Based on the Wheel of Consent® | A foundational practice for relating
Embodied
Consent Practice
Saturday
10AM - 4PM
Sliding scale:
$25-$200 + GST (CAD)
Max 10
Feb 2, 9, 16, 23, Mar 2, 9, 16
Mondays
4-6 PM PST (7-9 PM EST)
Sliding scale:
$259-625 USD +tax
CAD & payment plan options
Min 8, Max 20
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
10AM - 6PM
Sliding scale:
$395-$855 + GST (CAD)
Max 12
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
10AM - 6PM
Sliding scale:
$395-$855 + GST (CAD)
Max 16
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
10AM - 6PM
Sliding scale:
$395-$855 + GST (CAD)
Max 16
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
10AM - 6PM
Sliding scale:
$395-$855 + GST (CAD)
Max 16
Looking for a customized offer? Don’t see your community listed?
We work collaboratively with communities, teams, and organizations to engage in this practice.
We co-create offerings that are “safe enough” for your learning and tailored to your specific needs.
Through experimentation in practices we deepen our skills in sensing and tending our own wants, needs, and boundaries and our ability to support others in honouring their inherent dignity.
What people say
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“This is an incredibly subtle and profound practice. We're deepening truly foundational skills. I experience so much resonance and complement to the work that I do. It has been immediately applicable in my practice” ~ Somatic Experiencing Therapist
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“It's truly transformational work and so necessary for the healing and growth we are in desperate need of." ~ Acupucturist
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“This practice has completely changed how I related to others. I'm more loving, kind, respectful of myself and others. Being more trusting of myself. Less co-dependent. Less potential for burnout. List goes on and on.” ~ Occupational Therapist & Somatic Experiencing Practitioner
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”This course is so relevant to me personally, as I navigate how to be a good friend and partner, as well as professionally in my work as a counsellor and facilitator. By becoming clearer about when I am asking people in my life to give to or receive from me, and listening to my own and others' limits, I am able to create relationships with more safety and integrity for everyone.” ~ Trina, Therapist
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"I know myself WAY more. I am trusting my impulses, my no's and yes's and I am able to voice them more clearly now. I am grateful for this modality. It is a gentle, deep, and foundational piece for creating healthy, safe, and intimate relationships with oneself and others." ~ Teacher
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“Wow. This is the safest container I have ever been in. I’ve never experienced this freedom and spaciousness. There's SO much value here, and I have experienced insights I will digest for a long time, and yet I never felt overwhelmed. Very powerful” ~ Somatic Therapist
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"Amazing. Do this course. It will change your life, as you practice the skills that grow your confidence to live in greater residency in your body, and to take up the space in the world that you want and need." ~ Kristina, Non-profit consultant
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This was the most well-facilitated workshop I've experienced. I learnt as much about facilitation and creating safety as I did from the practices themselves. ~ Therapist
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!["The workshop, the facilitator/Helena and the physical/energetic space created a safe enough space to explore what was happening within myself and then also in relation with others. The dyad practices were powerful in slowing down and noticing what]()
"The workshop, the facilitator/Helena and the physical/energetic space created a safe enough space to explore what was happening within myself and then also in relation with others. The dyad practices were powerful in slowing down and noticing what was happening in my body, and furthermore communicate to another (if needed) my needs/wants. I learnt to understand and respect my limits (and also those of others). The whole 3 days was a practice in strengthening the wiring within my brain and body to really value and TRUST the signals emerging from within. Getting to practice that "choosing is more important than doing" allowed me to remember the choice and agency I have. I can now better FEEL in my body what feels like my yes, no, maybe etc. I feel I have more agency now. I am honouring my rhythm more now. I understand now why I have repeatedly burnout in the work I do with others. It truly is sacred work that not only impacted me, but also has been rippling out into all my relationships. It is allowing me to access more joy, pleasure and open-hearted living with myself, others and mother earth. Words can't fully describe the power and wisdom that I accessed through this workshop :)" ~ Occupational Therapist & Somatic Experiencing Practitioner
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!["I am feeling deep respect and admiration for every single person that showed up. The willingness and courage to voice insecurities, vulnerabilities, and so much risk taking in allowing yourselves to be seen. The desire others have to learn about thi]()
"I am feeling deep respect and admiration for every single person that showed up. The willingness and courage to voice insecurities, vulnerabilities, and so much risk taking in allowing yourselves to be seen. The desire others have to learn about this practice and witnessing that learning unfold in realtime. Modelling taking care of oneself and each other, and asking for what you needed. Witnessing the extension of grace, care, patience and respect to one another and a willingness to make mistakes. The tapestry of my heart has been changed from feeling the efforts around inclusion, and for caring about folks that otherwise, oftentimes, get left behind. And so much gratitude to Helena and the assistants for making this happen! Something that you’re taking with you? I’m not able to articulate yet what I’m taking with me. I feel like I “should” be using words like desires, limits, domain, willing, allow etc. But the sentiments travelling through my body are more along the lines of “connected…. belonging…. healing….”
Embodied Consent (informed by Wheel of Consent®) is practice
of embodied awareness, attunement, and communication.
This practice is relational. We need each other to engage in it.
The root of the word consent is con- sentire. To feel with.
Feeling together is a practice of personal and relational integrity.
Within this practice, we meet what arises with presence, curiosity, and care.
We slow down and tend to our personal and mutual sense of safety and connection.
We include awareness of how power dynamics impact our relationship.
Engaging in this practice deepens our awareness and capacity to care for ourselves and tend what is occurring
in our relational dynamics.
This enables us to navigate our relationship with ourselves and others with more care, dignity, and integrity.
We access new levels of clarity and ease,
gratitude, joy, generosity, and confidence.
Download the adapted handout of The Wheel of Consent
What’s different in this handout (compared to the original)?
1. The text has been re-oriented and brackets have been added for accessibility. Thank you Angie Cibis!
2. The description of the practice, description of the quadrants, and the shadows have been updated to make it more complete and congruent with how Helena currently teach this practice.
What’s different in this simple handout?
1. Removed descriptor of the quadrants and the shadows of each quadrant.
What do we learn through this practice?
We gently unwind deep protective patterns of people-pleasing, fawning, manipulation, and control to attempt to get our needs met.
We deepen our understanding of how power dynamics, trauma, systemic oppression impact our capacity to access choice and respect for our boundaries.
We deepen our experience of fundamental dignity and self-trust.
We deepen our skills to notice what belongs to us (our body, our emotions, our wants, our limits, etc.) and what belongs to someone else.
We develop skills to notice, trust, value, and communicate our needs.
We learn to notice when we want something.
We learn to notice when we are willing to do something or having something happen.
We learn to notice when we do not want something, when we are not willing to do something or have something happen.
We learn to notice our subtle signals when we are not safe-enough to connect with our wants and limits.
We become more aware of our tendencies to “go along” with what is happening - noticing the circumstances and places where it is more difficult for us to say no, stop, pause, or negotiate.
We learn to communicate more clearly with requests, offers, or invitations.
We learn to savour the experience of receiving a gift, and of giving a gift with ease.
We learn how to support others to notice their wants, needs, and limits and be able to communicate with them.
What do you mean by trauma-responsive?
Engaging in this practice means engaging with the most fundamental aspects of caring for and respecting personal autonomy.
This means we will connect with moments where we haven’t been able to care for our autonomy or respect another’s.
The whole design of this practice is designed to support moving slowly, at a pace where we can notice, choose how to participate, and digest and metabolize what arises. We carefully tend to the learning environment, the exercises, and how the practices are offered and facilitated, to offer a presence of care and choice.
The opportunities to experiment are small and short and each experiment builds on each other.
The pace is slow, the setting is private and comfortable, there are many options for how to participate, and the group agreements and guidelines support the practice. The facilitator models the practice while holding the space, including welcoming feedback and repair as mistakes are made.
What “safe-enough” means varies from individual to individual, and not every environment works for every person. Experimenting in this practice is particularly delicate for individuals and groups who have systematically experienced *not* having a choice, or not having their choices or bodily autonomy respected.
We offer tailored and affinity programs for individuals and groups to best serve these needs.
A small sample spaces that have held this practice
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![Wheel of Consent Workshop Sudbury Ontario]()
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
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![Wheel of Consent Workshop, The Sentinel, Kalso, BC, Canada]()
The Sentinel, Kalso, BC, Canada
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![Wheel of Consent Workshop, What Lab, Vancouver, BC, Canada]()
What Lab, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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![Wheel of Consent Workshop, Ottawa, ON, Canada]()
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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![Wheel of Consent Workshop, What Lab, Vancouver, BC, Canada]()
What Lab, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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![Wheel of Consent Workshop, Love & Peace Studio, Vancouver, BC, Canada]()
Love & Peace Studio, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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![Wheel of Consent Workshop, Sudbury, Ontario, Candad]()
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
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![5 Rhythms, Vancouver, BC, Consent Training, Canada]()
5 Rhythms Team Training, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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![Wheel of Consent Workshop, AO Studio Space, Vancouver, BC, Canada]()
AO Studio Space, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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![Like A Pro Facilitator Training]()
Facilitator Training, California, US
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![Helena De Felice leading a Wheel of Consent Workshop at Love & Peace Studio, in Vancouver, BC, Canada]()
Love & Peace Studio, Vancouver, BC, Canada
The Wheel of Consent® is a framework and embodied awareness practice developed by Dr. Betty Martin.
Since its inception, this practice has been brought into schools, universities, therapist programs, and organizations around the world, and reshaped how therapeutic practitioners are trained.
It is simple, subtle, and profound.
This frame for consent is an embodied awareness and communication process we navigate.
In this practice, we deepen our capacity to feel into ourselves, trust our own body’s signals, value ourselves, and communicate.
Through the practice, we deepen our capacity to attune with others while deeply caring for ourselves, navigating interactions with deep presence, care, and dignity.
What does it feel like in your body to want something? What does it feel like when you don’t?
What does it feel like when you are willing? What does it feel like when you’re not?
What does it feel like to make a clear request for something you truly want?
What does it feel like when you are feeling safe enough to speak up or say no?
What does it feel like when you don’t?
What does it feel like when you can trust the other person’s capacity to say no?
What does it feel like when you don’t?
This practice goes beyond legal- medical consent and beyond consent in intimate contexts.
Consent as an embodied process is a foundational relational skill that applies to all interactions
(personal, intimate, familial, organizational, professional, communal).
Engaging in this practice develops our skills to notice personal, interpersonal, and group dynamics when making choices, respecting one’s own and others’ boundaries, and navigating situations and relationships with more integrity, clarity, and freedom.
It’s a practice. Each time we engage, we have an opportunity to bring ourselves to our current learning edge and deepen our awareness.
What is the Wheel of Consent®?
“Going along with” is so familiar to us that we hardly notice it is happening.
Slowing down, tending to safety, and attuning to ourselves
changes everything.
Who is it for?
“Who is it for” is a central question in the practice of the Wheel of Consent®.
The practice of embodied consent is profoundly impactful for bringing deeper intimacy, integrity, and care into your relationship with yourself and others.
Those who are drawn to this practice tend to:
໑ work with people in a position of power, and have a commitment to positively affect human change and healing (teacher, therapist, bodyworker, physician, manager, leader, etc.)
໑ be looking for deeper and more meaningful connection in their relationships (intimate, family, friendship, community, etc.)
໑ have experienced harm and have a desire to access a deeper sense of safety and trust in their own body and confidence in moving towards deeper intimacy
໑ be interested in developing deeper self-awareness and relational skills for more ease and joy in life, and/or
໑ care deeply about dignity, respect, and want to be more skillful in caring for themselves and others.
With more power comes greater responsibility.
We consider advanced embodied consent skills ,with awareness of how power and safety influences choice, to be essential for:
໑ practitioners, teachers, facilitators and care providers,
໑ leaders working within positions of authority, and
໑ leaders committed to empowering others in affirming their personal autonomy and power.
Who is this not for?
This practice is tender and potent.
It is important that you participate because you want to.
It is not appropriate for anyone else to require or demand that you attend.
You are welcome to arrive and leave with skepticism and doubt.
You are welcome to leave whenever you want, and return when you want to (or not at all).
You are not required to trust or believe what the facilitator offers or trust others in the space.
Doubt, skepticism, and distrust are all important and wise signals designed to keep you safe.
A cue that it may be best to wait until you are more resourced is that
the idea of engaging in this practice causes your body to contract, experience tension, or anxiety.
If you are in active crisis, it is best to seek other supports. Consider engaging in this practice once you are out of crisis and you can access more curiosity, perhaps with ongoing support from a therapist.
Sometimes more information about the workshop, what you can expect, and how you can care for yourself can resolve some tension or hesitation. Sometimes it helps clarify a ‘no’ or ‘not now’.
Sometimes a brief meeting with the facilitator can help.
You can schedule a free 20-minute consult here.
Sometimes it is supportive to attend with a partner and a friend, sometimes it can make it more difficult to drop into the practice and your own experience for your own learning.
It may not be appropriate to attend with someone you are in a role-power differential relationship with (e.g. your boss, or therapist).
Where can I start, without committing to an in person workshop?
- read the book The Art of Receiving and Giving by Betty Martin
- explore some of the practices that Betty describes on your own
- watch some of Betty’s videos
- try a one-on-one coaching session, or
- attend an online introduction or online training.
My relationship to the
Wheel of Consent®
Since first being introduced to the Wheel of Consent® in 2016, it has transformed how I approach every aspect of my life.
I left my first immersive training with the experience that my brain had rewired - my inner compass for desires, needs, and limits had been reset - and it gave me a completely new frame and somatic awareness to engage from. I was awestruck and inspired by the possibility of unwinding deep individual and collective patterns of harm and move towards more caring and reciprocal relationships.
At the time, I was immersed in work in the realm of gender-based violence, a field that felt heavy and charged, along with necessary and inspiring. Experiencing this practice lit a spark and has provided a pervasive sense of possibility.
These are foundational skills that we can learn.
It is possible repair relational harm, bring compassion for ways we have learnt to survive, restore trust and dignity where we have abandoned ourselves or been abandoned, and move towards nourishing connections. I immediately saw the connection and relevance of this practice for a wide range of contexts: organizational, leadership, service and caregiving, familiar, collective, and intimate.
Since then, I have delivered over 20 Wheel of Consent workshops in North America and Europe, with hundreds of participants from several continents and cultural backgrounds in both group and one-on-one sessions. I focus on extended immersive offerings that allow us to slow down, unwind patterns, and develop new habits.
My personal and professional practice continues to deepen through the individual and collective wisdom that emerges each time I offer this work, other modalities I engage in, and my own personal practice of embodied consent.
It is an honour and great fulfilment to get to share this work with you.
Past Public Offerings
2025
Dec 5-7 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
Nov 7-9 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Ottawa, ON, Canada
Oct 17-18 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Toronto, ON, Canada
Oct 3-5 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
May 16-18 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
May 2-5 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Montreal QC, Canada
Feb 11-Apr 8 Wheel of Consent workshop series ~ for Queers Online
Feb 28-Mar 7 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Toronto, ON, Canada
Jan 31-Feb 2 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
2024
Oct 18-20 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Toronto, ON, Canada
Oct 22-Nov 28 Wheel of Consent workshop series ~ for Queers Online
May 24-26 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
Apr 19-21 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Duncan, BC, Canada
Apr 5-7 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
Mar 22-24 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Sudbury, ON, Canada
Mar 15-17 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Toronto, ON, Canada
Feb 23-25 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop The Sentinel, Kalso, BC, Canada
Feb 2-4 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
Feb 6-Mar 12 Wheel of Consent workshop series Online
2023
Dec 1-3 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
Oct 13-15 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Toronto, ON, Canada
Sep 29-Oct 1 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop The Sentinel, Kalso, BC, Canada
May 5-7 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
Mar 17-19 3-day Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
2022
Oct 26-30 Like A Pro Seattle, US
Aug 15-21 Like A Pro Pelion, Greece
May 27-29 2 1/2 day Wheel of Consent Workshop Lausanne, VD, Switzerland
Jan 30-Mar 20 Wheel of Consent Workshop Series Online
2021
Oct Like A Pro + Working with Groups Online
Sep 16 Introduction to The Wheel of Consent Zürich, Switzerland
Sep 15 Introduction to The Wheel of Consent Zürich, Switzerland
Sep 19-21 Wheel of Consent Workshop Lausanne, Switzerland
Aug 8-Sep 12 Wheel of Consent Workshop Series Online
May 31 Wheel of Consent Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota, US
Apr 11-May 16 Wheel of Consent Workshop Series Online
Jan 30-Mar 20 Wheel of Consent Workshop Series Online
Jan 17-Feb 21 Wheel of Consent Workshop Series Online
2020
Nov 13 Wheel of Consent Intro Heart of Tantra Festival online
Oct 17-Nov 21 Wheel of Consent Workshop Series Online
Aug 5-Sep 9 Wheel of Consent Workshop Series Online
Jun 10-Jul 16 Wheel of Consent Workshop Series Online
Feb 1 1 day Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
2019
Nov 9-11 Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
Sep 14-18 Like A Pro Seattle, US
Jul 27 Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
Apr 6 Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
Feb 16 Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada
Jan 27 Wheel of Consent Workshop Vancouver, BC, Canada