**SPECIAL EVENT March 2nd, 2025 in Portland, OR.
The Revolution Will Have Pillows:Rest and Connection to Sustain Us! Click HERE for more details available on the registration form.**
Snuggle Lab: The Evolution of Positive Touch Culture
Since returning to facilitating events in 2023, my offerings have evolved and expanded to meet the needs of a variety of venues, events, and communities. My website is being updated soon to feature a calendar of upcoming events. In the meantime, join the The Portland Snuggle Lab on Facebook for the latest updates!
The Snuggle Lab Journey:
In 2015, as the buzz around “professional cuddling” grew, I recognized the importance of bringing my comprehensive understanding of the “politics of touch” to the evolving snuggle scene in Eugene, OR. I officially launched Snuggle Lab as my personal business and created the Positive Touch Meetup group to create community for exploring positive-touch culture. Over the next three years, the meetup grew to over 700 members, and I facilitated at least one “Intro to Positive Touch Culture” class or snuggle event each month.
In late 2017, I collaborated with local Ecstatic Dance DJs to create a groundbreaking event combining an evocative electronic dance environment with a tea lounge and a facilitated snuggle zone. Snuggle Dance was a very popular event that regularly brought in 70-90 people.
While the Meetup group was successful in attracting new people, it had limitations for event coordination. In 2019, I decided to close the Positive Touch Meetup group, hoping that a more functional system or collaborative approach would eventually take its place.
Current Offerings and Future Collaborations:
I am currently seeking passionate and skilled collaborators to help me host the highest-caliber, best-practice, paradigm-shifting positive touch events in Portland, OR, at festivals, and beyond. I am excited to bring Snuggle Lab to new communities. In particular, I am looking forward to co-creating another Snuggle Dance event with experienced DJ/producers.
If you’re interested in collaborating or staying informed about future events, please sign up for my newsletter or reach out directly.
Also, connect with us on Facebook: Snuggle Lab
Curriculum Vitae:
2004: Hosted the first all-community snuggle party for Lost Valley Educational Center, an intentional community near Eugene, OR
2007: Coordinated LoveTribe’s Portland Pride Parade float and snuggle booth.
2015: Assisted LoveTribe in providing the community snuggle portion of PDX Cuddle Con.
Studied with Kristen Reynolds of Conscious Touch NW and Shayna Luther of LoveTribe.
Formed a West Coast Cadre with Jean Franzblau of Cuddle Sanctuary (LA), and my Seattle and Portland connections.
2015: Member of the consent presentation team for Beloved Music Festival, providing creative production feedback, final script editing, and I wrote the program blurb!
2016: Completed the “Like A Pro” course with Betty Martin, developer of the Wheel of Consent, and the “Teaching the Wheel” addendum course in 2017.
2017: Served as member of the Beloved Music Festival Care Sanctuary Team – Assisted in staffing the care team tent where we provided workshops, 1-on-1 supports, and refuge for people processing past or current consent violations. Also part of roaming team providing energetic presence and interactions regarding role of Care Sanctuary/creating consent culture in a festival setting.
2018: Facilitated “Intro to Positive Touch Culture” for the Traveling Rose fundraiser event in Portland. Provided a Spoken Word style consent presentation for a private (40-person) retreat in Eugene, OR.
2019: Closed the Positive Touch Meetup group to focus on building a core event hosting team.
2020-2023: Pandemic made snuggling contraindicated! Also, I’m a RN so I was busy working.
2023: I returned to facilitation in a big way, facilitating a 100-person Snuggle Party for SW Lovefest in Tucson, AZ, with the founder of the New Mexico Cuddle Community Meetup. Began making awesome new connections in California (Soul Play Festival, Bonobo Network) and Washington (Kaleidoscopic Community, Imagine Festival).
2024: Returned to Tucson for SW Lovefest in April. Was invited to interview for the Soul Play “Soul Support” Lead position (very honored to have been tapped for that but didn’t work with my schedule.) Instead, I created a new Accessibility Coordinator position with the Inclusion and Belonging team to focus on Ageism, Sizeism, and Ableism. Currently I’m providing event “orientation” for hybrid dance/snuggle/sensual events in Oregon. New offerings are in development with a dedicated snuggle space in SE PDX!
My positive touch work is also informed by
- 20+ years as a direct care professional working both in Hospice and with people experiencing intellectual/developmental differences. Working with these populations highlighted how important healthy, nurturing touch is throughout our lifetimes. This natural need is not met in our touch-phobic culture that relies on “the luck” of romantic connection for meeting people’s touch needs. Witnessing this state of affairs gave me the fortitude to take on radical culture change – for the sake of ALL of us that will someday be ill or dying and with, perhaps, the wish to simply be held in our time of need.
- Personal experiences with societal stigma against those with larger bodies, diverse gender expressions, mental/physical health issues, and cultural norms that keep us ignorant of how we exchange our sexuality in order to get our touch needs met. ALL people, in ALL types of bodies, and ALL types of presentations deserve safe, nurturing touch.
- A deep commitment to reclaim BODY SOVEREIGNTY for ALL of us and SHIFTING our culture from one that tolerates and condones rape and boundary violations to one that respects everyone’s right to be safe and free in their bodies. This includes fighting to change over-reaching laws that mistakenly seek to control what consenting adults do with other consenting adults.
Join me in the consent (r)evolution and in bringing access to healthy, nurturing, platonic touch to the people! THe REVOLUTION WILL HAVE PILLOWS! 🙂