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Isaac Cross is available for individual workshops, as well as conferences and conventions. Cross is happy to modify workshops to meet the needs of the booking organization or group. Please use the this contact form for information or questions.

A list of Cross’s previous and upcoming presentations can be viewed here. 

Isaac Cross ~ BIO

Isaac Cross is a teacher, presenter, and alt-sex theorist from Denver, Colorado. With a background in psychology, Cross has focused his study and education on philosophical and psychological aspects of BDSM, but also teaches various practical skills and techniques in both structured and casual settings.

Cross has previously presented at events and venues across North America and Europe, including workshops in 16 U.S. states, Canada, Iceland, and Italy. He has also served as the Director of Educational Programming for the Denver Sanctuary, Dungeon Monitor Coordinator for Beyond Leather, and Executive Director for the Colorado Center for Alternative Lifestyles.

Cross’s writing has been featured in a variety of publications and websites, including XCBDSM.com, where he serves as the Managing Editor. Cross can be reached by email at XCBDSM@gmail.com or by searching XCBDSM on Facebook, Twitter, and Fetlife.

Mental Health First Aid
8-Hour Certification Course

1 in 4 people will struggle with a mental health challenge in their lifetime. That means it’s likely someone you care about will be or has been impacted. Would you know what to look for, and how to help?

Become Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) certified, and join thousands already part of the movement to increase mental health literacy and reduce stigma. Learn the signs of mental health challenges, how to respond, and how to connect those in crisis with support systems.

Individuals participating in alternative lifestyles such as kink or non-monogamy are often under-served by the mental health field. That is why it is even more important that resources like this are provided by sex-positive instructors who are familiar with our communities and the challenges we face. As one of the only poly/kink-aware Certified MHFA Instructors in the United States, Isaac Cross is uniquely positioned to offer this training to alt-lifestyle groups and individuals.

Isaac Cross is one of the only poly/kink-aware certified MHFA Instructors in the US. Learn more at MentalHealthFirstAid.org

Anarchy and Affinity: A Journey into Non-Monogamy
8-Hour Intensive

This full-day interactive workshop for individuals, couples, and families will help you understand the nature of non-monogamous relationships and the common pitfalls associated with them. We will give an overview of terminology used and the various styles of non-monogamy, before delving into the intricate structures that allow them to function successfully.

We will spend a significant amount of time discussing how to negotiate rules/boundaries, navigate jealousy/envy, and negate toxic co-dependency. Attendees will leave with a framework for communicating with their partners and avoid relationship icebergs that can sink the unattentive.

This workshop is valuable to those just beginning their journey, as well as those with many years behind them.

Maximum Penetration Piercing Workshop
8-Hour Intensive

Play piercing can be one of the most intense and intimate experiences a person can have. Either as a piercer or piercee, the act of penitrating the skin is not something anyone forgets. This hands-on workshop will guide participants through a variety of approaches, techniques, and styles and give them the tools and knowledge to use piercing for a variety of purposes, from aesthetic to functional. Participants will learn to use a needle to create a work of art, install an attachment point, or simply play with sensation and brain chemistry.

We encourage everyone to attend, even those who are more interested in being pierced than in piercing others. We believe it is important that piercees fully understand the skills and techniques of play piercing so that they are equipped to evaluate the piercers they choose to lend their bodies to. We will also be encouraging piercers to receive needles and experience the sensations so they understand them better.

The Playground in Your Head: Psychological Play
8-Hour Intensive

This set of classes may be intense at times (including strong emotions, potential triggers, and graphic imagery) and those who are sensitive to extreme material may want to sit this one out. We will do our best to indicate which themes, etc are coming up so that people may leave the room in advance.

This intensive will cover a full range of psychological play designed to give both beginners and the experienced new tools and ideas to play with the minds of their partners and explore each other in more intense and intimate ways.

We will begin with a discussion of negotiation, care, and safety. This will cover both general safety, as well as specifics to this type of play.

We will then move to a discussion of predicament play, which helps players to understand and practice the art of crafting and executing predicaments, defined as placing the bottom in a situation where a choice between conflicting desires. Various techniques will be used to inspire your own creative process of designing and implementing this devious form of psychological play.

Next will be an overview of Mind Fucks. For the purpose of this event, “Mind Fuck” is defined as the creation of a false perception of reality in order to stimulate particular emotions. In other words, this class is about how to effective deceive a bottom in order to heighten the experience of a scene. This class will cover techniques, methodology, and motivations for psychological manipulation of a bottom.

After lunch, the final topic, Emotional Sadomasocism, will discusses the ways that different emotions can be used used or manipulated during a BDSM scene. This class goes far beyond playing with the emotion of fear alone and goes on discuss more complex emotions like guilt, shame, love, lust, jealousy, insecurity, hatred, and a variety of others. This type of play is not for the casual players, as it delves into very dark places that require great care and caution.

Mixed in with all of these individual topics will be discussion of how to combine these three elements to create more complex effects and experiences.

There will be opportuinities to discuss challenges that you may want to approach and group brain storming for achieving them.

Weekend Dominant Leadership Intensive
14 Hours Over 2 Days
Contact Me for booking details. The below class list represents the full weekend intensive, as originally designed. However, I am happy to work with hosts to modify this program as needed.

DAY 1 – Effective and Affectionate Dominance

“Serving Your Partner as a Dominant” is about understanding that everyone in a healthy power-exchange relationship is ultimately in service to one another. Based partially on the work and writing of Master Skip Chasey, this course delves into the challenges of ethical leadership and maintaining a balance that prevents dominance from becoming abusive.

“Defining and Refining Submissive Roles” is Cross’s most popular workshop. This workshop will cover the results of a study detailing the motivations and desires of people who identify as “submissive”. The primary purpose will be to arm dominants with the information necessary to identify these traits in a submissive and to adjust accordingly.

“Protocol, Rules, Assignments, and Orders” will differentiate between different ways of exercising dominant authority. Understanding the differences between them and how to effectively use them is essential to living D/s.

“Cookies and Cattle-Prods: Training and Conditioning” will explain one approach to the training of a submissive partner. This will include identifying the proclivities and traits in a sub that may guide them toward a particular type of service and how to foster and encourage their personal growth through training.

DAY 2 – Topping with Style and Confidence

“Negotiating a Scene” will cover techniques and important tips for negotiating a scene. In this class, negotiation will consist of much more than a simply list of BDSM activities sorted into do’s and don’ts or likes and dislikes. The class address a number of aspects of negotiation often neglected by even experience BDSM players.

“Scene Communication from Beginning to End” is an interactive discussion of effective communication, beginning with identifying and explaining your limits and continuing to effectively communicating before, during and after a scene takes place. The presenter will stress the importance of openness and honesty, not only for mutual enjoyment, but also for safety and development.

“Topping the Mind” will cover techniques, methodology, and motivations for psychological manipulation of a bottom, including Mind Fucks (strategic deception), Emotional Sadomasochism, and Predicaments. The goal is to learn tools which allow the top to craft an experience, not just wield a weapon.

“Post-Scene Drop and Aftercare” focuses on the phenomenon generally referred to as “subdrop” or “topdrop” and methods of prevention and treatment. For the purposes of this class, “drop” will be defined as: 1) A physical condition, often with cold- or flu-like symptoms, experienced after a session of BDSM play, and 2) An emotional or mental condition, often including symptoms of depression or anxiety experienced after a session of BDSM play.

Classroom Workshops
Two Hours or Less, Each

THEORY – PRESENTATIONS AND DISCUSSION

“Defining and Refining Submissive Roles” is Cross’s most popular workshop. Covering the various components of submissive roles, the workshop gives attendees the tools to better understand their place in a D/s dynamic. Whether you are beginning to explore your submissive side or simply trying redefine or refine your submissive role, it is important that you are asking the right questions. This workshop will present one method for asking these questions and for finding your personal answers based on interviews conducted by Cross with hundreds of individuals who self-identify as submissive from locations all over the world

“Flipping the Switch” covers the various issues and misconceptions of those who identify as a switch. This interactive discussion will cover a variety of topics relating to switches and switching.

In “BDSM Ethics and Etiquette”, we will discuss both official and unofficial rules of conduct as they apply to public play and participation in the BDSM community. We will attempt to arrive at a group consensus for at least basic acceptable rules of conduct and perhaps even explore how best to apply these rules at parties, and how to deal with conflict as it inevitably arises.

“Protocol, Rules, Assignments, and Orders” will differentiate between different ways of exercising dominant authority. Understanding the differences between them and how to effectively use them is essential to fulfilling power exchange.

“Cookies and Cattle-Prods: Training and Conditioning” will explain one approach to the training of a submissive partner. This will include identifying the proclivities and traits in a sub that may guide them toward a particular type of service and how to foster and encourage their personal growth through training.

“Scene Communication from Beginning to End” is an interactive discussion of effective communication, beginning with identifying and explaining your limits and continuing to effectively communicating before, during and after a scene takes place. The presenter will stress the importance of openness and honesty, not only for mutual enjoyment, but also for safety and development.

“What You Forgot To Negotiate” “Wanna spank me?” is enough of a negotiation for some situations, but other times, you need to spend a lot more time discussing what will and won’t happen. In this class, we will cover everything you might have forgotten to talk about in your last negotiation, as well as strategies for figuring out what you should remember to ask next time so that everyone can have the best experience possible.

“Post-Scene Drop and Aftercare” focuses on the phenomenon generally referred to as “subdrop” or “topdrop” and methods of prevention and treatment. For the purposes of this class, “drop” will be defined as: 1) A physical condition, often with cold- or flu-like symptoms, experienced after a session of BDSM play, and 2) An emotional or mental condition, often including symptoms of depression or anxiety experienced after a session of BDSM play. These effects can last for as long as a week, and is best prevented by aftercare immediately after the session and in the 48 hours following the play. We will discuss techniques, tips, tricks and other methods of aftercare for a variety of situations, though certainly not all them. This class is based on the presenter’s history of education in the field of psychology and draws from the most current available research in the fields of sports medicine, neurology, psychology, and nutrition.

“Custom-Built Relationships” Negotiation isn’t just for play. This class will discuss important elements for crafting successful relationships. This is especially (but not exclusively) important in relationships that deviate for societal models, such as those involving non-monogamy, authority exchange, or limited duration. In this class, we will discuss what questions to ask yourself and each other both during the onset of the relationship and throughout.

TECHNICAL – CLASSES AND DEMONSTRATIONS

“The Subtle Art of Predicaments” helps players to understand and practice the art of crafting and executing predicaments, defined as placing the bottom in a situation where a choice between conflicting desires. Various techniques will be used to inspire your own creative process of designing and implementing this devious form of psychological play.

“Brain Play – The Joy and Dangers of the Mind Fuck” For the purpose of this class, “Mind Fuck” is defined as the creation of a false perception of reality in order to stimulate particular emotions. In other words, this class is about how to effective deceive a bottom in order to heighten the experience of a scene. This class will cover techniques, methodology, and motivations for psychological manipulation of a bottom. This class may be intense at times and those who are sensitive to extreme material may want to sit this one out.

“Fear and Loathing – Emotional Sadomasochism” Discusses the ways that different emotions can be used used or manipulated during a BDSM scene. This class goes far beyond playing with the emotion of fear alone and goes on discuss more complex emotions like guilt, shame, love, lust, jealousy, insecurity, hatred, and a variety of others. This type of play is not for the casual players, as it delves into very dark places that require great care and caution. The class is presented in the form of both discussion and demonstration.

“Topping the Mind” will cover techniques, methodology, and motivations for psychological manipulation of a bottom, including Mind Fucks (strategic deception), Emotional Sadomasochism, and Predicaments. The goal is to learn tools which allow the top to craft an experience, not just wield a weapon.

“Flogging for Distance” This class will cover techniques for increasing flogging power and endurance. The class will begin with a primer on flogging basics and safety. A demonstration is included, time permitting.

“Adding Holes: Play Piercing Basics” This class is about temporary surface piercing. The presenter will explain materials, technique, and safety. This is an advanced class and participants are in no way encouraged to attempt play piercing on their own without one-on-one coaching from an experienced piercer. However, understanding what goes into a piercing scene and what you can get out of it can help you determine if you are interested in pursuing play piercing on your own. 60-90 minutes

“Skin Fucking: Advanced Play Piercing” In this workshop, we will move beyond the basics of play piercing to cover more advanced techniques, which include piercing in unusual locations on the body, using other materials in your piercing scenes, and other variations. A brief primer on basics and safety will be given, but those without play piercing experience should seek basic instruction and hands-on training before attempting anything demonstrated in this class.

“Nailed Down” This class will demonstrate numerous techniques for using piercings for bondage, predicaments, and more. Nothing can be more intimate or devious than using a person’s own skin against them. A brief primer on basics and safety will be given, but those without play piercing experience should seek basic instruction and hands-on training before attempting anything demonstrated in this class.

“Pervertable Show and Tell” Hands-On Class Bring your favorite pervertables (Objects with a “normal” purpose used for sexual or kink play) and show the class. Show your creativity by bringing all your household items that you have found an alternate purpose for. Depending on the type of object, you may be allowed to demonstrate your use of the object for the class. This is a hands on class and everyone will be strongly encouraged to participate. Those who simply wish to observe may do so. By learning to use ordinary objects in extraordinary ways, you can find things to play with, even if you left your toy bag at home.

“Co-Topping” This class will begin with a short demo and proceed to a discussion on etiquette and tips for successful two-top scenes. The class will also cover scenes with more than two tops.

“Caring for Your (non-living) Toys” This discussion will cover the various materials used in the manufacturing of toys and how to care for them. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own toys, along with any manufacturer’s instructions or other reliable source which describes maintenance and upkeep.

Please use the contact form for booking information or questions.