Sometimes I am very confident and sometimes I am not. What to do when I’m not confident? When I don’t know what to do, cannot make clear decisions? Not sure about myself or what I’m doing?

In this PlayShop we will take an innovative approach. We will say that erotic confidence does not come firstly from the self, but from the other. It is the other, sometimes the other in you, who firstly bestows upon you the trust and the erotic energy, which leads you to have faith in your desire and potential to attract others.

We will share what we find attractive in ourselves and others, and we will remember how it feels in the body when we feel trust. We will also explore some things we would like to feel more confident about erotically. Above all, this ritual will be an opening and a sharing of vulnerability.

Read Esther Perel’s Why Eroticism Should be Part of Your Self-Care Plan

Peter Banki, Ph.D founded Erotic Living on 1 February, 2020. Previously, he directed the School of Really Good Sex from 2015-2020, and prior to that he curated Xplore - Festival of the Art of Lust in Sydney from 2011-2013. He says: “When you are intimate with someone, you witness them at their most open and vulnerable, whatever their role. Much more than their skills or competence, it’s their being that is truly exciting.”

Peter has an extensive background in Iyengar yoga, dance and the martial arts (Capoeira Angola). His somatic and movement practice forms the basis of his work in the sphere of eroticism.

Peter has also been a scholar and teacher of European philosophy and literature for much of his adult life. Philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Georges Bataille, Anne Dufourmantelle, Avital Ronell and Jean-Luc Nancy have most inspired him in his thinking about sexuality and eroticism. He holds a Ph.D in German studies from New York University (September, 2009). His book The Forgiveness To Come: the Holocaust and the Hyper-Ethical came out recently with Fordham University Press. Articles about Peter's work on The Festival of Really Good Sex have been featured in many news outlets, including The Guardian, Archer Magazine, ABC Radio National and news.com. He has also been interviewed about the Festival of Death and Dying, which he also founded and directs, on ABC Radio and the Sydney Morning Herald. His work on apology and forgiveness has been featured on 2SER and on the philosophers’ zone on ABC Radio National.