We the Alchemist

**This is a cross posting. Please purchase tickets via Meetup group Held: practices in touch, connection & growth with Naomi Way: https://meetu.ps/e/PyWNs/CbYls/i

Doors open at 6:15pm and are locked promptly at 6:30pm to ensure that everyone is present for consent agreements. Tickets cannot be refunded due to arriving later than 6:30. Thank you for understanding!

Join us in an exploration of platonic touch for nervous system co-regulation based on practices from The Art of Receiving and Giving: The Wheel of Consent by Betty Martin and Steven Porges’ Polyvagal Theory. We'll spend the evening engaging in non-sexual partnered touch activities with clear guidance on consent and exploration of who the touch is for, what it is we actually want when touching and being touched, and only saying “yes” when it’s whole hearted. We'll end the evening with a chance to share and integrate our experiences. Come solo or with friends and partners. There will be opportunities to switch activity partners throughout the evening.

The space has backjack floor seating available, but please bring yoga cushions or whatever else you may need to make floor seating more comfortable. Please bring your own water bottle. Unfortunately, this space is only accessible by a flight of stairs.

This is an experiment in safety, joy, and consent through touch, which has enormous potential to connect and heal. You will never be required to participate in anything without your full consent. However, by RSVPing we ask that you come open to exploring authentic connection and mindful touch while remaining aware of your own boundaries as past trauma may surface. By participating, you acknowledge and accept full responsibility for your health and safety.

Please also practice good hygiene: bathe beforehand, wear deodorant, and avoid strong perfumes or colognes out of respect for others’ sensitivities.

If you are showing signs of illness or have recently been exposed to covid, please stay home! If you need to cancel PRIOR to the event due to illness, I will fully refund your ticket with gratitude for keeping your community safer.

Your facilitator Naomi Way is constantly and passionately self-educating in parts work (particularly in the style of Internal Family Systems), Polyvagal Theory (for nervous system regulation), Wheel of Consent practices (for consensual touch activities) meditation, mindfulness, and Buddhism (for living more presently and peacefully), and in all things related to trauma healing, psychology, connection, and consciousness expansion. Naomi is an experienced group facilitator for a local psychedelics nonprofit community in Portland, OR and for platonic touch events, and holds a BS in Psychology. She lives with complex PTSD and chronic illness, including long covid since 2020, and sees illness as a deep, beautiful, and extraordinarily challenging spiritual path leading her to share these practices which have helped her enormously on her own healing journey.