SF State student Elisabeth Harris, 23, gets her satisfaction from helping others satisfy their lovers.

Her eyes widen when she speaks of Beyond Education, the organization she works for that focuses on helping people become more sexually aware.

“Every moment can be pleasurable. Beyond Education teaches couples and singles how to illuminate this feeling so they’re aware of how to keep these moments pleasurable,” Harris said.

Harris, a junior communication studies major, has been working for the nonprofit organization, located in Portrero Hill, for about a year. Her interest in sexual healing is predicated on her parents being involved in self-transformational work and sexual healing when she was a child. Beyond Education teaches a “Pleasure Course,” a three-day seminar that primarily focuses on sensuality, male-female dynamics, along with communication and spirituality, she said.

“Everyone has associations with everything in life, both bad and good,” Harris said. “When [an] issue comes up, there is already preconceptions. So rather than just feeling pleasure in that moment, people let their preconceived associations about things take over. Beyond Education tries to teach individuals how to try to stay in that moment and get all they can out of it.”

Cydney Sulak, 26, has taken the Pleasure Course with her partner. She said that the course truly made a difference in the way she and her partner communicated emotionally and sexually.

“Sex is something that is extremely hard to communicate about. You don’t want to offend anyone. It is an intimate subject that needs to be broached upon gently,” Sulak said. “The Pleasure Course allowed us to learn how to communicate about sex and brought us more in touch with our orgasms. There were even demonstrations on how to touch each other more sensually.”

Harris said that because sex is an incredible, juicy subject that is so taboo in our culture, it makes it
hard to even talk about the subject in a rational, serious way.

“So many people go to therapists with many of their everyday life issues,” Harris said. “Beyond Education is a place where people can really infuse their spiritual life and their sex life.”

Harris said that the couple who runs the organization, Erwan Davon and Alicia Bayer, are truly transformational. She added that they have taken the breakthroughs they have seen in their relationship and used them to help others find a place of divine happiness and intimacy.

Patty Nuevo, 51, a therapist from Petaluma who focuses on sex, said she has heard about the Pleasure Course through clients.

“We are such a go, go, go culture. Pleasure, unfortunately, isn’t a top priority for Americans. But it should be,” Nuevo said. “I think it’s a good idea for people to work out the kinks in their sex lives because a lot of problems in their real lives stem from being unsatisfied sexually. It’s a snowball effect. Once it starts, it all comes tumbling down.”

Everyone should get involved with self-transformational work, Harris said, because it really allows one to open up parts of yourself that shut down after they experience pain. She added that it’s a natural course of action.

“The beautiful thing about sex and sensuality is that it is so progressive and requires so much knowledge, that you can never stop learning,” Harris said. “It’s a never-ending journey where we are our own leaders.”

Information on the Pleasure Course and Beyond Education can be found on the official web site.