2008 HARBIN CONFERENCE INFORMATION

  

 HARBIN HOT SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA
PRESENTATIONS
September 12-14, 2008 (Friday, Saturday & Sunday)

	Workshops and presentations by
	DR. GARY SCHUBACH & CHRISTOPHE CERI TABER SHADBURNE & VERONICA MONET DR. SASHA & JANET KIRA LESSIN GABRIELLA CORDOVER & PAUL GLASSCO DR. DAVE DOLESHAL & SONDA BEAL DR. HAROLD (HARIDAS) KORNYLAK SUNYATA SATCHITANANDA CAROLINA FLEISHMAN & AMBER SEITZ KIRSTEN ROSE & TERRY GIBBONS DAVID SPERO & AISHA KASSAOUN KEITH BROWN PAUL PLAMONDON MOSES MA

Harbin PolyCon '08 Faculty (listings below are in alphabetical order by presenter's last name) Sonda Beal  MOVING THROUGH FEAR TO LOVE  We tend to think of fear and love as opposites, but, actually, at bottom, the nature of everything is the pure open space that we experience as feeling as Love.  In this workshop, through a series of exercises,, we will make friends with our fears.  As we allow our fears the space to be, we naturally find ourselves in the ground of our being as Love.  As such, we can move into various love relationships knowing that what we are essentially can never be hurt. Christophe Ceri GOD  & GODDESS PARTY: A TANTRIC/EROTIC CELEBRATION FOR POLYS The fun will start with a playful introductory process. Then we will use various ancient Chinese Qi Gong (internal energy) exercises to stimulate our vital chi energy and  fully ground us in our bodies. From there we will engage in partnered exercises to stimulate our spiritual & heart centers and connect sensually with the group. This is followed by a variety of games & exercises that will gradually move us from sensuality to eroticism and, ultimately, to free-flow play with  an emphasis on light-hearted, joyful play! TRANSFORMATIONAL (AND FUN) EROTIC EVENTS....How to Make Them Successful...& Ecstatic!          In this workshop we will go over the key factors in creating transformational, safe,heart-centered and truly playful sensual/erotic events including potential content, creating "safe" space, addressing spiritual & psychological aspects, creating a conducive & inspiring physical ambiance, how to get the right crowd, right vibe, set & setting (a journey in altered states of consciousness). Bring your notebook & pen and questions.    Bio: Christophe Ceri    Terry Gibbons POLYAMOROUS HYPNOFANTASY/HYPNOMASSAGE Slay the green eyed monster.  Release sexual inhibitions which are no longer serving you.  Learn how you can experience the delights of sexualove combined with intense spiritual connection. Grow Closer through verbal and non verbal exercises.  Finally, bring your senses alive through guided fantasy–-orchestrated Hypnomassage  for dyads, triads and loving groups.  Romantic music heightens the intimacy.  Mmmm... Terry's our Official Greeter and conducts the Orientation Discussion from Noon till 2PM Friday, Sept. 12 Paul Glassco TEMPLE OF ORGASM     Orgasm is nature's very pleasurable way of bringing us moments of trancendence and contact with the divine. It can be a delightful way to stay happy and healthy. The Temple of Orgasm is devoted to supporting you in sustained ecstatic consciousness. The Temple is a sacred space to share orgasms communally. This talk features Temple of Orgasm founder Paul Glassco. We will talk about the actual ambience in the Temple.      We are planning to set up a Temple space near the conference center. Come celebrate with us!  Dr. Danielle Harel, Ph.D & Celeste Hirschman, M.A. TRIADS Bringing a third person to the relationship is one thing, but bringing them into your bed is a different story. The option of finding another partner and having a threesome often comes up as a fun and exciting option. The truth is, lots of people fantasize about having one, but making it sexy, safe and satisfying for everyone can seem a bit challenging. If you've ever thought about a ménage à trios or tried it and it didn't quite work out, this workshop with Sex and Intimacy Coaches Danielle Harel, Ph.D. and Celeste Hirschman, M.A the creators of the Become an Extraordinary Lover Workshops, is for you.  You'll learn ways to make sure everyone gets what they want, and, of course, hot threesome sex tips. With these tools in hand, you'll be able to turn your fantasies into amazing real-life experiences. This workshop focuses on m/f couples, with either male or female thirds. Danielle's Bio: Dr. Danielle Harel Celeste's Bio: Celeste Hirschman

Dr. Harold Haridas Kornylak LOVING BEYOND THE DYAD

An enduring, fulfilling two person partnership is rare enough. Even most animals tend to pair-bond. It’s totally impractical to think of expanding beyond the dyad, perhaps to 3, or 4? In Beyond the Dance of Two, we explore the unique dynamics when more than 2 relate. We explore how to keep a triad from being a pair plus one. Gain insight into your relating style and how compatible it is for going beyond the dyad. (Discussion and experiential exercises).

Bio: Dr. Harold Haridas Kornylak

Janet Kira Lessin, Panel & Participants HOW WE DO POLY

Bio: Janet Kira Lessin, P.T.S. Sasha Lessin, Ph.D. ICEBREAKERS & PODS FOR INTIMATE COMMUNITY Friday, after dinner, mill around the big conference room, shake each others' hands and gaze in one another's eyes.  Feel attractions that arise. Then, based on  attractions sit with six to twelve other folks. The group you choose is your POD. It's the group you tell who you are and what we want. Your pod's the sacred circle of souls who encourage you to get what you want at the conference and in life. You talk now, and will talk Saturday morning and again Sunday, just before the conference ends.  You share with your pod mates about what you learn about yourselves as you explore poly loving.  Pods, then, are small face-to-face primary groups for conference integration. Your pod's a safe space to nourish community consciousness, create intimate, relationships us and our podners––the people in your pod––-can open-up, share what you deeply value and, most importantly, experience loving support for who you are and what you do. Bio: Sasha Lessin, Ph.D.

Dr. Sasha & Janet Kira Lessin RITUALLY EVOKING FEMALE EJACULATION IN A POLY POD CEREMONY

Moses Ma  A FILMMAKER'S PERSPECTIVE ON POLYAMORY

In the process of developing and producing an indie film about the book "The Ethical Slut", realizations about the nature of relationships, evolution in the lives of the filmmakers and participants, and even around the art of transformational filmmaking were enabled. This is about the lessons learned, so far, in this emerging and ongoing experimental film project.

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Veronica Monet  POLY AS A PATH TO PEACE

For as long as there have been humans to record history, humans have pondered solutions to violence. Superstition, taboos, rules, codes of conduct and laws have been variously employed and enacted in an attempt to curb what is often considered one of our baser “animal” instincts. Finally, an established culture has proven that we no longer need to live with rape, murder or war. So why haven’t you heard about this non-violent society and their amazingly effective blueprint for peace? No doubt this information has been suppressed because the solution involves sex. It might also be because the culture in question is not human. Come learn more about the path to peace which you share with your closest living relatives and find confirmation for what you already knew - you can't pick a fight while you are having an orgasm.

Veronica's Bio:

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Paul Plamondon  WHAT WOULD YOU BE?  Interactive Role-Playing as a Guide for Self-Discovery

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."        ~ Wm. Shakespeare, As You Like It Actors (which means everyone) welcome!  This workshop is for everyone to play out their hearts.  Dozens of real and imaginary lovestyle scenarios will be offered to the attendees for role play in a mostly impromptu process.  Imagine a bi-sexual petite woman played the role of a macho, rugby-playing poly man!  What would happen if a timid shy poly man suddenly became a flamboyant drag queen, even if it was just for a few minutes?  You see where this is going!  Scenarios will last 5-10 minutes with a debriefing session immediately after each.

Bio

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Master Rex & Miss Jane POWER EXCHANGE FOR POLYS & USEFUL SKILLS FROM THE KINK WORLD

	Master Rex has been exploring the nature of relationship in traditional and kink environments for a number of decades. Influential thinkers include Harville Hendrix, Marshall Rosenberg, Jan Spiller, Martha Beck, Gerard Jampolski, Marianne Williamson and Ed Seykota. ”Endeavoring to raise consciousness one thought at a time.” Master Rex includes keywords: polyamory, swinging, acting ,music, trading, pisces, venture, capital, communication, health, pleasure, joy, fun, peace, spirit, comfort, internet, beach, grace, love, transparency, ethics.
Miss Jane, M.Ed., is a person who likes stalking wild categories and dangerous labels in their natural habitats.  Her eclectic professional background includes practicing marriage and family therapy, facilitating communication skills training in Outward Bound -style experiences and post-grad study in health promotion and public policy

She has led workshops over the last 17 years on a variety of topics, including parenting skills, healing through patterned breathing and developing global consciousness.  She is currently writing a book about cultivating spiritual awareness through sexuality, with an emphasis on insights earned from recent immersion in the kink arena.

Jane has aligned philosophically with the polyamorous lifestyle for almost 30 years.  She lives ecstatically in a triad with her husband of 11 years and a woman she has known for over 20 years.   She also enjoys her ongoing spirit-expanding and multi-dimensional relationship with Master Rex.

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Kirsten Rose  THE MYTH OF HAVING A SEPARATE RELATIONSHIP

Polyamory is often defined as several separate relationships going on simultaneously. However, an alternative perspective, inspired by shamanism, tantra and family systems theory, is to view polyamory all as one single relationship that encompasses multiple persons and multiple points of responsibility. Viewing relationships this way resolves a number of practical "problems" often confronting people wishing to create and sustain non-monogamous lifestyles.

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Sunyata Satchitananda and Kali Devi   THE SACRED INTIMATE: AGENT OF LOVE AND LIGHT

Today's Sacred Intimates bridge the worlds of Spirit and Sex, creating a safe and sacred space for healing, releasing blocked energies, and opening to a higher possibility of eros and sensuality in one's life.  Join Sunyata and Kali as they reveal essential aspects of sexual healing, spiritual-sexual integration, and expanded awareness in love-making. Sunyata and Kali illuminate common desires for, and benefits of, sessions with a Sacred Intimate and reveal principles and techniques they share with their clients.

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Amber Seitz TANSU WITH THOSE WE HOLD CLOSE

Tansu's a bodywork experience to share with partners with whom you can be close to in an intimate but noninvasive whole-body holds.  On the rug, wearing loose clothing, partners cuddle each other between their legs and share deep connected breathing which leads to multipersonal, a whole-body energetic activation

Amber's Bio

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Taber Shadburne SOULFUL COMMUNICATION: The Tantra of Telling the Truth
 

Get to know and love your own insides--the light and dark--then open-heartedly share yourself with others, creating deep, soulful connection.  Join a freewheeling journey of exploration and discovery through the land of transformational yoga of poly relationships.  Construct a crucible of creative conflict.  Practice the alchemy of transmuting jealousy, integrating sexuality & spirituality.  Learn to use honesty as an aphrodisiac in the esoteric art of tantric conversation, working with all the messy, juicy stuff of life, creating love, deep connection & radical intimacy. Instead of a pre-set agenda, we'll play spontaneously with what you bring to the discussion--like a neo-tantric satsang (being together in truth), or perhaps satsong, since I may randomly bust into song and serenade you without warning.   Bring your burning questions and deepest desires relating to relating and the juicy topics listed above.  If you and a partner (or several) have a live relationship issue or challenge, and you're willing to go public with it, better yet! I'll work with you experientially in real time. I may facilitate some soulful communication, as a demonstration, lead you in exercises or talk to you about your deepest desire. Regardless of what we do, I'll share inspiring ideas and potent practices you can carry into daily life, tools with which you can deepen all of your relationships and create greater intimacy--with your self, your loved ones and with the Ground of Being.

Bio

 Gabriella Shannon TANTRA POLYAMOROUSLY: See the Beloved in Everyone, Dance to Unveil the Goddess Within
   

I discuss *the value of seeing the beloved in every person, *using our sexuality as the most effective "love delivery system," *the discrepancy between values we hold in our lives regarding freedom, inclusivity, sharing, generosity and diversity and the way we do relationships *bridging the gap between neo tantra and ancient Eastern tantrism so we can benefit from both Then I teach basic bellydancing and help you develop your own goddess and god dance

Bio: Gabriella Shannon

David Spero & Aisha Kassahoun
SEX, INTIMACY & POLYAMORY IN CHRONIC ILLNESS, DISABILITY & AGING

Health and disability issues are like everything else that life throws in the way of loving and sexuality – money, other demands, societal attitudes etc. As people age, they are more likely to face such issues.   Polyamory is a partial answer. As our life needs increase, it becomes more difficult to meet them all in one place, or in our accustomed ways. We have to be willing to try new things, which may include new people. There are three keys to growing in love and sexuality with illness, disability, and aging. 1. Creativity – finding new ways to be sexual and new paths to love when old ones don’t work.  (Poly people may have an advantage here.); 2. Courage – make yourself available, try new things, don’t fear rejection. Kind of like what’s needed to succeed at Polyamory; 3. Communication Say what you really want and don’t want. Listen to what the other person tells you. Communicate feelings – jealousy, anger, fear, grief, happiness etc. In our workshop, we will expand on these 3Cs and gives participants fun ways to practice and think about them.

Harbin Hot Springs, CA near Middleton (two hours from both San Francisco), nestles on 1200 acres of beautiful canyon land. It offers natural healing waters (hot, warm and cold pools), miles of hiking trails. The Poly Conference’s area is totally private within Harbin; in our area, we can be openly affectionate and even sexual. Harbin is a clothes-optional facility.

The Harbin Poly Conference includes interactive workshops on pair bonding, romantic love, multiple-partner sexuality, bisexual loving, nonviolent compassionate communication for plural lovers and choreographing the dance of poly loving. There’s panel discussions, jealousy management experiments, opportunities for networking, a fun party and a many opportunities to experience living compersion––empathy for others' love-joy. Participants build community as they move from experience to experience.

We at The World Polyamory Association (WPA) facilitate global healing. We contribute to healing the world when we help individuals feel good about themselves and honor their gender, relationship choices, sexual preferences and sexual orientation.

Polyamory means loving more than one person in an intimate relationship without deceit. We're all polyamorous, meaning we love more than one. Most of us have intimate relationships in our lives; we love our families and friends as well as our lovers. Intimates help us see and love ourselves, share love and be loved. The media confounds polyamory–multiple loving with poly-sex–sexual intercourse with contemporary multiple partners. While some of us are poly-coital and some not, we all need to be polyamorous for the intimacy that sustains us and the world. WPA supports love, amory and your search for love through your freedom to choose the relationships that work for you now, at this stage of your life.

The World Polyamory Association conferences strive to shift the planet into a more loving space, to create a civilized civilization free of personal, inter-personal and global strife. We play, enjoy song, dance, network and also heal at our conferences with the help of our team of teachers from the consciousness and free choice movement who present workshops, panel discussions, seminars, dance, song, movement, massage experiences. We feature workshops that simultaneously educate, let you play and create networking opportunities for you.

We Polys have a private, two-pool sanctuary for the weekend for rapping individually with the presenters, networking, vetting potential polymates, panel discussions and partying.  Our participatory workshops include presentations on Pair-Dating, Compersion Training, Romantic Polyamorous Love, Multiple-partner Sexuality, Dance of Poly Loving, Tantra for Polyamorous People, Power Exchange & Kink World Tools for Polys, Learning to Love in a Foursome, Bisexual Polyamorous Group Marriage, Finding Potential Poly Partners.

Namaste and Shaloha,
Janet Kira Lessin, President, World Polyamory Association janetkiralessin@aol.com

http://www.worldpolyamoryassociation.com/conferences.html for more information or call 808-244-4103 (Janet & Sasha) or 415-577-6015 (Dave). We'd love to chat with you and answer all your questions. We're very excited to bring you these conferences.