I spent over a year creating my Body Awakening Course, because I wanted it to encompass much more than simply learning a new style of touching. Intimacy, to me, is a whole person experience and I wanted the participants to, at the end of it, recognize touch as something sacred. I imagined them walking away from the 9 months with a feeling of reverence for; the gift of touching another person, the body of the person they touch (whether it be their own or someone else’s) and the sensations that can be experienced through all the wonderful textures that skin provides. Along with this, I wanted them to be aware of and prepared for what can come up when we touch another person’s body in a safe and attuned way. Soft, slow, present touch can create an opening that extends much deeper than the surface of the skin —bringing up intense sensations, emotions, pleasure, resistances, wounds, insecurities and unmet needs in both the person being touched and the person touching. To hold space for this requires self-awareness, attunement, curiosity, communication, reverence and lots of practice.
We began our 9 month online journey learning about ourselves and how experiences in infancy and childhood shape the way we interact in intimacy as adults. We learned to attune to our own breath as a tool for self-awareness and how to expand our breathing patterns so we can safely feel more and ultimately experience more pleasure. We practiced exploring and touching our own bodies to discover what sensations we could feel through our skin, and learned how to combine breath, touch and imagery to increase and plateau those sensations when feeling more gets too much. We developed self-awareness around what gets in the way of our ability to be present when touching others, noticing when it happens and how to continually come back to the sensations in our fingers we feel through our touch. While we practiced all of this individually or in partnership, we came together online every two weeks to share our discoveries, pleasures, doubts, feelings, insecurities, tears and lots of laughter. In this safe, shared space we discovered that we aren’t the only ones who find intimacy challenging, scary and exciting.
We spent 7 months ensuring the quality of what we are able to offer through our touch — whether alone, in partnered intimacy or with clients — before applying our learning to touching others. Body Awakening touch is less about techniques (although there are some) and more to do with getting out of our own way to be present, attuned, curious and reverent to the experience so that who we are really comes through our touch. This, to me, is what intimacy is all about. In the last month of learning, some of the participants chose to participate in the In Person portion of the course where they deepened their practice on each other and then with volunteers from the community. It was an absolute joy for me to witness them creating a cozy space for their volunteer touch partners and welcoming them in with reverence, compassion and curiosity for whatever might come up.
As the teacher and creator of this modality and course, the past 9 months have been more rewarding than any previous work I’ve done. Creating a course that embodies the integrity that I believe touching a body deserves, and witnessing the evolution of the participants as they grow and learn together has been beyond meaningful to me. When we touch in a reverent, present and attuned way, there is no limit to our potential for connection, pleasure, growth and intimacy.
I’m excited to be once again offering this course beginning in March of 2026. There are options for Individuals, couples or practitioners interested in Online learning, In Person Experiential learning and Certification. Early bird registration opens January 5th and I would be honored to have you join. Details on my site and please reach out if you have any questions. https://natashasalaash.com/body-awakening-course/