Private and Semi-Private Couples Retreats and Intensives

COuples Retreats

We offer uniquely transformative attachment-based sexuality and intimacy couples retreats in beautiful destination such as locations Napa Valley, San Francisco, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Mexico, Costa Rica, Italy and various Northern California destinations. These customized relationship intensives can also be completed from the comfort of your own home, via video. During the emerging coronavirus situation, many people are choosing this as an option.

Intensives allow for profound and rapid positive change. With this format, you and your partner can cover what would normally be months of material via a traditional weekly format, in the course of days. Ongoing support after the retreat is available if appropriate.

 Relationship Retreats are a powerful way to deepen emotional and sexual intimacy, reignite the spark and cultivate happy and healthy intimate connections with your partner through an attachment based lens.

A marriage or couples retreat offers a deep dive on a fast track to reigniting your sexual spark, building more emotional and sexual connection, via an intensive, safe, nonjudgmental and supportive environment to experience profound results. We also offer intensives that do not focus on sexuality, but on repairing negative patterns in the partnership and healing through profound understanding of one another’s core feelings and needs.

Whether a private or semi-private group retreat, our intimacy intensives are comprised of a customized concentrated program designed to facilitate sexual and emotional intelligence, deepened intimacy and awareness.

Your relationship will be transformed, refreshed and inspired. We will provide you and your partner practical tools to develop your connection, your love and your sexuality (if the chosen focus).

Your therapist or coach will co-create a highly customized program to facilitate healing and positive change in your relationship.

OUR APPROACHES

Intimacy & Sexuality Relationship Retreats:

Your sexuality retreat counselors utilize the latest research in neuroscience and attachment theory, sex positivity and somatic awareness. We assist people in deepening their innate capacity for intimacy, desire, pleasure, and sexual embodiment through self-awareness, exploration and more effective communication skills. You will learn tools to take home with you. Many people have a hard time talking about sex in a vulnerable, direct and authentic manner. We will gently support and guide you in this powerful process with your partner.

Couples Retreats without a Focus on Sexuality:

Additionally, we will support you in understanding and changing problematic negative cycles, communicating effectively, repairing attachment wounds, deepening your bond, while building lasting emotional intimacy as a team. We utilize cutting-edge modern approaches to relationship counseling & sex therapy, rooted in neuroscience and attachment.

Empowered, Somatic, & Attachment-Focused  Sex Therapy Retreats Help Partners:

• Identify & Name Your Own Thoughts, Feelings, Needs and Desires

• Learn about your own sexuality and attachment needs and how it shows up in the dynamic of your relationship(s).

• Learn to talk about desire, emotional intimacy and sex together in a safe and contained space.

• Grow your Emotional and Sexual Intelligence

• Practice realizing, setting and honoring boundaries and expressing them in a loving and effective manner

• Explore your sexuality, desires and fantasies as an individual and/or as a couple

• Learn boundaries and to say and hear "Yes" and "No" and “Maybe” and negotiate in a way that benefits you both and feels empowering to your partnership(s).

• Cultivate new communication skills and patterns with the professional guidance

• Create new sensual and erotic practices together.

• Deepen connection through emotional and sexual intimacy.

In order to open up to your partner and share yourself in such a vulnerable way, you must know that your partner is emotionally available to respond to your feelings and needs. You may not know how to reach out to your partner and your partner may not know how to support you. Or perhaps you have become stuck in your old and painful patterns, leaving you feeling closed and guarded. 

If you sense that your partner is not accessible and engaged with you, you may respond by shutting down or pushing away (fight, flight).  While this serves to protect you from immediate pain, it also leaves both partners feeling alone and disconnected.  This damages and often ends, many otherwise loving relationships.  However, you can break this cycle and learn to communicate with your partner.

SOME BENEFITS OF RELATIONSHIP INTENSIVES ARE:

• Cultivate a Secure functioning partnership

• Learn better communication skills

• Identify problematic dynamics

• Deepen and build intimacy (emotional and sexual)

• Build trust

• Communicate effectively in conflict

• Shift unhelpful or dysfunctional dynamics and patterns.

• Explore commitment issues

• Work with fidelity/infidelity ruptures

• Break out of your relationship rut

• Work on parenting issues

• Develop relational health

• Reconnect to your core friendship and love for one another

• Enhance connection

• Repair your relationship and restore your commitment to one another

• Relight the spark and passion in your partnership (read more about sex & intimacy therapy).

• Learn how to de-escalate conflict, settle your nervous system and use effective, nonviolent communication (NVC) to deepen connection.  

• Be in true partnership....in other words, be team players! 

RETREAT FORMAT

Private intensives are customized, but most commonly are comprised of three days in a row of sessions. They generally start at 10 am and end at 5:30 pm, with a 90 minute lunch break. Some clients may benefit from four or even five days if in crisis or wanting a deeper transformation. Occasionally, a touch up retreat of one or two days may be appropriate, but we typically recommend at least three days to be able to facilitate transformative healing within the partnership.

We Embrace Diversity. We are LGBTQ+, Polyam/CNM, kink, multicultural and trauma literate.