Desire and intimacy
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Conscious or unconscious, there often shows up a magnetic force that pulls us out of inertia into movement, growth and change. ​​We often feel most alive in the chemistry of true connection, when several parts of us are 'lit' up to let our defences down to be seen, to see each other and ourselves clearly.
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Deepening in intimacy is akin to getting closer to living your true self, is the ability to be absolutely present with what is.
The way there is a fair bit of work though, you might call it individuation, shadow work, shedding, alignment, integration. What ever the label, it is a process of commitment and the rewards are unquantifiable (for everything else, there's Mastercard).
Madhurya Balan,
Founder of Desire Lab
Pleasure activist, contentment creator, artist, designer, educator, facilitator, agile renegade
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Certified Somatic Intimacy Coach from the Institute for Relational Harmony Studies (IRHS), under the ACSB accreditation.​​
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I am as much researcher as practitioner as artist, this has been a core motivation to run the initiative Desire Lab, an exploratory, experimental and expressive space of inquiries around intimacy.​
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To breathe deeply, move freely,
feel fully, listen truthfully,
choose wisely and express genuinely
Insights
​From my work in this field, I have come to understand that more than the ends of the spectrum being defined as pain and pleasure, it comes down to disconnection and connection.
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Disconnect from your body, from your emotions, from your felt sense of self, from your kin and chosen pack, from your truth, from productivity that is defined by creativity and connection rather than performance and validation, from the expressions that arise from being yourself, disconnect from nature, land, birth, growth and death, the seasons and cycles within us and in the cosmos.
'Trauma' is that disconnect. Identifying the disconnection can feel painful at first. Reconnection can feel new and unknown as it is an allowance that we need to give ourselves, slowly or swiftly, but surely for sure.
