On queer-centered workshop spaces

For years I tried to make transformational spaces more inclusive - from the inside. I did my best to walk my talk. But when the deep, uncomfortable work of dismantling internalized systems of oppression isn’t taken seriously by those in power… safety and belonging remain out of reach.

A few weeks ago, I held a queer-only Primal Play workshop, and something shifted. I felt what’s only possible when we’re not translating, explaining, or bracing. This space couldn’t exist inside the systems I tried to change. And that realization has brought powerful clarity.

I’m not here to keep trying to change people’s minds.

I’m here to meet the needs of those who’ve always been on the margins.

It goes without saying: I am deeply grateful for everything I have received and learned in the transformational spaces I have been a part of over the last 15 years. I literally could not do what I’m attempting to do now - take this work and apply it where it's needed most - if it wasn't for the full mind-body-spirit immersion that I have experienced.

Yet, something profound happens when we don’t have to brace. When queerness is not a sidenote, but the center. My recent queer-only Primal Play space felt like coming home. No scanning for microaggressions. No explaining ourselves. Just softening. Just truth. Just reclamation. This is not just another workshop. It’s the kind of space many of us have never had access to.

And I’m creating it because I need these spaces too. Even if there are clear boundaries around what I can receive from a space as a facilitator - it's still immensely healing to simply feel myself relax deeper into my role with full permission to be my whole self. And to feel the embodied resonance, not "just” acceptance.

Plus, I'm hoping to inspire other queer facilitators to create these spaces too so that I also get to take part in them as a participant.

Watch the vide where I talk more about this experience:

Part 1