Decolonizing Desire
for the People of the Philippine Diaspora
A Webinar
Desire is not a detour—it is a remembering. When we deepen into the wants that live beneath the noise, we reclaim a thread of vitality that guides us. Whether in love, labor, or liberation, this longing becomes a current—fresh, alive, and capable of carrying us into something wholly new.
As people of the Philippine diaspora, we've learned to navigate multiple worlds - but at what cost to our authentic selves?
Our upcoming webinar "Decolonizing Desire" creates space to explore what it means to honor BOTH our cultural heritage AND our personal sovereignty.
What happens when we ask:
What if "utang na loob" could exist without guilt or exploitation?
What if "kapwa" included honoring our own desires?
What if our bodies already know what colonial history made us forget?
How does colonial history shape what we think we should want?
This isn't about choosing between Western individualism or Filipino collectivism. It's about growing something new in the fertile ground between worlds.
When we attune to the desires that arise from within—not from pressure, but from presence—we return to the body’s original knowing. Desire becomes a pulse, a direction, a source of vitality. In relationships, in purpose, in resistance, this embodied life force moves through us as clarity, creativity, and change.
Join us for 90 minutes of conversation, somatic practice, and community connection as we tend to the gardens of our authentic desires. Monday, June 2, 2025 from 4PM - 5:30PM PT | $20 USD
Weekend Immersion
This in-person immersion invites us to go deeper—into land, into lineage, into the subtleties of our own becoming.
We return to familiar questions:
What if utang na loob could exist without guilt or exploitation?
What if kapwa included honoring our own desires?
What if our bodies already know what colonial history made us forget?
But now, we ask them in place—together.
Held at Landwell, a 22-acre sanctuary rooted in an ancient floodplain, blessed by creeks and sacred groves, this land holds stories of healing and return. It welcomes those impacted by colonialism and modernity and has become a gathering place for Indigenous and other wisdom keepers, healers, and culture-bearers cultivating more vital, liberated communities.
Over this weekend, we will eat, rest, grieve, and celebrate together. We will engage in ritual, somatic practice, and deep listening—not only to each other, but to the land itself.
When we attune to the desires that arise from within—not from pressure, but from presence—we return to the body’s original knowing. Desire becomes a pulse, a direction, a source of vitality. In relationships, in purpose, in resistance, this embodied life force moves through us as clarity, creativity, and change. We are not choosing between Western individualism and Filipino collectivism. It’s about growing something new in the fertile ground between—something rooted, relational, and radically alive.
Come as you are. Come with your ache, your wonder, and your longing to belong. Come ready to explore what can only emerge when we are held—by land, lineage, and one another.
Friday, June 27, 2025 - 5PM PT through Sunday, June 29, 2025 - 12PM PT | $250 USD
Co-facilitators
Carmen Leilani De Jesus
Carmen is a second-generation Filipina-American writer, performer, educator, and cultural strategist. She is certified in hypnotherapy and trauma repatterning, and is an initiated diviner in the Dagara lineage tradition. As a consent educator, she teaches professional trainings independently and as faculty for the School of Consent. Carmen’s creative works include Prison Dancer, a musical about Filipino liberation through dance, and the film Ang Pamana: The Inheritance, which explores Filipino grieving rituals and diasporic identity. Consentisapractice.com
M. Rako Fabionar
Rako comes from a long lineage of Filipino educators, organizers, and healers. He has created and taught courses in Filipino and ethnic studies, facilitated retreats for the Center for Babaylan Studies, and is an initiated elder in the Dagara lineage tradition. Rako is also the founder and executive director of the Innovative Learning and Living Institute, a nonprofit and social ecosystem stewarding regeneative and equitable futures: ilali.global
