Confronting Fear with Peter Banki, Ph.D

Fear is not the opposite of courage. In fact, very often the two go together. Often we are not even aware that we are frightened of something, or the extent to which fear is in the driver's seat in so many important aspects of our lives. Fear is not necessary bad, it is there to protect us, but sometimes the protection prevents us from taking beautiful risks.   

In this workshop, rather than work to overcome fear, more modestly we will simply seek to feel the fear. Without being willing to feel the fear and dwell in it, there is no chance of overcoming it. 

The psyche is very complex, it can let go of things, only once it feels them. Often the thing we are we most frightened of, is the very thing we most have to confront. What we are most afraid of is usually where we have to go. This workshop will help you to be in that space. 

The Beauty of Subtlety with Jacqueline Hellyer

It can be in in the smallest, most subdued, barely there moments that the greatest ecstasy can be felt. In a world where bigger, louder, faster reigns surpreme, where if something is good more must be better, we can miss the beauty of the subtle.

In this experiential workshop we’ll be exploring what’s teetering on the edge,  what hides in the muted, what lies in the spaces in-between…

Jacqueline Hellyer is one of Australia’s foremost experts on sex and sexuality – inspiring and healing through her work as a professional sex therapist, sex coach, Tantra teacher, author, blogger, media commentator and workshop leader.

Her knowledge and experience, from the scientific to the Tantric to the kinky, is as broad as it gets and she shares it in an incredibly open and inspiring way. She enables people to become fully in touch with their sexuality and to use this powerful energy to create extraordinary lives for themselves.

Jacqueline is very excited to be part of this festival of love and lust, helping people to explore their eroticism and sensuality.

E-motion Yoga with Keith Motes

E-motion Yoga is a revolutionary synthesis of Yoga, Qigong, Kriya-Yoga (dynamic breath-work), Tantra (Neurogenic Tremoring - Organic body shaking) & Dance to release trapped and blocked emotions from our past that store in the electrical systems of our body causing physical and emotional health conditions thus preventing us from feeling our deepest form of love.

Have you ever held a yoga pose for some time and began to shake? This is not a sign of weakness or a time to change the pose... this is the beginning of something special, this is when the nervous system begins healing itself. Usually our mind tries to stop this shaking process and tighten the core etc. but when we guide it in an organic way and let it do what it wants to do, something amazing begins to happen. Some call it kundalini, a shaman may call it spirits leaving the body, but science is now proving the therapeutic process of neurogenic tremoring in healing the mind of trauma.

E-motion Yoga does not claim to fix problems rather it aims to support your body to do the organic healing which is what it was designed to do once we allow it. 

“E-motion Yoga is not really new, rather it is the oldest medicine on earth....the ecstatic shaking and tremoring of the human body which has it roots in mother Africa and our origins. The Kalahari bush peoples call themselves the secret keepers of the shaking medicine and have prophesied that this medicine which has become lost will be rediscovered. The human ego’s worst fear is losing control of their environment and their emotions, and especially of their bodies. Yet in order to achieve the mysterious transcendental bliss state that is necessary to experience deep inner healing, we must surrender control, we must loose it to gain it! ”

— Johnathon Dao (E-motion Yoga Founder)

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The Symphonic Body with Jonathan Katz

The Symphonic body is part workshop/part performance. We will start off exploring soundscapes made with our voices while listening each other to create a chorus of aural improvisation. Participants will then move into partnerships applying touch and pressure to various parts of the body in a safe and consensual way. The pressure might be pleasant, painful or both. It could be the sensation of a good massage or something stronger. We will explore deep listening both to someone else’s body and the many bodies in the room. We then transform these sensations into sounds, gibberish, animal noises, sustained notes, real/abstract soundscapes or whatever comes directly into our imagination without being intermediated by our rational mind. As you give/receive sensations sounds emerge organically. Playing with these sensations we experience feelings and movement. Imagine playing someone’s body like a musical instrument. Or being played. And with a room full of instruments we can create a symphony as everyone reacts in the moment to an emergent artistic expression.

Jonno Katz is a performer, director, producer, editor, singer, teacher, acroyogi, musician and dancer. He is highly trained in theatrical improvisation and contact improvisation dance while also having extensive experience with Acroyoga and Capoeira. His background is mainly in physically devised theatre as a performer and director. He trained in the Le Coq style of theatre of neutral mask, Basal mask, half-mask, clowning, buffoon, mime and character. In addition he has explored many different types of improvisation such as Primal Theatre, Viewpoints, Action Theatre, Long Form, Plastique, Al Wunder and Andrew Morrish.

Opening Sensorium

Meet the festival presenters, learn about verbal and body consent and be taken on blindfolded journey through the senses. 

Focussing on taste, touch, smell and sound, being blindfolded radically alters the notion of time and space, leading to the source of art: the intelligence of the body.

If you are nervous, this is the ideal way to gently dip into the festival.

Concept inspired by Secret Service, a performance of Felix Ruckert. 

The Wheel of Consent with Betty Martin

The inventor of the famous Wheel of Consent, Betty Martin, will be speaking via tele-conference at the Festival of Love and Lust.  Betty Martin's concept has had an enormous impact in the sex-positive field for practitioners of all kinds. It allows be people to be clearer about what is happening in any erotic interaction. The Wheel of Consent has four quadrants: giving, taking, allowing and receiving. Betty will explain what are the erotic elements, challenges, possibilities, spiritual principles and shadows of each.

The Body Connection with Jonno Katz

Words so often get in the way of intimate connection so let’s use our bodies. Through simple games and exercises participants will explore embodying communication through contact improvisation, a movement form that plays with physical contact. We will fine tune our senses while waking up our ability to listen and respond to what is happening in each moment through our physicality. This workshop will be aimed at people with a broad range of movement abilities, backgrounds and bodies. Completely curious beginners as well as trained dancers/performers are welcome. Participants will feel more fully engaged with their bodies, with their minds and with each other by examining perception, touch, shared weight, listening, synchronizing, experimenting, observing, and diving into various levels of awareness. It is a fun and safe place to explore motion, dance, touch and your imagination.

Jonno Katz is a performer, director, producer, editor, singer, teacher, acroyogi, musician and dancer. He is highly trained in theatrical improvisation and contact improvisation dance while also having extensive experience with Acroyoga and Capoeira. His background is mainly in physically devised theatre as a performer and director. He trained in the Le Coq style of theatre of neutral mask, Basal mask, half-mask, clowning, buffoon, mime and character. In addition he has explored many different types of improvisation such as Primal Theatre, Viewpoints, Action Theatre, Long Form, Plastique, Al Wunder and Andrew Morrish.

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Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony will be an opportunity to gather the whole festival together at sunset