Embodied Relating Waiheke Island

“Embodiment is the combined experience of sensations, emotions, and movement impulses, an ever-changing, dynamic relationship between self, other, and environment.” ~ Dr. Arrielle Schwartz

Are you desiring a safe space to see and be seen, to hold and be held? To show up authentically with a colourful range of human beings? To cultivate skills that will nurture your interpersonal relationships?

Embodied Relating is an afternoon of conscious connection skills. We will sharpen our capacity to verbally and physically communicate with deeper awareness of our bodily sensations, allowing us to weave richer, more truthful, more loving connections with one another.

You are invited to a beautiful studio in Surfdale, Waiheke Island, for a very special one-off workshop this March. Come explore your curiosity, vulnerability and boundaries through a journey of deep, meaningful, playful communication and contact games.

Activities will interweave Authentic Relating, Mindful Movement 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.

The connection skills you will practice include:

✨ Listening to your body and the subtleties of sensation

✨ Expressing yourself more authentically, through words, movement and touch

✨ Empathising deeply with another’s human experience

✨ Tuning into what your body really desires and empowering yourself to make requests

✨ Setting boundaries that honour yourself, and gracefully receiving the boundaries of another

✨ Welcoming and befriending the full 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 want.

WHO is this event for?

Essentially, this event is for you if you’re a curious, open, emotional human being and want to utilise these superpowers to both enhance your interpersonal relationships and enrich your self love within. This event is also for you 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 relating, movement and physical contact, with and without words and vision, through the nourishing practices of Authentic Relating, Mindful Movement and Conscious Touch.

Authentic Relating is a ground breaking social technology that enables you to heartfully, playfully and courageously connect, using the tools of radical honesty and active listening. The practice invites you to drop deeper into presence, embodied awareness and permission to express whatever is alive within you and the ‘we-space’ between you and other(s).

Mindful Movement brings deeper awareness to intentional physical motion. Unlike traditional seated meditation, this approach encourages fluid, organic movements—such as walking, dancing, stretching, or gentle flowing gestures—that are guided by intuition rather than structure. It helps individuals release tension, express emotions, and cultivate a sense of grounding, while promoting a deeper connection to inner stillness.

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 platonic (non-sexual) touch.

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.

Together, we will create a rich container to explore the many layers of our human experience, to invite loving, consensual touch, and arrive more deeply into present moment embodied awareness.

WHERE will it be?

The event will take place at a beautiful studio at 10A Dickson Rd, Surfdale, Waiheke Island 1081, New Zealand.

The FACILITATOR

Laurie King

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 Revolution, Connection Institute and Body Electric. He has facilitated at internationally acclaimed festivals such as Stretch and Ignite, and organisations such as ART International and Authentic Bay Area.

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.

For his insta, check out @itoiauthentic.

Laurie’s workshops have already touched & impacted many lives. Here's what others have shared:

“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 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 created a beautiful, safe space in no time! making it an ideal environment to be present and engage meaningfully with the activities. Even though all participants were strangers to me, I felt a deep sense of belonging developing over the day.” - Julie

“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

“Thanks to this workshop, I was able to let go more than ever before, and really let in non-sexual, loving, supportive touch. Thank you to Laurie for offering another step up the mountain of growth & healing” - Amanda

I love Laurie’s energy, wisdom, execution and light touch - Tess

Practicalities:

Where: 10A Dickson Rd, Surfdale, Waiheke Island 1081, New Zealand.

When: Saturday 15th March, 4.30 - 7pm. Please be on time as the doors will close!

Cost: $45.

Dresscode: Comfortable clothing that's easy to move in. Please bring a blindfold as some activities may be blindfolded.

Intoxicants: This is a drug & alcohol free event. There will be plenty of tea available.

Refund policy: Full refund if cancelled three 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.