T H E I N S T I T U T E F O R

R E L A T I O N A L H A R M O N Y S T U D I E S

F A C U L T Y

‘We create a culture of mutual welcoming. This means we invite people into our experience. This means quieter voices are invited and welcomed. This means that everyone in this gets to belong fully to this group. Through acts of positive affirmation, celebrating each other’s risks, failures and successes, and offering loving feedback when requested, we come to belong to each other as educators weaving a world of liberation.’ 

- P A V I N I   M O R A Y  -  C S B,  C S S E

IRHS Faculty for the Sexological Bodywork, Sexological Intimacy Coaching & Somatic Sex Education professional training.

ORGANISATIONAL CORE TEAM

The Organisational core team choreograph and administrate the training designing structures that support and facilitate everybody’s ability to participate and learn with ease and inspiration from enrolment through to certification and beyond into the postgraduate program.

  • Arantxa is dancer, singer, performing artist & mother of 3, and communicates fluently in English, Spanish & Portuguese.

    She is a CSB & CSSE awaiting completion.

    She has dedicated 20 years to teaching Laban Creative Dance & West African Dance in the Community, & to performing with various companies around Europe.

    Arantxa cultivates a deep passion for guiding others into connecting deeper with their bodies, their natural joy and erotic expression  & encourages them to develop the parts of themselves that are fully alive, where their deepest truth and wisdom reside, ripening their relationship to Eros, Life force Intelligence & the innocence of their pleasure & bodies.

    She has created a modality called ESSENSUAL Movement & Expression, that weaves together principles from CSB training with Creative & Authentic Dance practices, inspiring others to express pleasure through movement & their bodies, unapologetically.

     Empathy, compassion, curiosity and ethical integrity are qualities she embodies as a facilitator/practitioner & she offers these & other gifts in service to the emergence of future practitioners, that n turn are too in service to the love of life & the love for humanity. 

Certified Sexological Intimacy Coach, Sexological Bodyworker, & Somatic Sex Educator

  • Katie Sarra is the founder of the Institute of Relational Harmony Studies where she choreographs and teaches professional certification in Body Poem, Sexological Intimacy, Somatic Sex Educator and Sexological Bodywork, training in the UK, Ireland and Portugal with an international team of leading-edge educators. She follows the Code of Ethics of the Association of Certified Sexological Bodyworkers (ACSB).

    Katie has developed her practice over 35 years of professional clinical practice. She specialises in facilitating radical acceptance and integration of exiled aspects of ourselves.  She is an Art Psychotherapist, Founder of Body Poem, Artist, Certified Wheel of Consent facilitator, Certified Somatic Sex Educator, Certified Sexological Bodyworker, and Playback Theatre Practitioner.

    I believe every human being has gifts to share and that these are often grown from where we have suffered the most. Our self-acceptance, kindness and ease with ourselves, when we have felt witnessed, can ripple out to support ease with others. 

Certified Sexological Intimacy Coach, Sexological Bodyworker, & Somatic Sex Educator

  • Dr Phoebe Garland is a certified CSB and CSSE. She brings over 30 years of experience as a GP and mindfulness teacher as well as her own life-long journey of seeking and personal growth practices, including working with Dr Claudio Naranjo in the SAT program.

    Her passion is to bring her expertise to the profession of somatic sex education, developing the curriculum, supervision and continued professional development structures and resources to support excellence in the profession.

    At the Institute of Relational Harmony Studies Phoebe is developing and leading the 2nd year CSSE training, bringing teachings from The Right Use of Power to the CSB and CSSE curriculum, developing Core Competency assessment and providing supervision for practitioners.

Certified Sexological Intimacy Coach, Sexological Bodyworker, & Somatic Sex Educator

Contributors to the Training & Curriculum

  • Betty Martin

    Betty Martin meets with Katie for Supervision supporting the choreography and ethics of the training.

  • Ellen Heed

    Anatomy & Physiology and Scar Tissue Remediation Curriculum Facilitator

  • Dr Susan Mizen

    Affective Relational Neuroscience Research

  • Joseph Kramer

    Founder of Sexological Bodywork - Designer of the original CSB Curriculum content & choreography

  • Kat Byles

    Ethical Busines Caoch - Your Path with Heart

  • Caffyn Jesse

    Queer elder and a Sexological Bodywork teacher and writer contributing to the curriculum.

  • Deej Juventin

    Co-director of the Institute of Somatic Sexology, Australia. Deej and Katie meet weekly for Supervision.

IRHS Approved Educators & Coaches 2024 -5

Certified Sexological Intimacy Coaches, Sexological Bodyworkers & Somatic Sex Educators

IRHS Approved Mentors are Certified Graduates from the 12-month training in Somatic Sex Education who have fulfilled the required core competencies to offer Coaching and Supervision for students in training and Supervision for Practitioners, Sexological Bodyworkers, and Sexological Intimacy Coaches.

  • Arantxa is dancer, singer, performing artist & mother of 3, that communicates fluently in English, Spanish & Portuguese.

    She is a CSB & CSSE awaiting completion.

    She has a background in dance and performing arts, having dedicated 20 years to teaching Laban Creative Dance & West African Dance in the Community, &to performing with various companies around Europe.

    Arantxa cultivates a deep passion for guiding others into connecting deeper with their bodies, their natural joy and erotic expression  & encourages them to connect to the parts of themselves that are fully alive, where their deepest truth and wisdom reside, ripening their relationship to Eros, Life force Intelligence & the innocence of their pleasure & bodies.

    She has created a modality called ESSENSUAL Movement & Expression, that weaves together principles from CSB training with Creative & Authentic Dance practices, inspiring others to express pleasure through movement & their bodies, unapologetically.

     Empathy, compassion, curiosity and ethical integrity are qualities she embodies as a facilitator/practitioner & she offers these & other gifts in service to the emergence of future practitioners, that n turn are too in service to the love of life & the love for humanity. 

Certified Sexological Intimacy Coach, Sexological Bodyworker, & Somatic Sex Educator

  • Martijn Gorree (he/him), a 40ish Dutch guy, former internet nerd turned sex geek and freshly certified sex coach.

    Coming into this work from a mindfulness background with the Plum Village tradition. Followed by a few years of tantra experience and explorations in the world of Shibari.

    Currently offering one-on-one coaching and facilitating workshops and events themed around personal development and sexuality.

    I’m bringing loads of patience, sharp observations, directness, humour and a loving welcoming heart to those willing to dive into their sexuality.

    I help people experience limiting beliefs or behaviours that may be blocking their sexual expression. Helping them develop new patterns of thinking and behaving that promote greater closeness and connection to themselves and their partners.

    Overall, my goal is to help people realise their agency and freedom in sex. Helping them face their shame and shadows. Free of judgement. To deepen their sense of intimacy in themselves and other aspects of life.

Certified Sexological Intimacy Coach, Sexological Bodyworker, & Somatic Sex Educator

  • With over two decades of diverse experience spanning Acupuncture, Bodywork, The Work of Byron Katie, Social Care supervision, and Behavior practice, I offer a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our coaching sessions.

    I spent a decade advocating for consent education, empowering sexual expression among neurodivergent individuals. My commitment is to create safe, inclusive spaces where everyone can explore and express their sexuality with dignity and joy.

    As a certified somatic sex coach, sexological bodyworker, and somatic sex educator, I am passionate about supporting individuals on their journey towards sexual empowerment and self-discovery. My background as a behavior practitioner adds a unique perspective, allowing for a holistic approach to personal growth and development.

    Continuing my education through post-graduate studies with the Institute of Relational Harmony, I continuously deepen my understanding and refine my skills to better serve my clients.

    Our coaching sessions will be filled with insight, support, and a wide array of tools tailored to your unique needs and goals.

Certified Sexological Intimacy Coach, Sexological Bodyworker, & Somatic Sex Educator

IRHS Certified Sexological Intimacy Coaches, Sexological Bodyworkers & Somatic Sex Educators

IRHS Approved Mentors are Certified Graduates from the 2023-4 IRHS 12-month training in Somatic Sex Education who have fulfilled the required core competencies to offer Coaching and Supervision for students in training and Supervision for Practitioners, Sexological Bodyworkers, and Sexological Intimacy Coaches.

  • Dr. Liz Ray (she/her) has recently relocated to the Lisbon area from the US and is enthusiastically studying Portuguese while launching her work in this field. She is the mother of two adult children, and discovered sexological bodywork during the process of healing her own sexuality at the end of a long marriage.

    At her core, Liz is a teacher. She has over 25 years of experience in body-based practices from being a professional dancer, yogi, expressive arts therapist, and academic. Liz practices Orgasmic Meditation (OMing), is a certified Consent Educator, and has been a registered yoga teacher for 20 years. She holds a Master’s degree in Dance/Movement Therapy and a PhD in Education in arts and curriculum design.

Certified Sexological Intimacy Coach, Sexological Bodyworker, & Somatic Sex Educator

  • Ayah is a certified somatic intimacy coach & bodyworker offering a space for individuals & couples to cultivate a deeper sense of self, connection to their body & their aliveness, she is also a mother, has trained in permaculture, natural horsemanship, & Social Care where she worked for five years, currently she is in the process of completing a masters in trauma.

    In her work she invites people to re-define intimacy for themselves, return to their own somatic wisdom & cultivate deep internal safety, guiding others through body experiences designed to nurture & welcome all parts of oneself and offering her clients a space of radical acceptance & authenticity.

    In her sessions Ayah welcomes clients to explore their relationship to their body, to safety, pleasure, sensuality & the erotic, as well as how to support you into more choice & agency. The foundation of this work is to teach & work with the interpersonal neurobiology of trauma & how to support you into accessing your agency with ways of co and self-regulating intensity. This work is for you if you want to build sexual confidence, live life more fully, cultivate more presence, learn to listen to your body, your needs, desires, boundaries and your deepest longings & experience gentle rewiring of relational & somatic communication.

    Ayah offers online & in person coaching & bodywork sessions that are co-created & shaped around your unique learning intentions, in this practice we are both invited to put aside perfectionism for authenticity & to let go of getting it “right” to bring curiosity & playfulness to explore some of the most vulnerable & often exiled parts of self to remember our wholeness.

    I am passionate about this work because it hands us back our personal power, instead of outsourcing it invites us into cultivating inner knowing & gives us the tools to connect to our own aliveness.

    https://sacredsomatica.com/

Certified Sexological Intimacy Coach, Sexological Bodyworker, & Trainee Somatic Sex Educator

  • I am a white transmasculine multitasking artist living with chronic conditions. I have been working on the topic of sexuality for a decade, through body, desire, sexual orientation and gender identity, with a queer feminist and intersectional approach.

    I do art about sexuality, norms and taboos. As a witch, I work with love. I like to accompany people in their intimacy and sexual empowerment.

    I work as a sex worker and sacred intimate for women&queers, as well as a sexological bodyworker, intimacy coach, and a facilitator for sex-positive retreats and workshops.

    http://marinmarie.art

Certified Sexological Intimacy Coach, Sexological Bodyworker, & Somatic Sex Educator

The Ethics of working with Sexuality

  • Katie Sarra and Dr Phoebe Garland have developed a syllabus that incorporates Clean Language, Body Poem, Wheel of Consent, and Right Use of Power training into the Sexological Bodywork curriculum transforming this professional training to meet the ethical practice standards in a field where working with arousal and altered states has resulted in so many ruptures without these micro-skills in place.

    This recognition that the original Sexological Bodywork Curriculum does not equip practitioners with the necessary micro-skills for ethical practice resulted in a ballooning of the training from 6 months to 12 months and international Somatic Sex Education training bodies, to offer coaching and therapeutic training to support Ethical practice alongside the Sexological Bodywork training.

    The Institute for Relational Harmony Studies Sexological Intimacy Coaching and Sexological Bodywork Professional training prepares practitioners to ethically facilitate somatic sex education combined with intimacy skills for individuals, couples, or groups.

    The curriculum facilitates participants inhabiting ethics on the inside developing practitioner core competencies and understanding the “Right Use of Power” teachings, as defined by Dr Cedar Barstow, applied to Dr Betty Martin’s “The Wheel of Consent” coaching structures.

    The practices involve radical acceptance of the self-organising intelligence inherent in us all using Body Focusing, Body Poem, and Clean Language as our coaching models.

    The ability to make attuned receptive, kind decisions and be in choice while experiencing the intensity of affect is also a central core competency that the micro-skills in this training are supporting. These are essential competencies for ethical practice when working in the altered state realms of intimate and erotic self-expression and arousal. We refer to this as our emotional and erotic fluency with response flexibility.

    Ethical inquiries are explored with understanding visible and invisible aspects of being human that influence our ability to belong and participate.

    The 6-month Certificate in Sexological Intimacy Coaching

    Practitioners learn Sexological intimacy coaching skills that can be facilitated online or in person which is inclusive of practitioners who are interested in coaching intimate and erotic self-touch somatic practices without “hands-on” engagement. This also enables practitioners to practice sexological intimacy coaching in parts of the world where professional erotic touch is illegal or against the codes of ethics and professional conduct of existing modalities that practitioners wish to combine with Sexological Intimacy Coaching.  The curriculum is in an online format with a special focus on live interactive online learning in the community and in paired and triad practice groups with classmates. Sexological Intimacy coaches deepen their in-person intimacy skills with the two-way clothed wheel of consent practices and coaching non-touch erotic and intimate practices. Participants can achieve Certification to practice on completion of the core competencies after 6 months.

    The 6-month Certification in Sexological Bodywork

    This training includes a 12-day in-person embodiment retreat for practitioners wishing to learn and practice hands-on Sexological Bodywork.

    During this time, participants learn a variety of modalities supporting body identity acceptance, gender identity acceptance, mapping & massage, anal acceptance, mapping & massage, prostate acceptance mapping & massage, scar tissue remediation, chest, breast & nipple acceptance mapping & massage, belly acceptance mapping & massage, active receiving self-directed erotic massage and practicing radical acceptance with erotic embodiment self-pleasuring solo practices.

    During these explorations, aspects of the self are touched and awakened into awareness illuminating core erotic themes that may be emerging that can prepare the ground for understanding your unique purpose as a practitioner in service.

    During the online parts of the training, we are visited by Ellen Heed who guides our understanding of genital and anal anatomy, the nervous systems, the enteric nervous system, and working with scars and emotional and physical repair processes.

    It is estimated that 15 - 25 hours of study time per week is required for the online waves of both trainings.