In an intimate group with like-minded people, transform your sexual shame around self-pleasure into empowerment. Guided by deep psychotherapeutic, somatic, and mindfulness-based approaches, every Sunday in May we meet for 2-hours for an intensive month of healing shame into courage, sensuality and pleasure.
Discover practical tools to reclaim your sexual pleasure, transform shame into proud vulnerabilities, and connect deeper with yourself – through others.
Where: At The Circle Clinic – Rapenburg 17, 2311 GE Leiden, Netherlands
When: Every Sunday in October (6th, 13th, 20th & 27th) 2024, from 10.30-12.30
The Therapeutic Themes:
Week 1 – Excitement: Gentle Introduction
Week 2 – Plateau: Re-Narrating External Shaming Influences
Week 3 – Orgasm: Befriending Your Internalised Shame
Week 4 – Resolution: Regaining Full Self-Pleasure
What Can You Expect in this Workshop?
- An intimate group-setting of maximum 10 people (we’ll be checking eligibility confidentially, to ensure a safe community)
- x 4 gradually intensive 2-hour workshop sessions, and immersive take-home exercises to integrate during the week
- Physically-bound workbooks: including a generous curation of information-blurbs and research, and weekly thematic homework of detailed exercises (based on a variety of therapeutic approaches), journalling prompts and meditations
- Art therapy piece to take home for deeper integration
- Organic herbal teas and yummy, healthy vegan snacks
- And a long, spicy and enriching list of additional resources to heal your sexual shame, and reclaim your self-pleasure
Facilitated by Whom?
Ishana: Licensed psychologist
Nicole: Psychologist in training
By lifting the veil of shame surrounding self-pleasure, we uncover the path to authentic self-expression and liberation.
- Personalised, professionally produced meditation recording
Price for this Immersive Workshop is: 199 eur
This price includes: 8 hours of workshop time with deeply healing group interventions facilitated by psychologists Ishana and Nicole, high quality snacks, professionally bounded workbooks (with take-home exercises, meditations, journaling prompts, information-blurb and additional resources), professionally-recorded and personalised meditations, an art therapy piece to take home and as you can tell, so. much. more.
For those experiencing financial difficulty, the sliding scale is 180 eur. Please let our team know so we can deem if you are eligible for this.
In embracing our own pleasure, we reclaim our power and rewrite the narrative of shame into one of empowerment.
Questions & Answers
Personal Questions
Q: Why share something so personal in a group?
In our society, sensual pleasure is so often associated with shame. Shame is an interpersonal emotion, meaning that we learn to feel shame through others – but the same is also true for healing shame, through acceptance and openness of others.
Since everyone opens up (to the extent they feel comfortable), this workshop becomes a co-creation of a safe, healing group – which hopefully, becomes a supportive community for you outside of the workshop. Although it may seem counterintuitive, community is the antidote to shame.
Q: Do I need to share everything right away?
No way. It’s a gradual build-up, and at every stage – you decide what and how much you would like to share.
Q: What if I feel like the shame around my self-pleasure is bad and shouldn’t be shared?
Let’s challenge the idea that certain sexual preferences are ‘wrong’ or ‘bad.’ What matters most is that everything is consensual and respectful. Your desires are just as valid as anyone else’s, and it’s okay to embrace them without feeling ashamed. It’s important to be kind to yourself and embrace your sexuality without shame.
Through small, incremental steps, this workshop will reinforce that you’re not alone in feeling this way, and that it’s definitely possible to overcome it. You deserve to experience pleasure and fulfilment without feeling guilty, just like everyone else who joins
Q: Will the workshop be a safe and confidential space for me to share my experiences and feelings?
Yes. Confidentiality (respect for your privacy) and feeling safe (emotionally, physically and psychologically security) are paramount. We ensure this by filtering for people who can commit to maintaining one another’s confidentiality, joining with respect for one another, and showing up with an open heart and mind. This will also be thoroughly reinforced in our first session.
Throughout the workshop, our team has integrated mechanisms so that that you feel like you can share your experiences and feelings, without fear of judgment. To help increase this sense of safety, we ask that all electronic devices be kept out of our workshop space.
Q: Can I choose not to share something?
Of course, without doubt – you (and only you) chooses to share yourself to the extent you feel comfortable. We want to highlight, that shame is an emotion, with a tendency to want to hide – so the more you share, the more you can process the shame into empowerment. However, there is no pressure on you to share more than you feel safe to.
Q: How can I prepare myself emotionally for discussing sensitive topics I want to share?
Before the workshop, our team will email you with more concrete resources to emotionally prepare for this. It’ll be an exercise in courage at first.
Essentially, it’s important for you to approach the workshop with an open mind and willingness to engage in self-exploration. While discussing sensitive topics can be challenging, we will create a supportive and non-judgmental atmosphere – which helps nurture safety, connection and even empowerment in sharing your experiences.
Practical Questions
Q: Is the workshop open to people of all genders and sexual orientations?
Absolutely! This workshop is open to people of all genders and sexual orientations. We love diversity, more perspectives = a more abundant environment.
Q: Are there any requirements for joining this workshop?
You need to be 18+ years old, be able to show up with an open mind, an open heart & respect for yourself and others. You also need to have a journal with a pen or pencil, so that you can follow up with the weekly homework.
Q: Is attendance to all four workshop sessions mandatory?
Yes, unless there’s an emergency. We would like for there to be continuity in the workshops, so that we can create a deep community feeling – which supports healing shame, nurturing it into empowerment through connection.
Every workshop session is carefully constructed. Not making it to a session could result in missing out on the healing component of the group connection, as well as key exercises and areas for deconstructing shame into juicy empowerment. We don’t want to risk this, so please only sign up if you can fully attend the workshop’s dates.
If you can’t commit to the in-person dates, we have an online self-study course; covering the materials of the workshop. If you are interested in this, let us know, so that we can get in touch with you once this is available.
Q: Is the space wheel chair accessible?
Unfortunately not. We are working on a solution for this for the next editions of our workshop, since we strive to make the workshop accessible to everyone. Perhaps an immediate solution could be to follow the online version. Please let us know if this is the case for you.
Q: What exactly will the workshop cover regarding sexual shame?
The workshop will cover various aspects of sexual shame – including its origins, its possible impact on you and how you show up with others, understanding the protective mechanism behind the shame, developing a compassionate relationship with the shame and befriending it, with then strategies for addressing the shame’s needs and overcoming it so that it can become empowerment.
Q: Will the workshop provide strategies or techniques for overcoming sexual shame?
Absolutely, the workshop will provide practical tools, techniques, and coping strategies for managing and overcoming sexual shame. Participants will learn skills for cultivating self-compassion, challenging negative beliefs, and fostering healthier attitudes towards sexuality and self-pleasure.
Q: How will the workshop be structured? Will there be lectures, discussions, activities or group exercises?
The workshop will be interactive and include a combination of open group discussions, healing experiential activities (based on many different therapeutic approaches), and homework for each week including self-reflection journaling prompts, professionally-guided meditations and solo-experiential exercises.
Q: What therapy approaches are included in the workshop?
- Group Psychotherapy
- Internal Family Systems (IFS)
- Schema Therapy
- Mindfulness-based CBT
- Narrative Therapy
- Gestalt Therapy
- Expressive Art Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Tantra
Q: Who will be facilitating the workshop?
- Ishana Durante Bose: Licensed Psychologist, About Ishana – Ishana Durante Bose
- Nicole Bertrand: Psychologist in training About Nicole – Ishana Durante Bose
Q: How much does the workshop cost, and is there any financial assistance available?
199 euros per person. For those experiencing financial difficulty, the sliding scale is 180 eur. Please refer to the sliding scale above so that you can determine if you are eligible for this.
Q: Will there be follow-up support for me after the workshop?
Yes. During the workshop, you will receive a myriad of practical, interpersonal and psychosocial resources and information. There are opportunities for follow-up support through recommended readings, online resources, and referrals to additional services if needed.
Q: Can I get a refund if I can’t make it to all the workshop sessions?
No, please let us know upfront – so that you don’t sign up for something you wouldn’t be able to attend. In this case we would advise that you follow the self study online workshop once it’s available on our website.
Our journey towards empowerment begins with embracing our own pleasure and unapologetically owning our desires.
Ishana Durante Bose 