PleasureFWRD
A Chicago studio for embodied human connection.
Consent-centered coaching, educational experiences, private rituals, and curated gatherings for adults exploring relationships, communication, desire, midlife, and pleasure.
Private sessions in Chicago and online. Community experiences throughout Chicago
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Select Your Experience
Women
Women
Couples & Singles
Couples & Singles
Not Sure Where To Start?
The PleasureFWRD Way-
Understanding yourself through lived experience—not just information.
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Creating intentional ways of relating rooted in curiosity, communication, and care.
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Gathering people around meaningful conversations, shared experiences, and authentic belonging.
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Expanding our capacity for joy, aliveness, creativity, intimacy, and connection.
The Experience
Pleasure isn’t something you have to earn.
It is something you can learn to notice.
When was the last time you experienced pleasure without feeling as though everything else needed to be finished first?
For many women, pleasure becomes something reserved for vacations, special occasions, or the rare moment when every responsibility has been handled.
Work comes first.
Family comes first.
Everyone else’s needs come first.
Somewhere along the way, many women stop asking one simple question:
What brings me alive?
The Pleasure Practice™ is an experiential workshop that invites you to explore pleasure not as indulgence, reward, or escape—but as a meaningful part of everyday life.
Rather than focusing only on sexuality, this experience explores pleasure in its many forms:
The warmth of the sun on your skin.
A conversation that makes you feel seen.
Food you slow down enough to taste.
Music that moves you.
Creative expression.
Rest.
Laughter.
Beauty.
Movement.
Intimacy.
Wonder.
And yes, sexuality—when that feels relevant to you.
Through evidence-informed education, somatic awareness, sensory exploration, reflection, movement, and community conversation, you’ll begin noticing the people, places, sensations, environments, and experiences that bring more enjoyment and aliveness into your life.
Because pleasure doesn’t only exist in extraordinary moments.
It is often waiting inside ordinary ones.
You’ll Experience
🌿 Redefining Pleasure
Explore the meanings and messages you have inherited about pleasure.
You may reflect on:
What you were taught pleasure meant
Whether pleasure was associated with guilt, selfishness, danger, or excess
Who you learned was allowed to experience pleasure
Whether pleasure became something you had to deserve
How your relationship with pleasure has changed over time
What pleasure means to you now
This experience does not prescribe one definition of pleasure.
You are invited to discover your own.
🧭 Your PleasureFWRD Blueprint™
Begin identifying the experiences and qualities that help you feel most connected to yourself and your life.
Your Blueprint may explore emotional, relational, sensory, creative, physical, intellectual, spiritual, and erotic pleasure.
You choose which areas feel relevant and what you want to keep private.
🌸 Sensory Exploration
Move through gentle, self-directed invitations involving sight, sound, scent, taste, texture, movement, and imagination.
The goal is not to force enjoyment.
It is to notice your authentic responses:
More.
Less.
Yes.
No.
Maybe.
Not today.
I’m curious.
I’ve had enough.
Pleasure includes the freedom to recognize what does not feel pleasurable to you.
✨ Recognizing Pleasure Barriers
Explore the habits, beliefs, and circumstances that may make pleasure difficult to notice or prioritize.
These may include:
Guilt
Busyness
Perfectionism
Caregiving
Disconnection from the body
Fear of being judged
Waiting until everything is finished
Believing pleasure must be productive
Focusing on what you should enjoy instead of what you actually enjoy
You will not be asked to force positivity or override difficult emotions.
🗂️ Create Your Pleasure Portfolio™
Build a personal collection of the moments, environments, relationships, sensations, activities, and rituals that bring you alive.
Your Pleasure Portfolio™ may include:
Five-minute everyday pleasures
Sensory pleasures
Restful pleasures
Creative pleasures
Relational pleasures
Experiences of beauty and wonder
Movement and play
Intimacy and eroticism, if personally relevant
Pleasures that cost nothing
Pleasures you want to rediscover
🌱 Design Your Daily Pleasure Practice
Choose one small, realistic way to notice or invite pleasure into everyday life.
Your practice is not another task to perform perfectly.
It is an experiment in paying attention.
🌙 Reflection & Integration
Close with journaling and optional community conversation.
You are always in control of what you share.
You’ll Carry Forward
A broader, more personal understanding of pleasure
Greater awareness of ordinary moments that bring you alive
Insight into beliefs or habits that may limit pleasure
Your PleasureFWRD Blueprint™
Your personalized Pleasure Portfolio™
A simple daily pleasure practice
Greater permission to experience enjoyment without having to earn it
Perfect For
Women who feel disconnected from joy, overwhelmed by responsibilities, curious about living more intentionally, or ready to reconnect with pleasure beyond vacations and special occasions.
No previous experience is necessary.
Good to Know
Designed For
Women and femme-aligned adults, ages 18+
Experience Level
Open to all. No previous somatic or sexuality workshop experience is required.
What to Bring
Journal
Water bottle
Curiosity
A willingness to notice without forcing a particular response
Sexual Content
Pleasure and sexuality may be discussed as one possible dimension of human experience, but sexuality is not the sole focus of this workshop.
There is no nudity, sexual activity, genital contact, breast contact, or erotic facilitator touch.
Touch
Sensory activities are clothed, optional, and self-directed. Mayra does not provide massage, tissue manipulation, or intimate or erotic touch.
This experience does not require participant-to-participant physical touch.
A Note About Emotional Safety
Mayra facilitates through a trauma-informed lens and can hold grounded, compassionate space for emotions that may arise.
Pleasure practices are never used to dismiss grief, stress, anger, pain, or other difficult experiences. You will not be pressured to feel good, share personal information, discuss sexuality, or continue an activity that does not feel supportive.
The Pleasure Practice provides education, somatic awareness, sensory exploration, reflection, and personal ritual design. It is not psychotherapy, trauma treatment, medical care, sexual therapy, or crisis support.
Pleasure is not a destination.
It is a relationship with what makes you feel alive.
Upcoming Productions This Season
The Experience
Many of us have learned how to give.
We care for others.
We solve problems.
We anticipate needs.
We work hard.
We remain available.
We know how to offer love, support, attention, appreciation, and care.
But when someone offers something to us—a compliment, help, affection, generosity, rest, or support—we may pull away.
Minimize it.
Apologize.
Immediately give something back.
Question what the other person expects.
Or insist:
“I’m fine.”
The Art of Receiving℠ is a 120-minutes experiential workshop exploring what happens when care, attention, support, appreciation, or generosity moves toward you.
Unlike Letting It Be Good™, which focuses on savoring pleasant moments, The Art of Receiving℠ focuses on the interpersonal experience of allowing something to come from another person without immediately deflecting, earning, repaying, or abandoning your boundaries.
Receiving is not passive.
It involves awareness.
Discernment.
Consent.
Choice.
And the ability to recognize what you genuinely want to welcome.
Because receiving does not mean accepting everything offered to you.
It means becoming more intentional about what you allow yourself to receive.
You’ll Explore
🌿 Understanding Your Receiving Patterns
Explore the beliefs, experiences, family roles, and cultural messages that may influence how you receive.
You may reflect on:
Whether being needed feels safer than needing others
What you learned about accepting help
Whether generosity creates feelings of obligation
How you respond to compliments or appreciation
Whether rest must be earned
What happens when attention is directed toward you
Whether receiving feels vulnerable, selfish, unsafe, or unfamiliar
How quickly you begin planning what to give back
These responses are not treated as failures.
They may reflect important experiences, values, boundaries, or learned ways of protecting yourself.
🧭 Receiving With Discernment
Receiving does not require you to say yes to everything.
You’ll explore the difference between:
Receiving and complying
Receiving and owing
Generosity and manipulation
Appreciation and evaluation
Support and control
Care and unwanted access
Openness and self-abandonment
Mutuality and immediate repayment
You are allowed to receive.
You are also allowed to decline, ask questions, request something different, or change your mind.
🌸 Receiving in the Body
Through gentle somatic awareness, notice how your body responds when receiving attention, kindness, encouragement, support, or appreciation.
You may notice:
Warmth
Tension
Ease
Discomfort
An urge to move away
An urge to minimize
A desire for more
A clear no
Uncertainty
A need for additional time
Body awareness offers information, but no single sensation determines what you should accept. You’ll be encouraged to consider sensation alongside context, consent, trust, values, and conscious choice.
💬 Receiving Appreciation
Practice receiving a simple, specific expression of appreciation without immediately dismissing it or returning a compliment.
You may respond with:
“Thank you.”
“I’m taking that in.”
“I appreciate hearing that.”
“I need a moment to receive that.”
“I’m not available to receive feedback about my appearance.”
“I’d rather receive appreciation about something else.”
You remain in control of what kind of appreciation feels welcome.
🤲 Receiving Support Without Immediate Repayment
Explore what it feels like to accept a small act of support without instantly balancing the exchange.
You may practice:
Allowing someone to assist with a simple task
Naming what kind of support would actually feel helpful
Receiving without apologizing
Saying “that’s enough”
Declining support that does not meet your needs
Allowing mutuality to exist over time rather than in every moment
No participant is required to give or receive anything personal, valuable, or physically intimate.
❤️ Receiving & Relationships
Reflect on the balance between giving and receiving in your relationships.
You may consider:
Where giving feels generous and authentic
Where giving has become automatic or expected
Where you struggle to ask for support
Whether others have room to contribute to you
What makes receiving feel relationally safe enough
What boundaries protect receiving from becoming obligation
✍️ Create Your Receiving Map™
Develop a personal reflection tool identifying:
What you enjoy receiving
What feels difficult or vulnerable to receive
What you do when attention moves toward you
Conditions that help receiving feel consensual and supportive
Forms of receiving you do not want
Language for accepting, modifying, or declining an offer
People and relationships where you want to practice greater mutuality
🌱 Design Your Receiving Practice
Choose one small, realistic practice for everyday life.
Your practice may involve:
Receiving a compliment with “thank you”
Allowing someone to help
Asking clearly for a specific form of support
Accepting rest without apologizing
Pausing before automatically giving back
Naming when an offer does not feel supportive
Allowing yourself to receive enough—and then stop
You May Leave With
Greater awareness of your relationship with receiving
More understanding of the difference between receiving and obligation
Language for accepting, modifying, or declining what is offered
Practices for receiving appreciation and support
Greater permission to allow mutuality in your relationships
Your personalized Receiving Map™
A daily receiving practice grounded in consent and choice
Good to Know
Length
120 Minutes
Designed For
Women and femme-aligned adults, ages 18+
Experience Level
Open to all. No previous somatic or relationship workshop experience is necessary.
What to Bring
Journal
Water bottle
Curiosity
A willingness to practice receiving without forcing yourself
Partner Exercises
Optional partner exercises may include listening, offering verbal appreciation, making a simple request, or practicing how to accept, modify, and decline an offer.
You may participate with a partner, observe, practice independently, or decline.
Touch, Affection & Sexual Activity
This experience does not require physical affection or participant-to-participant touch.
Mayra does not provide massage, tissue manipulation, intimate or erotic touch, genital or breast contact, or hands-on bodywork.
There is no nudity or sexual activity. Any discussion of affection, pleasure, or intimacy remains educational and reflective.
A Note About Emotional Safety
Mayra facilitates through a trauma-informed lens and can hold grounded, compassionate space for emotions that may arise.
Receiving attention or support can bring up vulnerability, grief, suspicion, discomfort, or memories of past obligation. You will never be pressured to receive from another participant, trust someone, share personal history, accept touch, or override a protective response.
Every practice may be modified, observed, paused, or declined.
The Art of Receiving provides relationship education, somatic awareness, communication practice, reflection, and experiential learning. It is not psychotherapy, trauma treatment, medical care, sexual services, or crisis support.
Receiving does not mean accepting everything.
It means remembering that you are allowed to choose what comes closer.
The Experience
Confidence isn’t something you put on.
It is something you practice inhabiting.
And sensuality isn’t about performing for someone else.
It is about experiencing and expressing yourself more fully.
Cultivating Confidence & Sensuality™ is a three-hour collaborative experience by PleasureFWRD and Jo, weaving somatic exploration, sensual movement, identity, body connection, and authentic expression.
Mayra Chaidez guides the trauma-informed container, somatic awareness, consent practices, confidence exploration, and integration.
Jo guides the sensual movement journey, inviting you to explore posture, gesture, pace, musicality, softness, power, play, and presence through your own body.
Together, they create a space where women can explore sensuality without performing desirability.
No choreography to perfect.
No body type to achieve.
No requirement to look sexy.
This is an invitation to discover what sensuality feels like when it belongs to you.
Your Guides
🌿 Mayra Chaidez | PleasureFWRD
Mayra is a Somatica®-trained Somatic Intimacy and Relationship Coach, Certified Sexologist, and trauma-informed facilitator.
She will guide the opening circle, somatic awareness, consent and boundaries, confidence and sensuality exploration, emotional support, embodied confidence ritual, and integration.
Mayra creates a compassionate container where you can listen to your body, remain connected to choice, and participate at your own pace.
💃 Jo | Pole Dance and sensual movement instructor
Jo, also known as Savage Nymph, guides women in exploring sensuality through movement, music, presence, and authentic expression.
She will lead an accessible sensual movement class that invites you to experiment with posture, gesture, hips, chest, arms, stillness, softness, power, and play—without pressure to perform or move in a particular way.
Together, Mayra and Jo weave somatic awareness and sensual movement into one intentional journey of confidence, self-expression, and embodied presence.
The Journey
⭕ 15 Minutes | Women’s Opening Circle with Mayra
We’ll begin by gathering in circle and arriving together.
Mayra will welcome you into the space, introduce shared agreements around consent, choice, confidentiality, and witnessing, and guide a gentle body check-in.
You’ll be invited to consider:
How do I want to feel in my body today?
What would help me remain connected to myself?
What do I want permission to explore?
Sharing is always optional. You may speak, listen, or simply be present.
🌿 30 Minutes | Confidence & Sensuality Exploration with Mayra
Explore sensuality as something broader than sexuality or being desired by another person.
Sensuality may be the way you experience music.
Texture.
Movement.
Color.
Beauty.
Stillness.
Taking up space.
Following curiosity.
You’ll reflect on the messages you may have inherited about beauty, aging, confidence, femininity, movement, and who is “allowed” to feel sensual.
Together, we’ll explore the difference between performing desirability and experiencing yourself.
You’ll choose a personal intention to carry into the movement journey.
💃 45 Minutes | Sensual Movement Journey with Jo
Jo will guide an accessible sensual movement class designed to help you explore your body through music, curiosity, and authentic expression.
The journey may include:
Gentle movement and mobility warm-up
Breath and body awareness
Posture and physical presence
Hips, chest, arms, hands, and full-body expression
Pace, gesture, stillness, and musicality
Exploring softness, power, play, and fluidity
An optional guided movement sequence
Free-form embodied expression
Time to discover what feels natural and authentic to you
There is no choreography to perform perfectly.
You may follow Jo’s movement, adapt it, make it smaller, remain seated, pause, or choose your own expression.
No dance experience is necessary.
💧 10 Minutes | Pause, Water & Reset
Take time to rest, drink water, journal, use the restroom, or reconnect privately with your body.
You are not expected to socialize or process the experience during the break.
✨ 20 Minutes | Embodied Confidence Ritual with Mayra & Jo
Return for an exploration of presence without performance.
You may be invited to experiment with how you enter a room, take up space, move with intention, or allow yourself to be witnessed without changing your expression for approval.
Optional witnessing exercises may take place individually, in pairs, or as a group.
Witnessing is not evaluation.
No one will critique your body, movement, appearance, or sensuality.
You may participate, observe, modify, or decline.
🌙 15 Minutes | Closing Circle with Mayra
Close with grounding, reflection, and integration.
You may be invited to notice:
What felt authentic?
What surprised you?
Where did you feel most connected to yourself?
What do you want to carry forward?
What does confidence or sensuality mean to you now?
Sharing is always optional.
☕ 45 Minutes | Community Connection
Stay for unhurried conversation and connection with the women sharing the experience.
You may socialize, meet someone new, take individually consented photos, continue journaling, or simply enjoy being in community.
You May Leave With
A more personal definition of confidence and sensuality
Greater awareness of the difference between expression and performance
Sensual movement practices you can explore at home
More curiosity about how your body wants to move
Greater permission to take up space on your own terms
A personal confidence and sensuality intention
The experience of being witnessed without being evaluated
Meaningful connection with other women
Good to Know
Length
3 Hours
Designed For
Women and femme-aligned adults, ages 18+
Experience Level
Open to all. No dance, somatic, or sensual movement experience is necessary.
Dress Code
Wear something that helps you feel comfortable, expressive, beautiful, powerful, soft, playful, or authentically yourself.
Choose clothing that allows you to move safely and freely.
There is no expectation to dress up, wear revealing clothing, heels, lingerie, or anything outside your comfort.
What to Bring
Water bottle
Journal
Comfortable layers
Curiosity
Optional expressive garment or accessory
Nudity, Sexual Activity & Touch
This experience celebrates confidence and sensuality through self-connection and movement.
There is no nudity, sexual activity, genital or breast contact, intimate or erotic facilitator touch, or required participant-to-participant physical touch.
Neither Mayra nor Jo provides massage, tissue manipulation, or hands-on bodywork.
Any witnessing or partner exercise is optional, nonsexual, and clearly explained beforehand.
Photography
Photography may only occur during a clearly designated portion of the experience.
No participant will be photographed without separate, affirmative consent. Choosing not to be photographed will never affect your ability to participate.
A Note About Emotional & Physical Safety
Mayra facilitates through a trauma-informed lens and can hold grounded, compassionate space for emotions that may arise.
Body image, visibility, sensuality, movement, and being witnessed can bring up complex or mixed feelings. You will never be pressured to perform, dance in front of the group, wear revealing clothing, receive touch, look in a mirror, be photographed, or participate in an exercise that does not feel supportive.
Every movement and practice may be adapted, observed, paused, or declined.
If you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or injury, prone to dizziness or fainting, or living with a cardiovascular, neurological, musculoskeletal, or other condition that may be affected by movement, consult a qualified healthcare professional before participating.
Cultivating Confidence & Sensuality provides somatic education, sensual movement instruction, reflection, community, and experiential learning. It is not psychotherapy, trauma treatment, medical care, physical therapy, dance therapy, sexual services, or crisis support.
You do not need to become more desirable.
You are invited to become more fully expressed.
A collaboration between PleasureFWRD and Jo, aka Savage Nymph.
An After Dark by PleasureFWRD evening
An immersive evening of playful exploration, curiosity, flirtation, movement, and connection — where adults are invited to reconnect with wonder, spontaneity, and embodied pleasure.
Step into a candlelit studio and remember what it feels like to play: to flirt with curiosity, to move your body without apology, to let an evening unfold without a script.
The Pleasure Playground is part social, part sensual discovery — guided connection games, embodied play, music that moves through you, and room to simply be among other adults who take pleasure seriously.
Come solo or bring your person. Bring your own bottle. Leave with your nervous system humming.
The Experience
Play is one of the most powerful pathways to connection. This is an evening of discovery through interactive experiences, guided activities, and moments of unexpected delight.
There is no right way to explore. Only an invitation to stay curious.
Inside the Evening
Interactive Exploration Stations
Games & Playful Challenges
Sensory Experiences
Connection Activities
Guided Erotic Curiosity
Laughter, Discovery & Play
Reflection & Integration
You'll Leave With
A more playful relationship with pleasure
New experiences to inspire future exploration
Greater confidence following curiosity
Memorable moments shared through intentional play
Good to Know
Length — 3 hours (8:00–11:00 PM)
Designed For — Individuals & Couples
Experience Level — Open to All
Dress Code — Wear something playful, expressive, and comfortable.
The Details
Friday, December 18 · 8:00–11:00 PM
PleasureFWRD Studio, Chicago
$65 single · $125 couples · BYOB
20 spots · 18+
Consent is the container here: everything is an invitation, nothing is an obligation. This is a consent-forward space.
Pleasure doesn't always begin with intensity. Sometimes it begins with play.
This Is PleasureFWRD
Pleasure is not a destination. It's a relationship. With your body. Your partner. Your community. Your desires. Your boundaries. Your creativity. Your life. We don't believe there is one right way to love. One right way to relate. Or one right way to live. We believe in becoming more intentional. More curious. More embodied. And creating relationships that reflects your authenticity.
A Studio for the Curious
Founded by Mayra Chaidez, a Somatica®-trained sex and relationship coach and Certified Sexologist through the American Board of Sexology. Mayra provides coaching, education and facilitated experiential practices—not psychotherapy, medical care or hands-on bodywork.
Whether you're arriving alone... With a partner... Or with a community... There is a place for you here. Some people come to reconnect with desire. Others to repair a relationship. To meet thoughtful people. To celebrate. To grieve. To grow. Or simply to become a little more themselves. Whatever brings you here... We hope you leave feeling more connected than when you arrived.