The Human Awareness Institute (HAI) produces workshops and other activities related to improving communication and relationships. Dr. Stan Dale originated and led his first workshop in Chicago in 1968. Since then, over 75,000 people have attended HAI's workshops. HAI has grown from a very small family business and one workshop into a series of many workshops led by a highly trained team of facilitators (leaders). This year, HAI will produce workshops in several locations around the world.

HAI's philosophy is summarized in the following mission statement, the basis for all of its activities:

The Human Awareness Institute (HAI) empowers individuals to be potent, loving, contributing human beings. HAI promotes personal growth and social evolution by replacing ignorance and fear with awareness and love. HAI aims to create a world where people live together in dignity, respect, understanding, trust, kindness, compassion, honesty and love. The Human Awareness Institute is committed to "Creating a World Where Everyone Wins."

The biggest concentration of activity is in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. However, HAI is growing and conducts workshops in Southern California, Midwest US, Northeast US, Australia, Germany, and England.

HAI conducts a series of weekend Love, Intimacy & Sexuality (LIS) workshops. The first workshop (referred to as Level 1 or, in this document, as the LIS workshop) is offered almost every month in the San Francisco Bay Area and periodically in the other locations. The LIS workshop is discussed extensively in several other sections on this page. Level 1 is required before taking other workshops in the series, each of which has its own prerequisite.

The Couples Workshop is a weekend designed exclusively for couples in a committed relationship (however you define that). This workshop provides an opportunity to deepen and strengthen your love for yourself and for your partner. There are Couples Workshops that are residential and for which the LIS workshop is a prerequisite. There is also a non-residential Couples Workshop in a hotel setting which is open to anyone. See the Couples Workshop page for more information. The Couples Workshops are offered on a limited frequency, so call your local office for more details.

The Pathway to Intimacy workshops are conducted in a single day. They are held in major cities and give a taste of what is available from the weekend LIS workshops, yet they are complete within themselves. (For more information, see the separate topic here devoted to the PTI workshops or the PTI page).

HAI sponsors parties in the same areas where the LIS workshops are offered. Come and visit with other people who have either attended a workshop or are interested in learning more about HAI. There are non-alcoholic refreshments, finger food, dancing, and a brief presentation which offers a sense of workshop experiences. Call the office for more information.

Introductory Presentations are available in many areas where the LIS workshops are offered. At these presentations you will have an opportunity to find out about HAI and experience some examples of exercises similar to those in HAI workshops. See the Intros page for more information and a schedule of some of the Introductory Presentations available.

Periodically one or more of the workshop leaders will offer a lecture on a topic of interest to people who find the workshops interesting. These evenings are open to the public, without any prerequisites.

• In a caring, supportive and safe environment, discover the ingredients for happy, healthy, loving, intimate relationships. Shed your fears, judgments and disempowering beliefs that keep you separate from others.
• Where did you learn about love, intimacy and sexuality? What we often don't realize is that our very ideas about these topics may prevent us from fully expressing and receiving love. The workshop provides an opportunity to examine this.
• Participants are profoundly moved by the depth of emotional openness that repeatedly occurs throughout the course of a weekend. Imagine if you can, a group of people being completely honest and real with each other.
• More about workshop benefits

• Feel new levels of self esteem.
• Uncover your passion for living, your natural appreciation and acceptance of yourself and others, and your inherent desire to live joyously.
• Feel completely accepted and unconditionally accepted by others
• Access your heart at a depth you may not have experienced before.
• Let go of any blocks to your natural spontaneity and self-expression.

• Gently move through layers of pretense, negative beliefs, fears and protective behaviors which have prevented you from receiving and giving love.
• Discover the power possible in being open and sharing your intimate feelings and private thoughts.
• Feel compassion for others and in turn be less hard on yourself.

• Learn how to communicate better with everyone in your life.
• Discover how to fully and authentically share who you really are with others.
• Find a new respect for your gender and the other gender regardless of sexual orientation.
• Heal past hurtful relationships.
• Learn to trust and move past barriers you may have put up out of fear.
• Find, have and stay in love -- as you never before thought possible!

• Setting personal boundaries and trusting your own sense of "yes" and "no."
• Empowering yourself to ask for what you want, without shame or guilt.

• See a 52 year-old man share his tears of healing as he reveals his forgiveness for his father.
• Hear a former Catholic priest share his discovery of a profound new meaning for spirituality.
• Observe a married couple of 22 years fall in love with each other again.
• Feel the camaraderie, the love, the compassion. People are risking, melting and transforming before you.
• Imagine the tears of joy trickling down a woman's face as she realizes for the first time that she is beautiful.
• What People Say About Our Workshops

The workshops are more experiential than instructional in a traditional sense. There is a series of guided exercises which are designed to allow you to experience and identify for yourself which of your behaviors help or hinder you in having more love in your life. This kind of experience is less abstract than simply listening to a lecture. As you focus on elements of how you are with people in your life, there is an opportunity to expand your awareness and take new actions. The focus is much more on who you are rather than what you do. The workshop is led by two or more Facilitators. A facilitator introduces a topic and then moderates a discussion about it. Since most of the workshop is experiential, discussions are based on a current or past experience. The facilitators help you see how the experience impacts you.

Sexual technique is not taught, but communication is, which can lead to greater sexual enjoyment. The workshop is much more about how to be intimate and loving than it is about how to "do" sex. By considering your notions about love, intimacy, and sexuality, you may see how they may get in the way of what you really want in some of your relationships.

You are treated with the dignity, understanding, kindness, and compassion you deserve. Part of this means that you and your choices will be totally honored and respected. Imagine what you need to feel completely safe -- you will have that and more at the workshop. The workshop will help to replace ignorance and fear with awareness and love. You will have the opportunity to experience what it means to be a potent, loving, contributing human being. This in turn may help you to uncover your passion for living and your desire to live joyously.

The workshops are about how to create healthy relationships. This includes more effective communication with romantic partners, family members, friends, co-workers, and others who you meet on a casual basis. You learn to share and experience what it is to be human from the inside, not just what we see in the facades. The workshops touch every part of your life, because every part of your life consists of relationships. Even when you are alone, you either deal with your relationship with yourself, or you are thinking about your relationships with others. The workshop is as much about choice as it is about love, intimacy or sexuality. Many of us don't recognize when we have abdicated our right to make choices in our life.

Closely examining how love, intimacy and sexuality are part of our lives triggers us to look at how we often don't make our own choices. There is often some "charge" in these areas that finds us making habitual responses that don't work, rather than choices that will result in what we truly want. The workshop helps us develop skills to be more self-assured in exercising our freedom of choice.

Sometimes we ask for what we *think* we can get rather than what we really want. Then we are not satisfied and we can't figure out *why* we are not satisfied. Or we just don't know where to go or how to ask. At the workshops there is the opportunity for you to ask for 100% of what you want 100% of the time, be willing to hear no, and negotiate a win-win.

When you are able to truthfully say "no" as well as "yes," others can trust that when you say "yes" you mean it. If you cannot say "no," it is difficult for others to believe your "yes." At the workshop, you have many opportunities to practice saying "no" and "yes." You will gain clarity into knowing what you really want and be able to make appropriate choices.

Your boundaries will be fully respected and your choices honored. The workshop provides coaching for you to constantly review your position and shift your boundaries further out or closer in as you see fit. You may redefine those boundaries as you become more confident in your ability to be true to yourself.

• people of age 18-80 (no upper limit)
• people of either gender
• people of color (the one you have is fine)

• people who have never been in relationships
• people seeking relationships
• people who are in casual elationships
• people who are in serious relationships
• people with all varieties of relationship history (none to lots)
• people wanting to enhance the nature of their relationships
• people who like the way they are in relationships

• people who want more loving connections in their lives
• people wanting to experience being more genuine
• people seeking to deepen their life with their partner
• people wanting to heal past relationships (or heal other things so that they can form new relationships)

• people who want to be loved, respected, cherished
• people who want to know how good life can be
• people who have done a range of personal growth work (from little or none to lots)

No. You may come with or without a partner. In a typical workshop, about one third of the participants are there with a partner and about two thirds are not. Many participants are not in a committed relationship. The workshops are "gender-balanced." This simply means that there are approximately an equal number of men and women participating in each workshop. This requirement is independent of sexual orientation.

Relationships cycles have a before, a beginning, a middle, and an end. There are long-term relationships and short-term relationships. When a relationship ends, there is often dating again in search of a new partner. All of us have been in one stage or another of the cycle -- sometimes a different stage at different times. The workshop accommodates everyone, regardless of where you are in the relationship cycle, independent of sexual orientation.

The LIS workshop is open to anyone over the age of 18, regardless of relationship status, sexual orientation, personal background, gender or race.

The workshops are usually held in a retreat-type setting with natural surroundings, and with opportunities to relax and unwind. There are usually spa facilities available. For example, in Northern California, the LIS workshops are held at Harbin Hot Springs, about two hours north of San Francisco. On this web site, each of HAI's workshop regions has its own page for venues and accomodations (like the one for the United Kingdom)

At most Level 1 workshops, there are between 45 and 60 participants. There are also approximately 15 people present who have already taken the workshops. They are there to support the participants and help the workshop run smoothly.

It is about the same, given the gender-balance requirement mentioned above. Because of what is sometimes a delicate balancing act, waiting lists may develop for one gender or the other. It is a good idea to register for the weekend of your choice several weeks in advance. However, places may be available up until the last minute, so call if you are interested.

How you participate is your choice. There are a variety of opportunities where you may choose to do an exercise with your partner, or opt for doing an exercise with someone else. There is value in each option and throughout the workshop you and your partner can decide what is best.

On-site check-in begins on Friday at 5 pm and continues until 7 pm. At many sites it is okay to arrive as early as noon to enjoy the retreat facilities. Friday night dinner is served at 7 pm and the workshop starts promptly at 8 pm. The workshop concludes between 6 and 6:30 pm on Sunday and is immediately followed by dinner. Your confirmation letter provides more detailed information specific to your weekend. There are breaks approximately every two hours while the workshop is in session, varying from 15 minutes to 2 hours.

During the course of the workshop, most of the directed time is in one of three formats: in exercises, in large group, and in small group. In workshop exercises, with partners of your own choosing, you are guided by the facilitators in a variety of ways that allow you to take a look at the issues being presented. In large group time the facilitators discuss issues with the entire group and individual participants may also share with the group. In small group time you are a member of a group of 4 to 6 people. The facilitators present a topic and everyone in your group has the opportunity to hear others' experience about the topic. You learn not only from your own experience, but from hearing others experiences as well.

Sharing refers to expressing to others your feelings, thoughts, knowledge, and personal opinions. Both participants and facilitators share with each other their personal experiences in a way that allows them to be more present and helps others get to know them better. Sharing may also facilitate your ability to formulate actions you want to take to make changes in your life.

Yes. On the Thursday evening after each workshop, there is a follow-up meeting. (In some regions, the follow-up may be scheduled on another day of the week.) You have the opportunity to reconnect with other participants from your workshop to share how life has transpired since the weekend. There are also regularly scheduled parties as well as monthly support groups in many areas.

HAI has a team of highly trained workshop facilitators. Any combination of one male and one female facilitator may be present at any workshop.

The PTI is a single-day workshop on healthy relationships. More information is available below, and you can also see our Pathways to Intimacy page for more information and schedules of upcoming PTI workshops.

The LIS workshop is a full weekend. As a weekend workshop held at a relaxing retreat, there is time to cover a range of topics, to get to know the other participants, and to experience a series of guided exercises. LIS participants must be 18 or older; participants as young as 16 are welcome at PTI workshops.

A PTI workshop requires less of an outlay in terms of time, money, and intensity. A PTI is a single day event, typically 10 am to 6 pm, in a hotel setting. The cost varies by location, but it is a fraction of the cost of a LIS workshop (usually under US $100). Additionally, there are fewer exercises.

Since participants as young as 16 are allowed, some people take advantage of the opportunity to review core relationships with parents, children and siblings in a caring, supportive environment. It is a good place to bring teens or go as a family. A PTI offers a confidential environment where you get to practice making choices, as well as the opportunity to create new friendships, discover and let go of what takes you out of love, and reach a new depth of honesty and intimacy. Some people use a PTI as a jumping off point for other work on themselves.

No - there is no need to pre-register. Please arrive a half hour before the time the event is stated to begin to allow time for registration.

Our participants typically range from 20s to 50s, with more people in the middle than at either extreme. People of all backgrounds have enjoyed our events. Although we do not formally gender balance our singles events, our experience in the past has that we have had pretty close to equal numbers of men and women attend. Most people attending will be heterosexual and looking to meet the same. However, people of all sexual orientations are welcome, and exercises are structured allow people to choose their partners. Attendance has ranged from 75 to 200 people, depending on the venue.

Suggested dress is business casual, or anything that makes you feel good about yourself. Some of our exercises may include sitting on the floor (although chairs are available for those who prefer them), so dress comfortably. The Center in San Francisco requests that participants remove their shoes.

Refreshments will be provided at the break, and we will provide water, tea & coffee.

The evening begins with casual mingling during registration. When the event begins, one or two facilitators will lead people through a variety of large group, small group & paired exercises that will help you learn more about other people in the room. The exercises are intended to help single people break down the barriers and connect more easily, on a more “real” and less “superficial” level than most singles events.

Specific activities vary from one event to another but, in general terms, they usually include: an opening exercise that allows people to make eye contact with others in the room, mixing in small groups, where you have an opportunity to talk briefly with a number of people about topics suggested by the facilitator, one-on-one exercises that encourage you to connect at a deeper level, milling and telling people something about yourself and hearing something about them, unstructured time to eat, socialize & hang out, a simple way to give others your contact information and let them know you would be interested in getting to know them better.

While there are many questions answered here, you may have other questions or concerns. Please call or email the HAI office in your area. Our staff want to do all they can to help you enjoy and benefit from our workshops.

Would you like to know about new HAI events in your area? While the HAI calendar lists all upcoming events and several pages on this site have "Events" boxes that highlight new or important events, you might want to hear from HAI about important events in your area. By subscribing to HAI's newsletter for your area, you will receive a regional HAI newsletter by email that will not only have upcoming events but will often contain articles of related interest and even works of art by members of the HAI community. We do not send out the newsletters more than once a month on average and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.

We know that many people want to be able to read about HAI at their leisure while they are off the Internet, so we have created a Workshop Guide that contains most of what you can read on this web site. There is also a brief 2-page brochure on HAI and its workshops.