BITCHES & BASTARDS WITH JAMIE CATTO AND RUBY MAY
6/7 October 2018 - Bitches & Bastards - Amsterdam
24/25 November 2018 - Bitches & Bastards - London
8/9 December 2018 - Bitches & Bastards - Berlin

What if our shadows could be turned into treasures and become the fodder for intimacy, deepening and growth?

Many of us run away from the difficult and dark sides of relationship or feel like something must be going wrong when dramas and conflicts arise, but what if the pain is a sign that something is going right? What if our loved ones were the perfect triggers for us to resolve the wounds we have accumulated around relating and truly stepping into our power? What if life was inviting us to turn towards the challenges, rather than away?

It’s time for us to transform the suffering sides of ourselves which arise so dramatically in our relationships, friendships, at home and at work. It’s time to stop struggling with the taboos, hiding the shameful, painful parts of ourselves which get triggered when we get close to others.

The more we feel shame for how we are, and what we truly deep down want, the more destructive we become. Our neediness, our sense of entitlement, our rage, our sense of being superior or inferior, our disempowerment, our selfishness –  these turn us into Bitches and Bastards when they are not consciously accepted and integrated.

Jamie Catto and Ruby May warmly invite you to a contained space to illuminate and transform the shadows which can run riot in our relationships…

During our two days we will:

• Explore the power of humour and lightness to transform that which is buried or painful or the issues we feel shame around.
• Learn to recognise the multiple ways we give our power away – such as through manipulation, avoidance, control, blame or playing the victim – and explore who we are beyond this.
• Discover how our childhood attachment experiences affect the way we relate later in life, bringing more understanding and compassion to ourselves and our partners.
• Deepen our connection to our bodies, and explore tools to support staying in the present moment and learn how to recognise and deal with reactivity.
• Explore emotions as signs that we have a need that is important to us, learn how to identify our needs and practice and take home tools for giving and receiving effective communication from the heart.
• Learn about the neuroscience behind why we react the way we do and marvel at the ingenuity of our bodies and brains!

As we hold the magnifying glass over what’s not working in the way we relate, we may become aware of the way in which our ideas about love may be outdated, and symptomatic of the same paradigm of ownership, scarcity, victimhood, entitlement and valuing external authority, that is the driving force behind so much suffering and imbalance in the world. 

The common underlying subtext to the way many of us relate is that our partners exist to meet our needs, and we become frustrated and enraged when they don’t cooperate. Our undercurrent of ‘not enoughness’ can make us feel threatened when our partners don’t love us in the way that we wish them to, or when their love and attention flows elsewhere. Experiencing life as ‘happening to us’, we can create the same experiences again and again, asking ourselves why our patterns keep recreating themselves.

Through tenderly shining the light on our pain, we can slowly begin to transform our narrative around relating and see ourselves as conscious creators of our experience, rather than passive bystanders, with life giving us the perfect experiences and mirrors to integrate the missing parts of ourselves.

As we come into our ‘enoughness’ we can change our focus to what it is we wish to create in life and wish to give to our partners, rather than what we can ‘get’. Viewing relationship as a vehicle for our growth, we begin to see ourselves as the safe-guarders, rather than judgers of each others shadows.

Whether you are single or in an intimate relationship Bitches and Bastards will take you on a journey deep within, balancing vulnerability with playfulness, depth with humour.

Until now, we’ve manipulated, we’ve lied, we’ve deceived, we’ve tried to control, we’ve escaped and avoided, we’ve fought and we’ve warred – we are the Bitches and Bastards of our time!  Here’s a space to celebrate your darkness and to mine the jewels for transforming this destruction into power and love!

UPCOMING BITCHES & BASTARDS WORKSHOPS

6/7 October 2018 - Bitches & Bastards - Amsterdam
24/25 November 2018 - Bitches & Bastards - London
8/9 December 2018 - Bitches & Bastards - Berlin