​

​
​
​
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
​
 

​Nagadharma:  Eight Days of Radiant Awakening with Will Johnson, January 31 - February 7, 2025 Bambu Hueco, Montezuma, Costa Rica

​

​

​

​

​

​

   

 The Nagas were pliant and fluid creatures whose bodies undulated as they moved through space.  Often depicted as snakelike, their watery nature gave them great powers as they ventured forth from their natural habitat in oceans, rivers, and lakes to interact with humans on dry land. They were also a thorn in the side of traditional Buddhism who viewed their inherent motility as distracting to the aims of dharma practice.

​

     It's time to restore the good name of the Nagas and acknowledge that they hold a missing key to the explosive liberation that the Buddhists tout as all our birthrights, and I want to invite you to the most transformational gathering I have ever offered.

​

     The gathering will be taught in the form of a traditional meditation retreat but the approach to sitting practice will replace the stone-garden-statue-of-the-Buddha posture with one in which, much like the Nagas, everything can spontaneously move.  Together we will explore three primary somatic koans--or physiological hacks--that liberate the radiant awakened state:

​

     Exploring sitting and standing practice as a surrendered dance of balancing

​

     Awakening the felt sensations of the body and immediately greeting their awakening with a gesture of relaxation

​

     Experiencing how in deepest relaxation everything keeps subtly moving in response to both breath and life force

​

     We will meet in the covered outdoor meditation hall at Bambu Hueco for three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon.   In keeping with the Naga theme of this retreat, we will be spending some time every day exploring our practices in Bambu Hueco's pool.  Intensive meditation retreat often sparks dream life, and you may choose to work with your dream with Coco Johnson who received her dreamwork apprenticeship with the chief of the primitive Senoi Dreampeople of northern Malaysia.  Throughout the day we will give ourselves permission to release ourselves from the straitjacket of traditional dharma's orientation to sitting and let go to our Naga nature with its impulse to move.  Liberating the Naga currents of breath and body, we surrender to our innate radiant state, what I call The Great Wide Open.

 

     The retreat will take place at Bambu Hueco, the Hollow Bamboo Retreat Center of Will and Coco Johnson, located just outside the little bohemian town of Montezuma, Costa Rica at the southern tip of the Nicoya peninsula.  You will be staying at one of the many lodging options in Montezuma (see below) and coming up to Bambu Hueco every day for two three-hour sessions of intensive practice in the morning and afternoon.  This will allow you to enjoy the magic of Montezuma in the evening and explore the beaches in the early morning and afternoon.

 

Traveling to Montezuma

     You have two options traveling to Costa Rica. You can fly into the international airports in either San Jose or Liberia and then transfer to a domestic flight that will take you to Cobano, a short taxi ride from Montezuma.  The advantage of flying into San Jose is that there are more daily scheduled flights over to Cobano than if you fly into Liberia.  If your plane lands before 2:00 pm, you should be able to connect to a flight to Cobano the same day.  If you arrive into San Jose or Liberia after 2:00 pm, you will need to overnight at an airport hotel and fly over to Cobano the next day.  The airline we primarily use for flying between San Jose or Liberia and Cobano is Sansa Airlines (www.flysansa.com/en).  Greenair is another option (www.costaricagreenair.com/en/).

​

     Upon arriving in Cobano, you can either take a cab into Montezuma or rent a car through Budget Car Rentals: (https://budget.co.cr/?gad_source=1&gbraid=oAAAAAB2Uku-zUhT2DIonEoSekgVcH3Pct&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI57jotv-uiAMVFBitBh2nDSpdEAAYASAAEgLRZfD_BwE).  If you decide to rent a car, be sure to rent a 4 wheel drive vehicle as the road up to Bambu Hueco may still be rough this time of year.  Bambu Hueco is located about a 15 minute drive from Montezuma.  You may want to pool together with other retreat participants and rent a car or take taxis to and from the retreat center, and we will help coordinate that for you. 

​

Staying in Montezuma

     Lodging options in Montezuma range from basic to deluxe.  You can look through all the options listed on www.travelocity.com and see what appeals to you.  Some of our favorites are:

​

Amor de Mar (www.amordemar.com).  A lovely small hotel run by a dear friend who is a German born Buddhist.  It's a beautiful five minute walk into the center of Montezuma.

​

Nya (www.nyahotel.cr).  Upscale hotel directly adjacent to town and beach.  Nya's restaurant, Ubin, is generally acknowledged as one of the top, albeit expensive, restaurants in Montezuma.

​

Ylang Ylang (www.ylangylangbeachresort.com).  A fifteen minute walk along the beach from town.  If you rent a car, you will need to leave it in the El Sano Banano parking lot in town.  A jeep will take your luggage to the hotel.  If you're in the mood for a splurge, consider staying in one of the beachfront cottages.

​

Boho Lodge (Contact them through booking.com).  This small hotel is located close to Playa Los Cedros, the one surfing break in Montezuma.  It's located reasonably close to Bambu Hueco (although it's a strenuous 25 minute walk uphill) but far away from the restaurants and night buzz of Montezuma.

​

Other favorites in a wide price range are Aves, Luz en el Cielo, El Sano Banano, Chorotega Casitas Sollevante, Adeluna, Ademaya but you will enjoy anywhere you decide to stay in Montezuma.

​

Food

     Some of the hotels will have cooking facilities in the rooms.  Restaurants are abundant and run the range from basic sodas (a soda is a Costa Rican cafe) to gourmet offerings.  The little town of Montezuma has a number of sodas, all of them quite good.  The traditional Costa Rican breakfast is gallo pinto:  rice, beans, eggs, and tortillas but fresh fruit and yogurt are available everywhere.  In the center of Montezuma El Sano Banano offers a very delicious Green Bowl for breakfast of spirulina and coconut milk.  Yum!  The most traditional dinner is a casado:  rice, beans, salad, vegetables, cheese, plantain, a choice of chicken, fish, meat, or egg.  Many of the lodging options include breakfast.  The sodas all offer a range of reasonably priced dinners.  Ubin, the restaurant at Nya, serves the most elaborate meals.  Ylang Ylang's restaurant is pricey but very healthy and recommended.  A drive into the country takes you to Tierra y Fuego, the best pizza and one of our favorite spots.  Cocolores is directly on the beach.

     

     We ask that you bring a light lunch, snacks, and a water bottle with you every day to the retreat so you don't have to leave Bambu Hueco during lunch break.

 

Practical Matters

     Late January/early February is one of the most beautiful times of the entire year in Montezuma.  You can expect sunny skies every day and no rain.  Not nearly so hot as it gets in March and April, it will still be warm so you will want to bring light, loose fitting clothes, and a bathing suit.  Flip flops and lightweight sandals are the footwear of choice.  We are very near the equator, so even if the temperature is mid-80s, the sun will feel hot so pack sunscreen, sunglasses, and a hat.  Insects aren't generally too much of an issue this time of year, but it's always a good idea to put mosquito repellent on your exposed skin in the mornings and evenings. 

​

     The fifth day of the retreat will be a day off for you to dive into the magical Big Nature of Montezuma:  Playa Grande, the Montezuma Waterfall, Cabo Blanco Park.  We will help organize a boat rental for those of you who might like to go out on the water to view whales, turtles, rays, and dolphins and spend time on a secluded beach.

 

Enrollment and Dana

     Prior participation in the Shimmering Seahorse Sangha or one of the many Zoom teachings I offer during the year is NOT a prerequisite for attending the retreat.  What is is an openness to exploring an approach to sitting meditation practice that dispenses with the stone-garden-statue-of-the-Buddha posture and comes vibrantly alive in radiant awakening.  The ideal participant is someone ready to explore an approach to meditation that powerfully awakens felt presence, liberates the breath, and looks to the future--not the past--of Buddhist dharma.  If you've been meditating for years but still don't feel you've experienced what the teachings promise, the practices in this retreat will show you why and set you free to dance with the dharma.

​

     I want to make this discovery of our inherent Naga energy available to everyone, and so the retreat is open to both what I call my Pure Land students and my Ganjasangha students.  My Pure Land students generally abstain from any mind altering substance:  unhealthy foods, caffeine, alcohol, entheogenic medicines, and they do this because this is what supports them to go deep in the practices.  My Ganjasangha students have found that small amounts of cannabis help catalyze the radiant awakening of the three primary somatic koans, and they do this because this is what supports them to go deep in the practices.  We will begin each session with a ritual sharing of cannabis but it is not mandatory that you participate.  To all my brothers-and-sisters-in- meditation from the zen, vipassana, and vajrayana traditions, whether you choose to use cannabis or not, this literally ex-static gathering will be unlike any retreat you've ever attended and will radically transform your understanding and experience of meditation.

​

     Over the past number of years we've come to realize that this radical approach to practice is so transformationally powerful--for both your personal healing and awakening as well as the future of Buddhist dharma--that I need to go back to my roots and offer this gathering completely on a dana (donation) basis.  The dharma was the Buddha's universal gift to the world, and offering the teachings on a donation basis is how the teachings were always traditionally shared with the world.  No one owns the dharma.  It is not a commodity that can be bought or sold.  And the world needs this more than ever.  Coco and I are not doing this because we are in any way financially independent.  We need to generate income to keep our lives and Bambu Hueco functioning.  We simply trust that you will offer dana that reflects the reality of your life.

​

     Email Will (will@embodiment.net) with your intention to attend and any questions you might have.  Also please let me know of your meditation and plant medicine experience.  The retreat is not appropriate for anyone currently in psychiatric care, and Will reserves the right to refuse admission to anyone.  If you are someone truly ready to make the leap into inherent radiant being and wanting to be part of the reformulation bringing Buddhist dharma back to radiant felt life, come and join us.   

​

     

 

Upcoming Events in 2024
 
Hollow Bamboo Zoom Classes
The Two Sources of Motion:  July 20
     In Hollow Bamboo Dharma we explore sitting meditation practice not as a stone garden statue of the Buddha but through surrendering to the natural motions that a relaxed body wants to make.  In this class we’ll explore the three primary somatic koans (or physiological hacks) that let body start coming radiantly alive again and focus on the two sources of motion that make our meditation practice a dance of constant, subtle movement.
 
The Posture of Loving Kindness:  August 17
     I call the sitting meditation posture coming over from Asia the “stone garden statue of the Buddha posture.”  However, forcing your body into a held posture of frozen stillness for extended periods of time is neither loving nor kind to yourself.  This class presents a far more “user-friendly” way to sit in meditation that lets you experience what loving yourself and being kind to yourself can actually be.  Once the currents of loving and being kind to yourself are activated in your meditation, your energies naturally start radiating love and kindness out to the world.   
 
Behind the Mask:  September 14
     Zen asks you to find your original face.  What was your face like before you took possession of it with all the holdings, tensions, and storylines of you?  Who do you become when you let go the holdings and tensions in the cranium that keep you lost in thought and self-identified as the speaker (I) of all those thoughts?  Who are you when you melt the tensions of your cranium into the relaxed flow of your original face? 
 
The Kasina Meditation:  October 5
     Gazing at a kasina while sitting in meditation awakens the fluidity of body and melts down the fixity of mind.  It powerfully activates the current of the life force that sweeps you along in the direction of your awakening.  Please register for this class as soon as possible as I will email you the file for The Kasina Meditation.  Play with the information and images in this file.  For the class I will want you to print out an image of a kasina you may feel particularly drawn to on a color printer.  I will ask you to secure it to a blank wall about four or five feet in front of you so that the central circle is a few inches below the level of your eyes.  
 
Points of Light:  The Tree of Awakening:  October 26
     The poem that most closely reflects the practices of Hollow Bamboo Dharma comes from a Chinese monk named Shenxiu:
 
     body is the tree of awakening
     mind is like a clear mirror
     the practice is to keep the mirror clean 
     removing dust 
     as it appears
 
     For the mind to be like a clear mirror--rather than an interpreter or projector--body needs to awaken its innate felt presence.  In this class we will explore the powerful Tree of Awakening practice that lights up the entire body with sensation and breath and takes you directly into your essential nature The Great Wide Open.  The action of continually cleaning the mirror is revealed as continually relaxing tension throughout the body.
 
Breath as Bodyworker:  November 16
    The practices in this class are very powerful.  Enrollment in this class is open only to those people who have committed to the entire series or have participated in at least one of the earlier classes.  After exploring the three primary somatic koans of Hollow Bamboo Dharma we will explore two potent practices through which you learn to breathe into every cell of the body as though the body were a balloon that you fill on the inhalation and empty on the exhalation.  The first practice is a powerful multi-cycle breathing practice.  Breath is directly experienced as a force that can lean into every place of body tension from the inside out just as a body worker works on tension with their hands from the outside in.  The second practice is a four section practice (fifteen minutes for each section) that dramatically deepens your direct experience of the somatic koans.  Hollow Bamboo Dharma views spiritual revelation and physical/emotional healing as integral components of the same continuum of awakening.
 
Each class will meet from 8 - 11 AM Mountain Daylight Time except for the last class, Breath as Bodyworker, that will meet from 9 AM - noon Central Standard Time.  The last half hour of each class will be open to ask questions or share comments.  The price for each class is $150.  However, if you enroll in the entire series, the price is $600.  Recordings of each class will be emailed to you in case you need to miss a class or if you want to keep reviewing the material.  To enroll you can go to my Store page and use the Dana button by selecting either the $150 or $600 option, or you can transfer your fee through PayPal to embodtr@highspeedplus.com.  I’ll email you back confirmation of your enrollment and then forward the Zoom link to you several days before each class.  
 
     Feel free to share news of these classes with your dharma brothers and sisters.  They will radically change your experience of sitting meditation, transforming pain into grace through the awakening of body and the liberation of breath, making meditation immeasurably more “user friendly”  while taking you far more deeply and rapidly into both the revelation realms that we mostly so struggle to gain access to and the healing that directly creates that access. 
 
    These classes are open to both my Pure Land and Ganjasangha students as the teaching is the same for both orientations.  I do ask, though, if you’re someone who wishes to include a small amount of cannabis while exploring the practices, that you let me know as there are specific instructions I will want to share with you.
​
​

Shimmering Seahorse Yearlong Sangha 2024.  $2500 - $3000    
        At this point in my life I'm primarily wanting to work closely with those of you who are ready to commit to intensive practice of Hollow Bamboo Dharma over the course of an entire year.  This year I'm going to split the sangha between those new to the practice and seasoned seahorses who've already completed at least one year long sangha.  For those of you new to the sangha we will be meeting via Zoom once a month on Sunday mornings.  For those of you seasoned seahorses wanting to continue your participation in the sangha we will be meeting via Zoom once a month on Saturday mornings.  All sessions will be recorded so, if you need to miss a session or live in a part of the world whose time difference makes it difficult for you to attend the gatherings in person, a recording will be emailed to you (if there are enough people from Australia and Asia who would like to join the sangha, I'm also willing to consider hosting a separate sangha for you that will go live during your morning hours).  
 
        In addition to our group gatherings I will want to hold a private Zoom session with you once a month.  Because we all resonate with different pieces of the practice, the private sessions will be a guided meditation reflecting your needs and development.  Included in your enrollment fee will be a 20” x 20” kasina (for new seahorses) and entrance into any of the special online events I might offer during the year (for everyone).  I also ask that you purchase each of the following books:
       
        The Posture of Meditation 2nd Edition
        Breathing Through the Whole Body
        Eyes Wide Open
     
        I will expect you to commit to at least two sessions of personal practice every week of the training.  In addition to the meditation practices, I will ask that you bring some form of physical practice into your life at least two or three times a week: yoga, martial arts, Pilates, resistance training, aerobics, spontaneous movement, The Five Tibetan Rites, Five Rhythms, 10,000 daily steps, ecstatic dance, etc.  I will also encourage you to receive one session a month of deep bodywork over the course of the year.
         
        My intention for this yearlong intensive is for you to experience how this approach to practice can so awaken that which is ordinarily so asleep in your body and mind that you naturally gain a direct experience of your ultimate nature:  The Great Wide Open.  The focus of the practice is threefold:  spiritual evolution as well as real physical and emotional healing, all three of which occur together through the orientation of Hollow Bamboo Dharma.  
       
        Please email me at will@embodiment.net and let me know of your interest in joining our sangha and your background in sitting meditation practices.  The price for returning sangha members is $2500.  The price for new seahorses is $3000.  An installment schedule is also available if you need to pay in segments.  Once you're accepted into the sangha I'll send you information about how to pay through PayPal.  
​
​
 
Private Retreats at Bambu Hueco
        I'm pleased to announce that we have reopened Bambu Hueco, the Hollow Bamboo Retreat Cottage in Montezuma, Costa Rica, and will once again start inviting serious meditation students to enter into intensive private retreat.  I enjoy working with students intensively one-on-one, and I'm tweaking the retreat format to spend much longer periods of personal instruction during your retreat.  For the foreseeable future we will be offering both a seven and ten day intensive retreat format although longer retreats may be available depending on your meditation experience.                    
       
        Your retreat will be a mix of exploration on your own coupled with intensive personal instruction, deep bodywork, and dreamwork.  Starting with a sunrise meditation and morning practice at the cottage, you will then walk over to the outdoor meditation hall and sit with me for three hours of personal meditation instruction and sobhet (spiritual instruction).  In the afternoons we will spend another two hours of meditation and instruction together, and you will either receive a deep bodywork session from me or do a dreamwork session with my wife Coco. There will be ample time to take walks on the path around our property, do your preferred form of exercise, enjoy the swimming pool, and create your own magical music at the chime arch.
 
        Bambu Hueco is situated at the southern tip of the Nicoya peninsula, one of the five Blue Zones in the world where people not uncommonly live past 100 and remain active.  One of the features of Blue Zone longevity is a diet rich in legumes  vegetables, fruits, and grains, and we will serve you light but nutritious vegetarian Blue Zone meals:  a breakfast of fruits and grains, a main meal at lunchtime, a light salad for dinner.
 
       To book a retreat please email me directly (will@embodiment.net) and let me know of your meditational background, why you're drawn to an intensive retreat at Bambu Hueco, and when ideally you'd like to come.  I will then be able to determine if a retreat here is appropriate for you and will get back to you.  To support the work at Bambu Hueco suggested dana for the Seven Day Retreat is $7500.  Suggested dana for the Ten Day Retreat is $9500.  If you want to enter into retreat with your spouse/partner/friend in the practice, suggested dana for the Seven Day Retreat is $10,000 and suggested dana for the Ten Day Retreat is $12,000.  Once you're accepted into the retreat, you will need to send a non-refundable $2000 deposit, and I will send you detailed instructions on traveling to Bambu Hueco.  
 
        As with all the teaching I do, I want your experience, and the deepening of your meditational path, to be life-transforming.  I want everyone to have a direct experience of what I call The Great Wide Open by the time you leave, and I also want you to head back home with an understanding of how to continue the practice on your own.
 
 
 
Couples Gazing Intensive with Will and Coco Johnson      
     The gazing practice of Rumi and Shams and Radha and Krishna continues to be the most powerful and transformational practice that I have ever come across to deepen the bond between couples and reveal the directly experienced truth of the consciousness of union.  We gaze and become one.
     
     Entheogenic medicines dramatically accelerate the potency of the practice.  Exploring the practice on MDMA simply needs to be experienced to be believed.
     
    In this intensive four day retreat we will guide you in the full range of gazing practices. Meditating with kasinas prepares you for the explosive encounter that occurs when you and your partner lock eyes.  On day three we will radically increase the potency of the practice through ingesting a mild entheogenic dose of MDMA.  I repeat again:  exploring the practice on an entheogenic substance needs to be experienced to be believed.  The journey of unfolding is powerful and dramatic and gives you a direct enlightenment experience of The Great Wide Open out of which everything emerges.
     
     Cost of the four day retreat is $7500.  Email Will at will@embodiment.net, and let him know of the nature of your relationship with your partner and why you wish to explore this practice.  Once you're accepted into the retreat, you will need to send a non-refundable $2000 deposit, and I will send you detailed instructions on traveling to Bambu Hueco.  
 
​
   
Consultations with Will Johnson
        Will Johnson is available for hour long private Zoom consultations if you wish to speak to him personally about any issues you may be having with your meditation practice.  To schedule a Zoom consultation go to my website Store and select the Phone or Skype Consultation button. After you submit your payment of $150, email me at will@embodiment.net to schedule your consultation.  In that email list three possible times that will work for you, and I will get back to you and confirm which one works for me.