Being a Sexually Conscious and Empowered Man
If you seek encouragement for owning the truth about your sexual desires, and consciously expressing those desires, this workshop may offer you valuable tools to begin to resolve the conflicted, wounded, shadowy, dis-empowered aspects of your sexuality.
Being sexually authentic is your birthright. Sharing your deepest sexual truths with a trusted partner is one of the most loving, liberating, intimate and ecstatic of human experiences.
Many men hide authentic aspects of their sexual desire…for good reason! Our sex-negative culture, family, religions and even our relationships seldom offer a safe, welcoming place to honor and discuss the full spectrum of our sexual desires. Nor do they honor, bless and respect any but the narrowest view of acceptable sexual practice or frequency. In fact, the tangible fear of being shamed, ostracized, harshly judged, or of losing partners, family, friends, and even employment can leave many men secretive or shadowy about their true sexual desire. Some men are so deep in shame and guilt they can’t get past the fear of speaking openly about their desires to those closest to them. Some men can become consumed by fantasy, masturbation or porn rather than risk openly expressing what’s true to their partners…or even to themselves.
We each have a complex authentic sexual persona, as distinct as a fingerprint and inherent as our eye-color, whether we are consciously aware of it or not. There can be light aspects and shadow aspects, the parts we show and the parts we hide. There can be tender sweet aspects and primitive, wild instinctual aspects. These contrasts do not necessarily cancel each other, but are a paradox that one can learn to hold honorably and potently. Both light and shadow aspects of our sexuality possess a pantheon of archetypal polarities that we may carry at an unconscious level. Examples of shadow archetypes can be predator/prey, beast/beauty, dominant/submissive, bad boy/good girl, teacher/student, mommy-daddy/son-daughter, older man-woman/younger man-woman to name just a few. There can also be compelling energies around fetishes – eroticizing an object that in itself contains no erotic charge. And as well, all the variations on cross dressing, transsexual, bisexual or gay sexuality. All and any of these expressions of Eros can be valid and authentic. Finding safe ways to express these energies consciously can be powerful, healing and fulfilling to every part of our life.
Many of us were emotionally wounded (shamed or terrorized) around our sexuality, if not in fact sexually abused. We may have developed shyness or embarrassment, loss of trust, loss of confidence. We may have internalized the harsh voice of sex-negative moral judgment from our father or mother, religion or culture into our inner dialogue, or project that onto others. And to one extent or another, if we are secretive in our sexual expressions, we may carry an innate fear of being discovered at the wrong time or place, the feeling of being busted, the fall from grace and the consequences that might bring.
Some questions to consider if this workshop might be right for you:
Do you feel you have to hide or repress your authentic sexuality to please or be acceptable to spouse, family, friends, spiritual community or employers?
Are you struggling with shame, guilt, isolation, fear of discovery from sneaking behind a partner’s or community’s back?
Would you like to have a supportive, safe, honorable space to be witnessed, welcomed and encouraged as you begin to embrace your authentic sexuality, and untangle it from fear, shame and judgment?
Would you like to feel empowered to be sexually honest in your relationships, and advocate for your rights as a sexual being?
Would like you like to learn to be an extraordinarily present, embodied, compelling lover to your partner(s).
Getting honest about our sexual desires can be a struggle, even in a supportive environment.
To become sexually honest, it is important to learn techniques to consciously engage and embrace your authentic desires, and share them honestly in a healthy, fulfilling manner.
The curriculum will be both educational and experiential and is designed to create a safe, strictly confidential ritual container to step a little…or a lot… closer to owning your authentic sexuality. You choose your own pace, boundaries and level of participation at any point along the way.
This workshop is not about engaging in any sexual practice during the event. It is not about any practice that is ultimately harmful, illegal or non-consensual in the everyday world. It will support whatever is true in the realm of fantasy without judgment and explore safe, consensual, and/or ritual ways to express any desire, no matter how taboo, with a consenting partner or through private personal rituals.
To step into the truth of who we are sexually takes courage. Quite a lot in some cases. I honor that you are here reading this far, taking the risk to explore what is true for you. It is a noble and valuable pursuit on the path of authenticity.
There is no perfection in this. We will all fail if we are striving for perfection. But we can develop a strong intention to honor our own personal sexual truth, even if we stumble. And we can develop practices that help us continually renew our connection to our intention to be Conscious Men sexually and otherwise.
Some of the topics and processes for the workshop will be:
Exploring what “Normal” means to you
Sex/porn Addiction versus Healthy Exploration and Passion
Untangling Fear, Shame, and Harsh Judgments from our Authentic Sexual Expression
Understanding, Owning and Resolving the Shadows of our Hidden Sexuality.
Discovering and Looking Deeper into Your Authentic Sexual Mythos – Ritual, Archetypes, Symbols, Metaphor – tools to understand what turns you on, own it, celebrate it, and advocate for your right to be who you are sexually.
The Important Distinction between your “Sex Creature” and your “Ideal Man” in Relationship – How as paradox, both aspects can be true, welcomed…and noble.
Empowerment through Embodiment – getting out of our head and deeply into our body. Tools and techniques to get deeply connected to your embodied Self.
Practices to Build Presence, Intimacy, Trust, Safety, Honesty and Connection to yourself and your partners.
Two dates available
Date 1: Feb 22
Date 2: Mar 1
Time: 10am – 5pm w/lunch break
Location: close-in – SW Portland, OR 97219
Cost: Donation between $45 to $65 sliding scale
If you are sincere in wanting to attend, and the financial scale is challenging, contact me directly and we can likely work something out. I want anyone who this may be important for to be able to attend.
Facilitator: Galen Fous
Contact: Galen@GalenFous.com
Space is limited to 12 men, so early sign-up is encouraged. Email Galen@Galenfous.com to register and confirm your place for the workshop CLICK HERE
If you are from out of the area but would like to consider arranging this workshop in your area, please contact me.
About Galen Fous MTP: Over the last 15 tears I have worked with hundreds of men, women and couples who sought support to just be honest and empowered in who they are sexually, and heal from the decades of fear, shame and judgments that held their authentic desire back. I have a Master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology, with an emphasis on authentic sexual expression and am actively researching and developing a new therapeutic model of sex-therapy for individuals and couples seeking to resolve inner conflicts between their desire and the parts of their psyche that resists their authentic sexuality. I regularly present at a variety of Sexuality related Conferences and have been interviewed and written for numerous media for my innovative views on conscious sexuality and the nature of Fetishsexuality. I have been advocating for sex positive approaches to understanding the complex nature of sexual desire and have been active publicly in the Sex-Positive, Fetish/Kink and Sacred Sexuality communities since 1998. Besides my grad school work, researching the deeper aspects of human sexuality, I have studied and practice a variety of facilitation and counseling processes including depth and archetypal psychology, shadow/wound oriented process work, voice dialogue, neo-tantric practices, mindfulness, embodiment and conscious movement arts, ritual Dominance and submission and BDSM. I have been actively involved in the Mankind Project (Feb, ’99) and have been a Weekend Leader for both Boys to Men ROP weekends and Inner Mentor/Adolescent Wound training. My private coaching/counseling practice is located in Portland, OR. I support individuals and couples to safely explore, heal and reveal their deepest sexual desires and examine and heal what resists their desire. I am available in person or via phone or skype. For more info see http://galenfous.com
Leave A Comment