Attachment, Trauma and Sexuality - Science and Nonduality (SAND)
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Attachment, Trauma and Sexuality

Coming Home to the True Self

A two-part course with Ariel Giarretto

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“Neither the church nor the opponents of the church have clearly understood that the secret, or unconscious, motivation of sexual repression is to make it all the more interesting. And on the other side, it has not been clearly understood that sexual biology and all that goes with it is a figuring force, on the level of biology, of what the whole universe is about, ecstatic play.”
– Alan Watts

For countless generations, beliefs about sex and the body have been exceedingly pejorative and condemning. Although most religions develop these mores as a necessary means of keeping social order, such ideologies have a devastating effect on our psyches, emotions and relationships with others. Abiding by these creeds necessitates a thorough disconnection from our essential nature.

Calling on my decades of experience as a trauma therapist and trainer of Somatic Experiencing, combined with extensive training in somatic sexuality, this course addresses what it takes to heal our sexuality and our relationship to our gender, and to our bodies.

Through the science and heart of attachment and trauma, we examine how we are physiologically designed for connection, closeness and pleasure—which is as deeply “wired” as our response to threat—as well as what happens when this nature is denied.

Through a mix of educational material, experiential exercises, reflections and homework this course provides numerous ways of coming home to the body, finding advanced levels of pleasure and helping to identify and overcome all that gets in the way.

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Modules

Module I Trauma, Attachment, Connection and Pleasure

  • The science behind how we are all designed to connect, to seek pleasure and to respond to threat or trauma
  • What happens when any of these are interrupted or denied, and the parenting styles and gender stereotypes that have unknowingly created harm
  • Survival involves moving away from danger, but also moving towards others for safety
  • Overview of fight, flight, freeze and appease
  • Exercises to help heal these early wounds
  • Examining the messages we are given about gender as early as prenatally, and how these messages affect our connection to our bodies and sense of self
  • Shame and abuse that occurs in formative stages of life
  • Exercises and reflections towards healing from this shame and abuse

Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Module II Embodiment, Abuse, and Intimacy

  • Coming more fully into the whole self through embodied mindfulness
  • What is needed to heal most gently and respectfully from sexual abuse or assault
  • Importance of boundaries and embodied consent
  • Tips for couples
  • Working with low libido and the realities of aging

Duration: 2 hours, 26 minutes

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$55
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In this course we explore:

  • The science and psychobiology of attachment needs
  • The physiology of trauma, and how disconnection from the body prevents the resolution of past trauma
  • Exercises that support fuller embodied pleasure and self-acceptance
  • Ways of recovering from sexuality trauma and sexual abuse, and how to do this at a respectful pace that prevents re-traumatization

Presenter

Ariel Giarretto

Ariel Giarretto, LMFT, SEP, CSB is an internationally known body-oriented psychotherapist, trauma specialist, and somatic sex educator. Her passion is to support people of all cultures and ages in how to find ease and pleasure in their bodies, increased intimacy, and freedom from the grip of trauma. She is the co-developer of “The Full Embodiment Model” which offers gentle, transformative workshops for people wanting to heal from the effects of sexuality/gender trauma, sexual abuse and disembodiment.

Trained in a wide variety of somatic therapies, she is primarily informed by Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing (SE), the beautiful, heart-centered work that treats the physiological effects of the trauma, as well as connects people to their deepest, core self. For 16 years she has been on the full-time SE teaching faculty, training and mentoring practitioners all over the globe. Throughout the 90’s she was on staff at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, as an active member of the community, a workshop and group leader, a private therapist and part of the bodywork and massage crew. She has extensive training in prenatal and birth therapy with Ray Castellino, as well as attachment and early developmental trauma, and has been a home birth “doula”, a dancer, a drummer, an athlete, a cook, a world traveler and adventurer, a juggler and performer at the Renaissance Faires and is particularly fond of dogs..and her green cheek conures, Tulip and Blu, and of course her partner Jeffrey. She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Attachment, Trauma and Sexuality

Coming Home to the True Self
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