Core Course 1: Foundations

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Foundations of Somatic Sex Education

Foundations of Somatic Sex Education an introductory course in a professional training for somatic sex educators.

Syllabus

Course Description

Registration Open:

Do you want to bring more pleasure and aliveness into your erotic life and relationships? Are you a professional wanting to deepen your understanding of sex, sexuality, gender and oppression through your own embodied erotic learning?

In this course, you will explore body-based exercises and experiences that include somatic awareness, exploring the gender galaxy, mindful masturbation, empowered choice and voice, genital anatomy and mapping, sensual and erotic massage, and transformative justice. Through guided somatic inquiries, you will explore conscious breath, movement, and consensual touch in a container of safe-enough practices. We will invite you to practice noticing and expressing desires, and learning efficacy and empowerment in the erotic realm.

Core Course 1: Foundations of Somatic Sex Education is an introduction to the profession.

This online course can be completed at your own pace. It will require a minimum commitment of 7 weeks at 10 hours a week. Your registration is valid for 7 months from the date of purchase. Course fee includes workbook and readings, video viewing, somatic inquiries, assignments and assignment review by a faculty member, community of practice weekly calls, plus a 1-hour private coaching call with a faculty member.

Course Content

This unit begins with readings and discussion on what somatic sex education is and how it works. You will learn about breath coaching, somatic awareness and erotic energy cultivation. You will be guided in somatic inquires into the impact of the social on the soma, with discussion of oppression, liberation and the body.
Unlocking sexual feeling in the body and opening to the ecstasy of conscious arousal is healing for individuals and for our world. This unit is focused on the development of your own mindful erotic practice. You will explore using breath, sound, movement, imagination and touch to cultivate your personal erotic energy.
Somatic sex educators actively create learning environments where clients are empowered to exercise their choice and voice. In this unit you will learn about barriers to consent in people we are touching, and how to integrate components of intake, assessment and client-directed touch in a somatic sex education session.
This unit focuses on genital development, homology and anatomy. The wide diversity of genital structures and changes with engorgement and arousal are explained. Information about little-known aspects of internal and external genital anatomy, genital scars, the science of expanded sexual response, and the nerves and processes involved in arousal and orgasm help us understand and support people on their diverse arousal journeys.
In this module, you will be introduced to the core concepts of Transformative Justice, a theory of change rooted in Indigenous systems of governance and BIPOC queer feminist thought. You will be introduced to the modality of Loving Justice, a somatic approach to Transformative Justice and conflict mediation developed by SSE and Institute faculty member Kai Cheng Thom.
In this unit you will have a chance to focus on the readings and somatic learnings that particularly interest you. Receive guidance and talk about your goals with a faculty member, and consider how and whether you want to proceed with the study of somatic sex education.

Please review our Student Agreement Form, which outlines what our program offers, how students are evaluated and the process for working toward certification, and Institute policies and procedures, prior to enrolling. Our program is unique, and we encourage you to review this document so you know what to expect from us and what we ask of you. Upon registration you will be given access to the online curriculum where you will see this form again. At that time we ask you to initial to agree to each point and add your signature at the bottom. An electronic copy of your completed form will be emailed to you and one copy will be kept in our records.

Course Includes

This course includes:

  • Thursday Zoom Community of Practice calls
  • BIPOC Financial Support
  • An introductory call at the beginning of the course
  • Workbook, Reading, and Video viewing
  • Somatic inquiries
  • Assignments moderated by your assigned mentor
  • Access to the Student-led Facebook group
  • BIPOC Community of Practice calls
  • Access to our BIPOC faculty liaison
  • Online discussions and assignments moderated by ISSSE faculty
  • Plus a 1- hour private coaching call with an ISSSE faculty member.

Course Textbooks

Course Textbooks (must be purchased by student)

Caffyn Jesse, Intimacy Educator: Teaching Through Touch

Mel Reiff Hill, Jay Mays, Robin Mack, The Gender Book

Caffyn Jesse, Cassie Moore and Mehdi Darvish Yahya, eds. Healers on the Edge: Somatic Sex Education

Sonya Renee Taylor, The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self–Love

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarsinha & Ching-In Chen, editors, The Revolution Starts at Home

Course Skill-Building Levels

1. Modality

Modality Skills in the domain of somatic sex education – including interpersonal neurobiology, mindful erotic practice, gender diversity, genital anatomy and homology and genital mapping, with practice in expanded somatic awareness, presence, autonomic nervous system regulation and choice.

2. Befriending

Befriending Skills for supporting counter-normative practices of joy and creativity, including unlearning perfectionism, embracing failing and messiness, valuing asking for help and honouring complexity.

3. Interactive

Interactive Skills for enhancing choice and voice in our personal sexual relationships and in empowering client communication around boundaries, desires, and choosing pleasure.

4. New Culture

New Culture Skills for building individual and community capacity to understand and engage with embodied oppressions that shape our personal and cultural experiences of sex, gender, sexuality and relationship.

Paid Full Now

$USD825Incl. 5% GST
Enroll

Course Pricing

Paid Full Now

$USD825Incl. 5% GST
Enroll

E-Book

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Refund Policy: No refunds are available for online courses.

Canadian Student Payment Options

Canadian Students have the option to make payment via e-transfer. Please email us at info@somaticsexeducator.com to inquire about this option.