Meeting Our Queer Selves with Love, Compassion & Reverence
Welcome
There comes a moment in every queer person's life when surviving is no longer enough.
When we stop asking, "How do I become accepted?" and begin asking, "Who am I beneath everything I have had to become?"
Queer Roots is an invitation into that question — not as a workshop, not as a performance, not as something to fix. But as a homecoming.
This retreat marks the first of many queer-centred gatherings created by Salasbananas — a growing movement rooted in the belief that our queerness is not something to heal from. It is something to heal through.
Not a Workshop
No agenda to perform. No boxes to tick. Just space to breathe and be.
Not a Performance
You don't need to present a version of yourself. Every part of you is welcome here.
A Homecoming
A tender return to yourself — the self who has always been waiting beneath it all.
Why Queer Roots?
Many of us grew up learning to hide. To become smaller. To perform. To overachieve, overgive, and apologise for existing. Whether through family, religion, school, culture or society, many queer people learned very early that love often felt conditional — something to be earned rather than simply received.
Over time, we became extraordinary experts at surviving. And surviving took everything we had. But beneath every survival strategy lives the person we have always been — tender, whole, and worthy of love without condition.
This retreat is an invitation to meet that person. With love. With compassion. With reverence.
Our Queerness Is Sacred
Before the Wound
Before queerness became politicised. Before it became criminalised. Before it became something many of us were taught to fear — it simply existed. Like the forest. Like the ocean. Like the moon. Nature has never asked us to justify our diversity.
An Act of Remembering
Across history and across cultures, queer people have always been artists, storytellers, musicians, carers, ritual keepers, visionaries, healers and bridge builders. Our creativity has always been medicine. Our sensitivity has always been wisdom. Our ability to imagine new worlds has always been our greatest gift.
Queerness has never been the wound. The wound has been forgetting its sacredness. This retreat is an act of remembering.
Why Now?
Sri Lanka stands at a beautiful threshold. Across our island, more queer people are choosing visibility. Choosing community. Choosing joy. Choosing one another. Healing has become a collective act — and something quietly extraordinary happens when queer people gather in safety.
Shame Softens
In the presence of those who understand, the weight we have carried begins to lift gently and without effort.
Laughter Returns
Bodies breathe differently. Stories become medicine. Joy rediscovers its rightful home inside us.
We Remember
None of us were ever meant to walk alone. Queer Roots is one small, precious seed planted in that collective future.
The Queer Temple
Salasbananas Yoga & Art Studio · Talpe
Nestled on Sri Lanka's southern coast, Salasbananas is a small yoga shala and creative sanctuary lovingly built as a queer home for healing, creativity, community and remembrance. It is a space where all parts of ourselves are welcome — not despite our diversity, but because of it.
Dedicated to the meeting of Shiva and Shakti — the dance of masculine and feminine, stillness and movement, strength and softness — this studio holds space for the full spectrum of human experience. Every corner was created with intention, care, and a deep reverence for what it means to truly belong somewhere.
Our Approach
Throughout the day we journey through practices that invite us gently back into ourselves — body, voice, breath and story. Every offering has one purpose: to help us remember what has always been whole.
Body & Breath
- Yoga
- Breathwork
- Deep Rest
- Movement
Voice & Expression
- Voice Work
- Creative Expression
- Art & Play
- Music, sound, Dance
Heart & Connection
- Meditation
- Consent Practices
- Ritual
- Community
Reflection & Rejuvenation
- Sound Journey
- Silence
- Nature
- Integration
We are not here to become someone new. We are here to celebrate the person we have always been.
A Gentle Outline of Our Journey
The day unfolds in tender, unhurried chapters — each one an invitation, never an obligation. Below is a soft map of our time together.
🌿 Arriving Home · Sala
Opening Ceremony · Community Agreements · Sacred Altar · Calling in our Queer Ancestors
🌞 Returning to Ourselves · Sala
Yoga · Breath · Meditation · Deep Rest
☕ Nourishment
Sacred Cacao · Fresh Fruit · Reflection
🎙 Finding Our Voice · Joel
Voice · Play · Expression · Connection
🍃 Community Lunch
Food · Conversation · Rest
🤲 Honouring Boundaries · Sala
Touch · Consent · Communication · Trust
🎨 Creating Without Permission · Sala
Art · Curiosity · Expression · Reflection
💃 Celebrating Our Queerness · Dizzi
Movement · Music · Joy · Freedom
🎶 Deep Listening · Dizzi
Live Sound Journey · Rest · Integration
🔥 Remembering Together · Sala
Closing Ritual · Release · Blessing · Community
Meet Your Facilitators
Three humans who have each walked their own winding path home to themselves — and who now hold space for others to do the same.
Sala
Founder · Yoga Teacher · Retreat Facilitator
Sala's work weaves yoga, meditation, ritual, Ayurveda, Vedic philosophy, creativity and compassionate inquiry into immersive experiences. Every offering begins with the same invitation: Meet Yourself.
Joel
Facilitator · Community Builder · Wellness Practitioner
Joel brings lived experience across performance, wellness, travel and community building to create spaces where every voice is welcomed, every story is honoured and every participant feels seen and celebrated.
Dizzi Geetha
Artist · Composer · Ceremonial Facilitator · Netherlands
Non-binary Sri Lankan artist and multi-instrumentalist whose work explores nature, displacement and belonging through immersive sonic landscapes — inviting participants into profound listening and embodied presence.
Preparing for the Retreat
What to Bring
- A journal and pen
- A reusable water bottle
- A light snack or fruit to share if you wish
- Comfortable clothing you can move and relax in
- A change of clothes if you'd like to freshen up
- An open heart and curious mind
Our Community Altar
Please bring one small object that represents you — a photograph, a crystal, a flower, a shell, a piece of fabric, a poem, a small artwork, something found in nature, or any meaningful object that reminds you of your journey.
Together these offerings will become our collective altar — a living, breathing reminder that every story belongs here.
Our Community Agreements
These agreements are the ground beneath our feet — gentle promises we make to ourselves and to one another so that this space remains safe, sacred and truly free.
Come exactly as you are.
Everything is an invitation. Nothing is an obligation.
Confidentiality is sacred.
Speak from your own experience.
Listen with compassion.
Honour your body. Honour others' boundaries.
Celebrate difference.
Take care of yourself and one another.
A Beginning
This is not simply a retreat. It is the first chapter of a growing community — a place where queer people gather not around what has happened to us, but around who we are becoming together.
May we remember those who came before us. May we honour those beside us. May we become good ancestors for those yet to come. May we meet ourselves with love.
May Queer Roots remind us that we have never been broken.
Our bodies are worthy. Our voices are worthy. Our love is worthy.
And our queerness has always been sacred.
Ayubowan. Welcome to Queer Roots.
Queer Roots