Libido: Riding The Waves
with Andrea Juhan, PhD
an Open Floor Workshop
19th-22nd January 2023
West Auckland, New Zealand
Book and Register here >>
Variety may be the one and only truly universal characteristic of human sexuality.
E. Nagoski
The ups and downs of our days, months and years of life, are mostly unpredictable, but the fact of ups and down are reliable.
In a similar conundrum, Libido energy, in all the ways we might perceive it (as sexuality, vitality, creativity, aliveness, pleasure, etc.) can be elusive, hard to hold on to, but nevertheless strongly sought after. Our wanting moves us towards some situations and away from others.
The sensations and desires of our Libido change through our different life cycles and different relationships. Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no, but ‘maybe’ is the most likely answer. Our Libido energy is deeply contextual.
One thing we know for sure is: Libido is always on the move. We may not know how, where, or why, but what excites us, turns us on and brings pleasure is a moving target.
Conscious dance practice brings us the exact skills we need to ride these waves, to stay connected to the emerging truth of our Libido energies. We can develop the capacity to move towards and with these desires, as well as away when we are on the wrong track.
Open Floor movement practice shows us how we can bring more energy to a situation (up-regulate), as well as teaching our bodies how to settle (down-regulate) to create space, or take more time, without shutting down when that is the necessary focus for staying with the wave.
Our dances with others give us plenty of practice with tracking and communicating attraction and aversion, consent and non-consent.
This course fulfills the embodied sexuality pre–requisite for Open Floor teacher training.
Pleasure is a perception of a sensation, and perception is context dependent.
19th-22nd January 2023
Titirangi War Memorial Hall,
500 South Titirangi Road,
West Auckland, New Zealand
Thursday 6pm – 9pm
Friday 10.30am – 6pm
Saturday 10.30am – 6pm
Sunday 10.30am – 1pm
$475 NZD
BOOK and REGISTER >>
021 046 7699
info@openfloor.co.nz
Andrea Juhan
Becoming an attuned and skillful inhabitant of a human body has always fascinated me
Embodiment as a path of study and devotion holds the felt sense of life as we live it, the creative qualities of imagination, inspiration, and art and the transcendent qualities of presence, compassion, love and Union with Spirit.
I have approached embodiment through every doorway I could find: Bodywork, Yoga, dance of all kinds, hiking, living life, being a mother, a lover, Somatic psychotherapy, meditation, thru professional trainings, academic programs, and constant dedicated practice.
Highlights from my work experience include:
- I have 40+ years experience in the field of somatic psychotherapy, bodywork, dance, yoga, and mindful movement practices.
- I have trained hundreds of movement teachers, psychotherapists, and health care professionals in the fundamentals of body awareness and embodied movement practice.
- I am a licensed Marriage and Family Psychotherapist and have a Ph.D. in Dance and Movement Therapy.
- I am a co-founder of Open Floor International, a non-profit organization that is committed to sharing conscious movement and dance to ignite creativity, community, social justice, health, and well-being.
The words I hear the most about my style of teaching are: clear, kind, insightful, and courageous. This means a lot to me as so many of my teachers have held me in the same way.
