The Body Electric Archive: Preserving Our Legacy
Written by Joseph Kramer
Edited by Andrew Willet
For over 40 years, Body Electric’s history has been woven into countless bodies through touch and breath. Now, we are seeking to preserve this rich legacy for future generations through the creation of the Body Electric Archive. This project aims to tell the story of Body Electric in a way that honors the profound impact it has had on you and thousands of others.
Sadly, over the years, some school brochures, course materials, and other documents have been lost or poorly preserved. To help us tell the story of Body Electric, we are seeking donations of historical documents, including photos, videos, newspaper articles, blog posts, and personal writings.
With your contributions, we will create an archive of online materials for our members to view and even download. These historical documents will also be available for researchers through a professional repository. As the founder of the school, I have volunteered to be our first lead archivist.
Please visit the Body Electric Archive page to learn how you can contribute to and enjoy this fabulous resource.
40th Anniversary Gala
Written by Tom Kovach
The Body Electric School has played a crucial role in queer history beginning with its unique and powerful response to the AIDS crisis. From the 1980s on, the school has pioneered experimental, hands-on sex education. Now, 40 years after our creation, it’s time to reflect on our history and our place in the LGBTQ community at our 40th Anniversary Celebration.
In 1987 the school had just started its foundational workshop — Healing the Body Erotic, now known as Celebrating the Body Erotic. And that year it gained new prominence on the national stage through an interview in The Advocate with our founder, Joseph Kramer, about his work.
Decades later, the School has changed hands and become a nonprofit, and many of the issues we faced in the ’80s have come back. Over 100 anti-LGBTQ bills have passed in the past five years targeting many aspects of LGBTQ life, particularly those of the Trans and gender-expansive communities.
We are responding by making sure we are reaching as many people as we can. While the School began by serving gay men, it has expanded to include women’s and all-gender workshops. Since its transition into a nonprofit, affinity spaces have been created in addition to those core spaces for BIPOC and gender-expansive folx. And just as when it was founded, the school focuses on self-acceptance, intimacy, and connection based on the Tantric and Taoist teachings of healing through Eros. Having a place where people can BE themselves is more important than ever.
We will be celebrating the history and future of the School this November 8-10 in Palm Springs — where we are thrilled to say we’ll be joined by Joseph Kramer, making his return to the school. The event is already sold out, but we will add a live online event to capture the program at the gala event on the 9th. It will be at 6:30 PM PT, and you can register for free here.
The Gala kicks off our online auction with lots of wonderful offerings from our BE community members, sponsors, and very special workshops and intensive opportunities. All that and your chance to become a part of Body Electric history by bidding on having one of the strokes named after you? Which Trekkie will want to have the Vulcan renamed for them?
Healing the Sacred Erotic Connection
Written by Craig Cullinane
“To finally surrender ourselves to healing, we must have three spaces opened within us — and all at the same time: our opinionated head, our closed-down heart, and our defensive and defended body. That is the work of spirituality — and it is work.”
Richard Rohr, Breathing Underwater
When I was a kid, whenever someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would always respond, “a priest.” This was funny, because I didn’t grow up in a religious home. My parents, both Irish Catholics, had experienced church in their youth, but by the time they had me — eight kids later — they had decided enough was enough. When my grandmother, my father’s mother, Margaret Cullinane, visited us when I was six, she discovered I hadn’t been baptized. That’s when I learned what “apoplectic” meant. I was promptly whisked off to the nearest Catholic church and doused.
As I came out in my late teens, I distanced myself from religion altogether. I couldn’t reconcile following a faith that seemed so unaccepting of queer folks. However, I’ve remained curious about the inner archetype of the Priest, one I can still resonate with if I take a moment to quiet my mind and heart. Spiritual guides often speak of an inner calling to serve others, nurture a spiritual community, and hold the profound mysteries of life and divinity. As a Body Electric teacher, I recognize that guiding people through the sacred work of the School mirrors this vocation.
Yet many spiritual leaders must also address their own healing and are too often not connected to their erotic life-force energy. We’re taught to compartmentalize our erotic selves, separating it from our experience of the divine, however we define it. There’s immense healing and empowerment in reclaiming our erotic life force as a pathway to divinity, liberation, and service.
This November, near Kansas City, MO, Body Electric is offering a new workshop titled Healing the Sacred Erotic Connection. This workshop is specifically for men folk who serve as religious or spiritual leaders — rabbis, priests, clergy, imams, Buddhist teachers, or anyone who supports the spiritual vitality and healing of their communities.
The workshop aims to nurture the healing and awakening of the spiritual leaders themselves. When called to serve others, it’s all too easy to set aside one’s own needs. Participants won’t be there to care for others, as they often do! Healing the Sacred Erotic Connection invites participants to explore their identities as erotic beings, awaken the connection between their erotic selves and their divinity, and connect with fellow spiritual leaders in a space crafted with care and intention. Remember: Place the oxygen mask on yourself before helping others!
Body Electric provides a powerful container for healing the religious wounds that many individuals carry. These wounds and messages, often deeply embedded in the body, can be challenging to shed and heal. We’re expanding our programming to create a space for healing religious trauma, starting by welcoming spiritual leaders into this work. Our hope is that by experiencing the power of this process themselves, they will be better equipped to guide others on their healing journeys.
If you are a religious or spiritual leader interested in attending this workshop, you can find more information HERE or email me at craig.cullinane@bodyelectric.org. I’d be happy to connect over Zoom to discuss any questions you may have.
Watch the Video about this video here.
Healing the Sacred Erotic Connection begins on Tuesday, November 19, and runs through lunchtime on Friday, November 22, near Kansas City, MO.