THE TEMPLE OF DESIRE

Expressing desire is inherently risky. Being witnessed in our desire amplifies the vulnerability. We will create a ritual container in which to witness, explore, and share desire. The free-format experience allows for different ways of interacting with others using the power of witnessing, consent, dance and touch, in which you will create your own journey.

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QUEER ANCESTRY RITUAL

Oftentimes the only narratives we have about the origins of queer energy come from either a religious-shaming or scientific/evolutionary perspective. This ritual is a group contemplation and enactment of a queer cosmology, exploring our connection to our queer ancestors and the age-old question of “why does queerness exist?” This ritual is based on the work of Daan Van Kampenhout, and incorporates family constellations and ancestry work.

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Ziji is a tantric masseur practicing in Vancouver. He also co-facilitates Men In Touch workshops with Sequoia, incorporating elements of contact improv, Buddhist meditation, yoga and tantric practices.

We-Space Meditation

"The eyes are the windows of the soul." 

We-Space Meditation is a deeply soulful form of intimacy: "Into Me See" If you have experienced enough meditation to be able to be in stillness with yourself, to commune with your own soul, you may be curious to explore this eyes-open shared meditation. 

We'll use breathing, toning, and simple, caring touch to open to one another in trust. Then we'll explore deep gazing with several different partners chosen at random. As we gaze we'll pay attention to "the Consciousness of shared unity," where our separate "Me" melts into a genuine "We". In that "We Space" we'll describe with our partners the qualities of Consciousness that are emerging in that field we share. It's a practice of communing with the deepest part of one another, where we truly are One.

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Queer Tantra

Can sex be spiritual? Can spirituality be sexy? Few of us grew up imagining those possibilities. The ancient tradition of Tantra says "Yes!" Not only can the spiritual path include sexual energy, integration of erotic energy is essential. The pelvis and sexual energy are the very gateway to higher consciousness! Join us to explore the simple delights of sharing breathing and consensual touch in ways that quickly connect our erotic aliveness with the subtler aspects of our hearts and souls.

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Sequoia is the founder of Men In Touch and Sacred Touch Yoga. He is a long time practitioner of tantra and a certified yoga teacher. He also offers tantric massage and life coaching to individuals in Vancouver. Find him at growinghealthier.org

AWAKEN YOUR PRIMAL MAGIC

Reclaim your primal power with this movement based workshop! Explore the relationship with your inner primal self and the connection to your heart. The foundation of this workshop is centered around embodied movement and allowing your body take you on a journey of self discovery and inquiry! We allow our bodies to communicate with us so we may gain confidence and freedom through witnessing our self and each other in our Primal Energy. This workshop is an opportunity to reclaim and awaken your primal magic, through unifying into a collective experience that is unique to each persons direct input to this workshop. This is a great space to shake off anything that you are experiencing, both good and bad. We come back to our simple joys in this experience, and it can lead to some beautiful break-throughs of love and healing.

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Soul Seduction

Unleash the fullness of who you are through Soul Seduction. This class is an embodied movement journey with focus on activating seduction and manifestation. This is an evolution to Awaken your Primal Magic, and this workshop Soul Seduction is a condensed version of an 11 week class series. You are encouraged to release your most delicious self with a group of incredibly supportive individuals. Lets come together to remember the core essence of what it means to be human, and how to translate this inner love out into the world around us!

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Stretching down the coast and across the planet, Devaiya Ra's presence has inspired many people to embrace the fullness of their masculine, feminine, and androgynous non-binary energies through inner alchemy practices and beyond. Devaiya Ra is an intuit, dancer, yogi, energy healer, embodiment coach, and website/brand developer based in Victoria BC Canada.

Men Moving Into Intimacy

In this workshop, we explore intimacy through movement. Lead a blindfolded lover through a sensual landscape. Find peace and connection by easing your body into and out of ever-evolving intimate living sculptures. Flow down a river of open-hearted men and watch each man become beautiful before your very eyes. This physical workshop will transform your understanding of intimacy as the creative Tantric moving meditations take you deeper and deeper into a blissful state of embodied enlightenment.

Three Rooms of Pleasure:
Intimacy, Sensuality and Sexuality

In this workshop, we will explore intimacy, sensuality and sexuality like interconnected rooms. With this blueprint of pleasure and connection, you will have a conceptual map of the pleasure you want to create and a new inspiration of the way to get there.  In the sexuality room, energy rises and we get hot. In the intimacy room, we go deep into presence and peace. The sensuality room bridges these two rooms with breath, touch, sound, movement and stillness. We will explore each room separately at first before moving fluidly and easily from one room to another by combining creative movement, improvisation, somatic sourcing and Tantra.

Lui Gervais is a sex/intimacy coach and Tantra teacher.  He is the founder of the Menbodied Institute helping men evolve their embodied intimate relationships.  He is a founding member of the Arouse Festival. Lui has been teaching his unique combinations of creative movement, improvisation and Tantra throughout the world for the past ten years.  Check out Lui’s online course Moving Into Intimacy on udemy.com and his website menbodiedinstitute.org.

Hooking Up, My Values, and Gettin' It!

An interactive exploration of our own values in meeting up. How do I select partners? Show myself? What are my desires - in my body, and in my head? What beliefs do I have, and are they serving me? Finding your magic connection can be complex with technologies, expectations, dehumanizations, modern cultural habits, isolation, and more. Be led through a discussion, series of reflective exercises, and community ritual to evolve to the next stage of understanding, sexiness and fun.

Aggression Affection

Interested in the interplay between abundant affection yet also lusty desire that sometimes even seems aggressive in erotic play? The interplay between gentleman and badboy is best done consciously, and can be lots of fun. Come explore a woke discussion on two intimacy polarities then experience a series of embodied exercises and explorations with alternating partners and groups, in a safe consensual facilitated container. This is not an exploration of pain - which is different. Participants may disrobe to their level of comfort, though not required. How do I find the right balance between these two desires?

Percy is a queer of many hats. He teaches, counsels, and practices embodied presence, intimacy, relationships, medical health, and community. His training in Surrogate Partner Therapy and discovery of Gay Liberation literature have further spawned his activism and community gathering. Percy is a sexuality refugee having grown up on two continents, four countries, and with English as a second language. He recently moved to faerie Portland.

SOMATIC SOUND BATH 

This is an integration of intimacy through sound and movement.  Sound and movement combine to form a tapestry of connection experiences. We begin exploring sensations deep within our bodies. We then take our experiences  and explore connections with one on other. Finally, we will take time to integrate these two experiences in a traditional sound bath. 

Rhythm Church

All elements of earth and heaven are subject to rhythm of nature.  We tap into those rhythms as we enter a state of entrainment and explore sounds made together. What begins as a rhythmic meditation using drums and small percussion evolves into a sonic happening with the potential to transmute pain and isolation into the sensation of inter being.

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Leveraging sound to build internal and external connections, Matthew has developed a cohesive and powerful path for deepening intimacy using sound. He earned his Masters in Music as well as Masters in Social Work and helped individuals heal from trauma as well as deepen intimacy with others. Building community using rhythm, motion and joy remains his primary life mission. Matthew has offered workshops and trainings Across the US and internationally.

Belly2Belly Embodiment

Drop into a deeper state of intimacy with the practice of “Belly2Belly” where each individual will be laying in close proximity with another man without the anticipation of sex, however falling into a deep state of intimacy very quickly while staying fully present in his own journey into the body. 

This practice will enable you to sink into a meditative state all while you are in partnership with other by using breath, eye contact, sound and touch enabling the nervous system to regulate so that we can bring in a sense of safety, awareness and a deeper sense of love.  This is a powerful practice for anyone seeking deeper intimacy in their lives. 

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Father Hunger

In this interactive offering the attendees will drop into exploration around our hunger for the Father.  We will look deeper at the relationship to the Father we may have wanted to understand and some of us have sought out in others, to somatically drop into our bodies around our relationship to the archetype of the father. Whether our journey with our own fathers have been difficult or simple we can still call out to the king, the sire, the parent. We will play with the words we so hunger for from our Fathers and see where in our bodies we can nourish that longing. We will be writing, moving and journeying in this workshop. Let us feed that Father hunger together. 

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JoJo uses many different modalities in his Somatic Sex & Intimacy Coaching practice to help people explore their relationship to pleasure, whether it be through hypnosis, touch,tantra, sexogical bodywork or somatic coaching. He is a Somatic Sex & Intimacy Coach, clinical hypnotherapist, Wheel of Consent™ and Belly2Belly™ facilitator. He is located in the San Francisco Bay area. More info on his  website at: www.metamorphicembodiment.com

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Cuddle Puddles

Maybe you came to this festival to connect easily, touch and be touched, and find a sense of grounding in belonging. Or maybe it’s time to alternate the faster-paced workshops with the REST and deliciousness of cuddles. Come be guided through a slow series of satisfying clusters, gentle music, senses, connections, and refreshing space. As always consent is sexy and practiced. Come on your own, with friends, or that cute someone(s).

Interdisciplinary Embodied Arts

Open to the shy, the confident, and everyone in between, this workshop aims to decolonize Eurocentric definitions of “art”, centering non-expertise, non-perfection, and process-driven collaboration, not performance. Drawing from a variety of artistic disciplines, which may include free writing, movement, voice, and techniques from Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, this workshop invites you to listen deeply to your body and co-create with others. Let go of the ego, open yourself to creative Source, and play together. 

Jackson Wai Chung Tse 謝瑋聰 (he/she/they) is an international award-winning interdisciplinary artist and facilitator with roots in Hong Kong, China and living in Vancouver, Canada. Learn more about Jackson at www.sonofjacky.wordpress.com.

Shibari: Sensual Rope Bondage

Rope binds. Rope contains. Rope stimulates. In this session we will play with how to surrender to the art and beauty of body bondage. Shibari is the elegant but easy Japanese technique that combines sensuality with empowerment—whether you give or receive. If you can tie your shoelaces, come on in!  Don’t worry, rope and instruction will be provided.

Lingham Worship

The phallus has long been a symbol of the masculine male energy, and an object of devotion and beauty.  In our ritual, we will honor the sacred and the erotic, the sensual and the divine. Join us as we celebrate the “queerness” of our sexuality. It’s more than just “cock worship” the sacredness of the divine masculine within each of us is meant to be honored and adored.

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Mahan-Kalpa Khalsa has practiced and taught Yoga and Tantra for 40 years,  He is the Asheville coordinator and an assistant with The Body Electric School.   He is devoted to helping men connect with themselves and each other. Through his Sacred Intimate practice, his conscious exploration of touch includes Yoga, breath work, BDSM, and erotic massage.

Queer Dying - Having a Sensational Death

How can we bring eros to our dying days? 

What are some sensations give us pleasure? 

How can we plan and let go into queer mystery in the end? 

In this experimental container we will have a taste of the work and play of Queer Dying. A mashup of eros, sensation and end of life visioning in community.  If you are really triggered about death and dying right now best to take a pass on this experiment at this time. 

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Magic Body Poetry Box

An otherworldly container of darkness, touch, poetry and magic. In this ritual we will create a safe enough space to  play with conscious anonymity shedding the old models of attraction and choosing connection and spirit. There will be roles for a variety of levels of participation.  Bring poems you love!

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Dr. Liam ‘Captain’ Snowdon is a genderqueer-queerdo-faery-faggot-witch living uninvited on the territory of the Lekwungen and WSÁNEĆ peoples on Vancouver Island. They are in love with co-facilitation, creating community at Grey Dragon House/SPARC, sidewalk chalk and the ocean. The most recent incarnation of their work is Queer Dying -  Part end of life planning and part experiments in sensational dying. Their background is in social justice, street outreach, counselling, harm reduction, anti-violence work, poetry and performance art. Since 2008 captain has been teaching professional trainings in Sexological Bodywork and Somatic Sex Education. Captain co-runs the Institute for the Study of Somatic Sex Education in Victoria.  www.somaticsexeducator.com and captain out at  www.captainsnowdon.ca

Knocking on Heaven’s Door

Our butt holes are often misrepresented and under appreciated. This guided workshop will shed light and pleasure on our sphincter of delight. External anal massage is a slow touch experience, inviting givers and receivers to discover the intimacy and subtlety of this exquisite region of our body. Men offering massage will use gloved hands. Men receiving will be guided and encouraged to request and refine the exploration to meet their curiosity. Down regulating and relaxing, a direct line to calming our Central Nervous System.

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Ron Stewart A Certified Somatic Sex Educator, Sexological Bodyworker, yoga instructor, and dance artist, Ron has a unique understanding of body intelligence, and creativity. He has been offering retreats and workshops for men through Skyclad since 2005.

Yes No Maybe

Based largely on Betty Martin’s Wheel of Consent, we will explore the four quadrants of touch, communicating desire, and feeling into your body to consciously experience your body’s yes’s, no’s and maybe’s.  We will ask, “for whose benefit is this touch?”

We learn new models of behavior through practice, and this will be a great opportunity to communicate desire in a safe enough environment.

This clothed, experiential play shop will encourage you to tap into your body’s innate wisdom and acknowledge and cultivate that wisdom through mindful awareness.”

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Pono is a Somatic Sex Educator.  He co-facilitates “Connections – a men’s erotic embodiment retreat”.  Beginning in 2020, he will be co-facilitating self-pleasuring workshops with the New Body Electric School.  Pono lives in Victoria, B.C. EcstaticTouch.Net

Tantric KYMA Yoga

The goal of Sacred Sexual Philosophy is to bring the body into a balanced state before engaging in sexual activity. Sexual energy is the most powerful force within the body and can lead us to intense physical pleasures and profound spiritual experiences. The class starts with gentle yoga stretching exercises, meridian warm ups, Tantric breathing, Tantric self erotic massage, then finishes with meditation to experience pure bliss.

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The Power of Love & Compassion

Discovering what is love and experiencing compassion. Your Journey into Heart-Space will help you, Access Greater Depths of Your Being, Open to Greater Self Love and Self-Acceptance, Facilitate Emotional Healing, Go Beyond Your Limitations, Transform Your Belief and Love yourself & others to enrich your life and advance your spiritual growth. We will start with some Tai-Chi Chi Gong then as we work partnered, we will discover emotions through the art of being a receiver then a giver of physical and non-physical touch.

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Alex is a Meditation and Tantric Instructor. With 32 years of experience in the fields of soul and bodywork, Alexandre’s journey has included Hemi-sync meditations, Taoist & Tantric healing love and Egyptian massage.

White Fragility: what is it?

Conversations and interactions around race and racism can be daunting and charged. Robin DiAngelo coined the term "white fragility" to illuminate the discomfort and defensiveness white folks ​feel when confronted by information about racial inequality and injustice. Much of this fragility comes from viewing racism as something "bad people​" do, instead of racism being a colonizing system that privileges white people. In this session, we will use compassion practice, grounding exercises, touch and conversation to clarify what systemic racism is, and find ways to acknowledge​ it and begin to dismantle it. By exploring our fragility, we can begin to see how racism and other oppressive systems stifle the erotic wildness of our bodies, and how we can all move toward freedom.

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Mark Fleming weaves Tantra, energy work and neo-shamanic practices together to create his work on Conscious Erotic Embodiment. He maintains a Sacred Intimate practice in Seattle, Washington. He is on the faculty of both Body Electric School and Sacred Intimacy through a Tantric Lens. He is passionate about justice, poetry and touch.

Opening and Closing Rituals

After months of preparation and anticipation, the opening ritual is the moment of convergence, when all of the separate pieces and people coalesce to co-create the temporary community of the festival. In and through it, something is born: we become a part of a larger collective organism that is at once greater than the sum of its parts, and is carried alive in each of us.

The closing ritual is a time for reflection, for honouring our journeys, and for marking in a good way the dissolution of that which we collectively created. We share gratitude for the gifts of the previous days, and for the blessings we carry with us out into the wider world.

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Andy RoMa is a love-centred community planner working at the intersection of collaborative process facilitation, strategic planning, collective healing, and regenerative design. He/they/she endeavours to foster supportive spaces for meaningful community connection and flourishing.