Inside the Rosemary’s Fig “tunnel” at Gather Farm, where the self-marriage/soul commitment ceremonies will take place

In a week, the intrepid women who make up my Turned-On Living 2023 group are coming to our weekend retreat in Providence, Rhode Island, where I now call home. This is a momentous moment! We will be together in the flesh! We have been together in a yearlong adventure of Turned-On Living through months like Anti-People-Pleasing, Embodied Self-Compassion, Visioning (Getting Clear About What You Really Want) .Rest/Digital Detox, and Prioritizing Pleasure. Now is the time when we get to know each other as living bodies, outside of the little Hollywood Squares boxes we have all come to know on Zoom.

We dance at the start of all our weekly meetings as a ritual to get present. Now we will be able to rock out with each other in person! On the agenda: dancing in the woods in the riotous New England fall foliage.

On the last day of our retreat, we will be doing self-marriage, or soul commitment, ceremonies at Gather Farm, a beautiful spot near Providence where magical yoga, dance, and meditation classes happen in nature. I am so excited that we are going to be doing the ceremonies in such a gorgeous natural spot!

the land at Gather Farm, where the soul commitment ceremonies will take place during the Turned-On Living retreat!

The self-marriage, or soul commitment, ceremonies are a chance to pledge inner love in simple vows witnessed by the other women and me, kindred spirits on the path of Turned-On Living. We have talked about how they will pussywalk down the aisle. Pussywalking is a big theme in Turned-On Living, a practice we return to again and again as a mindful embodiment of self-appreciation and confidence in the way we walk through the world as women.

Now here is something interesting. I am not sure how many of these women would be doing a soul commitment, or self-marriage, ceremony this year if they were not part of the Turned-On Living group.

Most of them came into the program with other desires at the forefront, like wanting to learn how to have fun again, or to get clear about what they really want for their lives. They wanted to have meaningful conversations in a consistent community of personal growth among kindred spirits. Self-marriage was not at the top of the agenda. In fact, most of them are calling it “soul commitment” rather than self-marriage because that language resonates more. Maybe soul commitment is the eating broccoli of personal growth – something you know could be good for you but it’s a bit scary and maybe even too healthy to consider!

Here’s why I bring this up. There is a power of being in a group to take you to places that you might not get to on your own.

There is a particular power in being part of a small group in particular, that meets consistently and really gets to know each other, not in a performative way to sound smart or special, but in a real way where you can let your guard down and show up as yourself, in all your real glory.

When we are in a group, we can learn from each other, witness each other, and get lifted up by the support of knowing that we are not the only ones trying something new. This  was definitely true during the Anti-People Pleasing month of Turned-On Living, perhaps the most confrontational month that had us looking at people-pleasing patterns of being “too nice.” There is nothing like ignoring your own truth that will drain your turn-on for life.

I am excited about meeting these special women!

In the meantime, I am starting to talk with women to form the cohort of special women who will make up Turned–On Living 2024. If reading about these adventures tugs at your soul, reach out and set up a time to talk. I talk with each person in the cohort to form the group, because it’s a small group and we are together for a whole year. We will get to know each other and discover if Turned-On Living is right for you. I take a lot of care with the group because it’s all about creating a feeling of safety and belonging, where everyone feels comfortable being real. That’s where the good stuff happens, in realness. Take a look at this page, and book a call or enter your email to start the conversation.