Thanks For The Body Electric Suggestion--Can We Talk More?

Hello, again.

I read your response to me on professorfatology several days ago.  You provided me with much to think about.  I am very touched and grateful to you for your words.  I never expected the depth of support and commentary that you provided.  You are a very generous person.  I thank you for your thoughts, direction and basic common sense.  I appreciate your straigtforwardness.

You are right.  I have to stop past behavior if I really desire change, of celebrating who I really am and want to be.  I have did review The Body Electric.  WOW!  I had no idea such an experience/workshop is available.  I'm in Ann Arbor so Chicago is not far away at all.  I will be attending that at their next offer.  I have also given me permission to put on a few pounds too and that's kinda neat.

But, all in all, I would very much appreciate some direct conversation with you if you are open and available to that.  Certainly, for pay!  I would want to explore at greater depth how to find my gayness and be happy.  When you are able, please respond as you see fit with this request.

Thanks a heap, professor.
An emerging gay guy,
P


******

Oh, sweetie--I am so not in this for the money, lol.


Here's the exchange I offer--again, for legal and ethical purposes, anything I offer on this site is from the position of education--not therapy.  What I offer may be "therapeutic" but not therapy.


I am relatively far away from where you are.  When I was teaching at the medical school and working in the clinic, I would always have a co-therapist I was supervising, so if I were out of town and a client was in crisis, I knew he or she would be taken care of by the co-therapist.  I don't do long distant sessions because I can't always be available.


Why don't I suggest this, since you are not being identified by your name--why don't you use this as a forum where you can ask me whatever you want and I'll try to respond based on my experience.  This also allows others who read this blog an opportunity to both gain a better understanding of what sort of similar challenges other guys face, so they don't feel "alone" in the world.  The observations and suggestions I offer you may be helpful for them as well.

If that's acceptable to you, then feel free to share.  This format will permit you to really think about your responses.  And just as a comment to general readers--often in actual therapy sessions I would tend to avoid telling some things "directly"--a lot of time it's more powerful and useful for people to gain their own insight, rather than simply being told, "This is the way things are."  In blogs like this one, I'm much more likely to treat things like a lecture for a psychology class.  This will allow me to reveal some of the "mechanics" of how folks process information, and make sense of things.  I like to do this because I think it helps someone to become as independent as possible, and not expect a therapist to be someone who "fixes" a client, the way a surgeon might do something with a scapel that a patient can't do for himself.  A lot of psychological "stuff" is precisely what someone can do for himself, and as time goes on, he or she can even share some of those approaches and techniques with others.   Just be sure you don't use the actual names of people you discuss, to protect their privacy.

So--feel free to write.  I'm delighted the Body Electric workshops are an option for you.  It's really sad American culture rarely provides the support and training humans actually need regarding their sensuality and sexuality.  It's as if you were never given an "owner's manual" of how to use your body most effectively.  A quick example--your nipples are made of the same type of erectile tissue as your penis.  This is why nipples can "get hard" under stimulation.  A number of guys find nipple play to be highly erotic--you can actually conceptualize them as two additional (although small) penises.  There are some individuals who don't have nipples that are very sensitive, but it may be possible a more "intense" stimulation may trigger an erotic response--for example a partner's chin stubble rubbed against your nipples might be what you need.  This is another reason why I feel the Body Electric workshops are exactly what a lot of guys should experience.


Best,


Professor F