February 15 - 22, 2025

Wisdom & Wellbeing Week 6 Intensive with Esther Perel

Erotic Intelligence: Cultivating Desire and Aliveness in Your Relationships

Join globally-celebrated relationship expert Esther Perel, MA, LMFT, alongside Paul Browde, MD (storyteller, IFS-informed psychiatrist), Benjamin Fry, MA, MBACP (author, founder – Khiron Clinics) and Leslie Salmon Jones and Jeff W. Jones (Afro Flow Yoga®) for an intensive that will deepen connection, playfulness and vitality in your relationships. We will combine discussion, interactive exercises, and physical practices surrounded by the natural beauty of this blue zone. In an atmosphere free of judgment, we will present a nuanced, multicultural understanding of love, desire, and erotic intimacy.

More About Your Week

Join Esther Perel, Paul Browde, Benjamin Fry, and Leslie Salmon Jones and Jeff W. Jones for this multi-day intensive to deepen connection, playfulness and vitality in your relationships. Esther, as a globally-celebrated cross-cultural sex and relationship therapist, will engage you in live interactions with her essential primer of relational intelligence, invigorated by Paul’s extensive experience as a storyteller, wilderness guide, and queer, IFS-informed psychiatrist. The intensive is curated by Benjamin Fry, a British trauma-informed psychotherapist, author, and founder of Khiron Clinics.

During our time together, we will combine discussion, interactive exercises, and physical practices surrounded by the natural beauty of this blue zone. In an atmosphere free of judgment, we will present a nuanced and multicultural understanding of love, desire, and erotic intimacy.

You will learn to:
  • Inhabit a new definition of eroticism that extends far beyond mere sexual performance to include aliveness, playfulness and creativity.
  • Elicit spontaneity and step out of your familiar routines that keep you feeling dissatisfied, uninspired or fearful.
  • Deeply understand your erotic self – your longings, inhibitions and prohibitions, as well as your values and beliefs about intimacy and pleasure.
  • Practice the art of deep listening and connection, and understand how to transcend challenges when personal histories, or trauma  make that more difficult.
  • Have courageous conversations, by taking emotional risks and open up your communication channels. Develop the tools to make these conversations safe – even if they trigger you.
  • Explore the need for security and closeness with the quest for separateness and passion, reconciling hyper-connection with solitude and using your imagination and inner resources to soothe yourself.
  • Move beyond your comfort zone into an expansive and fully charged connection.

KEY QUESTIONS TO EXPLORE (among many others!)

  • Desire: Why does great sex so often fade for couples that love each other as much as ever? When we love how does it feel? and when we desire how is it different?

  • Intimacy & Eroticism: Why does good intimacy not guarantee good sex?

  • Infidelity: Why is the forbidden so erotic?
  • The Art of Difference: How do our differences as individuals become our strengths together?

We welcome clinicians and lay participants as well as couples and individuals of all orientations.

How To Book

Please proceed to online booking by clicking below and choose the accommodation according to your taste and budget.

All-inclusive rates listed include*
– Seven-night stay and program tuition.
– Three daily buffet-style meals (gourmet ovo-lacto vegetarian and vegan cuisine, plus local fish being served three times during your stay).
– Access to the Blue Spirit amenities and Wifi access.
*Taxes included

CANCELLATION POLICY FOR ROOM BOOKINGS
– For a cancellation made 60 days prior to your arrival, you will receive a refund less a 3.5% Processing Fee and $200 Penalty Fee.
– No refund or credit will be offered for cancellations made within 60 days of the start of the program, no-shows or early departures.
– For any incidentals or unforeseen circumstances we strongly suggest Traveler’s Insurance.

CANCELLATION POLICY FOR HOUSE RENTALS
Please note, Blue Spirit is renting these housing options to be offered specifically for this retreat. Therefore we are unable to process any refunds or credit due to cancellations. Please note that any payments are final. For ease of convenience, we strongly suggest renting a golf car, ATV, or a car.

IMPORTANT
If you are staying for consecutive it is important that you notify us to avoid switching rooms. Please use the “Special Requests” box during checkout.

Esther's Bio

Psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author Esther Perel is recognized as one of today’s most insightful and original voices on modern relationships. Fluent in nine languages, she helms a therapy practice in New York City and serves as an organizational consultant for Fortune 500 companies around the world. Her celebrated TED Talks have garnered more than 40 million views and her bestselling books, Mating in Captivity and The State of Affairs, are global phenomena translated into nearly 30 languages. Esther is also the host of the hit podcast Where Should We Begin? which is available on Apple Podcasts. Her latest project is Where Should We Begin – A Game of Stories with Esther Perel. Learn more at EstherPerel.com or by following @EstherPerelOfficial on Instagram.

Paul's Bio

Paul Browde, MD is a storyteller, couples’ therapist, wilderness guide, and a queer IFS-informed psychiatrist. He has been in practice for more than thirty years.
As co-founder of Narativ, a storytelling company, and a faculty member in Columbia
University’s Narrative Medicine program, he has designed and led multiple year storytelling
projects in the US, Europe, and Africa.
He is the mental health advisor for Added Health in the UK, co-founder with Ronni Kahn of The Art of Purposeful Leadership in Australia, and a guest guide for the School of Lost Borders.
Paul is co-author and performer of Two Men Talking, an internationally acclaimed storytelling performance, which played on stages around the world, including on the West End of London and Off Broadway in New York.

Benjamin's Bio

Benjamin Fry, MA, MBACP is the Founder of Khiron Clinics, one of the world’s leading residential and outpatient trauma clinics, and Televagal, a groundbreaking mental health technology platform. He is an accredited psychotherapist, author and entrepreneur. He is the author of four books, including The Invisible Lion, a plain-English guide to understanding the nervous system and trauma.
Benjamin has had a rich and varied career, combining his interests in psychology, the media
and business. In his twenties he went to film school and made a feature length film which
was distributed by HBO and Paramount, then founded and ran popular nightclubs and
restaurants, before starting a family, training as a psychotherapist and writing his first book
which led to presenting a television series for the BBC, as the expert psychotherapist in
Spendaholics.
After confronting his own mental health challenges and finding help in the USA, he returned
to the UK and combined his business experience and clinical training to set up Khiron Clinics
in 2011, one of the only residential trauma treatment centres in the world, which continues to
offer cutting edge trauma treatment to patients suffering from a variety of mental health
issues. In 2018 he founded Televagal, which has developed a polyvagal-informed sensor for
helping therapists to track the nervous system in real time during client sessions.
Benjamin is a practising couples therapist, using trauma and nervous-system informed
therapies to help his clients optimise and heal their relationships.

Leslie and Jeff's Bio

Afro Flow Yoga® is a unique fusion of yoga, dance, and rhythms of the African Diaspora, co-founded by Leslie Salmon Jones and Jeff W. Jones.

Leslie Salmon Jones is a professional dancer, holistic personal trainer, wellness coach, and yoga instructor. Inspired by her training at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and over 20 years of experience, Leslie blends yoga with the spiritual and cultural elements of African dance. Her mission is to empower individuals from diverse backgrounds to achieve physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Leslie offers classes and workshops in Boston and New York and has been featured in Yoga Journal and Black Enterprise. She has also co-produced wellness DVDs: Core Strength and Core Power.

Jeff W. Jones is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and musical director. He creates a healing musical journey using African-inspired rhythms and instruments such as the djembe and congas. With over 20 years of experience as a musician, Jeff has performed worldwide and collaborated with Leslie to bring music and movement together. He also co-produced the wellness DVDs alongside Leslie.

Sample Schedule

7:00-9:00 a.m. Breakfast
9:00-10:30 a.m. Morning Program
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Workshop
12:00-1:30 p.m. Lunch
Free Time
*** possible optional offerings in the afternoon TBD
6:00-7:30 p.m. Dinner
8:00-10:00 p.m. Evening Program

More Information

To explore the entire Wisdom & Wellbeing Calendar please click on the following page.

DETOX CLEANSE PROGRAM
While you’re here, add the Blue Spirit Detox Cleanse Program to your week (additional charge). For further information please visit the following page.

GETTING HERE & TRANSPORT
We are remote, yet easily accessible. The closest airport is Liberia International Airport (LIR). Learn more about the area where we are located here.
For all services, you will need to make advanced reservations.

TRAVEL INSURANCE
We highly recommend that you purchase travel insurance, which insures you against unforeseen sickness, injury, job loss, inclement weather, and more.

TRAVEL UPDATES
We suggest you learn more in the following Official Statement about the Medical Travel Insurance and requirements the country may impose.