The Ecstatic Embrace

10/30/2018

Have you seen our latest news?

10/29/2018

Men's Hugging Workshop for November.

10/16/2018

I'm the featured guest this morning. We'll be talking about my hugging work and why it matters!

10/05/2018

Men's Hug Workshop in Hollywood this Sunday from 2-5 p.m.. Please RSVP, as space is limited.

Why would anyone go hug a group of strangers?
1) It is a kind and heartfelt encounter with other men.
2) The oxytocin that our bodies generate will give you an amazing sense of well-being and connection that literally makes you high...naturally.
3) Meditative hugging increases immune function. It really does!
4) It's like taking an adventure without leaving town.

When I first discovered this, I couldn't believe everyone didn't know about it. So now I'm on a mission to share it with the world.

http://theecstaticembrace.com/event/

09/24/2018

Being held for a longer than normal time evokes a deep sense of connection and well being that is deeply human. It even improves our immune function.

08/07/2018

Men's Hugging Workshop for August: "Is that weird??"

04/04/2018

Come take an adventure at my Men's Hug Workshop on Sunday, April 15th from 2-5.

When I had my first of experience of "hugging for a long time", I was blown away. I had the idea to try it from a vision that came to me while I was doing my morning meditation. I wasn't prepared for what happened when I tried doing it for the first time. I expected my experiment with a friend to la...

09/22/2017

Some of my most meaningful experiences as a hug therapist have been with people who are grieving. Our culture doesn't really give us time to grieve, so after the initial public mourning is complete, people go about their business mostly. Their tolerance for the grief of their friends and loved ones is limited. They want them to get over it, to move on. They feel helpless to make it better. So I simply hold people and welcome their feelings. They talk if they need, but mostly they just need to feel, to cry. Afterwards they feel remarkably lighter.

09/15/2017

And hugging is one of them (of course)...

You get all kinds of happiness advice on the internet from people who don’t know what they’re talking about. Don’t trust them. Trust neuroscience.

09/01/2017

Come and join us at our next MEN'S HUG WORKSHOP, from 2-5 on Sunday, Sept. 10th.

Not only does it feel amazing to be held in a meditative fashion, but it is great for health. Isolation and lack of touch are bonafide health hazards that are shown to shorten lives more than smoking or obesity. Amazing and sobering news. So hugging is actually good medicine!

Welcome to The Ecstatic Embrace At the heart of our humanity is a deep desire to feel connection: to ourselves, to others, to our lives [...]

09/01/2017

More and more scientific research is showing that isolation (including lack of touch) is actually a medical hazard AND the negative effects are worse than smoking and obesity regarding shortening life expectancy. Hard to believe, but true.

08/02/2017

Humans holding one another in a non-s*xual embrace is an act of self-care, not to mention care for one another. Our culture is suspicious...thinking that this kind of behavior shows weakness and always implies s*xual motives. Research shows that our sense of well being improves noticeably when we are held, and our bodies nervous systems show it in numerous ways. It's good medicine!

MEN'S HUG WORKSHOP this Sunday in Hollywood from 3-6.
Reservation required please as space is limited.

This monthly event is a safe space for men to come together and hold one another. Our society is suspicious of this kind of touch [...]

07/10/2017

My heart is full after hosting 10 men for this month's hug workshop today. I never cease to be amazed at the transformation that occurs simply by people holding one another in a safe (and non-s*xual) space. Truly restorative. Thanks men.

05/24/2017

This film profiles my work in a real way. This is a revealing interview with the director, Sara Joe Wolansky.

Professional cuddling services that provide non-s*xual snuggle sessions to customers have been opening up around the world. But can these services really alleviate loneliness—or are they a Band-Aid on an open wound?

03/26/2017

So here it is in a nutshell: When we hold one another for an extended period of time, without any agenda other than to breathe and be together, it becomes like a meditation in the simple pleasure of human connection. Hormones in the body related to attachment and mood are generated. The result is that a deep sense of well being emerges. Remarkably, even if you do this with someone you don't know well, you'll have the same response. You'll notice at the end you actually feel a little high.

02/28/2017

GROUPS/WORKSHOPS

02/16/2017

BEING HELD: A monthly Men's Hugging Workshop, this Sunday in Hollywood from 2-5. Come and join us for this meditation in the pleasure, comfort and connection of being held. It is profound. RSVP.
www.TheEcstaticEmbrace.com/events

02/12/2017

Think of it like this: As infants, being held is not only a signal that we are safe and protected, without it we don't develop emotionally and our immune systems are compromised. Children who are severely deprived of nurturing touch have higher mortality rates. As adults, we are taught to believe that we shouldn't be vulnerable.But in fact, being held in a safe and non-s*xual way continues to be a powerful resource for well being for adults too. It raises our levels of oxytocin and serotonin and it lowers blood pressure. It is powerful good medicine.

01/03/2017

Bringing in the new year with a Men's Hugging Workshop this Sunday in Hollywood. Safe, non-s*xual and deeply connecting. You'll feel like a whole new you. Reservation required please.

12/22/2016

In this historically divided time in our country, it is important to establish connection and empathy with others, including those who don't look like us. Something I've noticed many times in my work hugging people I don't know is that it is hard to feel like a stranger when you are holding another human being and being held by them too. That is just one of many ways to create connection and empathy, but it is a powerful one.

12/15/2016

I stumbled on to my path as an oracle of "hugging for a long time" quite accidentally while meditating years ago. I imagine people often dismiss it as something they think they already know about or maybe something kind of "cute", but of no great consequence. BUT I persevere, because those who partake are often quite blown away by the visceral impact of being held for over an hour. It truly is a healing event. Our bodies are designed to benefit from it with a measurable chemical response of oxytocin and serotonin. When I first experienced it, I couldn't believe that the whole world didn't know about it, so I have taken it on as a mission to the world. It is natural and deeply human. I would call it a gift from God.

I have been offering small hugging workshops for men every month for over a year. During that time I have had a chance to witness [...]

12/08/2016

You Are Not Alone: Mens' Hugging workshop this Sunday in Hollywood 2-5. Combat isolation and loneliness during the holidays...come and let yourself be held. It is a tonic for the soul.

Combat isolation and loneliness during the holiday season…come to our monthly Men’s Hugging Workshop! A small group of 8-10 men come together and hold one another. Even guys who haven’t met one another are surprised by the healing comfort that comes from holding someone else in a safe non-s*xual env...

11/01/2016

This Sunday from 2-5pm in Hollywood: "Touch is a Language", a 3 hour hugging workshop for men. This is a monthly event that recharges and restores the participants. Reciprocal, non-s*xual touch is a powerful resource for our well being, more than most of us actually know.

Reservation required please.

As with infants and their caretakers, adults benefit from the vital resource of being held in a surprisingly potent way. Participants go into a gentle [...]

10/24/2016

FROM DISCONNECTION TO CONNECTION: A Radical Aliveness Weekend Workshop Nov. 19-20

This weekend workshop is on the powerful theme of Disconnection and Connection. Learn and practice the tools that help you move you into your full state of connection to yourself and life.

Contact me: [email protected]

Radical Aliveness is a powerful group process that helps us expand our full range of expression and aliveness. Deep personal healing takes place that allows for our natural gifts and leadership to emerge so we can live our lives more fully.

10/04/2016

So I had my monthly men's hug workshop yesterday. It was mostly regulars who look forward to their monthly fix of being held. The newcomer was a lovely man from Germany, who discovered something similar there and got hooked. He is actually being trained now by another local hugger to lead groups himself. He seemed a kind and pure soul. I think he'll be great at it. As we laid there clustered together for the closing yesterday...we chatted a bit. No one ever wants to get up and leave at the end. He asked how I get them to leave. I said I was still trying to figure that out.

09/26/2016

The monthly half day hug workshop for men. Come and join us!

Why do people get high? It’s an interesting question and one worth pondering a moment. Some recent research has shown (wth rats) that one of [...]

08/29/2016

TAKE THE ONE MINUTE HUG CHALLENGE!

Hugging for longer than the normal 1-2 seconds becomes a healing act. So my challenge to you is to try hugging someone for a minute or more. THEN post that you've done it...and a remark about how it felt. GO! (And share this post please.)

08/08/2016

I had a personal epiphany one day about 6 years ago. I had just suffered through a weekend where I felt really blue and pessimistic and didn't want to reach out for connection anywhere. Then on Monday morning, as I was in conversation with a good friend, just listening to her talk about her new romance. I noticed, all of a sudden, that the gray clouds within had just blown away and I was in a completely different space. It hit me: I was DISCONNECTED and now I"m CONNECTED! I had such clarity that my perception of my life had been colored by this disconnected "state of being" and that it could shift quickly, and though the circumstances hadn't changed, my relationship to them was completely different. I reconnected to the goodness of life. I've been studying this in my daily life ever since. When we are Disconnected, how do we re-Connect? I've discovered there are principles and tools to do this. This awareness and the practices I've discovered inform much of my work in the world today.
And this coming weekend, August 13th and 14th I am co-leading my first whole weekend workshop on this powerful theme.
If you or anyone you know could benefit from a powerful workshop on this theme, come join us. The cutting edge work of Radical Aliveness work is active and experiential. We still have a few spots left. Is one of them yours?

08/01/2016

The language of peace...

A few dozen people and a few deputies gathered Wednesday evening in a corner of the Vista courthouse parking lot to share smiles, show appreciation and build trust though a homespun event called . It’s an event its organizer hopes will catch on.