The Sensorium! Learning to touch and engage the senses

AUTUMN 2015, OUR Ecovillage, Shawnigan Lake, BC

Welcome!

I’m so glad you’re here.

Here we are, you and me, considering this course.

I’m keen to offer an experience that will help you connect with your senses, learn to touch with more clarity around your intentions, as well as find pleasure through your hands and all of your senses.

I have a feeling you’re really curious about how to better access your body’s ability to feel and experience sensation and pleasure.

We’re both in the right place here. What I have to offer, and what you’re seeking are a perfect fit.

Have you ever wondered

  • why you’re not comfortable receiving, and how to become comfortable with it?
  • about what your intentions are when you’re touching? Or what someone else’s intentions are when they’re touching you?
  • how to touch your children and teach them what healthy touch is?
  • how to tell the difference between touch for the sake of touch, with friends, and what makes it erotic touch?
  • how to better communicate the kind of touch you’d live to give and receive in your love life?

Let me tell you more.

Oh, and RMTs! You will earn 8 PE/A1 Continuing Education Credits from this course, accredited through the College of Massage Therapists of BC. 

The Details

This course is an experiential, gentle course which will teach you

  • how to feel pleasure in your hands
  • how to understand the difference between giving, receiving, taking and allowing
  • how to communicate the difference and get clear on what you and the other person are doing, and want to do
  • how to deeply engage with not only the sense of touch, but also the senses of sight, sound, smell and taste

This course is for you if

  • you’ve felt yourself confused or frustrated about the quality of touch you give and receive
  • you want to feel more comfortable with touching
  • you want to learn better boundaries around touch
  • you’re seeking an in-person experience
  • you’re interested in untangling the ways in which giving and receiving get mixed up
  • you want hands-on practice
  • you want to have fun

This course is not for you if

you want a best practices methodology course that is based on textbooks and reading

Extra details – this course is:

  • fun!
  • experiential – you’ll get hands-on practice, but you always have the choice to sit out of an exercise
  • starts where you’re at – whether you consider yourself a beginner or advanced, you’ll get a lot out of it
  • fully clothed – there is no erotic touch in this workshop
  • draws from the work of Dr. Betty Martin – you can read more about the five day workshop I took with her here.

 

About me

I’ve got a real passion for teaching embodiment, and how to access the sensation and experience in our human bodies. I’ve also spent a fair bit of time feeling awkward about touch, and receiving pleasure, so I truly do empathize with the confusion and big feelings that can arise.

I have a great deal of experience teaching classes in arts and culture, anthropology and literature at York University, Yukon College, and in workshops at art centres and from my home.

I also have experience teaching adults one-on-one as a writing tutor, and with movement as a Hellerwork Structural Integrator (working with posture through movement lessons and deep-tissue massage).

Combine that with a a strong background as a practicing writer, visual artist and dancer, and I’ve become a woman who is deeply keen to share my mix of knowledge and creativity.

For even more details about my qualifications, please go to my About page on this site.

What to expect

  • exercises that bring your attention into each of your senses
  • hands-on exercises that will teach you how to connect with the pleasure that is in your hands
  • exercises in giving and receiving, and how to tell the difference
  • exercises which will untangle the difference in quality of touch between taking, allowing, serving and accepting

What to bring

  • a pillow or blanket to sit on – we’ll be sitting on the floor, leaning up against the walls, as this facilitates the exercises best
  • comfy clothes to wear
  • an open mind
  • if you don’t pre-purchase lunch from the Ecovillage, bring a lunch as well

You will leave with

  • a clear sense of how each of the senses can be connected with
  • experiences of receiving pleasure through each of your senses
  • confidence that you can tell the difference between giving and receiving
  • little exercises you can continue to practice at home
  • more confidence in your ability to communicate what you do and don’t want

The Specifics

Cost: $199

When: This workshop runs from 10am-5m, Saturday and Sunday Autumn 2015

Where: OUR Ecovillage near Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island.

We will be in the beautiful Sanctuary room, with it’s curvy walls and ecologically sensitive building design. What a sensory treat!

Options for food and lodging: You also have the option to book a room and meals at the Ecovillage and make it a weekend getaway. Click here.

Are you an RMT? You will earn 8 PE/A1 Continuing Education Credits from this course, accredited through the College of Massage Therapists of BC.