by Tom Kovach
The Body Electric School has always been community-supported. Even in the decades it was a for-profit organization, donations from generous alumni and volunteers’ organizational support made the school’s work possible. Not long after we became a non-profit, we started a membership program. Over the last few years, we have heard feedback and suggestions and have been trying to find ways to improve it for our community and have a more predictable funding source for our programming.
To facilitate this, Body Electric is transitioning to a new database. We moved our records from the previous database to our new one at the beginning of October. This change will help us better serve the Body Electric Community in many ways, allowing us to better target our communications and offerings. It will also make it possible to automate membership benefits better.
How will this transition affect you? The new system has a different pay processor, Authorize.net, and all new donations and memberships will be through the new system. For security purposes, we can’t transfer your credit information from the old processor to the new one, so existing recurring donations will still go through Affinipay. You will not need to make any changes.
More importantly, we are taking this opportunity to make major changes to how we reward continuing membership. We will now have special membership pricing for in-person offerings and most online ones — and depending on your level of commitment, the savings go up. Sales, like our annual intensive sale, will be for members only, and we will also have special member-only events. We will still have regular pricing for non-members, but those who join for as little as $5 a month will get these special incentives.
Keep in mind that these benefits are attached to recurring memberships only, so to take advantage of them, you’ll need to check your membership status at bodyelectric.org. Your generous one-time donations, which we always greatly appreciate, are tracked separately for tax purposes.
The membership levels and benefits are:
Community Membership
$5 monthly or $50 annually – Limited special members-only pricing plus access to the BE Community platform and video catalog.
Body Membership
$10 monthly or $110 annually – All the Community Membership benefits plus unlimited members-only pricing and events.
Heart Membership
$25 monthly or $250 annually – All the Body Membership benefits plus 10% or more off in-person workshops, online multiclass courses, and special events as listed. (Does not apply to one-day classes or discounted packages.)
Mind Membership
$50 monthly or $600 annually – All the Heart Membership benefits plus a free BE Mug or T-shirt.
Spirit Membership
$100 monthly or $1,200 annually – All the Mind Membership benefits plus one free online class for yourself or to give as a gift.
New program offerings
Mindful Movement with Shai Saliba.
A new embodied movement practice approaches the body as a subject rather than an object needing change. It fosters deep listening and self-compassion, where the wisdom of the body is centered and celebrated, a practice that celebrates agency and respect for boundaries.
Mindfulness Meditation Practice and Instruction with Steve Schwartzberg.
Whether you are just starting a meditation practice or an experienced practitioner looking for a new sangha, all are welcome to attend. It is possible to join any or all of the sessions.
From Finding True Healing to Finding a Life Purpose: One Man’s Journey
By Andrés Cordero, Jr.
Back in August of 2012, after being encouraged, enticed, and cajoled by the amazing Body Electric alumnus and registrar extraordinaire Gabriel Clark, I attended an intensive held by the school called “In the Garden of Life.” This was shortly after attending my first intensive, “Dear Love of Comrades.” All I knew was that the program was to work on wounds, issues, and challenges with people who were healers: people called “sacred intimates.”
At the time, life was challenging. It had been about 16 years since I experienced my first sexual encounter, came out as a gay man, and initiated my journey into alcoholism. I had no real community. I felt incapable of finding true intimacy, so I had settled for empty sex and endless bar hopping. I was depressed after many years hating that I was attracted to other men. I had turned away from my faith. I had a therapist, but it wasn’t really helping. And I didn’t really expect much for the remaining years of my life. I made my journey from Texas to Easton Mountain with a dear friend. I had no idea what I was in for. In those seven days, I was reborn. Or rather, I was born as the me I was truly meant to be. In those days at that intensive, I spoke to my problems and challenges. I examined them. I brought awareness to the energy that held or fed those issues in my body. And I had sessions daily with several sacred intimates. The first few days were insightful, but it was the day after this photo was taken that I mark as the day I reached a breakthrough.
The person I see in this photo is a distant memory of the person I am today.
It was at Easton in the temple off the pond that my life truly changed. I was in sacred space with a loving, caring, present, and compassionate sacred intimate. With his presence, guidance, and intuitive healing practices, I released energy in my body that had restrained me since birth. Those moments I spent with the healers at the gathering live within me to this day.
In the twelve years since that special day, my whole life has changed. I have been sober for more than 10 years. I completely abandoned my previous career and started from ground zero. I wanted to help others in the way others helped me, so I entered a world I felt completely unprepared and qualified for and jumped into pursuing my Ph.D. in human sexuality. In the years that have passed, I have explored my sexual orientation, gender identity, and sexual expressions—and I have embraced them all. And I learned what true intimacy and connection is, and how to create it, both as a sacred-intimate practitioner and in my personal life.
As I approached completing my degree, I chose to study the phenomenon of sacred intimacy for my dissertation and have learned so much along the way. This healing practice was created by Joseph Kramer with support from many collaborators in the community. It is now taught in many spaces and has been accessed by many to transform energy where other approaches have been unsuccessful.
And most certainly, it helped me find a life of purpose, in healing, and in service to others in the world.
I want to express deep appreciation to the facilitators of that year’s program — Michael Cohen, Faculty Emeritus, and Collin Brown, Faculty of the Body Electric School[AW1] — as well as the cohort of fellow participants and the many sacred intimates, assistants, and support staff who made the intensive possible. For me, the experience was thoroughly transformative, magical, and most of all, healing — effects that have lasted for a lifetime.
To learn more about my research and the many people who are supporting me on this journey, please visit sacredintimacyproject.com. I have recently appeared on the Erotic Liberation Podcast I also welcome email messages, if you have questions, at andres.cordero.jr@me.com.
Andrés is a sex educator, sexuality researcher, and embodiment coach, and a member of the Body Electric community. You can learn more about Andrés from his website, andrescorderojr.com.