Twenty-five years ago, sexual revolutionary Joseph Kramer had a vision of what would become Body Electric, now based in San Diego.

He christened his creation with the title of a poem by Walt Whitman (who surely would have attended Body Electric’s workshops with gusto had they been available).

The first stanza of “I Sing the Body Electric” reads:

“The armies of those I love engirth me, and I engirth them;

They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,

And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the Soul.”

Whitman eloquently sums up what many feel are three of Body Electric’s many components: community, connection and change. People sometimes think or hear Body Electric is just about massage. Not so. The work is about providing people the space to experience their potential as fully integrated, loving and self-aware beings through touch, conscious breath, deep connections and honoring the wisdom of the body. The work is about using erotic energy to generate pleasure, healing and transformative insight. Plus, Body Electric offers, in abundance, the opportunity to just laugh and have fun with some of the most wonderful souls you’ll ever meet.

“Although the origins of Body Electric began as a response to the appearance of AIDS and the accompanying, crippling fear of intimacy it created among gay men, the work has evolved beautifully (while staying relevant to its original goal) to meet the challenges of today, where finding intimacy and connection can still be difficult,” said School Director Bob Findle, who runs Body Electric from San Diego.

Findle noted how many studies in psychology and counseling show people reporting never being so wired up and connected in the Internet and electronic-gadget world of today yet feeling so very lost and alone.

“We yearn to be part of something so much bigger than ourselves,” he said. “Our work is about helping people step back from the daily grind and reach a part of themselves that may have gotten lost. The workshops can also provide tools for making you a better lover through creating intentions and developing consciousness around erotic energy.”

The gateway to the school’s full range of offerings is Celebrating the Body Erotic, a weekend workshop that’s being offered this year in 18 different in the U.S., including San Diego and cities in Canada. After that, come classes in Tantra, anal touch and conscious BDSM. There are also summer intensives, such as The Dear Love Comrades, Erotic temple and Into the Valley of Delight, offered at retreat centers on the East and West coasts. The school also offers programs for women.

“Part of what draws me to Body Electric is how it helps people heal their histories of what it’s been like growing up in a culture that makes it very challenging to feel good about being erotic, especially when it involves the same sexes,” said Michael Riley, Body Electric’s San Diego coordinator. “We allow men to feel love, including for themselves, and to do so in a community setting. That can feel revolutionary.”

During a short video on the school’s Web site, past participants admitted to coming to the workshops with fears and blocks around vulnerability and trust, and also finding it difficult to let go, to play or just to make some noise. But they also remark that the environment is one of remarkable safety and acceptance.

As one man who recently attended a workshop in Los Angeles said, “It was truly a mind-blowing, life-changing experience which continues to affect me deeply.”