'MO - June 2008 - (Page 8)

community intention. We further continued this work in smaller groups, which helped me establish my own “tribe,” a core of three other men I could touch base with throughout the weekend. From then on, the rest of the workshop was conducted clothes-free. While this might freak out some of you, the trust and intention people expressed reassured me my personal space and limits would be respected. We began to focus on exercises that reacquainted us with breathing deeply from our abdomens rather than the shallow breathing of the upper chest we often adopt due to stress or anxiety. This simple approach to releasing energy and relaxing provided groundbreaking inspiration for me. We then used this technique for deeper work exploring erotic energy in ourselves and other workshop participants. Now don’t get yourselves all hot and bothered with visions of “Caligula” or modern day orgies. Instead think Burning Man without the desert, and heat generated from within. I began to view all the men on this retreat as modern day voyagers of the vast universe within themselves. Our guide and leader of the workshop, a sage man in his ’50s, talked about the importance of being able to give and receive pleasure. We explored how feeling disconnected with our breath impinges on the present moment and prepares us poorly for the ﬁnal event in life, our deaths. We are so afraid to confront the end stage of life that we aren’t prepared when our body begins the process of dying, which of course begins with our ﬁnal breaths. Through the instructor-led body work we completed over a two-day period, I discovered newfound energy and awareness I’d allowed to lay dormant. The physical work brought me into greater awareness of my own birth and death. And I realized how all of us, but especially gay and straight men, are in sore need of initiation into awareness of our bodies and spirits. The Body Electric stirred me to access hidden truths that give life fresh, radical meaning. Jack is a freelance writer and longtime Seattle resident who makes his home on Capitol Hill. VOICES Singing the Body Electric By Jack Hilovsky Now and then I’m reminded how taking risks in life in the end usually provides a payoff. Earlier this spring I decided to sign up for a weekend workshop in May that promised attendees an opportunity to further integrate energy involving their mind, body, and heart. Offered by The Body Electric School, the introductory course “Celebrating the Body Erotic” re-introduced me to the power of my own breath, a simple human function easily forgotten in the day-to-day stress of life. Through a series of exercises we learned how to use breath and touch to better access the body’s erotic energy and thereby re-awaken our senses and connection to others and ourselves. I approached this work with hesitation after my negative reaction to a vastly pared down workshop in 1998. But with 10 years of hard-earned life perspective under my belt, I recently started thinking about the big disconnect gay men often experience between their bodies and their emotional lives. Sex often morphs into a purely physical act, without much thought or emotional resonance. I wanted more than that in my life. So on a gray, misty Saturday morning I gathered with 20 other men in an art studio in the Eastlake neighborhood. We represented a variety of shapes, sizes, and ages. We began with warm-up exercises that provided a chance to learn why we came to this two-day workshop, what we hoped to accomplish, and a personal wish. This ﬁrst part of the morning allowed the group to build a sense of trust and convey INSTANT ACTIVIST Degrees of Intolerance By Steve Truman Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) is urging Washington University to reconsider giving an Honorary Doctorate to radical extremist Phyllis Schlaﬂy. “Mrs. Schlaﬂy has one of the longest track records opposing equal opportunity of any activist in America,” said PFLAG executive director Jody M. Huckaby. Schlaﬂy, whose son is openly gay, has spearheaded moves against the LGBT and Feminist communities including supporting the military ban on open service, marriage equality and honest portrayals of the LGBT community in classrooms. Join the campaign to “Phone About Phyllis” and send her back to school for some remedial education, not a degree You can email the Washington University chancellor’s ofﬁce at wrighton@wustl.edu, or phone 800.638.0700.            8 celebrating seattle’s gay community http://www.cabinetrends.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of 'MO - June 2008

'MO Seattle - June 2008 Contents Letter From The Editor Voices Instant Activist Pet Project: Do You Dream About Your Pet? ’mo-BIZ: Anne Levison, Co-owner of the Seattle Storm Legally Speaking: Real Estate Buying Basics The Things We Do: Getting “Out”doors this Summer Seattle Pride Events Calendar ’mo Magazine Interview with Sandra Bernhard Anatomy of a Myth Form & Function: Turn Up the Heat on Your Triceps Gay City: National HIV Testing Day San Francisco: If Gay Had a Headquarters Book Review: Chronicle of a Plague, Revisited by Andrew Holleran Augusten Burroughs Coming to Showtime Network Sex and the City Romances the Big Screen SceneOut: People@Places Capitol Hill Guide

'MO - June 2008

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