Dear ,

There are two paradoxical social feelings that the human heart seeks.  One is the sense of self, independent and free.  A feeling that you don't really need anyone for the moment.  The earliest experiences of this feeling comes when first standing up by yourself or riding a bicycle without training wheels.  Later it comes in those delicious moments alone when you are listening to music or walking through the woods by yourself, or when you have just run a half-marathon, or finished writing your novel.   

The second feeling, the feeling of intimacy, appears in those moments when you truly join with another or others in a shared state of grace or emotional intensity.  You see and know each other deeply.  Boundaries disappear and lose all meaning. It is as if a third ineffable being has been born of the two or more of you.  Two friends in a significant conversation can feel this. A teacher and a student can feel this. A group of coworkers can feel this when a job is successful.  Even two strangers catching each other witnessing a special event share this.  And certainly two lovers find this feeling of intimacy in moments of togetherness.

Where we find our sacred and sound individuality in moments of standing up for or by ourselves. Our moments of sacred and sweet togetherness come through shared surrender and trust.

There is a primary experience of intimacy that precedes the moments of individuality and, actually, is essential to awakening the sense of self.  These initiating moments of intimacy occur with the sustained attention of the mother (and other primary caregivers) to the infant.  Just today I read this in "The High Price of A Broken Heart"  http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200706/the-high-price-broken-heart

The connection between emotional well-being and the heart begins in the womb, when the unborn child's heartbeat pulses in time with that of her mother. Heart-to-heart synchrony continues after birth, when babies' hearts beat rhythmically with mothers and fathers during face-to-face interaction. "This is amazing--that one person can change the other person's physiology without even touching them, just by sensing the rhythm of their heartbeat and breath," says psychologist Ruth Feldman, of Bar-Ilan University in Israel, whose studies have shown that these early interactions lead to easy intimacy later in life. "Synchronized heartbeats are so basic to parent-child communication that they permeate every close human relationship from then on. Having a good synchronous relationship in the first year of life prepares infants to show more empathy and be able to read emotions better," Feldman says.

The Intimacy Intensive provides an opportunity to focus on your relationship to intimacy and to your individuality.  You will learn about yourself by doing a intimacy biography.  You will find  insights that allow you to discover ways to evolve and enrich your moments of intimacy. The inner work encouraged by the intensive will strengthen your heart.

I am offering the Intimacy Intensive on Sunday Afternoons and Thursday Evenings.  Each group is limited to 10 participants.  In the four 90 minute sessions. The cost is $120 and includes a 20 minute private consultation. I will offer presentations of new perspectives on the mysteries of intimacy and there will be interactive sharing by everyone.  The mood of the teleseminars is safe and compassionate.  If you have any challenges with intimacy in any area of your life that you would like to transform or if you agree with me that exploring your intimate life is a lifelong journey, then sign up here!

The Sunday group begins this weekend.