August 29-31, 2025 in Warwick, NY

Imagine ripening your relationship one erotic encounter at a time.

We specialize in working with committed couples seeking extraordinary sex. Join us lakeside at a beautiful retreat center for a powerful and practical weekend that will weave together relational science, Tantra, and play into a practical roadmap for pleasure.

---

What does relational science have to do with extraordinary sex?

Ripening Retreats are based on the work of Dr. Stan Tatkin, world-renowned couple therapist and creator of the Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT). Based on neuroscience and attachment theory, PACT helps couples transform their relationships through the development of secure functioning, the capacity to understand and care effectively for each other moment to moment especially under challenging circumstances. On a Ripening Retreat couples learn how to apply the science of secure functioning to sex. 

Couples in PACT therapy often exclaim to their therapist, “Are you reading my mind? How did you know I felt that way?” The therapist can often predict what clients are feeling because they understand neurobiology, arousal regulation and the science of attachment and can see how a client’s history is showing up in their office right then and there! Ripening Retreats teach couples how to do that with each other. Once couples are able to understand and predict their partners, once they realize that very little of what is happening is personal or pathological, couples are able to use secure functioning in the service of erotic transformation. So come learn the basic principles of secure functioning and how they serve as guardrails on your journey towards extraordinary sex!

Karen and Caroline have nearly 60 years of clinical experience between them. Caroline is a certified sex therapist and a Level 2 PACT practitioner. Karen has extensive training in Tantra among other movement modalities, was a member of the original PACT faculty and is certified by the PACT Institute. 

Here is what Stan has to say about Karen:  

“Karen is a master clinician whose groundbreaking contributions are indispensable, significantly enhancing therapeutic outcomes for couples striving for deeper, more meaningful connections. She now leverages her extensive expertise to develop the innovative Ripening Model of Secure Erotic Functioning.”

—Stan Tatkin, PsyD MFT, Founder of the PACT Institute

Why Tantra?

Tantra offers us a way to experience sex beyond the confines of sexual performance. Tantra invites us to explore energy, breath, sensation, movement and heartfulness in an erotic context. Freed from a preoccupation with orgasm, with looking/smelling/sounding right, with needing things to be a certain way, we are able to experience our capacity for deep connection with ourselves, our partner and the divine.

Play

Play is the way children learn best. In a game of make-believe when something doesn’t work to keep the action going kids simply try something else. They are free to experiment without judgment, to try on different roles, and explore as many scenarios as their minds can imagine. Children play for adventure and for healing and so shall we! Ripening Retreats balance the serious work of relational healing and erotic growth with laughter, creativity and play.

---

Who is this retreat for?

Maybe you’re having satisfying sex but you yearn for something deeper, more complex. Sex that’s mind blowing. Healing. Transformational.

Maybe sex in your relationship is stressful, painful, and/or disappointing. You don’t want to spend the rest of your life this way. You might even be questioning how sexual you really are.

Or maybe you haven’t had sex with your partner in a long time and there are a lot of challenging emotions that come with wanting to bring this part of your relationship back online.

Maybe you are interested in deepening your understanding of secure functioning in the erotic realm and wish for a personal experience to inform your personal and/or professional development.

Our clients share their sexual fears, doubts and yearning with us and for decades we have helped them ripen their capacity for sexual growth.

This workshop is our way of sharing the work we do in our offices with a wider audience.

Let us take you on a dynamic journey towards extraordinary sex

---

We welcome committed couples of all kinds.

We welcome queer and straight couples, couples of all sizes, ages and abilities, races and ethnicities. We welcome couples who practice monogamy and couples who live in non-traditional relationship structures. Our focus will be on the science and art that binds two people in a committed relationship seeking extraordinary sex but everything you learn is applicable to a more complex relational system.

Ripening Doesn’t Happen Overnight

The kind of sex you are looking for, just like a perfectly ripe peach, takes time and optimal conditions. Extraordinary sex in a committed relationship can require rigorous study of each other. It takes creativity, play, movement and breath. It pushes couples to acquire an appetite for uncertainty and risk, a tenderness towards pain and grief, and an ability to collaborate as if their lives depend on it. Ripening takes more than a weekend. We will help you imagine your shared destination and develop the roadmap.

Participants will step out of time,

into sacred space engaging

eye to eye, belly to belly, pelvis to pelvis,

and heart to heart.

New possibilities emerge at

the gateway to erotic transformation.

People often ask, “Will there be sex happening at the retreat?”

No. And… in an erotic context everything we do, even sipping tea with our partner, can feel sexual. During the retreat we will invite you to use breath, movement and sound in a variety of different ways. You will only be physically interacting with your partner and only to the degree that feels comfortable to you. We will remain completely clothed at all times.  Anyone who violates these boundaries will be asked to leave the retreat.

Your Guides

Want to read about the way we work?

For more information about our approach check out The First 30 Seconds: How PACT Can Help Couples with Sexual Encounters by Caroline Russell Smith and When a Couple Desires More Intimacy by Dr. Karen Berry.