A five-hour workshop

In a society that prizes mind over body, emotions are often thought to be a nuisance, inconvenient, or something that takes us away from the “reality” of a situation or what we would really like to be happening. In reality, emotions are a vitally important part of being alive and navigating this world in a body and are not going away any time soon. The more tapped in we are to our emotions, the better equipped we are to handle them as they arise. Being able to identify, feel, and release emotions is a useful tool for resilience, connection, and development.

There are no negative or positive emotions as each emotion has a function and an action, useful information that alerts us to do something based on what we feel. This workshop will be a mixture of mind-stimulating lecture and discussion as well as exercises and interactive experiences of emotions as we explore what emotional embodiment looks and feels like. This is designed to give you the tools to move from a place of reactivity, repression, or overwhelm of emotions to one of receptivity and flow.

We will explore:
• Embodiment and emotions as experiences or states of being.
• The difference between expressing, repressing, and channeling emotions.
• A model of emotions that includes four broad categories of emotions with many sub-categories, each with their own gifts and challenges.
• Information about emotional neglect and what we can do to develop emotional competency and intelligence.
• Empathy and holding space for others and our own emotions

Based on the work of Karla McLaren, Jonice Webb, Barbara Frederickson, Dan Siegel, Antonio Damasio, and more.

A five-hour workshop

Desire is active and changing. It shapes our boundaries and drives our decisions around consent. It can also be scary to engage with or admit to in the moment. Even within an encounter, we may be caught off guard by multiple or unexpected changes in our desires. How do you know what you desire? How do you ask for it? How do you support and celebrate boundaries and desires at the same time?

We will explore:
• What is it like to follow your Yes, rather than focusing on your No
• The difference between tolerating, supporting, and celebrating
• What we want, are willing to do, or won’t do
• Embodied exercises of desire, boundaries, and consent
• How to notice and communicate your changing desires
• And what to do when your partners’ desires change

Can be a five- or two-hour workshop

Erotic Alchemy utilizes the processes of transformation found in nature to understand and encourage the unification of matter (the body) and consciousness (soul/spirit) within an explicit and intentional erotic context. In this workshop we will be focusing on the particular alchemical formula of the three conjunctios, or the (re)union of the three principles: sulfur, salt, and mercury, or soul, body, and spirit. Drawing deeply on the work of practical, psychological, and spiritual alchemy, we will investigate these conjunctios and the transformation that can be found within.

We will explore:
• What is Erotic Alchemy and how can we engage with it
• Alchemy as a process of personal transformation
• The alchemical formula of the three conjunctios and how that relates to the erotic and relationships
• An embodied experience of soul, body, and spirit and the unions thereof

Can be a five- or two-hour workshop

Sacred Erotic Embodiment is the practice of whole body connection and bringing the spiritual into the material (or recognizing it is always there). We will explore our own embodied awareness and both internal and external sensory experiences, focusing on solo experiences for this first class. The experiential praxis will be a clothing-on guided somatic experience.

This has been produced as part of a regular series of drop-in sacred sexuality classes that will be exploring the realms of bringing the sacred into sexuality, relationships, and intimacy. Each class will be a combination of theory, embodied praxis, and discussion with a slightly different focus held one Thursday night each month.

Can be a five- or two-hour workshop

Sacred Relationship is an approach to being in relationship with yourself, others, and the world, that emphasizes the spiritual nature of relationship. I particularly like Brene Brown’s definition of spirituality which is: “recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and that our connection to that power and to one another is grounded in love and compassion.” The particular approach we will be exploring has been born out of my own experience and practice of relationships as well as some sacred sexuality, developmental psychology, and neurobiology.

A two-hour workshop co-facilitated with other Seattle Sexological Bodyworkers

Mindful Erotic Embodiment (MEE) is a conscious self-pleasuring exploration practiced within a communal erotic space. This practice can be transformative! MEE sessions will weave together the heart and genitals in the heart-field of supportive community. This often produces a state of arousal that is free of fantasy, unfinished emotional business, religious dogma, cultural caveats and habitual sexual behaviors. In this erotic trance state, an individual becomes aware of the body as a source of wisdom, happiness and freedom. This event will involve breathing, savoring, sound, movement, self-touch, placement of attention, and awareness of intention. Please come prepared to engage with your desire. Bring toys and any supplies you might want including towels or mats to sit on. We will create a sacred and supportive space full of music and good company.

Can be a five- or two-hour workshop.

Holding space is the practice of being with what is arising in yourself or others without judgment or fear and with love and compassion. In this class we will explore what holding space is, what it is like to hold space for ourselves as well as others, how it can be utilized within sacred sexuality work, and some tips and techniques for this important skill.

Can be a five- or two-hour workshop.

From at least the beginning of written human history, as far back as we know, there have been sacred whores, also often called sexual priest/ess, temple prostitute, and other names. The sacred whore is an erotic priestex who embodies sexual sovereignty, knows all parts of the body to be sacred, and celebrates the erotic in all of its forms. The work of sacred whoredom begins with the body: recognizing all bodies as holy and working to embrace and inhabit all parts of the body.

In this class we will explore a bit of the threads of the sacred whore through history, feel into ways to embody this way of being, and play with practices to enhance our experiences of sacred whoredom. We embrace sexuality and the erotic as life-force and central to existence, related to all aspects of existence, and work to fully embody who we are in every (erotic) moment.