This Wednesday Sandbox gathering  How often do we please others rather than ourselves? What effect does this behavior have on our inner life? What would happen if we played for two hours at asking for what we want and saying Yes or No – honestly – to other's requests? If this is a somewhat scary prospect, it must be the perfect opportunity to come and experiment with others in a safe space!
 
Kick the People Pleasing Habit and you will

• Get clearer boundaries
• Don't be afraid to ask for what you want
• Don't get anxious that you won't say no when you want to

Practicing saying No helps us be clearer on what we want to say Yes to and to who. 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.

"As a recovering People Pleaser whose 'theme song' (from A Chorus
Line:)  was "What I Did For Love" and who used to be (according to my
husband), "an emotional contortionist who would bend over backward to
please people.", I see oh so clearly my motivation for doing so. That
was an 'insurance policy' for being loved. After all, who wouldn't
love a caregiver who (in theory, at least) put other people first.

"I had great role models for that in my parents (Mom in particular) who
often put their own needs aside in service to others, so I learned
from the Masters. What I came to realize (just like on an airplane
when the flight attendant offers pre-flight instructions) was that if
I didn't put the oxygen mask on myself first, I couldn't put it on
anyone else since I was (metaphorically speaking), passed out on the
floor from oxygen deprivation. I became 'all gived out' and
experienced compassion fatigue. 

The games begins after dinner at 8pm.  I invite you to join us, though as always what ever choice you make you will be honored in.

This entry was posted on September 2, 2008 at 11:50 PM and has received 525 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

The September gathering at Nancy's place in Columbia
will be on 9/10/08. I had posted a piece awhile back about getting
the love you want and not settling for compromises. Basied on Gay Hendricks Loving Yourself book To that end, I'm sure there will be a lively discussion.

I also plan to teach the process for accessing a State
of being I call Divine Love that I teach in my Level 2
workshops. We are human beings, not human doers, but I
know for myself, I've done the route of going around
in circles looking in all the wrong places. When you
access this amazing state of grace, you realize that
you are your own best lover.

For more details on Nancy's events specifics here

This entry was posted on September 1, 2008 at 10:48 PM and has received 551 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering  Jim Guzel  will be leading an Erotic Art Share. Bring some Erotic Art that you have created and the story behind it. It can be visual, musical or performance-based. So photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, songs, instruments, costume and dress, body art, dance of any kind, strip-tease and mime are all good.  As we did an erotic poetry and story evening in May we will only do word art as part of a visual or performance piece. Note that if you were the subject/model of a piece of art, that counts too!  I call that "The art of being you."

As well as showing our sex-positive art we will relate the story of it's creation. Because art can help heal trauma, help us grow and express our inner most selves.
Art can be very spiritual in nature - for at it's heart all art comes from our creative source. And when I create art or perform it I often get lost in the moment (and drop out of my ego mind).

    "Did you say "performance"-based......I am always excited by the
    opportunity of performing!!!  ... I have plaster casts of my breasts
    and yoni, monologues on abortion and rape and a couple of "yoni"
    poems so I am armed.  And in any case, I'd enjoy being audience too."
    - Gail Hollies

Last time Jim lead Sandbox on the Erotic Photography topic we had a big crowd and lots of fun and lots of talk on the Sandbox list afterwards.  So I don't think that you want to miss this one.

The sharing begins after dinner at 8pm.  I invite you to join us, though as always what ever choice you make you will be honored in.

This entry was posted on September 1, 2008 at 10:45 PM and has received 525 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Trance Dance Playlist files:

1. Flowing (0:04)
2. Kate Bush - An Architect's Dream (4:50)
3. Madonna - Shanti/Ashtangi (4:29)
4. Staccato (0:05)
5. Ganga Giri - Afrodisiac (6:55)
6. Garbage - Only Happy When It Rains (3:56)
7. Chaos (0:04)
8. Telesma - Egyptian Sun (6:53)
9. Jason Hann - Para Dibo (7:43)
10. Lyrical (0:04)
11. Loreena McKennitt - The Gates Of Istanbul (6:59)
12. Sat Kartar - Ung Sung Wahe Guru (7:26)
13. Stillness (0:08)
14. James Asher - Earthsong (6:14)
15. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar - Singers Of The Art Of Living Foundation - Lingashtakam (6:33)

This entry was posted on May 18, 2008 at 11:23 PM and has received 1514 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we will learn about Female Ejaculation from a short video and group discussion led by Thia Beach.

The video begins after dinner at 8pm.  I invite you to join us, though as always what ever choice you make you will be honored in.

This entry was posted on April 30, 2008 at 4:22 PM and has received 627 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we play with contact improv. No prior experience is required! Do you want to be more playful? Would you like to think more on your feet? Would you like to get over your fear of making mistakes? This is a hands on workshop and is a lot of fun too! Contact Improv is entertaining, energetic, and exciting. Improv is always different. If you find repetitive tasks dull, this is for you! Expect your confidence to increase, virtually all players improve on assertiveness, and creativity and problem solving are increased.

We will learn the basic principles of contact improv and then create an improv dance together.

The improv begins after dinner at 8pm.  I invite you to join us, though as always what ever choice you make you will be honored in.

This entry was posted on April 30, 2008 at 4:12 PM and has received 547 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

The May gathering at Nancy's place in Columbia
will be the first Wed this month,May 7th, not the 2nd
Wed. I had posted a piece awhile back about getting
the love you want and not settling for compromises. To
that end, I'm sure there will be a lively discussion.

I also plan to teach the process for accessing a State
of being I call Divine Love that I teach in my Level 2
workshops. We are human beings, not human doers, but I
know for myself, I've done the route of going around
in circles looking in all the wrong places. When you
access this amazing state of grace, you realize that
you are your own best lover.

For more details on Nancy's events specifics here

This entry was posted on April 30, 2008 at 3:28 PM and has received 600 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Gabrielle Roth's 5Rhythms® Movement Practice
Facilitated by Tammy Burstein, Certified Teacher
Discounted Pricing through May 1st
All three maybe purchased for just $195.00
Any two for $140.00.
Individual workshops are $80.00 apiece.

To enroll, go to www.Aphroditephoto.com > Workshops> 5Rhythms® in DC 2008
May 18, 2008: Connecting Waves: Moving with the Self, the Other, and in Community
September 21, 2008: Shadow Waves: A Moving Journey through the Shadowland
November 16, 2008: Change Waves: Awareness, Attention and Moving to Action

Sundays, 11:00 am - 5:00 pm at Carderock Springs Swim & Tennis Club, Bethesda MD

Waves - Dimensions Series: Gabrielle Roth¹s 5Rhythms® Movement Meditation is a multi-dimensional practice that moves the body, heart and mind in the service of the free soul and the collective spirit. This three part series is an opportunity to expand our visceral understanding of three deeper aspects of the practice.

Connecting Waves: Wherever we start, whichever direction we take, it's all about connection, about relating, outside in and inside out. In this 5Rhythms® workshop we'll move through multiple Waves as we explore the dances of partnership, the dances of connection - with ourselves, with partners, and as members of a community. We'll discover where we connect and where we lose touch, where we partner and where we part. We'll move, on our own and together, through and to a fresher, deeper and more loving understanding of relationship, to the self, the other and our many tribes.


 Shadow Waves: We all know how it feels to just not want to get out of bed in the morning, to slog through the day, and finally fall back into bed.  What if we could turn our inertia into art, turn ourselves into a ball of energy? Take a chance to dance out loud the tension in a jawbone or held in a shoulder, embody our stick figures and move on out fully fleshed?  Give up control, dive beneath the surface and melt the ice that casts the shadows we so often find ourselves moving through?  In this workshop we'll dance through the shadow-land and follow the map of the 5Rhythms® into the light.


Change Waves: The 5Rhythms® practice is a practice of embodying change from the feet up, from the inside out, straight from the heart, and out into the street.  We are all creatures of change, constantly in motion, whether we are aware of it or not.  We resist it and we crave it.  We dance with it and sometimes we sit it out.  But no matter what, change is going to happen with or without our attention.  In this workshop we'll shake ourselves up from the ground we move on as we challenge ourselves to dance bigger and bolder, softer and more vulnerably.   We'll give ourselves the opportunity to expand our options, embrace possibility and move into action on and off the dance floor.

 
Venue: Carderock Springs Swim and Tennis Club
(Huge hardwood dance floor!!!)
8200 Hamilton Spring Court, Bethesda, Maryland 20817
Approx. 1.7 miles from I-495 & River Road

To register now, Click: http://www.aphroditephoto.com/Workshops_Frame.htm

Questions or Additional Information:
Contact: Jim Guzel - Tel: 202.627.9903
or Email: Jim (at) AphroditePhoto.com

This entry was posted on April 30, 2008 at 1:20 AM and has received 1228 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

If you are going to Dark Odyessy 3/21 in DC and either are gender queer or are GQ friendly then come to
the Gender Queer mixer before dinner. And on Friday I will be hosting a Ostara ritual to celebrate the spring equinox. Hope to see you there!


Saturday
7:00-8:00 pm Regency Foyer
Queer and GenderQueer Mixer

Calling all dykes, fags, queers, FtMs, MtFs, trannies, crossdressers, and
genderqueer peeps: join us for refreshments, schmoozing and cruising. For
those going to the Banquet, we¹ll head there together. For others, this is a
chance to get a group together to eat dinner. People who identify as queer
or gender variant (or both) as well as partners and supporters are welcome.

Friday
8:00-8:30 pm € Hall of Battles
Ostara Pagan Ritual

The Spring Equinox brings a time of balance. The Sun God has overtaken the
darkness and day and night are of equal lengths. The Goddess, our Earth
Mother, awakens from Her long slumber to replenish the Earth. We see new
Life rising from the cold ground. The Horned God has grown weak from the
Winter and at this time dies in order to return to the healing Earth. From
His "death,² He is reborn as the Green Man. He has shed his antlers and fur
for green leaves and vines. He is young still, but as the days grow longer
he gains strength. He is a God of fertility, to aid our Goddess in the
growing of our fields and livestock.

This entry was posted on March 5, 2008 at 1:41 AM and has received 552 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we celebrate Robin's birthday Sandbox style by doing desert on her. After dinner Robin will lay on a table and be covered with desert topings, fruit, cream and chocolate then who ever wants to can eat desert off her. A sensuous and yummy experience. (The shower is available after for Robin to clean up)

If you want to celebrate your birthday or some other special event this way just let me know and we can arrange it! You chose how much clothing to wear (suit suit or birthday suit are suggested attire and what kind of deserts you want putting on you).

The desert begins after dinner at 8pm.  I invite you to join us, though as always what ever choice you make you will be honored in.

This entry was posted on March 5, 2008 at 1:02 AM and has received 594 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.