Thresholds

Yes — you need to have worked with us in some capacity in person before. This could be through any of our in-person workshops, such as Light Dark Foundations, Advanced Dark Play, Embracing the Darkness or other LDI workshops. It also includes LDEs and the Earth Shadow Intensive. Any one in-person workshop or intensive is a sufficient prerequisite.

This is not an introduction to transformational work. Thresholds is designed for people who already have deep experience exploring themselves and are ready to work with Light and Dark at this level over eight months.

No. Although the Darketypes™ online course provides a very deep understanding of the Darketypes™, it does not delve into the kind of power play we explore in live workshops. You must attend an in-person workshop to gain some experience in that territory before joining Thresholds. There are several opportunities to take a prerequisite before Thresholds begins — see our website offerings tab for more details.

Our workshops are immersive experiences of Light Dark work. You enter a carefully held container, go deep and explore alongside people using the same tools and language.

Thresholds is sustained training. Over eight months, you have more time to play, practice and go further with the same people. You take the work back into your life, see where it holds and where it disappears, then return to train again. The goal is for these capacities to become more available to you in real time, not only something you remember after the fact.

We are going further into the full range of Light Dark work: Integrated Power, dominance and submission, power and surrender, transformational BDSM, Scenes and Ordeals, nature play, and continued work with the Darketypes™ and the gifts they hold.

See the bullet points earlier on this page for more details.

The Practitioner Track is for space holders and leaders who want to become more skillful at meeting darkness in other people. You might work 1:1 with clients, facilitate groups, hold transformational or erotic spaces, or lead a team or organization. While we will be emphasizing guidance and wisdom that applies directly to spaceholding professions, there will be many tools that are relevant for anyone in a position of leadership.

The common thread is not your profession. It’s that other humans look to you for leadership, guidance or support, and you want to become more skillful at holding what emerges when darkness is at play.

No. The Practitioner Track is designed to develop skills you can bring into your own work. It does not certify you to facilitate for the Light Dark Institute. We are also not teaching you marketing skills for your personal offerings. We are however, teaching you skills for how to build strong, safe containers for holding people in darkness, and how to keep your side of the street clean and clear as a leader and holder. Pracitioners who can hold darkness with exquisite skill and clear ethics are rare — you will walk away with highly marketable skills that your clients will deeply appreciate.

Our original announcement estimated $9,000–$15,000 as the cost for Thresholds tuition (depending when you enrolled and which track you chose). But the important distinction is that (as was noted in all of our original promotional materials), we originally intended to charge room & board as a separate cost for all the in-person immersions. Since then, we decided to include room & board in the program price (it actually allows us to offer a discount on those fees). So the price range is actually the same as what we originally estimated, it’s just that now the room & board price is rolled in.

In addition, we've added content and experiences we hadn't originally planned for, without raising the price estimate. All in all, we are now offering greater value for the same price than when we gave the original estimate.

We do include room and board for each of the 4 in-person immersions and what’s included varies depending on the immersion location.

For the October and May immersions, tent camping is included and a variety of upgrades are available for an additional cost.

For the January and March immersions, a bunk bed in a shared room is included and upgrades are available for an additional cost.

Both immersions have high-quality, mostly plant-based catered meals included.

Of course you will gain the most from this program by attending everything that is included. However, we do understand that over 8 months, people have busy lives and might not be able to make every single offering.

For the in-person immersions, we ask that you prioritize attending these and the first one, in October, is mandatory. If you have to, you can miss one of the other 3 immersions and still remain in the program. If you miss more than one immersion, you will not be allowed to continue the program.

For the Zoom sessions, please attend live if possible. However, we will send out a recording after each one. If you miss it live, you are required to watch the recording before the next program event (whether it’s a Zoom or in-person event).

The first day of the immersion (whether a Tuesday or Thursday) there will be an afternoon arrival time with dinner as the first included meal.

The last day of the immersion will end on Sunday for both tracks after lunch which is the last meal that is included. (Practitioner track will begin on Monday of the last retreat for the extra day)