Course Descriptions
Our courses are descriptive, not prescriptive.
The following are the courses currently being offered by Lafayette Morehouse. If you are interested in a course or would like to have a course presented in your area, please contact the Registrar at:
Phone: 925-930-6972
Email: registrar@lafayettemorehouse.com.
*The prices listed are for courses held in the Bay Area and may be higher in other locales.
Basic Courses (no prerequisites)
Evening with Vic
Basic Sensuality
Communication
Jealousy, Money and Possessions
Hexing
Fundamentals of Sensuality
Presentation
Menopause
Courses on Group Living
Introduction to Pleasurable Group Living
Evaluacy (residential)
More Socratic Dialogue (residential)
Third Mansion
Housemothers' course
Advanced Courses (prerequisites)
Aphrodisia
Man/Woman
Love for Sale, Half-Price
Oestrology
Seeing Magic
Glimpse of Seeing
Courses with Cindy Baranco (prerequisites)
Darshan
Gift of Time: Looking with New Eyes
Audience
Sunday with Cindy
Laboratory Courses (prerequisites)
Advanced Sensuality
Mutual Pleasurable Stimulation of the Human Nervous System
Advanced Fundamentals of Sensuality
A Philosophy Of Sensuality
Expansion of Sexual Potential
Qualification
Certification
Cause Course
Basic Courses
Evening with Vic
Evening with Vic is a three-hour unstructured course designed to
introduce students to the ideas and teachings of the late Victor Baranco,
founder of Morehouse and the Institute of Human Abilities. Students are
encouraged to ask questions on any topic of interest, and the teachers
will endeavor to answer the questions consistent with Vic's information
and enlightened viewpoints.
| Day |
Hours |
| Weeknight |
3 hours |
|
| Tuition: |
$40* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
None |
 Top
Basic Sensuality
The course is about how to experience maximum pleasure in your own
body and how to produce maximum pleasure in your partner. It describes
and explores the functioning of the human nervous system. It addresses
the nature and principles of pleasure in all areas of your life. It
investigates societal attitudes regarding pleasure and self-imposed social
limitations.
The course includes lecture and discussion of responsible hedonism,
apparent sexual dysfunctions, training your partner to pleasure you
sensually, safer sex practices, handling resistances to pleasure, and
the one no-vote, as well as many other
topics. Your goals are identified and addressed and you are encouraged
to ask any questions you have. You will have homework to do in private
on Saturday following the evening session.
| Day |
Hours |
Breaks (approx. times) |
| Saturday |
10am - 10pm |
1-3pm, and 6-8pm |
| Sunday |
10am - 10pm |
1-3pm, and 6-8pm |
|
| Tuition: |
$225* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
None |
 Top
Communication
This course identifies the elements of verbal and nonverbal communication,
regardless of content, beginning with the most fundamental parts of
communication and building from there. Through lecture, discussion
and structured exercises, you become aware of and master each element,
examining specifically what works and what does not work in transmitting
a message that is received and understood.
| Day |
Hours |
Breaks (approx. times) |
| Saturday |
10am - 10pm |
1-3pm, and 6-8pm |
| Sunday |
10am - 10pm |
1-3pm, and 6-8pm |
|
| Tuition: |
$225* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
None |
 Top
Jealousy, Money and Possessions
Jealousy, Money and Possessions are three major areas in life where
many people experience loss. Through lecture, discussion and illuminating
exercises, this course considers how to win and have fun with attitudes
about ownership, trust, betrayal, interpersonal relationships, and money,
and not only how to handle jealousy, but to profit from it. The course is
about how to have more and how to enjoy more what is already yours.
| Day |
Hours |
Breaks (approx. times) |
| Saturday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
| Sunday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
|
| Tuition: |
$225* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
None |
 Top
Hexing
Hexing is a conceptual game that people are playing unconsciously all
the time to control and manipulate others emotional responses. To the
extent that you control hexing, you control your universe. The course
shows you how to hex and bless deliberately in your communications to
create desired effects. Through structured games you learn the power
dynamics of social groups and how best to profit from any position. The
history, technique, structure and application of hexing in various
contexts are also examined. Even though its origins are in ancient ritual
practices and it's commonly dismissed as obsolete mythology, hexing is
widely practiced in modern society in such areas as advertising, politics,
flirtation, medicine, religion, etc.
| Day |
Hours |
Breaks (approx. times) |
| Saturday |
10am - 10pm |
1-3pm, and 6-8pm |
| Sunday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
|
| Tuition: |
$300* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
None |
 Top
Fundamentals of Sensuality
Fundamentals of Sensuality examines the nature of pleasure and of orgasm.
The course describes human physiology, the initiation and control of
the cycle of excitation and sensuality as a mode of communication and
includes a demonstration of methods. The afternoon demonstration of a
woman in orgasm for an hour shows that the amount of sensual pleasure
available to an individual far exceeds the expectations commonly held
in our society. Witnessing the demonstration expands the students'
willingness to experience more pleasure in their own bodies.
First time students receive a video tape or DVD of a coming demonstration:
"How to Do a Woman"
Interview with Diana: Find out about the first coming demonstration and what led up to it in 1976. read >
| Day |
Hours |
Breaks (approx. times) |
| Saturday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
|
| Tuition: |
$265*
Once having taken Fundamentals of Sensuality, you may attend any coming
demonstration for $40. |
|
| Prerequisites: |
None |
|
Basic Sensuality is recommended |
 Top
Presentation
This course is a dialogue conducted between the student and selected
instructors. Together they systematically investigate the nature of
perfection, both personal and universal. The dialogue continues until
the student comes to the realization of his/her own perfection and the
perfection of all things, without doubt or qualification. One session.
|
| Tuition: |
$400 - $500 per hour*, three hour minimum |
|
| Prerequisites: |
None |
 Top
Menopause
Menopause is a natural progression in a woman's life about which there are
many cultural prejudices. Everyone is directly or indirectly affected by
menopause, whether they are anticipating it, experiencing it first hand, or
relating with someone who is, be it a partner, friend or family member.
This course explores menopause as an opportunity for a woman to increase the
pleasure in her life, sensually and in her most important relationships.
Menopause can be the beginning of a woman's greatest freedom, creativity,
and self expression. The course information is geared to everyone, of any
age and either gender.
| Day |
Hours |
Breaks (approx. times) |
| Saturday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
| Sunday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
|
| Tuition: |
$225* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
None |
 Top
Courses on Group Living
Introduction to Pleasurable Group Living
In our society, living as an independent family unit is becoming increasingly difficult for social and economic reasons. Isolation and loneliness are also growing problems. We believe that group living is a potential solution to these issues. And besides, it's fun!
In "Introduction to Pleasurable Group Living" we will address topics of interest to the students. These may include such topics such as how to ensure fair treatment of everyone in the group, create affordable housing, provide better child and elder care, reduce expenses and create more security.
|
| Tuition: |
$40* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
None |
 Top
Evaluacy (residential)
The Evaluate Course is a two-week intensive residential course which is designed to introduce you to all aspects of Morehouse communal living and, if you're interested, help you figure out whether you might like to live communally, either with us or in an intentional community of your own. By living in a Morehouse, you will experience the opportunities, problems, and pleasures offered by interacting closely with others in the context of a one no-vote group. You will have guides to help to structure your time so that you get to sample a wide variety of the experiences and fun available. There will also be several sessions to discuss and examine all aspects of your course. A project to be accomplished with your housemates is included, which creates a hands-on opportunity to explore goal achievement in a society where the rule is, "don't do anything you don't want to do."
Prerequisite: One course
Recommended: Basic Sensuality and a Presentation
Tuition: Contact registrar
 Top
More Socratic Dialogue (residential)
In the Socratic Dialogues of Plato, Socrates declared "that the unexamined life is not worth living." The More Socratic Dialogue (MSD) course was created to encourage students to extensively examine and communicate about all aspects of life. The course also applies the one no-vote system and the concept of perfection to everyday experiences, with the goal being fun.
This course provides residency in a Morehouse, where students participate in the social experiment of Morehouse. While living with others who embrace the concept of perfection, student participants practice the principles of the More Philosophy in their daily lives and have the opportunity to discuss and compare their findings with other students.
For information, please contact registrar.
 Top
Third Mansion
During its 40 years of experience in pleasurable group living, Lafayette
Morehouse has experimented with a variety of approaches to creating
a lifestyle that actually suits the people who live it, including the
ability to continue to explore and implement alternatives as times and
desires change.
The Third Mansion course describes the results of these experiments
so far. Among the topics addressed are: time, sex, money, child-raising
in a community and how the group has evolved using the one no vote system.
You will have the opportunity to examine what worked for us (and what
didn't) and select tools and options you may want to adopt or modify
to create the group living situation of your dreams. This information
applies to groups of two or more people.
Also included are some of the elements of life in the Morehouse community,
including a party, boxing, tennis, swimming and an hour demonstration of
a woman in orgasm. Concurrent enrollment in the More Socratic Dialogue
residency course is available for those wishing to live at Lafayette
Morehouse for the weekend.
| Day |
Hours |
Breaks (approx. times) |
| Saturday |
10am - 10pm |
1-3pm |
| Sunday |
10am - 10pm |
1-3pm |
|
| Tuition: |
$375* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
One Course |
 Top
Housemothers' Course
Description to come. Please contact registrar for details.
 Top
Advanced Courses
Man/Woman
This course describes all human relationships, regardless of
gender. It examines male and female as socially created identities
based upon biological characteristics and how the genders relate. Our
society is heavily slanted toward male/female partnerships, but the
course demonstrates how the elements of relationship work in all forms of
coupling. The course discusses the myths and realities underlying gender
and describes the principles of creating mutually rewarding relationships,
enabling you to bring more fun into your life. The course also reveals
the true status of the female, long obscured by sexual prejudice, and
clarifies persistent mysteries regarding gender difference.
| Day |
Hours |
Breaks (approx. times) |
| Saturday |
10am - 10pm |
1-3pm, and 6-8pm |
| Sunday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
|
| Tuition: |
$300* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
Basic Sensuality
Communication
|
 Top
Aphrodisia
Description to come. Please contact registrar for details.
 Top
Love for Sale, Half-Price
Love has the highest emotional value in our culture, yet to most of us
it is surrounded by mystery. Although we revere and desire it, most
people feel out of control of it. Many hope their lives will be blessed
with love.
At the same time, they fear that it may be elusive or too expensive
to obtain, and too difficult to keep up. Many of us don't know how
to have love be ever-expanding, without which it is likely to end in
disappointment.
Love For Sale, Half-Price offers ways we have seen to bring the love you
imagine into your life, at much less cost than you might have guessed,
and to have it thrive and grow.
| Day |
Hours |
Breaks (approx. times) |
| Saturday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
| Sunday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
|
| Tuition: |
$225* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
Basic Sensuality |
 Top
Oestrology
This course describes a frame of reference that explains human experience.
It illuminates the dynamics between male and female players and
their far-reaching implications, addressing marriage/monogamy, law,
insatiability, inferiority, defensive behavior, surrender and the
fundamental triad.
| Day |
Hours |
Breaks (approx. times) |
| Saturday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
| Sunday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
 Top
Seeing Magic
Vic Baranco presented the course "Seeing Magic" only once and only to a
group of insiders in 1975.
Seeing Magic is a distillation of what Vic's investigation of magic and its
practical applications revealed. One of his conclusions was, "Everyone who
succeeds uses magic." Various forms of magic have been practiced throughout
the history of Morehouse and are to this day.
The first step to using the power of magic to achieve your goals is to
recognize it. "Seeing" is a term that Vic used to describe the art of
transcending personal prejudice to achieve a clarity of perception
unavailable from the first person perspective.
| Day |
Hours |
Breaks (approx. times) |
| Saturday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
|
| Tuition: |
$200* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
Hexing |
 Top
Glimpse of Seeing
"Seeing is admitting what you know. Love is the light by which you see. The quality of your life is dependent upon the quality of action."
In order to develop the Art of Seeing the course will employ the critical analysis of literary and dramatic forms including movies, television, media methods and techniques, advertising, poetry and the students own lives. Through the medium of creative writing and participation in the course project students will attain and demonstrate understanding and use of this art. The course includes the investigation of human emotional response in literary forms and the functions and effects of culture and conditioning. Seeing skills are honed through discipline, successful collaboration and guts. The ability to see is the portal to creativity, intimacy and confidence.
The course sessions are held one evening a week for 15 consecutive weeks. The length of time for each session is determined by how long it takes. Expect a minimum of three hours. Students may anticipate spending up to 24 hours/week on assignments outside the class.
|
| Tuition: |
$150 to enroll and a $50 lab fee per week.* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
Basic Sensuality, Communication, and Hexing. |
|
| Recommended: |
Presentation |
 Top
Courses with Cindy Baranco
Darshan
Come meet Cindy Baranco, Vic's wife and partner of 27 years. Cindy is furthering the development of the More philosophy that Vic originated, while giving it a feminine voice. She brings a fresh perspective and offers real life practical application of the concept of perfection to everyday experience. Feeling her genuine approval of herself, of you, and of the universe gives you the opportunity to claim it for yourself.
The format is Q & A. You are welcome to ask her questions about any aspect of your life. She and her friends will draw upon their personal experiences and viewpoints, based on over 40 years of communal living and research into lifestyles and relationships, to describe how you can have more fun and pleasure in everything you do.
| Day |
Hours |
| Varies: |
2 - 4pm |
|
| Tuition: |
$150* |
$99 recession special |
|
| Prerequisites: |
One Course |
 Top
Gift of Time: Looking with New Eyes
"Always remember to do everything you want to do. When death comes, you'll be relieved because you'll be so tired."
— Things I've Heard Vic Say, Volume V
It is a commonly held belief in our society that after a brief period of
youth each of us is destined to a declining quality of life. The Gift of
Time was originally written and presented by Dr. Victor Baranco in 1990 to
consider life as an ever-expanding experience of good. Vic believed that
this choice was available to anyone willing to hold alternative points of
view.
Dr. Cindy Baranco has continued with the same keen observance of life so
characteristic of Vic and has created an additional body of information on
this subject. Cindy is particularly interested in the tendency of adults to
act more and more genderless as they age and will present her ideas on
having more of the sparkle of life by continuing to enjoy the fun of gender
and maintaining sex as a possibility. She will describe how all the flavors
of relationship and experiences you've dreamed of are available to you if
you will look with new eyes at the people already in your life. This is a
unique opportunity to hear Vic teach, along with Cindy's perspectives - both
from years of living with him and from her personal and ongoing exploration
of responsible hedonism.
In The Gift of Time, Vic said, "Everybody who's young is working and
studying hard to get to be a good older." The prospect and subject of aging
is pivotal to people of all ages.
The Gift of Time is a two-day video course. On Saturday we will present Vic on videotape in the original first sessions of the course. Sunday will be two sessions that were developed by Cindy and recorded friends in March 2007.
| Day |
Hours |
Breaks (approx. times) |
| Saturday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
| Sunday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
|
| Tuition: |
$300 |
|
| Prerequisites: |
One Course |
 Top
Audience
An Audience is an intensive course particularly appropriate to students
who intend to make dramatic improvement to their lives. In this course a
small group of students engage in a confidential dialogue with Cindy and
friends over several days. The content and duration of the conversations
are predicated by the interests of the students. Cindy answers questions
and offers viewpoints on the practical application of the More Philosophy.
With a deepened understanding of perfection, fresh perspectives are
brought to the specific life situations of the participants.
 Top
Sunday with Cindy
"God did his last work on Saturday; it's been Cindy ever since...oops,
I mean Sunday."
- Things I've Heard Vic Say, Volume V
Vic and Cindy actively continued their evolving research all the way to Vic's death. Since then, Cindy has gone on to illuminate Vic's insights by giving them the full balance of a feminine voice and adding her further observations.
Cindy has become increasingly aware that there are layers of understanding that continue to expand her experience of joy and fulfillment. In Sunday with Cindy she shares some of her conclusions to date. She describes those parts of her research that have resulted for her in personal breakthroughs in happiness, love, sexual pleasure and embracing change. Cindy shares the processes she has found effective in bringing about these increases so that anyone willing to do the work can reap this bounty as well.
A pivotal subject of the course is what Cindy has named "the crimp". She has found that this product of social prejudice affects and limits all aspects of the lives of both women and men. She has given this nearly invisible set of viewpoints a shape and will show that if a person is simply aware of the phenomenon a new level of liberation and light-heartedness becomes available.
If they wish, students of the course may join with Cindy to continue in blazing the trail that Vic created in responsible hedonism. This opportunity comes in the form of a directed on-line study group on the material presented in Sunday with Cindy and makes it possible for you to participate in her research.
Sunday with Cindy is a video presentation of the original course held in Oct. 2008.
Report on Sunday with Cindy: A report on the original course and on-line study group. read >
| Day |
Hours |
Breaks (approx. times) |
| Sunday |
10am - 6pm |
1-3pm |
|
| Tuition: |
$350* |
| Reviewers: |
$100* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
Basic Sensuality
Communication
Man/Woman
Presentation recommended
|
 Top
Laboratory Courses
Advanced Sensuality
Advanced Sensuality is a hands-on laboratory course which gives you
practical experience in applying information from Basic Sensuality.
The course can be taken with or without a partner and provides you the
opportunity to identify what pleases you sensually and to communicate
that information in a winning way to another. You will also learn how
to please a partner. It is a safe, structured environment and trained
professionals monitor and assist all exercises. There is extensive
practical application of the "training cycle" as described in the
Basic Sensuality course. Certain ground rules are strictly observed,
including: Don't do anything you don't want to do; and don't touch
anyone without his or her overt agreement.
The course is normally conducted over a six-week period with one,
three-hour session per week and out-of-class assignments during the
week. It is also occasionally offered in a weekend format to accommodate
students from out of town or those with conflicting schedules.
SIX-WEEK FORMAT:
| Day |
Hours |
| Weeknight |
3 hours |
|
| Tuition: |
$475* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
Basic Sensuality |
WEEKEND FORMAT:
| Day |
Hours |
Breaks (approx. times) |
| Saturday |
10am - 10pm |
1-3pm, and 6-8pm |
| Sunday |
10am - 10pm |
1-3pm, and 6-8pm |
|
| Tuition: |
$500* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
Basic Sensuality |
 Top
Mutual Pleasurable Stimulation of the Human Nervous System
In this course students investigate their personal sensual potential by
exploring their own and their partner's bodies. Participants learn how to
simultaneously receive and produce profound pleasure with a partner using
primarily manual stimulation. The material is presented through a series of
lectures and demonstrations. Under the guidance of certified members of the
Sensuality Department, students experiment with the information in carefully
designed, structured classroom exercises.
This course is limited to consenting adults who agree to be laboratory
partners for the duration of the course.
The course involves one three-hour classroom session per week for six weeks
and includes homework assignments. It is occasionally offered in a two-week
intensive format.
SIX-WEEK FORMAT
| Day |
Hours |
| Weeknight |
3 hours |
INTENSIVE FORMAT:
 Top
Advanced Fundamentals of Sensuality
This is a lecture and laboratory course about the practical application
of information presented in the Fundamentals of Sensuality course.
You and your partner will investigate sexual intercourse as an expression
of equality, something that is done together rather than something one
person does to another, thereby heightening pleasure for both parties.
The lectures and exercises emphasize anatomy and a thorough examination
of coition to deepen the enjoyment of that act. The course explains the
neurophysiology of the genitalia and in-depth analysis of engorgement,
lubrication, seminal secretion and introital and cervical involvements
in copulation.
The course is conducted over a six-week period with one three-hour
session per week and out-of-class assignments during the week.
| Day |
Hours |
| Weeknight |
3 hours |
 Top
A Philosophy Of Sensuality
A Philosophy of Sensuality is an advanced, sensuality, laboratory course
which is offered by invitation to qualified students. Sessions include
lecture, floor exercises with a partner and comprehensive homework. In each
weekly session a particular form of eroticism is described and offered as an
area of exploration along with information and techniques for an
ever-expanding experience of sensual pleasure. The course meets one evening
each week and is offered in three six-week cycles.
 Top
Expansion of Sexual Potential
Description to come. Please contact registrar for details.
 Top
Qualification
Description to come. Please contact registrar for details.
 Top
Certification
Description to come. Please contact registrar for details.
 Top
Cause Course
The Cause Course two week intensive offers extensive practice in
applying communication techniques to real life. The course explores
the satisfaction of participating as a team as well as adopting the
goals of others as a way to enjoy your own life more. Techniques are
given on how to graciously give and receive instructions, to serve and
be served and to achieve common goals pleasurably with others.
The course includes a daily, hour-long lecture/discussion session
accompanied by lab work. A class project is the laboratory for
demonstrating the group's mastery of the material.
|
| Tuition: |
$600* |
|
| Prerequisites: |
Basic Sensuality
Communication
|
 Top
|