The Expanded Self: A Half-Day Journey with Cacao, Breathwork & Sound

Join us for a unique collaborative experience that blends the powerful modalities of Ceremonial Cacao, therapeutic Breathwork, and resonant Sound Healing, facilitated by Brianne (Mandala Breathwork) and Sophia (Atma Prema Holistic).

Workshop Details:

Date: Sunday, July 13, 2025
Time: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM (Doors open at 10:45 AM)
Location: Cosmic Access – 1779 NW Maynard Rd, Cary, NC 27513
Registration Deadline: Friday, July 11, 2025, at midnight EST (or when sold out)
Exchange:
- Early Bird: $100 (Available until June 30, 2025)
- Regular Ticket: $111 (From July 1, 2025)

About the Experience:

Immerse yourself in "The Expanded Self," a transcendent half-day journey where sacred cacao, intentional breath, and resonant sound converge for a deeply transformative experience. This workshop is intentionally designed to help you open your heart, relax the body, release physical and emotional tension, quiet the mind, and reconnect with your expansive inner wisdom.

The Modalities:

Ceremonial Cacao: Opening the Heart

Our experience will commence as we share Ceremonial Grade Cacao. (Using a simple, direct opening we discussed; please let me know if you settled on a different specific first sentence here.) Revered for centuries as a sacred plant medicine, cacao gently opens the heart space, fostering a sense of warmth, compassion, and heightened intuition. This beautiful elixir helps to ease the mind and prepare your entire being for deeper exploration, creating a safe and loving container for the work to come.

Breathwork: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Science

For millennia, cultures worldwide have utilized intentional breath techniques for wellbeing. This therapeutic experience begins with guidance in a specific circular breathing technique. You are then invited on an inner journey, where an emotionally evocative music set helps you move beyond common mental chatter and access deeper states of awareness. This powerful process works directly with your body's natural responses to help soothe your nervous system (partly by engaging the calming vagus nerve) and can gently quiet the part of your brain often busy with routine thoughts (the Default Mode Network or DMN). By fostering fresh perspectives and the release of stored tension, this practice supports neuroplasticity – your brain's remarkable ability to adapt, learn, and create new, positive pathways. The entire session is held within a carefully prepared, safe, and supportive space.

Sound Healing: Integrative Immersion

Sound baths are a whole-body listening experience that nurture and ground the mind, body, and spirit. Sophia from Atma Prema Holistic curates immersive sound journeys that support deep rest, relaxation, and energetic alignment. Using a rich array of instruments like crystal and Himalayan bowls, drums, gongs, and chimes, these sound frequencies invite you into a deeper state of consciousness, allowing your brain waves to slow down and shift from an active state to a more calm or dream-like state. In this reflective space, participants can experience clarity of mind, creativity, and a heightened sense of intuition.

What You Can Expect From This Workshop:

Welcome, Introduction & Cacao Ritual
Breathwork Preparation & Activation
Intense Drumming & Deep Breath Voyage
Integrative Sound Bath Immersion
Gentle Re-emergence & Quiet Reflection
Light Snacks for Grounding & Nourishment
Integration Sharing Circle & Closing Connections

The Synergistic Flow: How Cacao, Breath, and Sound Unite

"The Expanded Self" is crafted as an integrated experience where each phase of your journey naturally prepares you for, and enriches, the one that follows. This intentional layering creates a uniquely potent path to insight and release:

Cultivating Heart-Centered Openness: We begin by fostering a state of warmth, deep receptivity, and heightened intuition through the cacao ceremony. This initial opening of the heart space gently quiets the analytical mind, creating a safe container for the deeper processes that follow.
Navigating the Depths Within: Building upon this open-hearted foundation, you are guided into profound inner exploration using therapeutic breathwork and an evocative musical score, allowing for somatic release and access to subconscious insights.
Integrating with Resonant Harmony: Following your deep inner work, the journey culminates in the sound bath. Enveloping vibrational frequencies then help to harmonize energies, anchor new insights, and allow transformative effects to settle deeply.

This powerful interplay ensures each step is amplified, leading to a richer, more cohesive path to self-discovery.

Potential Benefits and Outcomes:

Profound release of stored physical, mental, and emotional tension.
Heightened clarity, expanded creativity, and sharper intuition.
A deeper, more authentic connection to yourself, others, and your inner guidance.
Significant stress reduction and nervous system regulation.
Increased feelings of joy, peace, and embodied well-being.
Access to meaningful insights, emotional breakthroughs, or transformative spiritual experiences.
A renewed sense of purpose, empowerment, and inner resilience.
Enhanced self-awareness and a more compassionate relationship with yourself.

Logistics & Preparation:

Detailed information on arrival, parking, what to bring, and other logistical details for "The Expanded Self" can be found on our website. We also provide a comprehensive preparation guide (PDF) which you can access and print for your convenience. Workshop Website

Registration:

Advance tickets are required for this workshop and can be purchased using the "Purchase Ticket" button below. Please note that tickets will not be sold at the door.

Final Registration Deadline: Friday, July 11th, 2025, at midnight EST.
Spaces are limited for this intimate experience and may sell out before the deadline, so we encourage booking early!

Our Commitment to Inclusion & Accessibility:

We believe that transformative experiences like "The Expanded Self" should be welcoming and accessible to all individuals who feel genuinely called to participate. We are dedicated to fostering an inclusive environment that honors diversity in all its forms.

Community-Supported Access: Scholarship Program As part of this commitment, we offer a limited number of partial scholarships for individuals from marginalized communities and/or those experiencing significant financial barriers that would otherwise prevent attendance. We warmly invite you to apply if this support would make your participation possible.

To apply for a scholarship, please complete our brief application form:

Scholarship Application

Please submit your scholarship application by July 3, 2025 to allow for timely review.

Important Considerations:

Breathwork and sound healing can be profoundly transformative and serve as powerful complements to your personal growth. They are not, however, a substitute for traditional therapy or medical treatment. The beauty of these experiences lies in their personal nature; each journey is unique, and as such, specific outcomes will naturally vary from person to person.

To ensure a safe and comfortable environment for everyone, as one of our team members has a severe nut allergy, we kindly request that no snacks containing nuts be brought into the workshop space. We sincerely appreciate your cooperation with this. If you have any severe allergies you'd like us to be aware of, please list them on your registration form.

Immersive Sound for Your Journey

An integral part of your breathwork experience is our custom-made music set, specifically designed to help quiet the mind and support your deeper exploration. This music will be played at a significant, enveloping volume. The intentional use of this powerful sound is a key element in accessing profound states of awareness.

For those with strong sound sensitivities, bringing new, unopened earplugs is an option. Please note that using earplugs will naturally modify the intended immersive quality of the sound journey.

Medical Contraindications:

Please be aware that deeper styles of breathwork can elicit intense physical and emotional releases. For this reason, certain medical conditions may preclude participation. These include, but are not limited to: epilepsy, high blood pressure not controlled by medication, cardiovascular disease, recent surgery, pregnancy, and severe unmanaged mental health conditions.

If you have asthma, please bring your inhaler to the session. For more detailed information or a complete list of medical cautions, please refer to the FAQs section on our website or reach out if you are unsure.

If you have any concerns or questions about whether this workshop is suitable for you, please don't hesitate to reach out to us directly—we are here to support you in making an informed decision.

We genuinely look forward to sharing this transformative "Expanded Self" journey with you!