Tom Tom Festival 2025

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Note: This Conference session is ticketed.

Please purchase your tickets on Eventbrite. You will then receive an email from Sched with login information that allows you to make your personal schedule.

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A special thank you to our sponsors: The 13th Annual Tom Tom Festival is presented with the University of Virginia, UVA Innovates, Virginia Tourism, RL Beyer Custom Homes, and Ludwig Kuttner.

Check in and grab your badge. Come meet and mingle with other attendees before the sessions begin.

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Note: This Conference session is ticketed.

Please purchase your tickets on Eventbrite. You will then receive an email from Sched with login information that allows you to make your personal schedule.

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A special thank you to our sponsors: The 13th Annual Tom Tom Festival is presented with the University of Virginia, UVA Innovates, Virginia Tourism, RL Beyer Custom Homes, and Ludwig Kuttner.

In this delightfully thought-provoking session, we will explore the newest frontier of afterlife research: Shared Death Experiences (SDEs). If you thought near-death experiences (NDEs) were the only dramatic, life-altering glimpses beyond the veil, think again. SDEs take things to a whole new level of cosmic camaraderie, offering a collective peek into a universe that’s not just loving but—dare we say it—downright optimistic.

Scott will recount his own rare SDE, detailing the experience that changed his life, and will explore how these shared journeys could offer a glimpse into the future of humanity itself. Get ready for a session that’s both inspiring and enlightening, as we dive into what happens when the end isn't the end—and how that might just shape the future of the human race.

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Note: This Conference session is ticketed.

Please purchase your tickets on Eventbrite. You will then receive an email from Sched with login information that allows you to make your personal schedule.

************

A special thank you to our sponsors: The 13th Annual Tom Tom Festival is presented with the University of Virginia, UVA Innovates, Virginia Tourism, RL Beyer Custom Homes, and Ludwig Kuttner.

What happens when science meets the supernatural (or at least, the “beyond the brain” stuff)? In this session, we’ll dive into the fascinating world of consciousness education, exploring the growing body of evidence suggesting consciousness exists beyond just brain activity. For those who’ve had a spiritual awakening or an altered state experience (thanks to psychedelics or pure cosmic mystery), you may be looking for some way to make sense of it all. But for the rest of us? Well, presenting postmaterialist research to someone steeped in the materialist worldview often leads to a serious case of cognitive dissonance—and a swift retreat to familiar beliefs.

Enter the Consciousness Educators’ Network, born in 2024, which aims to help smooth the transition into these new, mind-bending ideas. In this session, we’ll take you through the transformative learning processes popping up in both formal and informal educational spaces, showing how people are gradually shifting perspectives and handling the shock of a new worldview—without totally freaking out. So if you're ready to entertain the possibility that there’s more to you than just your brain, come join us. Full session description coming soon.

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Note: This Conference session is ticketed.

Please purchase your tickets on Eventbrite. You will then receive an email from Sched with login information that allows you to make your personal schedule.

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A special thank you to our sponsors: The 13th Annual Tom Tom Festival is presented with the University of Virginia, UVA Innovates, Virginia Tourism, RL Beyer Custom Homes, and Ludwig Kuttner.

Go beyond the sweat, the reps, and the weights to learn how exercise is a secret weapon for mental well-being, stress reduction, focus enhancement, and emotional resilience. Through a mix of personal stories and down-to-earth examples, we’ll explore how fitness doesn’t just reshape your body—it reshapes your entire mindset. Who knew those lunges and squats could have such a profound effect on your brain?

At its heart, exercise is a journey of transformation—of how you see yourself, how you carry yourself, and how you show up in the world. Every gym milestone, whether it's lifting heavier or simply showing up consistently, builds confidence that spills over into every other part of your life. This talk will debunk the tired view of exercise as purely physical and highlight its true potential as a catalyst for change, both inside and out. As Joseph Pilates put it, “Change happens through movement and movement heals.” Join us for a session that’s part information, part movement, and 100% transformative.

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Note: This Conference session is ticketed.

Please purchase your tickets on Eventbrite. You will then receive an email from Sched with login information that allows you to make your personal schedule.

************

A special thank you to our sponsors: The 13th Annual Tom Tom Festival is presented with the University of Virginia, UVA Innovates, Virginia Tourism, RL Beyer Custom Homes, and Ludwig Kuttner.

This session explores consciousness as more than a solo trip to bliss—it’s a dynamic dance between self, society, and the strange mess of being human. Through the lenses of Waking Up, Growing Up, and Showing Up, we’ll rethink the mind-body-spirit connection, navigate the increasingly crowded marketplace of spiritual tools and techniques (with a dash of discernment), and gently interrogate where science and spirituality actually overlap—versus where they just wave politely from a distance. We’ll map developmental stages and consider what it means to evolve beyond postmodern eye-rolling into something more whole, more integral, and just maybe, more hopeful. Finally, we ask: how are we loving this world? Expect grounded practices, philosophical nudges, and a reframe of awakening not as an escape, but as a call to responsibility—for each other, our culture, and this wildly alive planet.

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Note: This Conference session is ticketed.

Please purchase your tickets on Eventbrite. You will then receive an email from Sched with login information that allows you to make your personal schedule.

************

A special thank you to our sponsors: The 13th Annual Tom Tom Festival is presented with the University of Virginia, UVA Innovates, Virginia Tourism, RL Beyer Custom Homes, and Ludwig Kuttner.

T'ai Chi (Taiji) may be the most famous of the three Chinese internal martial arts, but don’t overlook its lesser-known siblings, Hsing I (Xing Yi) and Pa Kua (Ba Gua). While T'ai Chi gets all the spotlight, these other two arts have their own distinctive philosophies and techniques. In this workshop, we’ll break down the unique characteristics of each martial art and explore how to integrate their principles into your modern, busy life (because, really, who couldn’t use more balance and focus?). Get ready to stretch, twist, and breathe your way through each form, and maybe even uncover a new way to kick some inner peace into your routine.

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Note: This Conference session is ticketed.

Please purchase your tickets on Eventbrite. You will then receive an email from Sched with login information that allows you to make your personal schedule.

************

A special thank you to our sponsors: The 13th Annual Tom Tom Festival is presented with the University of Virginia, UVA Innovates, Virginia Tourism, RL Beyer Custom Homes, and Ludwig Kuttner.

Emotional CPR (eCPR) is an evidence based educational program designed to teach people to assist others through an emotional crisis by three simple steps:
C = Connecting
P = emPowering and
R = Revitalizing

The Connecting process of eCPR involves deepening listening skills, practicing presence, and creating a sense of safety for the person experiencing a crisis. The emPowering process helps people better understand how to feel empowered themselves as well as to assist others to feel more hopeful and engaged in life. In the Revitalizating process, people re-engage in relationships with their loved ones or their support system, and they resume or begin routines that support health and wellness which reinforces the person’s sense of mastery and accomplishment, further energizing the healing process.

eCPR is based on the principles found to be shared by a number of support approaches: trauma-informed care, counseling after disasters, peer support to avoid continuing emotional despair, emotional intelligence, suicide prevention, and cultural attunement. It was developed with input from a diverse cadre of recognized leaders from across the U.S., who themselves have learned how to recover and grow from emotional crises. They have wisdom by the grace of first- hand experience.

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Note: This Conference session is ticketed.

Please purchase your tickets on Eventbrite. You will then receive an email from Sched with login information that allows you to make your personal schedule.

************

A special thank you to our sponsors: The 13th Annual Tom Tom Festival is presented with the University of Virginia, UVA Innovates, Virginia Tourism, RL Beyer Custom Homes, and Ludwig Kuttner.

Children are practically walking bundles of wonder—but as adults, we seem to forget what it’s like to be awestruck by the world. So, what happened to that sense of wonder? Is it possible to rediscover it, or are we doomed to a lifetime of jaded sighs? In this session, we’ll explore how neuroscience offers some hopeful answers, showing us how our brains reshape themselves in real time based on our experiences. If science can explain how we lose our ability to experience wonder, maybe it can also guide us back to those moments of awe. With a bit of mindful curiosity, we might just find our way to rediscover the reverie of wonder.

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Note: This Conference session is ticketed.

Please purchase your tickets on Eventbrite. You will then receive an email from Sched with login information that allows you to make your personal schedule.

************

A special thank you to our sponsors: The 13th Annual Tom Tom Festival is presented with the University of Virginia, UVA Innovates, Virginia Tourism, RL Beyer Custom Homes, and Ludwig Kuttner.

More details coming soon.

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Note: This Conference session is ticketed.

Please purchase your tickets on Eventbrite. You will then receive an email from Sched with login information that allows you to make your personal schedule.

************

A special thank you to our sponsors: The 13th Annual Tom Tom Festival is presented with the University of Virginia, UVA Innovates, Virginia Tourism, RL Beyer Custom Homes, and Ludwig Kuttner.

Learn the art of “reading the field” of consciousness. Explore how to go inward, sharpen your senses, and develop an awareness that allows you to catch those subtle whispers from the universe. Think of it as tuning your internal radio to a frequency where the messages come through—loud and clear, if you can get out of your own way. It’s all about paying attention, noticing synchronicities and dreams as they pop up, and figuring out how the Field is nudging you forward—without all the unnecessary drama or existential confusion. In short, it’s about living life as if you’re in a constant state of wakeful awareness.

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Note: This Conference session is ticketed.

Please purchase your tickets on Eventbrite. You will then receive an email from Sched with login information that allows you to make your personal schedule.

************

A special thank you to our sponsors: The 13th Annual Tom Tom Festival is presented with the University of Virginia, UVA Innovates, Virginia Tourism, RL Beyer Custom Homes, and Ludwig Kuttner.