The Loving More Loving Choices Seminar is excited to bring you a line up of presentations covering polyamorous relationships, sexuality and other choices in romantic and sexual partnerships. These workshops are presented by experienced teachers and facilitators who are themselves experienced in polyamory as well as other love styles, relationship orientations and sexual explorations. These presenters bring a variety of perspectives to their workshops; some have explored relationships and sexuality for over 30 years and others for les then five. The seminar is specifically designed for those exploring polyamory, for the first time, poly oriented people looking for knowledge and to expand themselves, counselors who want to learn about alternatives to monogamy and anyone looking for opening themselves to choosing what works for them. Focusing on communication, honesty and being real with yourself and others about what you really want. Workshops may challenge your ideas, open your mind and heart and hopefully help you with skills and knowledge to make your relationships successful and fulfilling.

8:00am - 9:00am

Check in

9:00am – 10:00am

Welcome Announcements
Welcome to the first Loving More Loving Choices seminar.  We will begin the day with an informative Q & A session and introductions of presentations and facilitators.

10:15 am – 11:45 pm Session 1

Polyamory Relating 101

Polyamory 101 is a workshop/class exploring polyamorous (multi-partner) relationships and how to make them work. We will cover different styles of polyamory, terms and definitions, and the kinds of issues and challenges one might encounter. In the second half we will explore how to deal with conflicts and the needed skills to make these alternative relationships work. This class is meant as an introduction and guideline for those interested in learning more about polyamory and looking to explore alternatives to traditional monogamy.

Robyn Trask
Robyn is the Managing Editor and director of Loving More Magazine® and non-profit since October 2004.   Her experience as a holistic/Tantric sex counselor and small business owner make her well suited to increase the public’s awareness of polyamory as a viable alternative to current social norms of strict monogamy.  She has been practicing polyamory for 18 years, a mom for 19 years, been a student of Tantra for 21 years, and Tantric teacher for 7 years.  Robyn has been running poly support groups, teaching and facilitating relationship and sexuality workshop since 1999.  She has done numerous interviews on radio, television and in news and magazine articles and has worked with the media to bring awareness of polyamory as a viable alternative in today’s changing styles of love relationships.  She counsels individuals and couples using Sacred Sex techniques to improve intimacy, self awareness and appreciation of pleasure. 

Jesus Garcia
Jesus is a native of the San Francisco Bay area who began exploring alternatives to monogamy in 2004.  In 2005 he attended his first Loving More Retreat.  In September 2006 he was invited to join Loving More’s Board of Directors.  He has worked at raising money for many worthy causes and has been a great help as Loving More makes it’s transition to non-profit.  He has worked in the computer information technology field since 1995.  In college he majored in Biology and Psychology with an emphasis on bio-psychology. 

Polyamory as a Path to Peace 

For as long as there have been humans to record history, humans have pondered solutions to violence.  Superstition, taboos, rules, codes of conduct and laws have been variously employed and enacted in an attempt to curb what is often considered one of our baser “animal” instincts.  Finally, an established culture has proven that we no longer need to live with rape, murder or war. So why haven’t you heard about this non-violent society and their amazingly effective blueprint for peace?  No doubt this information has been suppressed because the solution involves sex. It might also be because the culture in question is not human.  Come learn more about the path to peace which you share with your closest living relatives and find confirmation for what you already knew - you can't pick a fight while you are having an orgasm!

Veronica Monet
Veronica Monet is a unique sex educator combining over 14 years of “hands-on” experience as a courtesan with many years of formal education.  As a Certified Sex Educator (SFSI), Founding Member of the Association of Sexual Energy Professionals (ASEP) and a Trained Volunteer for the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDV) she specializes in sexuality, anger management, non-violent communication and relationship dynamics. Ms. Monet’s numerous media credits include ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX and The New York Times. Veronica Monet is the author of Sex Secrets of Escorts – Tips from a Pro (Alpha Books 2005).

Please visit www.sexwithoutshame.com for more info.

12:00pm – 1:00 pm Lunch

1:00pm – 2:30pm Session 2

Practicing Skills for Moving Through Jealousy

Dawn and Akien will present a small handful of practical tools for reducing feelings of jealousy, choosing from a list including Trance Rehearsal, The Inner Child Meditation, Jealousy Pie, The Acknowledgments Exercise, Juggling for Idiots, and more.  This workshop will be largely interactive. We'll pair people up for those exercises requiring partners; you are always free to stay with the partner you brought with you, or work with someone new. Join us for fun, and to learn practical, take-home tools!

Dawn and Akien Co-founders of Mandala Enterprises,
Dawn Davidson and Akien MacIain are relationship coaches who mentor individuals, couples, and families of varying sizes and configurations. Active in the San Francisco Bay Area poly community since 1998, they are workshop leaders and event hosts, and have co-authored articles for LM Magazine. They have also shared about their lives as polyamorous people with television audiences in the US and Sweden . Akien also serves the polyamorous community as a board member for Loving More, and Dawn recently increased her coaching skills through a fabulous training program in "Radical Counseling."  Married since 1990, they have two amazing children, several wonderful partners, and are dedicated to creating intentional extended family and community. They believe that the capacity of the heart to love is infinite, and that the forms love may take are limited only by the imagination.

"Plays Well With Others: BDSM and Poly"

Many poly skills are useful in BDSM, and vice versa.  However, when polyamory occurs in a relationship with power shifts, it brings new issues and opportunities.  We will discuss specific examples and general observations in several areas, including consent, negotiation, power imbalance, competitiveness, switches, submission, obedience, surrender, mastery, and types of BDSM and types of poly.  We will also apply the principles to the power dynamics in relationships that don't consider themselves kinky.  This class is suitable both for newcomers and for those already facing these challenges.  You'll learn the ways that poly differs in BDSM relationships, how to address and utilize these differences, and how to extend these skills to other relationships.

Angela and Iain
Angela and Iain are a long-term Ds couple, living in both the poly and BDSM communities.  They created EduKink.org and run about 50 kinky, poly, or relationship events each year.  They are also Coordinators of the Society of Janus, and on the Board of SF Citadel.  They present at many annual events.  Their teaching style combines humor and approachability with clarity and thorough research.

2:45pm – 4:15pm Session 3 (1.5/hours)

Relationship Paradigms and Choices

We live in a society which puts monogamy paradigm as the only and the ideal model for intimate romantic relationships and sexual interaction.  We get constant input that is we just find the perfect person, our soul mate, then we can find monogamous bliss.  We are trained in relating to people monogamously weather we are monogamous or not.  This workshop is designed to help us look at our expectations, needs, and wants in our sexuality and relationships, what options are available to explore and  how we can shift into relating in a way that allows us to open to more love, possibilities and approaching our relationships from a perspective of choosing what excites and fulfills us personally. 

Robyn Trask,
Robyn  is the  Managing Editor and director of Loving More Magazine® and non-profit since October 2004.   Her experience as a holistic/Tantric sex counselor and small business owner make her well suited to increase the public’s awareness of polyamory as a viable alternative to current social norms of strict monogamy.  She has been practicing polyamory for 18 years, a mom for 19 years, been a student of Tantra for 21 years, and Tantric teacher for 7 years.  Robyn has been running poly support groups, teaching and facilitating relationship and sexuality workshop since 1999.  She has done numerous interviews on radio, television and in news and magazine articles and has worked with the media to bring awareness of polyamory as a viable alternative in today’s changing styles of love relationships.  She counsels individuals and couples using Sacred Sex techniques to improve intimacy, self awareness and appreciation of pleasure. 

Getting all your Freedom and Closeness needs met thru Nonviolent Communication and Tantra

We will use experiential exercises, humor, music, Nonviolent Communication, Deliberate Creation (via Abraham), and more to learn:

• How to “Not Compromise” any of your relationship needs (Because compromise is where you share the resentment 50/50)
• Use Tantric energy to create the connection that allows trust to flow and understanding to emerge.
• “Consensual Morality” & “Transparency” to support everyone’s choice for how they need to be loved & to create their own Designer Relationship.
• How Freedom must be the Center and Love the Circumference to make Unconditional Love work.
• How to eliminate the illusions of Rejection, Criticism, Abandonment, Comparison Thoughts, Controlling-ness, Attack, Stubborness, Selfishness, Judgment, etc. 
• Super simple tools to QTIP (Quit taking it personally), and deliver hard to hear messages compassionately and without criticism.

   * It takes a village to raise a nontraditional relationship.  Kelly will share how to create your own tribe.

Kelly Bryson
Kelly Bryson MA, MFT author of the best selling book, "Don't be Nice, Be Real - Balancing Passion for Self with Compassion for Others. COVER TEXT: A Handbook to Nonviolent Communication (tm)" and contributor to the anthology: "The Marriage of Sex and Spirit" (With Deepak Chopra, Marianne Will iamson, John Gray, John Bradshaw, Wayne Dyer, Thich Nhat Hanh, Riane Eisler, Barbara Marx Hubbard ) has been featured in Elle and Shape magazines, appeared on many TV and Radio shows, lived in an ashram many years, is a humorist, singer, & licensed therapist in private practice.  He lives an alternative lifestyle, studies at Zegg & supports the Network for a New Culture.

Carolena Fleishman,
Director of Sacred Space Institute, is a Certified Sexological Bodyworker and Tantric educator with extensive training in the art of sexual healing. Carolena has been facilitating sexual healing for both men and women for ten years, integrating body, mind and spirit for health, happiness and longevity. Carolena is a certified Yoga teacher and Tantrika, as well as a professional bellydancer and continues to teach sacred dance in Northern California .

4:30pm – 6:00pm Session 4 (1.5/hours)

Creating Empowering Relationship Agreements

Agreements are a cornerstone of successful relating, and are especially critical in any sort of multiple-partner relationship. We'll discuss some key components of creating successful relationship agreements, "The
Five Reasons Agreements Fail," and how to recover when they do. In addition, we'll talk about Time-Limited Agreements, what *shouldn't* be in a Safer Sex Agreement, and the agreements in our lives of which we're usually not even aware. Find out how a little structure can create space for fabulous freedom!

Dawn and Akien Co-founders of Mandala Enterprises,
Dawn Davidson and Akien MacIain are relationship coaches who mentor individuals, couples, and families of varying sizes and configurations. Active in the San Francisco Bay Area poly community since 1998, they are workshop leaders and event hosts, and have co-authored articles for LM Magazine. They have also shared about their lives as polyamorous people with television audiences in the US and Sweden . Akien also serves the polyamorous community as a board member for Loving More, and Dawn recently increased her coaching skills through a fabulous training program in "Radical Counseling."  Married since 1990, they have two amazing children, several wonderful partners, and are dedicated to creating intentional extended family and community. They believe that the capacity of the heart to love is infinite, and that the forms love may take are limited only by the imagination.

Exploring Intimate Friendship

This presentation will be an experiential exploration of what it is we want when we talk about intimacy. People are often looking for ways to go beyond just talking about relationships. You will interact in groups of various sizes and experience new ways to be friendly/intimate with close friends and near strangers. We will look into ourselves to find what we mean when we say we are poly, swinger, or into BDSM or any other lifestyle we are exploring. You will be able to choose to take some risks, open yourselves to others, and have an opportunity to do some safe touching, and be touched, if you are ready. No one will be admitted after the workshop begins. Everyone will always be at choice as to how they participate, and what they share.  Please dress in comfortable, loose clothing.

David Hall, Ph.D.
David is an experienced workshop leader and sexuality educator. Former Executive Director, Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Western Region.   Managed the regional office, have chaired five regional conferences. Received the “Distinguished Service to SSSS” Award in 1998 and is the currently elected President of the Western Region.  Dave has participated in, and led, similar workshops for swing clubs, poly groups, and other groups.  He believes this will be a wonderful way to deepen the process of this seminar.

8:00pm – 11:30 pm Evening Social (3.5/hours)

Celebration of Choice

Join us for an evening of fun and celebration.  Nothing's better at the end of a day of learning and processing then hanging out with awesome people.  Spend your decompression time by enjoying a good drink, a few snacks, good music and letting loose on the dance floor. 

Celebration runs from 8:00pm to 11:30pm at the Clarion Hotel, San Francisco Airport.  Evening festivities include music, light snacks, a cash bar and a chance to chat with amazing people. No outside food please.