Do you struggle with sexuality because of your experience with religion? In this workshop, we will begin the healing process, addressing harmful religious teachings and practices. Formerly a minister, I help people heal from traumatic religion. Years of sexual repression from religious indoctrination often result in performance anxiety, sexual dysfunction, self-hatred, sexual abuse, shame, addiction, LGBTQ suicides, and broken relationships. Religion formed the narrative about sexual morality in American culture, so people who did not grow up with religion often find they are also deeply impacted by the sex-negative views we’ve inherited. Religious treatment of sex may be the most common type of sexual abuse in our world. Many of us were taught that our basic sexual impulses are sinful, even punishable by hell. This is a rejection of our basic humanity. Even today, our culture is only beginning to heal from the persecution of homosexuals by religious legislation. Rejection of sexuality can also impact us in areas of life not directly related to sex, stifling our creativity and ability to relate to ourselves and other people. By addressing our experience of religious teachings and practices around sexuality, we can begin the process of reclaiming sexuality from religion.
About Andrew Jasko: Before I transitioned out of religion, I was a Pentecostal Christian minister preparing to become a missionary to India. I studied Bible at the Evangelical Christian Wheaton College and obtained my Master of Divinity from Princeton Seminary. Religion was my life’s passion, but I suffered greatly from anxiety, depression, and guilt about my sexuality. I began to realize that the Bible’s teachings were the cause of my psychological distress. After a slow, painful process of awakening and denial, I quit my ministry job, left religion, and moved to California to start my life over. I began to study religion from the perspective of trauma and started working with people healing from religious trauma by coaching and facilitating workshops. In my healing journey, I awakened to a new experience of spirituality through secular humanism, meditation, entheogens, and sexuality. My dream is to help people heal from religion and dogmatic ideologies by experiencing spirituality grounded in real life and rationality. I am studying for my doctorate in clinical psychology at California Institute for Integral Studies. My writings about exposing the trauma of religion and awakening spirituality can be found at http://www.lifeafterdogma.org/. Contact me: questions, podcast interviews, articles, speaking engagements, retreats, and coaching andrewjjasko@gmail.com
Format: Seminar, Workshop, Q&A: I will share my story and address how religious teachings and practices result in sexual trauma. We will work on coming to terms with our own personal experiences and share our reflections on healing and integration as a group. Opportunities will be given for sharing and discussion, but no one will be asked or pressured to share.
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reclaiming-sexuality-from-religion-tickets-47578289946
OR donation: No one will be turned away for lack of funds! Please come! If you are paying via donation, please fill out this application link: https://goo.gl/z3Vj36 for an RSVP.
