The Somatic Lab
by PleasureFWRD
A women- and femme-centered space to come home to your body.
The Somatic Lab creates intimate group experiences in Chicago where nervous-system awareness, gentle movement, rest, relationships, connection, and pleasure become lived practices—not another wellness task to complete.
Chicago • Up to 12 Guests Per Group Session • Ages 18+
A SOFTER PLACE TO LAND
The Somatic Lab is a small, intentional space for people who want to explore greater ease, softness, and presence in their bodies.
Through guided somatic practices, gentle movement, reflection, meaningful conversation, and community, each experience offers a different doorway into embodiment.
Some evenings invite you to rest.
Others help you understand your nervous system, relationships, boundaries, desire, or capacity to receive.
Nothing is forced. You are always invited to listen to your body, participate at your own pace, and choose what feels supportive.
Season at a Glance
Tap a date to see what’s on
Our Collective Experiential Learning Series
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.
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
Understand your patterns.
Listen to your body.
Respond with greater curiosity and choice.
Your nervous system influences far more than moments of stress.
It can shape how you respond to conflict.
How you experience closeness.
How you communicate boundaries.
How you rest.
How you connect.
And how you respond when something feels overwhelming.
Many of us have spent years criticizing ourselves for being “too sensitive,” “too emotional,” “too much,” or not able to simply calm down.
But many of the reactions we judge are protective responses our bodies have learned over time.
Befriending Your Nervous System™ is an educational and experiential introduction to understanding these patterns with curiosity instead of criticism.
Rather than trying to fix or control every response, you’ll learn to recognize signals of activation, settling, connection, and shutdown—and explore practices that may help you respond with greater awareness, flexibility, and self-compassion.
Because your body is not working against you.
It is communicating with you.
You’ll Explore
🧠 Understanding Your Inner Landscape
Learn the foundations of the autonomic nervous system and explore how stress responses may influence thoughts, emotions, behaviors, attention, and relationships.
We’ll discuss commonly described protective patterns such as fight, flight, freeze, fawn, and shutdown without using them as diagnoses or fixed identities.
🌿 Recognizing Your Patterns
Explore your personal signs of activation, overwhelm, disconnection, settling, and connection through guided reflection and somatic awareness.
You may begin noticing:
Changes in breathing or heart rate
Muscle tension or restlessness
Feeling energized, alert, numb, or disconnected
Urges to argue, leave, please, hide, or shut down
Changes in your ability to communicate or make decisions
Sensations associated with comfort, connection, or ease
The goal is not to label every experience.
It is to become more familiar with your own signals.
🌬️ Practicing Supportive Responses
Explore simple breath awareness, grounding, movement, orientation, sensory practices, and body awareness.
Rather than promising to regulate your nervous system on command, these practices offer opportunities to notice what helps you feel more present, supported, and able to make choices.
Every person responds differently. You’ll be encouraged to identify what feels useful to you and leave behind what does not.
✍️ Create Your Personal Nervous-System Support Map™
Identify your individual signs of activation, settling, overwhelm, and connection.
Your map may include:
Early signals that you are becoming activated
Environments and sensory experiences that feel supportive
Movements or grounding practices you may want to try
People you can contact for connection
Boundaries that support your capacity
Signs that you may need rest or professional care
Your map is not a clinical assessment or treatment plan.
It is a personal awareness tool you can continue developing over time.
You’ll Carry Forward
A foundational understanding of the autonomic nervous system
Greater awareness of your stress and protective patterns
More compassionate language for understanding your responses
Grounding and body-awareness practices to explore
Your personalized Nervous-System Support Map™
Greater curiosity about what helps you feel present, connected, and supported
Good to Know
Length
120 Minutes
Designed For
Women and femme-aligned adults, ages 18+
Experience Level
Open to all. No previous knowledge of somatic practices or the nervous system is necessary.
Dress Code
Wear comfortable clothing that allows for gentle movement and optional floor-based practices.
What to Bring
Journal
Water bottle
Curiosity
Anything that helps you sit or rest comfortably
Touch
Mayra does not provide massage, tissue manipulation, or intimate or erotic touch. This experience does not require participant-to-participant touch.
A Note About Emotional & Physical Safety
Mayra facilitates through a trauma-informed lens and can hold grounded, compassionate space for emotions that may arise.
You will never be asked to intentionally relive a traumatic experience or disclose personal history. Every reflection and practice is invitational and may be modified, paused, or declined.
You are always welcome to keep your eyes open, change positions, step outside, rest, or stop participating without explanation.
Befriending Your Nervous System provides general education, guided somatic awareness, reflection, and wellness practices. It is not psychotherapy, trauma treatment, medical or mental-health diagnosis, individualized clinical treatment, or crisis support.
If you are experiencing severe, persistent, or worsening physical or psychological symptoms, seek support from an appropriately licensed healthcare or mental-health professional.
Your responses are not personal failures.
They are signals you can learn to meet with greater understanding.
The Experience
Sound Bath & Somatic Rest Ritual Night™ is a 120-minute collaborative experience by PleasureFWRD and Higher Self Harmonics, thoughtfully facilitated by Mayra Chaidez and Patrice.
Mayra guides the somatic grounding, gentle movement, rest, and integration practices, while Patrice of Higher Self Harmonics creates the live sound journey that carries you into deeper listening and receiving.
Together, they create a low-stimulation, rest-forward evening for women who are tired of being told they need to do more to feel better.
We’ll slow down, soften, and explore the restorative possibilities of intentional rest through gentle breath awareness, grounding, somatic movement, live sound, reflection, and community.
This is your invitation to pause.
To breathe.
To receive.
To connect.
And to notice what becomes available when nothing is being asked of 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 grounding, breath awareness, gentle movement, rest, and integration—creating a compassionate space where you can listen to your body and participate at your own pace.
🎵 Patrice | Higher Self Harmonics
Patrice of Higher Self Harmonics will create the live sound journey, weaving an immersive landscape of sound, vibration, and stillness designed to invite deep listening, rest, and personal reflection.
Together, Mayra and Patrice weave somatic awareness, live sound, ritual, and community into one intentional journey of rest, presence, connection, and receiving.
The Journey
⭕ 15 Minutes | Women’s Opening Circle
We’ll begin by gathering in circle and arriving together.
Mayra will welcome you into the space, introduce the intention for the evening, and guide a gentle check-in to help you notice what you’re carrying and what you may need.
Sharing is always optional. You are welcome to speak, listen, or simply be present.
The opening circle creates a shared container of choice, respect, and community before we begin the journey.
🌿🎵 60 Minutes | Somatic Rest & Live Sound Journey with Mayra and Patrice
Mayra will guide you through gentle breath awareness, grounding, soft somatic movement, and floor-based rest while Patrice creates an immersive live sound landscape around the room.
You’ll be invited to notice areas of tension and ease, explore movement within your own comfortable range, and gradually settle into rest as the sound journey unfolds.
You may lie down, remain seated, change positions, use ear protection, step outside, or stop participating whenever needed. There is no expected response and no right way to receive the experience.
Mayra will remain present throughout the journey to hold grounded, trauma-informed space, while Patrice carries the room through sound, vibration, and stillness.
🌙 15 Minutes | Closing Circle & Integration
After the sound journey, we’ll return slowly.
Mayra will guide a gentle integration practice with space for reflection, optional journaling, and an invitation to notice what you would like to carry forward.
We’ll close in circle with an opportunity to share a word, sensation, reflection, or simply listen.
There is never pressure to disclose anything personal.
☕ 30 Minutes | Community Connection
After the guided experience, you’re invited to stay for tea, conversation, and unhurried connection with the women sharing the space.
You may socialize, meet someone new, reflect together, continue journaling, or simply enjoy being in community without having to perform.
Because sometimes rest is something we receive alone.
And sometimes it deepens when we experience it together.
You May Leave With
A greater appreciation for intentional rest
Increased awareness of what helps you feel settled and supported
An opportunity to notice changes in physical or emotional tension
Gentle practices for creating moments of rest in everyday life
A renewed sense of presence and connection with yourself
The warmth of slowing down and connecting with other women in community
Good to Know
Length
120 Minutes
15-minute Women’s Opening Circle
60-minute Somatic Rest & Live Sound Journey
15-minute Closing Circle and Integration
30-minute Community Connection
Designed For
Women and femme-aligned adults, ages 18+
Experience Level
Open to all. No previous experience with sound baths, meditation, or somatic practices is necessary.
Dress Code
Wear soft, comfortable clothing and bring anything that helps you rest with greater ease.
Recommended to Bring
Blanket
Water bottle
Journal
Eye covering, if desired
Earplugs or hearing protection if you are sensitive to sound
Touch
Neither Mayra nor Patrice provides massage, tissue manipulation, or intimate or erotic touch. This experience does not require participant-to-participant touch.
A Note About Emotional, Sensory & Physical Safety
Mayra facilitates through a trauma-informed lens and can hold grounded, compassionate space for emotions that may arise. Every practice is invitational and may be modified, paused, or declined.
Sound and vibration can feel different for every person. If you have sound sensitivity, tinnitus, migraines, a seizure condition, are pregnant, use an implanted medical device, or have another condition that may be affected by sustained sound or vibration, consult a qualified healthcare professional before participating and contact PleasureFWRD with any accommodation questions.
Sound Bath & Somatic Rest Ritual Night™ provides a collaborative wellness, sound, rest, reflection, and community experience. It is not psychotherapy, trauma treatment, medical care, sound therapy, physical therapy, or crisis support.
Rest isn’t something you have to earn.
It’s something you’re allowed to receive.
A collaboration between PleasureFWRD and Higher Self Harmonics.
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, 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.
Your Questions, Answered
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The Somatic Lab is a women- and femme-centered series of intimate group experiences by PleasureFWRD in Chicago.
Through nervous-system education, gentle movement, breathwork, shaking, reflection, rest, and meaningful conversation, the Lab offers practical ways to deepen body awareness and explore how embodiment shapes your boundaries, desire, relationships, and connection with yourself.
Each experience welcomes up to 12 guests, allowing the space to remain personal, grounded, and supportive. No previous experience, fitness level, or flexibility is required. Every practice is an invitation, and you are always encouraged to participate at your body’s pace.
The Somatic Lab can be a complete practice on its own or a gentle doorway into more personalized support through PleasureFWRD.
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The Somatic Lab is a women- and femme-centered space welcoming women, trans women, and femme-identified, femme-presenting, nonbinary, and gender-expansive adults who feel aligned with the intention of the space. All guests must be 18 or older.
You may feel at home here if:
You feel exhausted but still wired, even when you want to rest.
Your body feels tense, disconnected, numb, or frequently on alert.
You want accessible somatic practices without confusing jargon or performative wellness.
You’re curious about how stress, activation and felt safety may influence your boundaries, desire, relationships and connection with yourself.
You want thoughtful community without pressure to share or perform.
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Each experience is different, but may include:
Grounding and nervous-system education
Guided breathwork and body awareness
Gentle somatic movement, stretching, or shaking
Rest, meditation, and sensory practices
Reflection and journaling
Meaningful conversation and community connection
No previous experience, fitness level, or flexibility is required. There is no pressure to perform, share personal information, or participate in every practice. Everything is offered as an invitation, and you are encouraged to listen to your body, make adjustments, and move at your own pace.
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No. The Somatic Lab provides education, guided somatic practices, gentle movement, reflection and community experiences. It does not provide psychotherapy, trauma treatment, medical diagnosis, medical treatment, physical therapy, pelvic-floor therapy, massage therapy or crisis services.
The experiences may complement—but do not replace—care from licensed healthcare or mental-health professionals.
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Mayra does not provide massage, tissue manipulation or intimate or erotic touch during Somatic Lab experiences.
Some events may include optional self-directed sensory practices, partner mirroring or clearly described non-intimate connection exercises. Any participant-to-participant touch is discussed beforehand and requires mutual, affirmative consent.
You may modify or decline any invitation at any time without explanation.
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You are welcome exactly as you are, including whatever emotions may arise.
Mayra facilitates through a trauma-informed, choice-centered lens and offers grounded support when emotions arise. This experience does not include trauma processing or treatment.
You will never be pressured to share, explain or move through an emotion before you are ready. The Somatic Lab is not psychotherapy or trauma treatment, but it is a space where your emotions can be met with care, dignity and respect. When something requires deeper clinical support, Mayra may encourage you to continue exploring it with a licensed mental-health professional.
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Each Somatic Lab experience uses different combinations of breath, movement, sound, sensory elements and periods of rest. Please review the individual event description before registering and participate according to your own abilities and comfort.
If you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or injury, prone to fainting or seizures, or living with a cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological or other condition that could be affected by breathwork or movement, consult a qualified healthcare professional before participating.
You are responsible for honoring your physical limits and may modify, pause or decline any practice.
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No. The Somatic Lab may explore pleasure, sensuality, desire, intimacy, and embodied self-expression through education, reflection, movement, sensory awareness, and self-directed practices. These experiences do not involve sexual activity, required nudity, genital contact, breast contact, penetration, masturbation assistance, or facilitator participation in erotic touch.
When an experience includes sensual themes, its individual description will explain exactly what participants can expect. Every practice is optional and may be modified, observed, or declined.
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Most Somatic Lab experiences are facilitated by Mayra Chaidez, a Somatica®-trained Somatic Intimacy and Relationship Coach, Certified Sexologist, and trauma-informed facilitator.
Select experiences are collaborations with trusted practitioners, such as Patrice of Higher Self Harmonics for live sound journeys and Jo, also known as Savage Nynph, for sensual movement. Each event description identifies the facilitators and clearly explains their individual roles.
Collaborating practitioners remain within their respective training and scope. No collaborator provides psychotherapy, medical treatment, massage, or intimate or erotic touch as part of a Somatic Lab experience.
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Participants are asked to respect the privacy of the group and not share another guest’s personal disclosures outside the experience. While PleasureFWRD establishes and communicates this community agreement, confidentiality between participants cannot be legally guaranteed.
Photography or recording is never permitted during vulnerable practices, personal sharing, or emotional expression. If optional photographs are offered before or after an event, clear consent will be requested, and declining will not affect your participation.
Ready to go deeper?
The Somatic Lab can be a complete practice on its own or a gentle doorway into more personalized support.
If something opens during an experience and you feel ready to explore it privately, PleasureFWRD offers:
• Private somatic intimacy and relationship coaching for women
• Couples intimacy and relationship coaching
• The Midlife Collection for perimenopause, menopause, and what comes next
• Private rituals and bespoke experiences
What People Are Saying
“After one Somatic Lab evening, my whole system felt different—like someone turned the volume down on my anxiety and turned the volume up on my body. The movements were so gentle but somehow went deep. I left feeling softer, grounded, and actually rested… without having to ‘perform’ anything.”
— L., 34, Chicago
“I’ve done years of talk therapy, but my first somatic intimacy session with Mayra showed me things my mind could never touch. We went slowly, tracked my body, and by the end I felt a sense of safety and warmth in my chest that I honestly didn’t know was possible. It’s changing how I set boundaries and how I show up in my relationships.”
— M., 39, Chicago
“Working with Mayra felt like a deep homecoming to my body. I came in feeling numb and disconnected, especially from my desire, and through gentle somatic practices she helped me reconnect with sensations I didn’t even know I was missing. I feel softer, safer, and more present in my body now—like I finally have a body that can say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ with clarity instead of chaos.”
— K., 31, Chicago
*Individual experiences vary. Testimonials reflect each participant’s personal experience and are not promises of therapeutic, psychological or medical outcomes.