Held over a weekend in a secluded setting, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, the Body Electric workshop I attended was overseen by a group of professional, willing and genuinely respectful men. In an environment of safety and honour, I learnt how to feel comfortable with myself and the company of other men.  I know that this might all sound cheesy and like a disguise to get it off in a gang-bang.... but let me tell you that my personal experience was anything but that.

There are many kinds of schools in the world, but few that teach you about sex, or specifically how to feel more alive in your erotic body.

Body Electric is a school, based in California that has offered weekend workshops to thousands of men and women throughout the U.S. and Canada, called "Celebrating the Body Electric."

The workshops are aimed at teaching people about erotic energy as a life force that can be healing, spiritual, energizing and transformative. The school's director, Collin Brown, is a graduate of Harvard University.

He is a state-certified massage instructor, a member if the Association of Humanistic Psychology, and has had training in Postural Integration, Jin Shin Do and Amma. His work integrates breath, touch and transpersonal psychology.

Brown sat down with Cleveland writer Larry DeRolf to answer some questions about the school, its work and how erotic education can make a difference in the lives of gay people.

I first encountered the “Body Electric” movement through its founder Joseph Kramer. At the time I was about to come out publicly as gay, and lose my career as a religious educator. I was at a turning point – and at a bit of a loss. I knew that I needed not simply a new career, but a whole new experience of life and energy, a new way to heal and play, a new vision of the rich layers of human living that had been denied me by my church and my culture. Experience had taught me that therapeutic talk – however helpful – would never engage my body, and that most recreational sex- however plentiful- would not inspire my soul. Where to turn?

“There is more to sex than most men have been led to believe.” That’s the opinion of Collin Brown, director of the Body Electric School in Oakland, California.

Brown believes that men need more information about their erotic bodies and how to use them in ways that are safe and satisfying. The workshop, he says, “teaches men how to wake themselves up erotically and in the process to access emotions, heal old wounds and experience new levels of erotic ecstasy.” This is accomplished through various touch exercises and breathing techniques, which leads to a full-body massage. “By breathing and spreading energy with touch,” he says, “you can learn how to generate greater erotic charge in your body.”