The Pleasure Bond: A Couples Workshop for Replenishing Love, Romance, and Playful Spirits

“Working on” a relationship in therapy usually means hard work and very little fun. While it can be valuable to learn emotional triggers and effective ways to manage inevitable differences and disappointments, “getting along” is only going halfway up the mountain. To reach the summit requires broadening your repertoires for joy and playful engagement, deepening bonds, and opening up new possibilities for discovery and connection

Neurobiological research has discovered the phenomenon of interpersonal synchrony: When two or more people are engaged in an enjoyable activity, such as walking, dancing, or making love, their bodies tend to automatically and unconsciously synchronize. Movements become simultaneously rhythmic, and hearts begin to slow down and beat together. Even their brains become stimulated in parallel areas. Emotionally and motorically they are connected and experiencing a “shared present.” They are literally on the same wavelength. 

Psychology researchers are exploring how theater games can strengthen the working alliance between clinician and client. This workshop applies the same practices to couples and explores how they may expand their emotional and physical bonds and create synchronicity by playing — rather than just working — as a team.

We’ll begin with group discussions to find out how each couple would like to evolve their relationship. Couples will be offered an experiential process to improvise with each other. All exercises are designed to broaden your current spectrum of face-to-face, heart-to-heart, and body-to-body pleasures. None of the exercises involve nudity or sexual behavior. These improvisational forms of play involve accepting and building on each other’s contributions. After each exercise, couples will have an opportunity to process and explore new feelings and discoveries. Observers can offer feedback and express what they have learned from witnessing these experiments. 

Join us for an adventure in interpersonal play and emotional and physical synchrony!