In The Garden of Life – An Erotic Healing Clinic • August 23-29
NOTE: Sold out in 2008 when last offered
Also see essay by Michael Cohen, LCSW, In the Garden facilitator, at end of this page.
Experience an extraordinary week of healing and personal exploration in a supportive community of men. During ritual and one-on-one sessions with Sacred Intimates, men trained as erotic touch healers, the sessions include processing, breath work, massage and erotic bodywork. You will have the chance to explore your relationship to your body, heart and soul, and your issues will be seen as guides for learning and compassion. The range of the work is far reaching yet tailored for your specific needs, be it interpersonal relationships, sexual abuse, erotic frustration/isolation, impotence, drug or alcohol addictions, lookism, ageism, racism, HIV-related concerns, and more. The goal of the week is to clear the way to a joyful life and ecstasy through sensations in and understanding of the body.
Due to the workshop’s high level of personal interaction and attention, this workshop is limited to 16 participants.
The workshop begins with dinner on Monday evening and ends with lunch on Sunday.
With Michael Cohen
Prerequisite: Celebrating the Body Erotic.
Tuition: $1995 double with bath, $1945 quad with bath, $1900 garden cabin (share bath in lodge).
Register with a $300 deposit through Body Electric 510-653-1594. Full tuition is due three weeks before start of workshop.
Location • 2010 Dates • Coordinator
New York at Easton Mountain (eastonmountain.com) • Gabriel Clark 510-653-1594 •
• August 23-29
Tilling in The Garden of Life
by Michael Cohen, LCSW, In the Garden of Life facilitator
Most men first come to Body Electric to learn about their body, to learn to expand their capacity for erotic pleasure, and to learn the art of erotic massage. So many found, to our surprise, that there was so much more to be gained through the school. Many men, myself included, came away from their first Celebrating the Body Erotic with a renewed sense of hope and optimism about enjoying the body’s pleasures. We met like-minded men with whom we may have formed long-lasting friendships and community. We laughed and cried together and shared our secrets with men who are now like brothers. Many of us are still amazed by the sense of safety that we feel with each other when we are at BE events.
Men also found a wealth of healing available through the workshops offered, even though they might not have been aware of that need at the journey’s start. Men talk about letting go of body shame, of the sense of being less-than or too different from other men to fit in. These men found self-acceptance and connection with others in ways not available through other forms of personal growth. While healing of this sort is a secondary focus in most BE work, there is one workshop where healing is the primary focus: In the Garden of Life.
In The Garden of Life was created to meet the needs of men in the BE community who expressed a desire for concentrated attention to specific issues around intimacy, sex and relationships. Many of us struggle with body image, fear of all types, sexual compulsiveness, and/or the kind of deep shame about some aspect of the self that keeps us isolated and alone. This workshop offers a unique opportunity to work with Sacred Intimates, trained erotic healers, on whatever keeps you from full aliveness.
Perhaps the best way to describe the workshop is in the words of two past participants.
Tim describes his experience like this: "I consider In the Garden of Life to be one of the most important weeks of my life. It changed me. I highly recommend it for any man who yearns to live a larger, more authentic and passionate life."
Paul says: “Of all of the Body Electric intensives that I have attended, IGL was the one during which I felt both the most tenderly held and the most challenged to go deeper. I arrived at IGL imagining myself standing on the edge of a cliff and getting ready to jump into exploring what I thought were my issues. Because the dedicated facilitators, staff, and Sacred Intimates were so exquisitely attuned to the potential of my individual exploration as well as the group dynamic, my actual experience was much richer, more profound, and more unexpected. As the workshop unfolded, I envisioned myself intentionally rushing toward the unknown, arm in arm with my SIs, and leaping with a thrilling exuberance and fearlessness into a sky full of possibilities. The individual attention and loving encouragement that flowed from all of my brothers gave me the confidence to discover and fully embrace levels of awareness, authenticity, and clarity that were lightyears beyond anything that I could have predicted.”
If you’d like to talk about the workshop or your interest in it, please get in touch with me at
Michael Cohen
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