Some of the most profound embodied learning in the Somatic Sex Education™ training takes place at home during the somatic enquiries of Modules 1 and 3.

Curiosity and mindful somatic practice over time are the core of the home study program.

Online video demonstrations and important sexological readings provide a survey of the new field of Somatic Sex Education™ with an emphasis on education, erotic bodywork, masturbation coaching, anal pleasure, erotic yoga, and sexual health. Each student shares reports with the group about their practice and learning.

A private forum facilitates the sharing of Somatic Enquiry reflections, while providing a place for online discussions and communications with the instructors.

The online lessons direct practice sessions (with yourself, with other students and with practice partner volunteers), course readings and video viewing.

Students will need to allocate at least 25 hours a week during Modules 1 and 3.

Module 1 focusses on working with self, Module 3 focusses on working with others.

Completing of each Module in turn is required in order to progress to the next Module.

After the Module 1 and 3 group somatic distance learning, students and faculty come together in person to practice communally. Dr. Betty Martin’s Wheel of Consent® is explored during Module 2 and throughout the training, and provides a context and ethical framework for our work with others. The in-person Embodiment Weeks include instruction and practice in breathwork, self-massage, movement, sensate focus, embodied consent, and scar tissue remediation. In Module 4 we move into active receiving, mindful genital mapping, session structure and facilitating group learning environments.

Special emphasis is placed on learning to guide others to direct their own somatic learning.

In order to develop awareness and hands-on skills, participants touch and coach each other, deepening the practice begun in the home study.

The following modalities are emphasised:

The Wheel of Consent®

Skills and practice creating consensual agreements using the Wheel of Consent are foundational core competencies that are taught and practised throughout this training

Clean Language and Body Poem

Skills and practice coaching using Clean Language and Body Poem are foundational throughout this training. We practice radical acceptance and trust in the self-organising intelligence of the people who we work with. This coaching model combined with the Wheel of Consent facilitates active receiving rather than the treatment model.

Conscious Breathwork

Breathing is a foundational tool of Somatic Sex Education™. Several different breathing methods are taught. Students learn to help others expand their capacity for sexual excitement and erotic joy through breathing.

Self-Regulation Using Breathwork

Consciously changing how we use breath using sound, movement, touch and focused awareness profoundly affects the nervous system, increasing the potential of neuroplasticity. Guided practice sessions teach participants how to coach clients in self-regulation to develop a greater capacity for experience and choice informed by the science of interpersonal neurobiology and affective relational neuroscience.

Muscular, Skeletal and Genital Anatomy

Anatomy is explored through webinars, slide show presentations, experiential demonstrations and guided practice sessions in all Modules.

Sexual Expression

Exploring and understanding gender & genital identity in relation to belonging and sexual expression is an essential part of ongoing professional development for somatic sex educators.

Genital Identity and Body Image

Genital identity and body image are explored supporting the development of core competencies in relation to erotic and emotional fluency.

Trauma-Informed: Working with Altered States of Consciousness

When we are touched or touch another, we are touching memories. Bodywork, Body Focusing and Breathwork can facilitate up-regulated states of arousal or down-regulated states of relaxation and each person has different ranges of emotional and erotic fluency in different states. All of the practices in this training are choreographed, using the Wheel of Consent and Clean Language coaching to facilitate staying within the range of a person’s response flexibility. Foundational to this training is developing response flexibility (ability to be in choice when experiencing the intensity of emotional affect). This is essential to be able to hold space for others and is a core competency for certification.

Masturbation Coaching

Based on Authentic Movement, masturbation coaching is an astonishingly effective means to assist others to break free of limiting habits and to go deep into erotic experience. The major technique in masturbation coaching is witnessing and being witnessed. Students give and receive individual coaching sessions as well as participate in and facilitate group coaching structures. Students learn ways to make use of video feedback in working with others. The motto of masturbation coaching is: “Change the way you masturbate, change your life.”

Somatic Sex Coaching

Students learn to help others to overcome shame and erotic sensory-motor amnesia, allowing both personal and communal erotic embodiment. Rather than offering hierarchical teaching, students learn to facilitate learning and erotic mindfulness through client-led, co-created explorations. A key element of session structure is the co-creation of a learning objective, which is addressed via agreed somatic practices that support inhabiting new ways of being.

Mindful Genital Mapping and Massage

Through both giving and receiving erotic touch, students learn several forms of genital and anal bodywork as client-led active receiving that promotes a greater sense of embodiment and interoception. Students also learn to teach this bodywork to couples and groups.

Facilitating In-Person and Online Groups

Successfully running group learning experiences is a creative and structured process. Participants are taken step-by-step through the process of turning an idea into a dynamic group learning experience using the Engage, Study, Activate & Install teaching method.

Setting up a successful Somatic Sex Education practice involves a vision, business plan, promotion, and a supportive network, which are addressed in Module 5. Students also become familiar with local legal issues and professional ethics.

Module 5 is about the student’s learning, which does not happen if you are rushing to complete it. We encourage and support everyone to take the time they need to identify areas of learning useful to them.

Demonstrating competency is a requirement for Certification. Therefore, while 25 credits is the minimum number we have found that provides a useful structure for students to be able to do so, some students may be asked to do more.

Session Structure – Translating Learning Edges into Learning Objectives and then into Educational Contracts

During this final module, students practice using the embodiment assessment tools and Sexological Bodywork® tool kit. Students first receive sessions that address their learning edges in relation to core competencies. These sessions support sessions involve translating learning edges into learning objectives and then into educational contracts. After this self-directed practice, student Sexological Bodyworkers then progress towards completing a minimum of twenty-five sessions of Somatic Sex Education™ with individuals and, optionally, with couples and/or small groups over the 16 weeks of Module 5.

Students submit reports on their sessions to the course directors and to their Coach and post a summary of their learning online for instructors and classmates to read and review. They arrange supervision sessions with their coach after every 5 sessions.

Upon completion of all requirements and demonstration of competency to practice, you will be awarded the Certificate in Sexological Bodywork (CSB).