Reclaiming Pleasure: Embodied Joy in Trauma Recovery and Social Change
This class can be attended via the on-demand recordings.
These deep-dive workshop experiences are offered with an exclusive discount for all Embody Lab Members.
EXPLORE YOUR MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS HERE
What if pleasure was the secret key to trauma healing and social transformation all along? Are you ready to reclaim your birthright - the embodied experience of joy, delight, and wonder?
Join Kai Cheng Thom, MSW, MSc, Certified Coach and Adjunct Faculty at the Institute for the Study of Somatic Sex Education for an experiential deep dive into what happens when the body says "YES."
ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP
In four workshops spread over two weekend intensives, Kai Cheng will guide participants on a personal and collective journey into how we can safely and soulfully access pleasure in order to create change on the personal, collective, and spiritual levels. Participants will be introduced to life-changing somatic practices and skills in the areas of embodied consent, somatic pleasure practices, ecstatic trance, expressive arts, and more.
This work - and play - is informed by the trailblazing brilliance of practitioners such as Caffyn Jesse, Adrienne Maree Brown, Betty Martin, and Resmaa Menakem. Persons of color/culture, 2SLGBTQ+ folks, disabled folks, and others of marginalized experience may find particular resonance in the reclamation of pleasure for Transformative Justice. Healers and activists both may find new tools to not only effect change in others, but to sustain their bodies and spirits in the work. And all participants are likely to find personal transformation as they walk the path of healing pleasure.
SCHEDULE
THIS WORKSHOP AIRED LIVE ON: February 5th, 6th, 12th, and 13th, 2022 from 11am — 1pm ET
This workshop is now available via the on-demand recordings.
You will receive clear instructions on how to access the class upon registration.
WHO’S THIS COURSE FOR?
This course is open to everyone interested in relationships, coaching, helping professions, facilitation, caregiving, parenting, mentorship, health care, yoga, teaching, leadership, pastoral work, marriage, sex & sexuality, transformative justice, healers & activists.
COURSE OUTLINE
Session 1: Healing Pleasure
The worlds of embodiment, trauma healing, and social change are deeply embedded in the knowledge of trauma and healing. But what do we know about pleasure? This workshop guides participants through the awareness and cultivation of pleasure through all the body's senses. The neurobiology of arousal, excitement, and bliss and their connection to the states of survival and trauma are explored through embodied practice.
Session 2: The Power of Pleasure
Exploring the revolutionary power of pleasure as a tool for individual and social change. Pleasure can heal and transform us from the inside out, if we let it - and as Black femme genius adrienne maree brown writes in her book Pleasure Activism, it can shake oppressive systems to their core as well. This is the opposite of spiritual bypassing. Learn how to develop relationships and communities where pleasure can be accessed as a resource for survival, resilience, and growth.
Session 3: Sacred Sexuality, Somatic Sexuality
Sexuality, desire, pleasure and eros are intrinsic to the felt sense of nearly all human beings. Yet sex is shamed and stigmatized in the dominant culture - particularly the sexuality of women, queer and trans people, and other marginalized groups. Sex can be used as tool of violence and oppression. Yet in our bodies, there is a seed of the erotic that can be grown into defiant garden of beauty, creation, and joy. Somatic Sex Education, Sexological Bodywork, and Sacred Intimacy are a lineage of body-based healing professions rooted in the history of queer resilience and resistance. Learn how these powerful embodiment modalities can support you in the unfolding of your deepest self.
Session 4: When the Body Says Yes
In the shadow of pleasure, there lives the monster of our fear - fear that we are incapable of love and desire that is not dangerous to others, to ourselves. The embodied pleasures of the senses - food, comfort, sensuality - are often seen as sinful luxuries in the dominant culture. Yet pleasure can redeem our most shameful selves, and we can redeem pleasure by fostering the skills of consent, clear boundaries, and "sacred taking." In this workshop, we embrace the wild self's capacity for giving and receiving pleasure, and we explore embodied frameworks of self-knowledge and communication such as Betty Martin's Wheel of Consent
ABOUT YOUR TEACHER
Kai Cheng Thom
Kai Cheng Thom, MSW, MSc, is a certified Somatic Sex Educator, Qualified Mediator, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Certified Professional Coach based in tkaronto/Toronto. She is also the author of five award-winning books in various genres. Kai Cheng's work focuses on the intersection of social justice, pleasure activism, and transformative approaches to healing conflict. A noted speaker and practitioner of somatic wellness, healing, and group process facilitation, Kai Cheng supports individuals and groups who are seeking to repair relationships and make transformative change. She also teaches as Adjunct Faculty at the Institute for the Study of Somatic Sex Education.
PRICING
These deep-dive training experiences are offered with an exclusive discount for all Embody Lab Members. This means that if you attend regularly, your membership fees could well be covered!
All members will be sent their exclusive discount code via email. If you would like to take advantage of this discount, become a member here before registering for this course.
$167
NON-MEMBER
PRICING
$147
EXCLUSIVE
MEMBER PRICING