pairs).
*These classes were filled an hour ahead with a line out the door, and some singles actually hooked up while waiting in line! yep, that's Burningman ;-)
After my formal teaching partner Robert Frey passed away (June 2004), what happened to the gender balancing, as far as the general public, non-burningman "Pujas for Singles" went..? well, I didn't have to or want to stay with the hetero-only paradigm that he, and many others, have held onto. And in a few years, I found I wanted to move on completely... away from the direction that the Neo-tantric world was heading.
And that's another chapter of Flow to tell...!
And that's another chapter of Flow to tell...!
Final photos were taken at my last Burn 2005, posing with Edgar Bastien, Durian Songbird, Toni DeMarco, and a hunky guy at the Critical Tits Goddess fluffing event!
