Schedule
Workshop and Event Descriptions
Beyond Monogamy: Unveiling Stories of Non-Monogamy Across the Ages
Non-monogamy is not new. Join us for a brief foray into the recorded kinds of relationship dynamics practiced by people around the world, from ancient times to the modern day. Learn about the diverse paths taken to love, relationships, intimacy, and family by humanity across the ages.
Cafe and Chats
Join members of the Polywood staff for breakfast and casual chats. Get to know your fellow members of the Polywood community in this open and safe space. Coffee and pastries provided.
Caring for Children: A Caregivers' Chat
How do we care for children in a collaborative manner that honours their voices, teaches stewardship, and embodies empathetic, consent based thinking? This will be a gathering of caregivers so we can talk about what challenges we face when caring for children. This space will be about sharing lived experiences and suggestions kindly without judgment, understanding that most paths walked with children are not black and white at all. Anyone who is willing to work to uphold that space and who spends time with a child or children of any age is welcome.
Concert - Libby and Cal
Libby & Cal is an Ottawa-based folk duo consisting of Libby Hortop (autoharp and vocals) and Cal Tranner (12-string and vocals). Join them to hear the unique sound of 48 strings and the beautiful vocal harmonies of two. There is sensitivity and humour in their lyrics. Their sound is like no other, but also cozily familiar.
Their 2022 album, If You've Given Up on Love, Then Let's Call it Something Else, is a collection of songs about alternative love. In response to popular lyrics about self-sacrifice and unrealistic devotion, this album proposes something different: a step off the relationship escalator. There are many roads to Happy Ever After, and marriage is only one possibility.
Constellations of Care: Astrological Composite Charts for Polycules
Are you an astrology nerd? Ever wondered what your polycule looks like astrologically? Come hang out with me, Lukayo, for an hour as I demonstrate how to calculate relationship charts using midpoint composite methods (MAGICAL STAR MATH!). If you'd like help having your polycule's chart read, I'd need the consent of all members and info on at least everyone's birth date and birth location (extra points for birth time). We'll be using Astro.Com for calculations. If you need an Astrology 101 refresher, feel free to arrive early or stay later and I'll give you a quick run down.
Cuddle Party
Psykhe will be hosting an adults only cuddle party. This will be a consent mandatory, alcohol-free place to engage in PG-rated cuddles and puppy piles. Wear your pajamas (think comfy, not sexy), bring any pillows or stuffies you desire, and relax, chat, share a back rub or other welcome touch, cuddle, or just hang out. This will be an opportunity to enjoy amazing conversations, to touch, to be touched, to have fun, to practice asking for what you want, to practice saying “no” to what you don’t want — all in a setting structured to be a safe place for exploration and enjoyment.
Effective Communication for Successful Relationships
Communication is an essential part of our everyday interactions. It’s even more important to get it right with your closest relationships. In this workshop, we will explore different communication styles, techniques, and hacks so that you are equipped with the best possible communication approach for your relationships. You’ll learn about skills like active listening, how to validate your partner(s) and advocate for yourself (at the same time!!), and how to identify the ways you like to express and receive love and affection from your partner(s).
Embracing Anarchy: How Throwing Away the Rule-Book Can Lead to More Satisfying Relationships
Relationships, whether they are with family, friends, coworkers, partners or our own self, and whether they are romantic, sexual or platonic, are an important crucible in which we discover and shape our identities and a crucial part of a life well-lived and worth living. Because relationships are so important, we have created and maintain a variety of formal and informal systems, rules and guidelines for how to be in relationship with one another. While some rules are helpful (e.g. don’t lie, cheat or steal), others can seem more arbitrary, and may lead to more confusion, hurt and missed opportunities than they aim to prevent. Relationship Anarchy (RA) aims to do away with the various rulebooks and our mental models for relationships and instead focusing on small set of clear core values that can help enhance any relationship. In this facilitated discussion, we will explore RA's core concepts, share ideas, experiences, and tools to help strengthen our relationships.
Meet and Greet Potluck
A Polywood tradition! We kick off the weekend with an informal meet and greet where you will meet the Polywood organizers and staff and get to know your fellow attendees. And what better way to begin the sharing and community building than with a potluck! Feel free to bring a dish, snacks, or drinks to share.
Nonmonogamy and Neurodiversity: A Perfect Match
This talk aims to establish how pleasantly symmetrical non-monogamy and neurodiversity can be. It is first and foremost a confidence-building exercise, to validate and provide advice related to both strengths and struggles, and it will follow the general structure of "Nonmonogamy and Neurodiversity: A More Than Two Essentials Guide."
Subtopics, depending on group guidance and interests, may include:
- You Need Rules to Make Sense - You Thrive on Clear Communication - You Don't Flirt Like They Do - You're a Weird Find - You Value Your Independence
- Rejection-Sensitive Dysphoria - Alexithymia - New Rules, New Lines - Hell Is Other People - Conflicting Access Needs
Open Your Hearts to Intimacy
This workshop will explore ways of increasing intimacy in our lives. Participants will have the opportunity to practice different ways of communicating, through words, eye contact and touch (all with consent!) We will look at how we create safety for ourselves and for others, and how we make choices in our everyday lives. This workshop aims to provide a safe space to explore love and intimacy, to learn ways of speaking and sharing from the heart, and how to bring more love and connectedness into all of our relationships.
The nature of the workshop makes the arrival of latecomers rather disruptive, so please be on time as late entry may not be allowed.
Polyamory 101
What is polyamory? How does it work? How is it not just cheating? Is it the same thing as swinging or polygamy? What's a “Triad”? Don't you ever get jealous? How can you build solid, healthy relationships that work? Join us to explore answers to these questions and more in this introduction for those new to polyamory and those curious and want to deepen their understanding of this lifestyle. Our talk is here to provide you with the knowledge and tools you need to understand navigate this complex and rewarding way of life.
Poly ABCs (Agreements, Boundaries, and Contracts)
In polyamorous relationships, clear communication and mutual understanding are essential for maintaining healthy and fulfilling connections. That's why we're excited to offer our talk on agreements, boundaries, and contracts in polyamorous relationships. What are they and how can your relationships benefit from them?
In this panel, we will discuss different types of agreements and contracts as well things to consider when establishing boundaries. You'll learn how to create clear and concise agreements that outline the expectations and responsibilities of all parties, while also allowing for flexibility and growth within your relationships.Whether you're new to polyamory or have been practicing for years, this workshop will provide you with valuable insights and skills that you can apply in your own relationships.
Topics will include negotiation, check-ins, defining your terms, examples of contracts, and more.
PolyMIRs - Metamour Interactions and Relationships
Just as each of your relationships are unique, so are your relationships with your partners’ other partners, often called metamours. It can be important to consider how to navigate the potentially complex web of relationships with your metamours. How can you accommodate everyone’s needs, wants and expectations? Join us for a talk about how metamour relationships can develop and function and handy tips on evading troublesome roadblocks. We will cover methods of conflict resolution, baggage awareness, dealing with jealousy, tolerance vs acceptance, and more.
Reducing the Ouch - Understanding Microaggression in Polyamory
Are you dealing with the slow wearing down of not being recognized by society? Do people refer to your partner as “your friend”? Small things can have a big impact. A micro-aggression occurs when actions or language, possibly even well-meaning, contain an implicit, indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination. In this workshop we will look at micro-aggressions affecting polyamory; how certain terms and behaviours have biases in them; how they can come from within polyamorous relationships (e.g. couple privilege) and from without (e.g. "wow you must be tired from all the sex!"). The focus will be on recognizing a micro-aggression, healthy ways to respond, and how to own if you were the one that spoke it.
Relationship Escalator
“Is this relationship going anywhere?” If you’ve heard this cliché (or perhaps thought or said it yourself): welcome to the relationship escalator. The Relationship Escalator refers to the traditional path that many relationships follow, with a linear progression from dating to marriage, and a set of societal expectations and assumptions about what those milestones mean. But in today's world, more and more people are questioning these assumptions and choosing alternative relationship styles.
This talk will outline the “steps” on the Relationship Escalator and offer insights and increased awareness of how it’s assumptions and expectations can affect you while actively engaged in alternative relationship models, including non-monogamy, solo polyamory, and relationship anarchy.
Safety, Connection and Satisfaction, the "Wheel of Consent®️" for Polyamorous Folk
Come to an introductory workshop on how to incorporate the quadrants, dynamics and qualities of the “Wheel of Consent®'' into your Polyamourous relationships, so that you can experience even more relationship safety, connection and satisfaction. Join Somatic Sex Educator Sarah Anne on this 90 minute experiential practice. Dive into the four quadrants of the Wheel to unravel the nuances of giving, receiving, taking and allowing to further understand how they shape our interactions. Unlock balance and joy through authentic Giving and Receiving, experience the 3 Minute Game and enhance your applications of Boundaries, Limits and Domain which comprise the fundamental concepts necessary to bring enthusiastic consent to all for your romantic, loving, workplace and familial relationships.
Safer Sex Conversations
This workshop will cover the why's, when's and how's of having a safer sex conversation, including both the physical and emotional aspects. By the end of the workshop, participants will have a practical understanding of how to have a safer sex conversation that is informative, responsible, fun, and possibly even hot! No late entry.
This Body Dances
THIS BODY DANCES is an invitation. Together we will create the space to simply move together. In this body. Exactly as it is right now. Perfectly imperfect. Awesomely flawed. Exactly how it is and however you show up. Sitting, standing, or lying down - big movements or small ones - energetic or tired - different from day to day. This Body and all the multitudes it holds, simply wants to dance. You can’t get it wrong!
As polyamorous folks, we may put our bodies out there in ways other people may not ever get to consider. We are invited to listen to the sensations of our bodies. We can honour and learn from our bodies. We have the opportunity to listen to what our bodies have to teach us!
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