Preheader: Ante goes up $250 on Jan 5th!!
Appreciation
I have had such inspiring phone calls with many of you in the past weeks. I love hearing how Naked Heart has changed your lives and I especially enjoy your stories of how you want to gift in 2026. I am also hearing a desire for recognition and support for those who have contributed to building Naked Heart.
YES!
Here it is. This letter is your dividend. We keep our Ante (dues) artificially low at the earliest tier. This tier does not cover the costs to run the camp. We cannot offer it to every camper. We are offering it to you because we value all that you have contributed in the past. Thank you.
There is a hitch however. If you do not exercise your dividend prior to January 5, it is forfeit. I get it. It is difficult to decide for 2026 when you are still washing the dust from 2025 out of your luggage. But the dust never sleeps and we have already spent $20,000 in order to begin repairs to shade that was damaged last year. We just announced to Placement that we will be returning and we are already in discussions with the other camps who will be in our HUB.
The first step to claiming your dividend is to apply. The latter half of this letter is a repeat from 2 weeks ago. It has all the links you need.
Sponsorship
One of the things that contributes to the ease and vibrancy that flavors Naked Heart is the way people find us. Most people come to us through our reputation around workshops and recommendations from friends. We LOVE your friends!! If you forward this letter to them they can get in on the early Ante deal. Have them list you as their sponsor. We look forward to bringing them along on this journey.
Firmware
Every July we get people who join and they want to gift hard. They want to run a tea temple, they want to build an art project, they want to lead a bunch of workshops. WOAH!! Yes to all those things but the time to plan them ended months ago. Now the clock has been reset. We are beginning a new cycle. The time to plan all those things is NOW! Most projects that involve some type of physical construction are considered to be Firmware. These are camper contributed offerings. We typically finalize these offerings by about February 15th. Getting them started now fits best into our scheduling. You can read more about Firmware here:
The rest of this letter is a repeat of the last letter from December 3, 2025
Transmogrification
Something is in the air. We are definitely not in Kansas anymore. Just where we have landed and what is over the horizon is anything but clear. Oddly, the most tangible, the most inspiring view of our future world comes to me through Naked Heart at Burning Man.
How did a phantasmagorical fever dream of dystopian and surreal dustscapes come to feel more human, more nurturing and more inspiring than the "default world"? I am still unpacking it all but I have some ideas from 2025:
- Naked Heart erected a Tipi as our spiritual home. The very first thing we built when we arrived was the Tipi that you see in the image above. Each morning at sunrise, 10% of the camp sang songs of our shared humanity in its womb-like embrace.
- We assembled a team of leaders and builders a week early in Oregon. We perfected "How to Be with each other" and "How to be kind". We also learned how to be a highly effective team
- When the mighty winds and rains came we all took shelter in our Chill Tent. 250 people in close proximity, riding out a storm, not in desperation but in celebration.
This is what it looks like. This is the future I want to inhabit. I do not know where our political leaders are leading us. I do not know how AI is bamboozling us. I do not know what next steps I should take to be stable and secure in an unknown future. What I do know is that I choose a future that is surrounded by those who celebrate the mystery at sunrise while being kind with each other and who come together as community in moments of cataclysm. Thank you to everyone who participated last year in giving me renewed faith in our shared humanity.
I am incredibly excited to step onto the path of creating Naked Heart 2026. The link to join is here:
For Returning Members — What's New
For those of you who have not camped with us for a while, we have some amazing changes to our camp
Tipi — Our Spiritual Home
Astoundingly, 2025 was a year of massive winds, rains and cataclysm. Through all these trials the tipi stood tall and secure; always ready to welcome our payers each morning with an eternal flame and an open heart
Shade
We have huge amounts of deep dark shade and shelter so that our campmates can have quiet connected moments and peaceful meals. We even have dining tables and chairs!
Rhythm Wave
Every morning over half our camp sweats our prayers at our sister camp. They are right next door and they make their floor available for many of our special offerings
PODs
Last year we experimented with smaller internal camp groupings. It was a success! The intimacy of 10-20 aligned campmates eased many people into a richer camp experience.
RV's
In the past we have discouraged RV's. Now with our new power system, we encourage them. There is a cost for power, but we have the space and the ability to accommodate them usefully
Build Crew
The Builders have stepped up and have found that the best part of the Burn is Build Week. Last year 1/3 of the camp came in early and cemented bonds that enriched all of us with competence, ease, and security
Competence
2025 was challenging for every camp on the playa. There was wind, there was rain and it just kept coming. Many camps were destroyed. Naked Heart was resilient and the entire camp rallied to make repairs and shine brightly. That is how we roll!!
Location
We have been located at 6:30 and F for 2 years running and believe we are likely to always be at this location. It puts us right in the middle of the city so that people can attend our workshops and it is a good wind orientation for protection
Steambath
We thought we could roll this out last year but there were hiccups. It is definite for this year!
Vibe Team
Several years ago we began to pay greater attention to how culture is created and perpetuated in Naked Heart. In a perfect world, everyone is on the Vibe Team. That is because camp culture is accessible by everyone. It doesn't require extra equipment or extra money. It doesn't require that you take extra time off work. It does require that you be extra involved, but that is what Naked Heart is all about. We each get out of the experience what we put into it. Last year was the year that the Vibe Team hit full traction; expect the 2026 version to be much more directional with an even earlier start. This is your opportunity to be heard and to co-create the experience that you most want.
Changes for 2026
Schedule
Every year Naked Heart becomes a more limited resource. Although Burning Man tickets have become easier to obtain, the Naked Heart roster fills earlier. We had 500 people apply for camp which is more than double the number we can accept. Each year the rush to join comes ever earlier. This year, do not wait until you have secured a BM ticket to join Naked Heart. Trust that a ticket will be found and cement your spot in camp first!
Ante for 2026
Tents
We have shade for every tent, but only when tents are of acceptable size. Last year we reined in expectations and still some people brought massive tents. We will be enforcing limits aggressively this year. Naked Heart prioritizes community resources, not personal palaces.
Role-Based e-mails
In the past all camp communications passed through my personal e-mail address. We are now decentralizing so that many hands can make the work lighter…. and more responsive. The new address for all camp queries is:
Beyond the Playa
Over 3000 people have applied to camp with us since we emerged on playa in 2013. Many of you have been so impacted by your experiences with us that you have quit jobs, started businesses, become nomads, stepped into the healing arts and more. The mycelia of our transmogrification have been profound. We can't promise that your life will be ecstatically reconfigured, but here are some examples of how we are shining brightly
Ben Bend Me Over
"A few years ago, I was a manager in IT with 20+ years of experience. Although I loved my team and the comforting familiarity that came from expertise, I felt a growing disparity between my job and the impact I wanted to have in the world. The constant state of dissociation I was living in barely covered the depression that was slowly settling in. I knew something had to change, but I didn't know how to begin.
Then I found Naked Heart and immediately felt I was exactly at the right place.
At Naked Heart, I discovered two elements that became crucial to my transformation: unwavering support that combined deep care with challenging honesty, and a space to experiment and play without judgment. This experience catalyzed my journey from IT manager to full-time life coach, a transformation that now allows me to support my clients through their own.
What I came to understand is that Naked Heart is so much more than a Burning Man camp. It is a way of being, a practice of showing up with radical honesty, offering care without armor, and remaining open to transformation. When we offer our Naked Heart, we become walking invitations for others to do the same. Your colleagues, your family, your clients, the stranger you connect with authentically: they may not know it, but they've already been touched by Naked Heart through you. This is the ripple effect of vulnerability and authentic connection. This is what it means to carry Naked Heart with you, not as a memory of a camp, but as a daily practice of wholeness, openness, and presence. Imagine what becomes possible when more of us show up this way!"
Dragonfly
"I count my three Burns at Naked Heart so far among the most significant personal transformations of my life. It has awakened a deep appreciation for the world medicine of the feminine and the role of the conscious masculine in support of it. The divine feminine fluidity of the camp's workshop container allows us to live, work and create on the cutting edge of collective experimentation from which the healing benefits to humanity flow like snowmelt in spring time.
My own journey as a coach and facilitator is a perfect example. As a result of my incubation days on the playa and a training I did through the Somatica Institute, I offer clients conscious relating practices steeped in the culture of vulnerability and emotional responsibility. Through our women-led nonprofit Xi'im Ek Balam, my partner Ixchel and I now offer a year-long program for men to step into their divine masculine leadership so they may be the lovers, fathers, brothers and elders who live fully from their naked heart.
For more information about our program, here is the resources link. We are at capacity this year, but please consider it for our next cycle!"
Ultimate Creation
Naked Heart has birthed not just businesses, but actual BABIES!! In my personal world very few of my friends are choosing to raise families, yet within our Naked Heart family there are some shining light beams of new promise. Not all these children are the results of playa inspirations, but some are. If you have camped with Naked Heart and have a new member of your family, please share your story here:
I would like to showcase their arrival in a future newsletter
Distant Future
There were many conversations on playa this year which recognized that Naked Heart has a heart and a spirit that transcends the playa. Conversations are currently very high level but they are worth monitoring
Our own Festival
For years members have noticed: "I have been to festivals that have fewer members than Naked Heart has on playa. Why don't we do this whole thing some place that is green and has water close by?" That is a fair question. Until last year it seemed more like a distraction than a serious proposition. The storms of 2025 have brought this front and center.
My sense is that this is really a site-driven question. If we were able to identify a site that has room for 600 campers and doesn't cost very much, it is worth our effort to investigate. If you have any leads, please send them my way. I am keeping a list.
Land Together
It is hard to be together for a month (pre-build to hot springs) and not ask how "it could always be this way". I agree that having a piece of land to do Naked Heart year round would be a sweet scene. We talked about a few parcels but no clear consensus emerged. I suspect this will capture our imagination ever more keenly in years to come.
Invitation
Naked Heart is a deep well of creation and contribution. Most people know us by our workshops but we have many other offerings to share. All of these gifts are created by campers just like you. Naked Heart is the supporting armature that gives you ease and assistance in ways that are impossible when trying to gift solo.
If you just want to roam around gifting impromptu poetry, Great! that requires very little planning. If you are wanting to host an entire structure for a tea temple, that will require lots of advance planning, I suggest the everyone read about Firmware:
These are the ways to plug is and receive support without taxing that camp leadership. I can't wait to see what you propose!!
Thank You
—David