Connection Playground: A Weekend Feast of Flowful Relating

“The present moment is a conspiracy of the total universe. To resist it is to resist the universe. Let go and flow” - Deepak Chopra
Are you tired of going to events where all you do is chit-chat and leave feeling deflated?
Do you desire more spaces where you can show up fully and authentically with other heart-centred humans, and get straight to the core of what truly matters?
Ready for a transformative weekend experience where you are invited to flowfully connect using an inspiring range of modalities?
Welcome to Connection Playground, an immersive training in connection skills!
Throughout the weekend, we will sharpen our capacity to verbally and physically communicate in deeper embodied awareness of our curiosities, desires and boundaries, allowing us to drop into a delicious flow state and weave richer, more truthful, more loving connections with one another.
You are invited to The Center SF, a beautiful & cosy urban sanctuary this September. Come explore the many layers of yourself and others through a journey of deep, meaningful, playful communication and contact games.
Activities will interweave the modalities of Authentic Relating, Contact Flow, Ecstatic Dance and Conscious Touch, inspiring a profound sense of well-being, a remarkable connection to your body and an experiential toolkit that you can use right away to make every part of your life even better.
Enter a room full of strangers and cultivate connections that may last a lifetime!

WHY spend a weekend at Connection Playground?
The connection skills you will learn and practice include:
- Getting deeply curious about another person’s world
- Tuning into profound presence by listening to your body and the subtleties of sensation
- Expressing yourself more authentically, through words, movement and touch
Empathising with another’s human experience through the cultivation of heart-space
- Tuning into what your body really desires and empowering yourself to make requests
- Exploring connection beyond sight, using blindfolds to invite you deeper into your intuitive nature
- Setting boundaries that honour yourself, and gracefully receiving the boundaries of another, through differentiating between the ‘stretch’ zone and ‘stress’ zone
- Welcoming and befriending the visceral spectrum of your emotional reality, including the uncomfortable parts
I look forward to welcoming you into a beautiful container that is sure to inspire you to step further into the kind of life you truly desire.

WHO is this weekend for?
Essentially, Connection Playground is for you if you’re a curious, open, emotional human being or want to learn how to be one! This weekend will enhance your interpersonal relationships and enrich your self love within.
Whether you are a seasoned connection workshop goer or it’s your first time ever, you are sure to get something valuable out of this weekend.
You are also most welcome if you’ve been recently feeling blocked, anxious, lacking purpose or direction, and need to reground and remind yourself what's truly important and who you truly are.
My experience includes working with Highly Sensitive People (HSPs); neurodiverse people; people suffering from anxiety and depression; people going through major life shifts; and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
If you have any questions about whether the event would suit you, pop me a message and I’ll get back to you within 24 hours.

WHAT will actually happen?
Activities will explore conversation, movement and physical contact, with and without words and vision, through the modalities of Authentic Relating, Contact Flow, Conscious Touch and Ecstatic Dance.
Authentic Relating is a social technology…
Contact Flow is a movement practice inspired by Contact Improv, which primarily focuses on embodying the element of water, inducing a trance like flow of physical communication beyond words.
Conscious Touch is the practice of bringing full attention and presence into relating physically to another person. In deeper awareness of our desires and boundaries, we will explore the many layers and dimensions of non-sexual touch.
Ecstatic Dance invites us to surrender to what is arising in our body when deeply in connection with music, following each natural impulse and channeling poetic expression beyond the mind, inducing a natural state of ecstasy.
We will use blindfolds in some of the activities to invite you into deeper connection with your physical sensations and internal reality, unblocking your inhibition so as to reveal your truest essence.
On Saturday, we will spend the day familiarising ourselves with the modalities of Authentic Relating, Contact Flow and Conscious Touch. As we get to know our weekend constellation of participants, we’ll focus on building trust, understanding and intimacy.
On Sunday, we will begin the day with an Ecstatic Dance, and in the afternoon we will co-create a ‘connection jam’, essentially an open floor with numerous zones where you can practice the modalities. There will be ample time given to integration, so that you leave the container feeling restored, resourced and ready for the world beyond!
Safety disclaimer:
Consent will be emphasised throughout the weekend. You will continually be reminded to listen to your body and only do what is within your personal boundaries. While you will be encouraged to stretch yourself and widen your window of tolerance, you will practice identifying your stress zone are strongly advised to regulate if you push yourself too far.
There will also be a support team on hand if you need to co-regulate at any point.

WHERE will it be?
The training will take place at The Center SF, 548 Fillmore St, San Francisco, CA 94117.

The SPACE HOLDER
Laurie (he/him), is a queer British-Kiwi who’s current home-base is Wellington, NZ. His passion is creating spaces that cultivate healthy, thriving human-to-human relationships, helping people take off their masks, feel their sensations and celebrate their aliveness on Earth. Since 2019, he has organised and facilitated hundreds of Authentic Relating, Dating and Embodiment workshops in Oceania and Europe.
His training includes The Embody Lab, Authentic Life Course, and Connection Institute. He has facilitated at internationally acclaimed festivals such as Stretch, and organisations such as ART International.
His workshops have sparked thousands of nourishing connections, turning many strangers into life-long friends. He looks forward to holding space for you!
For more information, check out itoiauthenticrelating.com.
Laurie’s workshops have already been a big hit in San Francisco, as well as Portland, Boulder, LA, Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, London, Edinburgh, Melbourne & Wellington. Here's what others have said:
“This was a game changer for me. I'm blown away on a daily basis as to how easy communicating and relating has been since doing Laurie's incredible workshop" - Andy
I love Laurie’s energy, wisdom, execution and light touch - Tess
"I live with complex PTSD and anxiety so in the past I have really struggled to open up to people and build meaningful connections. Discovering these workshops has been a life changer and both my therapist and I are thrilled with how my confidence has blossomed in recent months. Laurie's time and generosity really means the world to me" - Sarah
"Laurie's approach to mix Authentic Relating with conscious touch and movement is very interesting. Theses complementary practices made me feel more whole and deeply connected with others. Laurie is also incredibly kind and I felt safe, warm and welcomed from the start" - Benjamin
“The exercises allowed me to center myself in heartspace - free to be held by others in love and in my own experience while also able to hold them in their experience. As such, it’s a perfect space for co-regulating. The experience was so nurturing I forgot to eat dinner - and I wasn’t even hungry!” - Justin
"I felt so deeply and beautifully seen, heard and held by everyone in the group, and that was in large part because of Laurie's gift of facilitation" - Megan

HOW MUCH will I invest?
$245 - Earlybird ticket
$295 - Regular ticket
$345 - Latebird ticket
Spaces are limited so book early before it fills up!
If you would really like to attend but do not have the funds, please get in touch and we can figure something out!
Practicalities:
Where: The Center SF, 548 Fillmore St, San Francisco, CA 94117.
When: Saturday September 21st and Sunday September 22nd, 11am to 5pm.
Dresscode: Comfortable clothing that's easy to move in. Please bring a blindfold as some activities are blindfolded.
Food: There is no food provided, but there are tea and snacks available for purchase at the teahouse. Please bring your own lunch, otherwise there are nearby places where you can find a range of food options.
Refund policy: Full refund if cancelled four weeks or more before event. 50% refund if cancelled up to one week before event. No refund if cancelled less than one week before event.

If you are interested in volunteering to assist with this event in exchange for a ticket please fill out this form.

Host or Publisher The Center SF