Beyond Hold Me Tight:
Sex, Intimacy, Desire and Connection:
Your Whole Relationship
A Workshop for Couples
April 2-4, 2027
Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort
San Luis Obispo, CA
Starts Friday at 12 noon and ends Sunday by 2 PM*
*Exact times to be confirmed
Unplug and rediscover each other at the Sex, Intimacy, Desire and Connection Workshop at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort (see the bottom of this page and also here for more information about this beautiful location). This workshop in this setting is designed to deepen your bond and enhance your relationship through emotional and sexual connection. Led by experienced therapists and relationship experts, Drs. Lisa Blum and Silvina Irwin, this workshop offers a safe and supportive environment to explore intimacy, communication, and desire. We welcome couples of all genders and all types of relationship.
Indulge in tranquil surroundings, your own private mineral bath, and gourmet dining as you and your partner engage in private discussions, exercises, and activities aimed at strengthening your sexual connection.
Whether you are looking to reignite the spark or simply enhance your already-thriving relationship, this workshop is the perfect opportunity to prioritize your love life.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), the model that informs this workshop, helps you learn and practice how to nurture a deeper and more secure emotional connection with your partner. This workshop takes you further, helping you to enhance your sexual connection, and cultivate intimacy, safety, healing, playfulness, and joy. If you have not yet had exposure to EFT, we have resources for you to access prior to the start of this workshop to help you learn the foundational concepts.
About This Workshop
This workshop will help you and your partner explore your sexual relationship, open deeper dialogue, and find greater understanding to create a pathway for enhancing intimacy and connection through physical touch and sexuality.
In our many years providing couples therapy to help heal relationships, we have witnessed how hard it is to talk honestly and openly about challenges in your sexual relationship. For some couples, it’s a matter of not being able to talk about it at all. For other couples, conversations about sex are filled with anxiety, shame, embarrassment, and fear of hurting your partner, so it's hard to find resolution or feel more connected. We designed this workshop to help couples find greater ease in having these conversations -- even to experience playfulness and fun in these conversations -- because it’s hard to repair and enhance something that you cannot talk about.
We also know that even when some couples are able to have good conversations about sex, they can still struggle to find a way back to touching and physical intimacy when that has been "offline" for a while. This workshop offers couples safe, secure, and playful ways to experiment with different kinds of touch so that you can restart, rediscover, and enhance your physical intimacy.
This weekend will provide a safe space to explore emotional and physical blocks in your sexual relationship, learn about your own and your partner’s sexuality and desires, help you make it safe enough to talk about these difficult things, and discover together how you both want to construct a fulfilling, meaningful, rewarding, pleasurable sexual relationship -- in whatever form that takes for you.
What kinds of exercises will I be doing with my partner?
We will explore multiple ways of connecting and communicating in your sensual and sexual connection. The workshop will include exercises in a variety of forms -- talking, breathing, safe touch, non-verbal attunement, writing, imagery -- that will allow you to privately and safely open up communication, connection, and playfulness between you. (Please be assured that all exercises respect privacy and take into account the group setting.)
Is this workshop sex therapy?
This workshop is not sex therapy in the traditional sense – that is, we will not diagnose or focus on treatment for specific sexual difficulties, such as erectile dysfunction, vaginal pain, premature ejaculation, or porn addiction. We will not put any kind of label at all on the struggles you may be experiencing. Whatever kinds of struggles you and your partner are experiencing, we welcome you to the workshop. The workshop will offer you a pathway to talk about what is and is not working in your sexual relationship for each of you, and to make a plan together for how you both want to address these difficulties, and heal them.
Your facilitators for this workshop, Drs. Lisa Blum and Silvina Irwin, are experienced couples therapists with advanced training and certifications in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT), and are not certified sex therapists. Their expertise is in helping couples integrate sexuality and physical intimacy, desire and connection into a healthy, safe, attuned, loving, and whole relationship.
What is the general schedule?
The workshop begins on Friday at 12:00 noon with a buffet lunch and ends on Sunday around 2:00 pm.* Each day there are breaks for snacks, lunch, and exercises that you and your partner will do separately. There is space to step outside on the beautiful grounds or on your private patio to do some of these exercises in private. However, the workshop does have a fairly full schedule throughout the weekend, so you may wish to consider whether you and your partner are able to add an extra day either before or after the workshop to enjoy the beautiful and tranquil resort fully.
*Note: times are approximate, and will be confirmed about 2 weeks prior to the workshop. At that time, you will receive an email providing you with important details such as the exact schedule, parking info, how to prepare, weather and dress, etc.
Friday. 1:00 - 6:00 pm; Lunch 12:00 -1:00; Dinner 7:30-9:00 (Lunch and dinner included)
Saturday. 9:00 - 6:00 pm (Breakfast, lunch, and snacks included; Dinner on your own)
Sunday. 9:00 - 1:30 pm (Breakfast and snacks included)
Meals & refreshments
Several plentiful farm-to-table meals are included in your registration fee: Friday lunch and dinner, Saturday breakfast and lunch, and breakfast Sunday morning. Light refreshments and beverages will be provided during workshop hours. Dinner on Saturday is for you to arrange and enjoy at the resort or at any of the many lovely restaurants San Luis Obispo and Avila Beach has to offer. We strongly recommend making reservations in advance: Yelp, Trip Advisor, Google, etc. are good sources for restaurant recommendations.
What does my registration fee include?
Registration includes the workshop fee for two, all materials, expert guided assistance during the workshop from therapists and facilitators, your private room with king bed and private mineral bath at the resort, and access to resort amenities and yoga classes. All meals are included, with the exception of dinner on Saturday evening which is unscheduled so that you can have a relaxing evening to yourselves.
Registration Fees for this workshop:
Very Early Bird (through Dec 15, 2026) Registration per couple is $2980.00
Early Bird (through Feb 1, 2027) Registration per couple is $3065.00
Regular (though March 1, 2027) Registration per couple is $3125.00
Space is limited. We recommend that you book your retreat as soon as possible to secure your spot.
How do I register?
Registration is a one-step process. Register by clicking the registration button below. When you register for the workshop, you will automatically be assigned a room with a King bed and private mineral springs bath at the resort. The room type will be either the “Sycamore King” or the “Hillside King”.
What if I need to cancel my workshop enrollment?
CANCELLATION POLICY
Life happens, and the best laid plans sometimes are not possible to follow through on. Please read this cancellation policy carefully.
If you cancel more than 60 days from the workshop start date, you will receive a refund of your full registration fee minus a $35.00 administrative fee.
If you cancel within 60 days of the workshop start, you will receive a 50% refund of your registration fee*. If you are able to find another couple to take your place, then you may transfer your registration to that couple. Please contact us right away if you need to cancel your registration.
*This policy is the most generous that we can offer as we invest significantly in your experience at the workshop with your private lodging, lovely meeting space, plentiful food and beverages, workshop supplies, and a team of trained therapists to support you if needed. We aim to give you the most valuable workshop experience with the most support, and your cancellation means loss of our financial investment without chance of recuperation of that investment.
Should you choose to cancel your workshop with us, we cannot be responsible for any ancillary costs incurred - including but not limited to airline tickets, rental cars, additional accommodations, etc. Exceptions will not be made for cancellations due to illness, travel-related delays, or life circumstances. We are aware that there are uncontrollable elements in life, and we strongly recommend Travel Protection Insurance with a registered agent to cover any travel-related risks.
I am a mental health professional. Can I get Continuing Education Credits for attending this workshop?
Mental health professionals who wish to experience the workshop for themselves with a partner are welcome to join us and can earn continuing education credit. 14 CE’s are available. Full list of Learning Objectives coming soon.
Our partner organization, the EFT Center of Los Angeles, is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The EFT Center of Los Angeles maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
If you are licensed outside of California: Because each state’s licensing regulations differ and are subject to change, it is the license holder’s responsibility to determine if your licensing board accepts APA approval for continuing education activities.
Sycamore Springs Resort and Spa
A Setting Made for Connection
Some conversations deserve more than a conference room.
This retreat takes place at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort & Spa, a secluded sanctuary nestled into the hills of California’s Central Coast, just moments from Avila Beach and San Luis Obispo.
We chose this setting intentionally. Exploring your sexual relationship can be tender, vulnerable work. It asks you to slow down, turn toward one another, and make room for conversations that may be difficult to have in the midst of everyday life. At Sycamore, the surroundings invite you to do exactly that.
Between workshop sessions, step outside into gardens and tree-lined paths. Take a walk together beneath the oaks. Follow a trail toward the Pacific. Soak in the warmth of the natural mineral springs in your own private hot tub. Sit quietly together and let what you have discovered during the day settle before you begin again.
Here, the retreat continues beyond the workshop room. There is time to talk. Time to touch. Time to laugh. Time to rest. And perhaps, simply, time to remember what it feels like to enjoy being together.
Sycamore’s lush gardens, wooded hillsides, natural mineral springs, and proximity to the ocean create a sense of being removed from ordinary life. It is a place that invites you to soften your pace and become more present—to yourself and to each other.
Come for a workshop designed to help you understand and deepen your sexual connection. Stay for the experience of knowing each other in a whole new way.
I have more questions…
If you have any additional questions or needs, please visit our FAQ page. If you do not find the answer to your questions there, please do not hesitate to contact us at (323) 633-6138 or info@drlisablum.com.