I am giving four workshops at this Beltane. Hope to see you there!

http://www.free-spirit.org/Beltane/Classes.html
Better Sounds of Sex
Erotic Trance Dance for Release
Getting Real: Practicing Honesty in Sex and Relationships
Sandbox Exploration

Better Sounds of Sex
Do you have difficulty making sounds during lovemaking? Would you like to experiment with making louder and more passionate noises and moans? Would you like to enhance your and your partner'(s) orgasms with sound? Then come and have fun at this workshop! We will play with sounds in a safe environment and practice different love noises. Either come with a partner(s) or be prepare to match up with new people or do solo sound sex work! Audience: Anyone who would enjoy making sexy sounds!

Erotic Trance Dance for Release
Do you hold on to stuck emotions in your body? Do you enjoy moving freely, uninhibited, to the sound of primitive rhythms? Do you want to go on an erotic shamanic journey with others in a sacred space? Trance Dancing is easy to learn and releases stuck emotions from both mind and body. Plus it is fun to do! The focus is on connecting with self and spirit, not on how well you "perform." To facilitate this we will dance in a darkened space. Join us as we dance to the five rhythms: the feminine, masculine, chaos, integrated and stillness. Dancing to stillness? How can that be? —find out at the dance! To help people get into the trance, there will be no talking at this event once we start dancing. Wear fun clothes or bring scarves or blindfolds to dance with.

Getting Real: Practicing Honesty in Sex and Relationships
"Presence is what makes you radiantly alive, confident, and attractive. The key to presence is honesty."

Being present and honest has helped me greatly in my relating! The key to good sex and relationships is honest communication—but how often do we get to learn how to communicate honesty in a safe environment? How often does it happen and why is it so hard? Most people are afraid to be totally honest. They fear damaging relationships by creating conflict, or hurting another's feelings. But learning to attend to your own here-now experience rather than worrying about the outcome, uncovers the real source of personal power and self-trust. This workshop will help by experiencing the difference between thinking, feeling, and noticing You will practice speaking honestly and noticing how language affects the way we communicate. Engaging games & exercises make this workshop fun too! Whether your interest in communication is for polyamory, S/M, coming out, or other relationship reasons this workshop will help.

Sandbox Exploration
Do you want to have clearer boundaries? Are you afraid to ask for what you want? Do you get anxious that you won't say no when you want to? Come to the Sandbox and learn how to create clear boundaries. Practicing saying "No" helps us be clearer on what we want to say Yes to and to whom. Learning to hear No from someone else without having to turn it into a rejection story is refreshing too. Saying or hearing No can be hard at first, so we will loosen up first with some body movement exercises! Finally we will practice our skill in a play sandbox where you can ask for touch and decide if you want to accept touch or not from others.

Sandbox Explorations gets its name from the idea that when we take responsibility for establishing clear personal boundaries, it makes it safer for us and others to play together in a safe, authentic way. More connection, joy and intimacy result. So, if I tell you some clear basic ground rules about what it takes for me to feel safe in my own virtual sandbox, than you can safely get close to me and I can safely open to you.

Sandbox Explorations is a community of diverse folks who share the desire to expand the level of fun and connection in their lives. We meet every Wednesday in the Washington DC area for a gathering and dinner.

This entry was posted on April 26, 2007 at 5:34 PM and has received 1164 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Do you hold on to stuck emotions in your body? Do you enjoy moving freely, uninhibited, to the sound of primitive rhythms? Do you want to go on a shamanic journey with others in a sacred space? Trance Dancing is easy to learn and releases stuck emotions from both mind and body. Plus it is fun to do! The focus is on connecting with self and spirit, not on how well you “perform”. To facilitate this we will dance in a darkened space. Join us as we dance to the five rhythms of the feminine, masculine, chaos, integrated and stillness. Dancing to stillness? How can that be? – find out at the dance! To help people get into the trance there will be no talking at this event once we start dancing. Wear fun clothes or bring scarves or to dance with.
Bring water to drink.

This dance is open to all (no dancing experience required). I will be facilitating the dance.

Suggested donation $20 (sliding scale for those in need)

- Michael/Michelle

Friday,
7:30-9:30pm

Location:
My house
Michael Smith
614 E Lynfield Dr
Rockville MD 20852
Phone: 301-996-8372

Directions

This entry was posted on April 18, 2007 at 2:55 PM and has received 382 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I am teaching a class "Getting Real - Practicing Honesty in Relationships" at First Class in DC. BTW First Class has a lot of interesting personal growth and adult education classes in evenings and weekends. Check it out!

You can learn skills that make honest communication safer and more fun. Most people are afraid to be totally honest due to the fear of damaging the relationship, creating a hassle, or hurting someone's feelings. But when you learn to put your attention on your own "here-now" experience rather than worrying about the outcome, you discover the real source of personal power and self-trust. You will participate in fun exercises that include playing an honesty game. You will explore: practices that support living in the here-now experience, the difference between your senses and your mind, how to express anger and sadness without trying to control the other person, and how you can transparently label your intent.

"Presence is what makes you radiantly alive, confident and attractive. The key to presence is honesty."

This entry was posted on April 17, 2007 at 7:43 PM and has received 1124 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Several people asked me for a list of the songs that I played at Trance Dance on Friday. There was a lot of different music including new age, german heavy metal, french rap, kabblistic chaos and more! The lists are below. Enjoy!
- Michael

Warm up tracks:

5 Rhythms tracks::

This entry was posted on February 25, 2007 at 9:00 PM and has received 418 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Being present and honest has helped me greatly in my relating! The key to good sex and relationships is honest communication - but how often do we get to learn how to communicate honesty in a safe environment? -  but how often does it happen and

why is it so hard? Most people are afraid to be totally honest. They fear damaging relationships by creating conflict, or hurting another's feelings. But, learning to attend to your own here-now experience rather than worrying about the outcome, uncovers the real source of personal power and self-trust. This workshop will help by experiencing out the difference between thinking,
feeling, and noticing You will practice speaking honestly and noticing how language  affects the way we communicate. Engaging games & exercises make this workshop fun too! Whether your interest in communication is for polyamory, S/M, coming out or other relationship reasons this workshop will help.

Cost: Free (donations accepted to cover snacks and drink)
Date Sat 2/24/07 7pm - 9pm

Note this is a CPN event that is open to the pubic

This entry was posted on February 24, 2007 at 5:30 PM and has received 1228 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Many of you saw the one minute movie that I made with fellow artists David 
Alde and Amy Tailor (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaHT___aDOY )

I will be making some more one minute videos on Saturday 2/24/07 2pm - 
5pm at my house in Rockville MD
It will be fun. You don't need any experience in acting, directing or 
photography - just show up and
be prepared to experiment! The last time was a lot of fun!

We will upload the videos we make to YouTube to share with others

You could make a fun movie, a music video or perhaps an  
instructional video on how to ask and how to say no (and how not to do it!)

This entry was posted on February 20, 2007 at 4:35 PM and has received 718 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This is a great event - I have been to it for the last 5 years. Lots of workshops, rituals, music, drumming by the nightly fire til dawn, sweat lodges, cool vendors to buy stuff from and a great location in 200 aches of Maryland countryside. About 500-800 people attend. Lots of creative and spiritual people. Very welcoming to all kinds of people. Doesn't matter what your beliefs are so long as you respect other's beliefs. You can go for just a day if you want to check it out. It is about 1 1/2 hour drive north of DC or 1/2 h north of Baltimore just off I-95.
- Michael/Michelle

Free Spirit Gathering, we thought you'd be interested to know that registration for FSG 2007 is now open. This year's dates are June 12-17. To register, go here:

http://freespiritgathering.org/fsg/registration.html

One of the changes this year is that we've instituted a partial-pay system. You can register now with a payment of just $75 per person. Then come back later (before registration closes on May 31) and pay the balance you owe. Consider it a layaway plan for gathering.

This year's festival will include musical performances by Kiva, Kenny Klein, Telesma and a new surprise act we'll announce later. Our featured presenters will be posted soon. And don't forget our great kids' programming, rituals, meet and greet (this year with pagan karaoke!) and sweat program.

Hope to see you there!

Blessings,
Cat Castells, Pesky Reg Elf®

This entry was posted on February 12, 2007 at 5:50 PM and has received 356 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Do you hold on to stuck emotions in your body? Do you enjoy moving freely, uninhibited, to the sound of primitive rhythms? Do you want to go on a shamanic journey with others in a sacred space? Trance Dancing is easy to learn and releases stuck emotions from both mind and body. Plus it is fun to do! The focus is on connecting with self and spirit, not on how well you “perform”. To facilitate this we will dance in a darkened space. Join us as we dance to the five rhythms of the feminine, masculine, chaos, integrated and stillness. Dancing to stillness? How can that be? – find out at the dance! To help people get into the trance there will be no talking at this event once we start dancing. Wear fun clothes or bring scarves or to dance with.
Bring water to drink.

This dance is open to all (no dancing experience required). I will be facilitating the dance.

Suggested donation $10-20

- Michael/Michelle

Friday, February 23rd

This entry was posted on February 12, 2007 at 5:32 PM and has received 379 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Here are the dates for Dark Odyssey events this year. I will be presenting at Spring Fire and Summer Camp

April 6-8, 2007: Dark Odyssey: Spring Fire, Washington DC
June 20-25, 2007: Leather Retreat, Northern Maryland
September 12-17, 2007: Dark Odyssey: Summer Camp, Northern Maryland

http://www.darkodyssey.com/

This entry was posted on January 4, 2007 at 10:16 PM and has received 524 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

FYI this is a great event for people interested in sacred sexuality. I have been for the last 5 years and given workshops too. Lots of interesting workshops and it is a very spiritual place (ramblewood camp site).

If you haven't been before it is a very safe place to experiment and all the people I have met there are very respectful of boundaries - you only do something if you want to. The staff are good at creating a safe space too. I believe that they have day passes if you can't go for 4 days (but I think this event is so yummy that is good to be there for the whole time so that I can relax into the space and let go of the mundane world)

http://freespiritgathering.org/beltane/index.html

This entry was posted on January 2, 2007 at 2:42 PM and has received 312 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.