TheAlchemy of Touch
and Relationship Integrity
There comes a point on the path of growth where inner work is no longer enough.
You may have:
- Meditated for years
- Studied psychology or spirituality
- Done personal healing work
- Explored communication tools
- Reflected deeply on your patterns
And yet…
Relational life still exposes places where clarity wavers:
- Subtle boundary confusion
- Mixed signals around desire and obligation
- Difficulty staying present during touch
- Power dynamics that feel hard to name
- Longing for connection that doesn’t compromise integrity
In a time when abuses of power and distortions around sexuality are being exposed everywhere, relational maturity is no longer optional.
It is foundational.
The Alchemy of Touch and Relationship Integrity is a structured, carefully held program designed to cultivate embodied clarity, sovereignty, and trustworthy connection — from the ground up.
Why Touch?
Of the five senses, touch is the most fundamental.
It is the first sense to develop.
It is experienced throughout the body.
It shapes our nervous system’s understanding of safety, belonging, and
connection.
When touch is unconscious, unclear, or disconnected from communication, relationships become confusing or destabilizing.
When touch is conscious, structured, and integrated with awareness, it becomes:
- Regulating
- Nourishing
- Clarifying
- Empowering
This program works at that foundational level.
What This Program Cultivates
1. Embodied Consent and Sovereignty
Drawing on principles inspired by the Wheel of Consent® (as developed by Dr. Betty Martin), you will refine your ability to:
- Know what you want — and what you do not want
- Feel the difference between giving, receiving, allowing, and taking
- Communicate clearly and cleanly
- Recognize subtle power dynamics
- Stay connected to yourself while engaging with another
These skills apply to all relationships — intimate, familial, professional, and communal.
They are foundational for cultural healing.
2. Reclaiming the Intelligence of Touch
Modern culture oscillates between touch deprivation and sexualization of touch.
We explore a third path:
Conscious, structured, non-sexual touch that:
- Awakens sensation safely
- Reduces numbness
- Increases nervous system regulation
- Strengthens presence in the body
- Builds trust in relational space
All exercises are fully clothed and carefully guided.
Pleasure may arise — but it is not pursued or performed.
It is experienced as a natural byproduct of integration.
3. Integrating Life Force Energy with Integrity
Life force energy includes vitality, eros, creative drive, and generative power.
In many spiritual traditions, this energy has been either suppressed or romanticized.
In this program, we take a grounded approach.
You will learn to:
- Feel and circulate your life force energy
- Stay embodied when energy intensifies
- Differentiate between projection and authentic desire
- Integrate vitality with heart and clarity
For those who are sexually active, this integration naturally strengthens intimacy.
For those who are not, it strengthens vitality, creativity, and presence.
The goal is not performance.
The goal is integrity.
This program is for individuals who:
- Value personal responsibility
- Are willing to examine their patterns honestly
- Desire relational clarity over fantasy
- Are ready to integrate power with heart
- Care about contributing to a healthier relational culture
It is especially supportive for those who sense that deep cultural healing begins with embodied integrity.
Cultural Context
We are living through a period of profound exposure.
Distortions around authority, sexuality, and power are surfacing across religious, political, and spiritual communities.
Outrage alone will not heal this.
Embodied re-education will.
Relational integrity must be learned and practiced in the body — not just understood intellectually.
This program is part of that re-education.
Structure of the Program
This pilot will unfold over three months and includes:
- In-person workshops
- Online integration sessions (Zoom)
- Structured partner exercises
- Guided embodiment practices
- Reflection and integration assignments
Some portions of the work will take place in mixed-gender groups.
At times, participants may begin in single-sex breakout groups to allow greater safety and self-awareness before integrating.
Container and Expectations
This is not a dating environment.
This is not a sexual exploration group.
All exercises are fully clothed and clearly structured.
Participants are expected to:
- Take responsibility for their own emotions and arousal
- Communicate honestly
- Respect boundaries
- Engage with maturity and self-awareness
Because the integrity of the container matters, participation requires:
- A written application
- A personal interview
This ensures alignment, readiness, and mutual clarity.
Who This Is For
This program is for individuals who:
- Value personal responsibility
- Are willing to examine their patterns honestly
- Desire relational clarity over fantasy
- Are ready to integrate power with heart
- Care about contributing to a healthier relational culture
It is especially supportive for those who sense that deep cultural healing begins with embodied integrity.
About Susanna McCan
Susanna McCan is the founder of Riding the Tiger for Women™ and a lifelong student of consciousness, embodiment, and archetypal development.
A Harvard graduate in cultural anthropology and Jungian psychology, she spent over twenty years as a professional meditation teacher in the Vedic tradition. She also trained intensively for more than a decade in Qi Gong, including women’s vitality practices focused on life force cultivation.
Her work integrates Eastern energy systems, Western psychological insight, and practical relational skill-building to cultivate grounded, embodied power.
She has trained with the School of Consent and incorporates principles inspired by the Wheel of Consent® into her work (she is not a certified facilitator).
Susanna lives in Fairfield, Iowa, within a culturally creative, spiritually engaged community.
What clients have said about working with Susanna
“I am a retired relationship counselor
and sex therapist, so I was surprised at how much I learned from Susanna’s
workshop. I am also a long-time
meditator. The most powerful thing for
me about the workshop was that it gave me a direct experience of the connection
between my spirituality and my female body and some tools to continue
cultivating that connection. The
workshop was one of the most profound experiences of my life.”
—D.W., Florida
I have been practicing what I learned in Susanna's workshop for three years now. Doing the practice daily has been a tremendous benefit to my spiritual life as well as to my physical health and emotional well-being. In general I feel more grounded and integrated. Cravings and regressive attachments have fallen away spontaneously. I feel more at peace with my own sexuality and more compassionate in general about this area of human life that can bring both great suffering and great joy.
I think it is exactly this kind of work that is at the edge of human development and that will perhaps be most instrumental in activating the final step in the complete liberation of the human spirit. As such, it will also be a great blessing to our beloved planet, all its inhabitants and indeed to the whole universe. —S.L., Iowa
Application and Registration
If this work resonates, the next step is to complete an application.
After reviewing your application, we will schedule a brief interview conversation to ensure mutual fit.
This is careful work.
The integrity of the container matters.
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