Who We Are
We are very happy to meet you and have a call with you. If you want to get a feel for who we are or have any questions, please book a call with us.
Joy Mittens
“I Push Buttons in those who are Ready for Transformation”
Joy is a powerful and authentic guide, known for her ability to balance deep wisdom with lightness and play, helping people transform with clarity, care, and strength.
She is a shamanic priestess leading people gently on deep, heart-centred journeys with the medicine of their own bodies, emotions, and sexual energy to discover their unique essence and expression of the divine.
Joy has trained extensively over the last 7 years with the mystery schools of ISTA and Highden, as well as completing Advanced Bodywork Training with Budhi Dana and the The Trauma Informed Field Facilitator training with Rachel Rickards, amongst other things in a life of travelling and exploring the depths of human consciousness.
You can find out more about her on her website: joymittens.life.
"Joy Mittens is an amazing powerhouse manifestor who will rock your world."
— Maia (Participant Apr 2022)
" Joy is the most genuine, open-hearted space holder I’ve encountered."
— Jos Skinner (Participant Oct 2022)
Shiva Sunya
Shiva is a warm, sincere presence who blends emotional depth with a playful, wild spirit, creating a safe space for profound transformation through truth and trust.
Shiva is a voice from the forest, spending many years living with his beloved trees and plants, undergoing layer after layer of initiation in plant spirit shamanism he has formed intimate connections with plants and trees from the UK and abroad through the ancient practice of Dieta. His spiritual path led him to Bhakti Yoga, Advaita Vedanta and the embodied awareness of non duality. He trained with ISTA and began to work with Joy Mittens 3 years ago. Shiva is also a bodyworker with a gift for de-armouring and a powerful intuitive presence.
“Shiva's warm presence illuminates and melts any barriers to being in the truth of our loving essence.”
— Participant Apr 2024
“Huge thank you to Shiva, Joy, and the whole tribe! What a mind-blowing journey, full of connection, love, and learning!”
— Participant Apr 2024
Assistants
Louise Socratous
Louise is super passionate about this work. In fact, she was a former participant of the first ever retreat which is how she met Joy and Shiva. That retreat was an absolute game changer! It changed her life. Transformed her relationship to herself and subsequently with others
Louise now, likes to give back to the retreat in complete gratitude and comes and assists putting her intuitive and empathetic nature to the greater good.
When she’s not at the retreat, she takes pride in her role as an educator and therapist, who has a part to play in training some of the budding therapists in London. As a therapist herself, who has worked with specialises in the theme of the retreat you can be sure to feel safe and held as she guides you through any process that may arise!
Klaus Hott
Klaus holds space at the intersection of spirituality and sexuality, offering trauma-aware, embodied pathways into healing and transformation. With over 8 years of lived experience in spiritual sexual spaces—some profoundly beautiful, others deeply painful—his journey has been one of deep unraveling and reweaving. His work is rooted in integrity, compassion, and reverence, informed by studies in Tantra, yoga, and certification as a somatic sexologist.
At the heart of Klaus’s mission is a devotion to the soul—the moment it rises from within a person and everything quietly shifts. He understands that transformation is not always graceful; it can be contracting, overwhelming, even disorienting. That’s why he commits to walking slowly, to holding space for the messy middle, and to ensuring that no one is left behind in the process of becoming.
Klaus blends ancient spiritual wisdom with modern somatic practices to support deep, embodied truth. He believes that our sexuality is not separate from our spirituality—it is a sacred expression of it. With presence, patience, and unwavering care, Klaus offers a path for others to come home to their bodies, their desires, and the quiet knowing that they are already whole.
emily Martin
History of this Retreat
From “Introduction to Sexual Shamanism” to "Primal Innocence" to "Eros As Medicine": Why We Evolved the Name of Our Retreat
As with many things on this journey, the evolution of our retreat’s name has been a reflection of the shifts happening within us and the work we offer.
When we first named it "Introduction to Sexual Shamanism”in 2022 (when it was only 4 days and non residential) we were bold and direct, seeking to uproot the taboo and shame and emphasise the shamanic tools we were teaching to approach sexuality as a guide.
But let's be real, it wasn’t great for navigating internet censorship!
Thus the name "Return to Primal Innocence" emerged in 2023. It captured the essence of our work at the time: The collapsing of seeming polarities. It was primal AND it was innocent. It was a homecoming—a recognition of the sacred and natural innocence within our primal energy, long buried under layers of conditioning and shame. And for a time, this name fit beautifully.
But as we’ve continued to evolve, so too has the shape of this offering. We realised that "Return to Primal Innocence," while powerful, also began to conjure images that didn’t quite fit anymore. Some people started associating it with wild and untamed sexuality—images of roaring, scratching, and primal chaos. And while there is certainly a space for that on the retreat, it’s not the core.
At the heart of our work is transformation—it's shamanic, it’s about awakening. And we kept coming back to a phrase we’ve held since the beginning: "Eros As Medicine". It speaks to the deeper truth of what we do—using Eros as a transformative power, not just as raw energy but as a teacher, as healing, as a path to wholeness.
This name brings us back to the shamanic core of what we offer. It speaks to the medicine in Eros, in life force energy, in how we can alchemise this energy to awaken, heal, and transform ourselves and each other. And it feels right—like a return to our roots, while holding all we’ve learned along the way.
Thank you for walking this path with us, and for being a part of this evolving journey. We’re excited to continue to offer this medicine, and we invite you to experience what Eros can bring into your life.