Love’s Embodiment–Contemplative Erotic Bodywork

August 19-25, 2024 with Joseph Kramer, assisted by Don Shewey, Bob Barzan and Thom Grexa Phillips

Who is invited? Sacred intimates, erotic contemplatives and other queer embodied men who are dedicated to fostering a sense of well-being and aliveness within themselves, other people, and the environment. This dedication to embodying love necessitates a safe and nurturing environment for transformative practice. Let us co-create this magical space at Easton Mountain.

On this six-day journey, we will delve into contemplative touch practices that promote an acute awareness of the inner sensations of arousal. For more than a thousand years, such practices of attentive observation and enjoyment of our bodies have faced prohibitions from Western religions. These prohibitions have largely been successful at limiting access to these profound states of aliveness.

This retreat offers an opportunity to indulge for six days in deeply nourishing erotic practices in a beautiful environment with supportive community. Join us for this sensuous exploration of giving and receiving.

Some of you have experienced Joseph Kramer’s contemplative erotic massage practices in the Body Electric classes he choreographed, such as Celebrating the Body Erotic (CBE), the Dear Love of Comrades and Sacred Intimacy Training. In those classes, Joseph guided participants into astonishing communal experiences of giving and receiving erotic massage. But he didn’t teach participants how to access this experience after the class. 

In the twenty-first century, Joseph evolved his weekend Body Electric experiences into nine-month Sexological Bodywork trainings where participants practiced and became skilled erotic professionals. The erotic expertise of Sexological Bodyworkers is recognized as a legal profession in the state of California and countries around the world.

At Easton you will experience giving and receiving some of these new and powerful forms of erotic bodywork. You can then choose what you wish to practice and master in the weeks and months after the training with your intimates and partners. The course workbook and video demonstrations will offer support and guidance. 

May our coming together at Love’s Embodiment contribute to the well-being and the enlivenment of others and of our planet. 

What to Expect:

– Advanced erotic bodywork practices to enhance and sustain arousal, focusing on pleasure, body awareness and healing.

– Rituals of self-love and healing, celebrations of birth and death, and ceremonies of belonging to the Earth.

– Breathing and moving practices to deepen sensations, regulate arousal and support sexual well-being.

– Mindfulness practices aimed at developing and maintaining a focused attention on the pleasures and rewards of arousal.

– An erotic touch course workbook. This toolkit of resources includes one-year access to over 30 erotic massage video tutorials for ongoing practice and learning.

– Shared wisdom from the flesh mystics and erotic wizards within the group. Come prepared to wave your magic wand.  

Before the training, we will have a meetup Zoom on August 4 at 1pm ET to connect with one another and share intentions for the training. Enrollment also includes access to optional Zoom Gatherings after the six days to support each other as we integrate our Easton experiences into our bodies and lives. 

Join us for six days of erotic bodywork, playfulness and learning. May this communal erotic experience support us in our choosing. May our time together contribute to the sexual well-being of others and the enlivenment of our planet.

 

Enroll Here.

 

Love’s Embodiment Team

Joseph Kramer

As a young massage therapist, I became enchanted by Walt Whitman. His poetry seduced me. “I make holy whatever I touch…I place my hand upon you that you may be my poem…Your very flesh shall be a great poem.” Thanks to Walt, I have served the communal “body electric” for forty years, training Sacred Intimates, erotic masseurs and Sexological Bodyworkers. 

My favorite way of connecting with others has become giving and receiving massage. I can often learn more about someone by massaging them than by speaking with them. For the last thirty years, my massage table has been constantly available in my living room. If you have visited me, you know you can sit in a chair or climb on the table.

When I think back on the thousands of bodywork sessions I’ve done with men, I am grateful for the astonishing lessons I have learned about male arousal and pleasure from those who graced my table.

• I often surprised the man on the table by touching his genitals in ways he never touched himself.
• I asked men to teach me their favorite masturbation strokes. 
• It’s fun to keep a man hard at different levels of arousal—kind of like edging.
• I’ve learned that pulling the skin taut on the cock offers different access to nerve endings.
• I’ve learned that four hands engaging the receiver (his and mine) can stimulate mystical experiences.
• Faster-paced breathing can intensify a man’s pleasure.  
• Foot-slapping and hair-tugging can circulate sexual excitement throughout the body. (One time, I unfortunately pulled out a man’s recent hair plugs. I now get consent to tug hair). 
• The aroused man on the table benefits more when he focuses on his body electric, not mine.
• Most men desiring orgasm are actually seeking release.
• A good erotic massage takes one into an altered state of consciousness.
• I’ve learned to eroticize the belly. 
• While giving a session, I often had the man touch himself to surprising states of arousal. 
• I’ve learned that the more deeply relaxed a man is, the more pleasurable the erotic massage can be. I always offered the man on the table at least a half hour of relaxing massage before beginning erotic touch.
• Music helped the receiver move in ways that spread sexual excitement throughout his body.
• I’ve learned to listen with my hands—allowing the recipient’s body to guide my touch.
• It’s good to check in with the man on the table, asking “What are you noticing?” or “What would make this even better?”

For a more traditional biography of Joseph, please visit his Wikipedia page.

Don Shewey

Don Shewey is a writer, sacred intimate, and pleasure activist in New York City. As a journalist and critic, he has published three books about theater and written hundreds of articles for the New York Times, the Village Voice, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and other publications. His book The Paradox of Porn: Notes on Gay Male Sexual Culture came out in 2018, and his most recent book is Daddy Lover God: A Sacred Intimate Journey.  

His work as a teacher and community health activist revolves around healing through pleasure, adult sex education, and grounded daily spiritual practice. He is active on social media and maintains a blog on Substack called Another Eye Opens. An archive of his writing is available online at donshewey.com.

Bob Barzan

     

For the last several decades, with varying degrees of success, Bob has modeled his life after the tradition he learned from his Italian heritage of la dolce vita, the sweet life. La dolce vita is a shared way of living centered on loving relationships, the enjoyment of simple sensual pleasures, and embracing life to its fullest. As part of this way of living, for the last three years, Bob has been exploring how pleasure and the practice of savoring contribute to personal and communal well-being. The Art of Erotic Savoring is a short essay about what he is discovering. 

You might know Bob as the founder of the gay men’s journal White Crane or editor of Sex and Spirit: Exploring Gay Men’s Spirituality. He has worked with Joseph Kramer since the 1990s, investigating a practice important to both of them: the use of erotic states of consciousness to facilitate discernment and personal growth.

This is Bob’s first visit to Easton Mountain, and he looks forward to sharing the experience of Love’s Embodiment – Contemplative Erotic Bodywork with you.

t g phillips

t j phillips is a nationally-certified fitness trainer, a California-certified bodyworker, a certified yoga teacher, and a California-certified somatic sex educator. He runs a health and wellness consultancy in Palm Springs. His practice incorporates the union of body, mind, and spirit.

thom looks forward to assisting in the co-creation of a conscious erotic community of men this August. Learn more about him at his website www.MyVitality.Life.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

• Help! I have more questions. Joseph and his assistants invite you to a Love’s Embodiment Zoom call on June 9 at 11 am, Pacific Time (2pm Eastern). This will be an intimate gathering for men wishing to know more about what will happen in this pleasure retreat. You will be able to speak with Joseph and his assistants to see if this touching experience is what you are seeking. Enroll in the Zoom call here.
• I have no experience giving or receiving erotic massage, but this course attracts me.  Love’s Embodiment is not appropriate for beginners. Many of the Easton Mountain retreats include erotic touch experiences for beginners. Body Electric’s Celebrating the Body Erotic is also highly recommended.
• Can I use Cialis or Viagra during this training? Men who use these drugs with a doctor’s prescription are welcome to continue that use during our training.
• The training invites “queer men”. What if I don’t identify as a queer man? Any man wanting to come to an erotic bodywork training with twenty-four other men might be seen as slightly queer by some people. So you would be welcome.
• Are transmen welcome? Very. You would welcomed and safe as part of the community of male-identified humans that will be gathering to practice erotic bodywork. Everyone will benefit from everyone’s presence. (Joseph commissioned and created with Barbara Carrellas the instructional video Transcendent Bodies: Erotic Awakening Massage for Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People. Transcendent Bodies will be available to everyone in this course for a year as part of the course workbook toolkit.)
• What can I expect from receiving the erotic massage and Sexological Bodywork sessions created by Joseph Kramer? Sex researchers studied 80 women who received five Sexological Bodywork sessions in five days. They discovered that the daily erotic bodywork expanded what women want out of sex and empowered them to ask for it. The bodywork’s focus on arousal rather than orgasm enhanced feelings of embodiment and awakened sexual desires. Women told the researchers that the erotic sessions released shame, healed past trauma and cultivated a sense of spirituality. This Sexological Bodywork  research can be found in the 40-page peer-reviewed study titled “Exploring Erotic Potential” in the Journal of Sexual and Relationship Therapy. Participants in Love’s Embodiment will have the option of receiving and giving five Sexological Bodywork sessions in five days.

 

Recommended Preparations

These three books are highly recommended for Sacred Intimates, Sexological Bodyworkers, and other sex workers who professionally work with queer men. Don Shewey will be assisting in Love’s Embodiment.

 

Enroll Here.