Pono’s Trainings
Pono (he/him) has been a seeker of knowledge and spiritual experiences for many years. He has been practicing yoga since 1989, including Hatha Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, and various methods of pranayama. He studied for and obtained his yoga teacher certification in 1992.
Pono studied the chakra system in a multi-year Spiritual Awakening Series taught by Phasis Healing Arts (Richard Maldonado and Kevin Redmond). He also participated in their monthly sweat lodges and yearly vision quests for many years. These rituals were based on the Native American Lakota traditions as taught by Richard Maldonado.
Pono studied Focusing (created by Eugene Gendlin) in workshops in San Francisco and Niagara Falls, NY, and practiced with a group in San Francisco in the 1990’s. This work has been invaluable to him in his Somatic Erotic Embodiment practice (“what sensations do you notice in your body now?”).
Pono volunteered with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation in the early 1990s, in their award winning Rubberman campaign (distributing condoms monthly at bars and clubs in San Francisco and advocating for safer sex). He also assisted in facilitating their Buddy Connection workshops which focused on the question, ‘what are you (really, really) looking for when you have sex?’
Pono received a Certificate in Sexological Bodywork from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco in 2016.
Pono attended Like a Pro training by the School of Consent and Betty Martin, PhD, in 2017. He then became certified to teach the Wheel of Consent to small group workshops. The Wheel of Consent is an integral part (and the beginning) of every private retreat Pono guides.
Pono attended TantraCon, a Tantra conference coordinated by Swami Ravi Rudra Bharati (formerly known as Rudolph Ballentine MD), and attended a Men’s Tantra weekend at Dancing Shiva, a queer Tantra monastery in North Carolina, operated and taught by Swami Ravi Rudra Bharati.
Pono also studied at the Tao & Tantra Conference at Tao Gardens in Chiang Mai, Thailand, with daily lessons with Grandmaster Mantak Chia who created the Universal Healing Tao system, and with Charles Muir, Leah Piper, and the Source Tantra team.
Pono has studied with Joseph Kramer, founder of the Body Electric School and creator of the Sexological Bodywork modality.
Pono has also studied with and is proud to call Caffyn Jesse, his mentor, colleague, and friend.
Pono is currently a member of the Faculty of the Body Electric School in the United States. He has taught on-line self-pleasuring workshops with the School, and regularly guides their monthly Full Moon Rituals. See www.bodyelectric.org
In 2024, Pono became a Certified Practitioner in Somagetics, an energetic healing modality.