Agency
Naked Heart is a hotbed of change agents. When you apply for Naked Heart you are making a declaration to the Universe that you want reality to be tangibly different. You want experiences that are different from the ones you have had before. You are opening yourself to being hurled outside your comfort zone and into the unknown, pregnant with possibility.
The first step is to apply— Congratulations! You have filled out your application for Naked Heart. You have stated your intentions. But you are not done. The next step is to exercise your agency. Agency is a tricky bastard. In a world where we have been groomed to be consumers, we are ill-prepared to be creators. The building blocks look more like questions:
- Who am I?
- What do I want?
- What is the Universe asking of me?
- How do I know?
Those 4 questions could consume a lifetime but I suggest you give it a month. Every journey begins with a single step. Your first step may be taking responsibility for not knowing the answers to these questions. Or maybe your first step is rewriting the questions. Regardless, every first step will be an act of agency.
In Naked Heart we have a lot to say about agency and responsibility. There is even a page for it on our wiki:
We will be revisiting this page several times this year as we load you up with the tools for using the 4 questions to catapult you into a direct encounter with the change that is your destiny. While you are immersed in inquiry, I suggest you get some help. Who do you want by your side as you embark on this path?
Naked Heart feels like family because it is. We have all heard the siren call and proclaimed Naked Heart as the camp that can help propel us on life's journey. But we have also invited our most trusted friends to join us. Now is the time to broadcast to our networks our plans for this year. See who joins you. Support each other and make camp a richer place. We want your friends in our midst far more than tourists who just want a meal plan. The time do this is now so that they can also hear that transformational call. They will thank you for it later. Send them this letter. Send them this link:
Limits and Reality
Naked Heart is 25% full. Our fully paid membership is a month ahead of schedule from last year. If all the people who applied paid Ante and if all the people they claim as campmates/partners paid Ante, we would be full. If you and your friends are on the fence about camp decisions for 2026, you probably have about 1 month to decide. Last year many of the people who were accepted late filled slots vacated by people who needed to cancel. It can be stressful not knowing if a slot will open up. Exercise your agency and seize the most important puzzle piece….Pay your Ante.
Tickets
Ticketing information from Burning Man has just been announced. Everything is similar to last year except the prices went up $25 for all the lower tiers. The Stewards Ticket Sale will be in early March. This is the special pool of tickets that are made available to theme camps. These are guaranteed tickets! There is no competition to get in line precisely at noon or any of that. This is really important this year, hear me out.
Many people are thinking "There were so many tickets floating around last year, I'll just wait until August and get a cheaper ticket." Don't count on that happening again for 3 reasons:
- The only reason that there were cheap tickets is because somebody lost money on the deal. People don't like to lose money. Now that people see that there may not be scarcity, they won't over-buy tickets. Scalpers will completely avoid buying tickets. That pool of surplus tickets is unlikely to be there in the same way as last year.
- It is much easier to get a ticket than it is to get a spot in Naked Heart. There are many changes in our midst and I cannot talk about all of them just yet. I do expect that Naked Heart will fill early this year. By the time tickets get cheap (if at all), there will be no slots available in Naked Heart (plus the ante will be crazy expensive!)
- This is what I am projecting: Not all the tickets allotted for the Stewards Sale will be purchased. These extra tickets will be sold in the Main sale. The bulk of those extra tickets will be purchased by overseas buyers because there is significant interest there. When tickets do become available due to changed plans, they will be in such remote areas of the globe that you will not have easy access to them.
New for 2026: We will not be setting up exchange partners for those of you who buy extra tickets. You bear full responsibility for the tickets that you buy. Stewards tickets are generally sold as pairs and we can help pair singletons prior to the sale. After the sale we will have a bulletin board where you can post available tickets. This is helpful if you are needing to cancel your Burning Man plans.
Don't miss out on this sale, register your interest here:
Everyone who wants to participate in this sale, must fill out this form by February 20.
The time to sign up for 2026 is NOW!!
We have advanced our timeline for Naked Heart. This is not new. I started building infrastructure in October and this year we have already spent about $30,000 on new projects. We have also found that it is those members who join earliest who set the energy of the camp and build its culture. They lead workshops; they are on the build team. They are the beating heart of Naked Heart. We want to encourage that and reward them with a lower price tier for Ante.
The new timeline is:
New for 2026: If you are a veteran of Naked Heart, we value your return. If you pay prior to March 16th, you can reduce your minimum Ante by $100. Thank you for showing up for another amazing year!!
I have already started sending out acceptance letters and many of you have already paid your Ante. Thank You!!
The application is also now open to anyone who wants to join. Feel free to forward this e-mail to any of your friends who you feel are in alignment.
You can apply for Naked Heart 2026 here:
Vibe Team
We want to welcome you into the Vibe Team for 2026! This is the space where you can make real change in Naked Heart. We are in charge of most of the "soft" structures of camp. Including: creating a safer space for all, kitchen dynamics, the Monday meeting, inclusion and diversity, internal events, landing on playa, contribution shift coordination, workshop wrangling, emote-a-thon planning, and more! Most things are able to be adjusted, or even torn down and rebuilt. So, if you want to have the biggest impact on how camp feels on playa, then join the Vibe Team through the link below. You can have any level of commitment here, including just showing up to the general Vibe Team meetings and offering thoughts, joining a sub team and helping take care of small to medium tasks, or even leading a sub team and getting your contribution shifts covered on playa! It takes a lot of people on the Vibe Team to make a difference in camp. Everyone is welcome, even if this is your first year with us.
Our first meeting of the year will take place on Wednesday February 4th at Noon PST.
Build Team
I have received quite a few e-mails recently. They have been from members who are inquiring about how they can be a part of the early Build team for this year. In January! Yes, Build is that special. You see, there is no other part of this whole Burning Man experience that comes close to Build. It is the one moment when we are all looking inward. There is nothing to see on the playa yet. We are all working along side each other. We are supporting each other; we are encouraging our camp mates. Hell, I have people each year who say "I want to come for Build, but I don't want to stay for the Burn." I get it. Me too.. sort of.
We are taking Build to the next level this year. We are establishing our team leads early. We are training in our craft. We are perfecting our art and we are dumping in a huge dose of intention. I need your help with this. I need a lot of help in general, but I really need some capable people by my side to properly instantiate our camp as we build this thing we call Naked Heart. Expect new things and new ways this year. Join our team. Fill out this form if you think that this might be for you:
Timeline
All times Pacific
Keep Your Eye on the Prize
Naked Heart exists to bring some world-class workshops to the playa each year. Some of you present these workshops and some of you support them. We all create the community that allows for a seamless and effortless unfolding of our gift.
Once we wrap up membership and tickets we turn our full attention to our offerings. I cannot wait to see what you are inspired to share this year. Pay attention and write down your ideas. I am personally inspired by the efforts you all make to gift beyond your comfort zone. Thank you.
Thank You
—David