This page is testament to the power of these workshops, the wonderful participants we’ve hosted over the years and their deep commitment to connection. Enjoy these reviews and testimonials!
2019 Workshops
If you need a new approach to the same old recurring issue in your relationship. this workshop will not only give you insight to what your partner’s side feels like, but a new approach to look at your part in the dance.
The hold me tight work shop has really helped us move thru hurdles in our relationship that were too big to tackle alone. We also learned a lot about ourselves and our own patterns.
Dalia and Owen gave us a great gift – the ability to step back, to really listen, to ask for what we need, and to feel heard without judgment. I feel closer to my partner, and much more enthusiastic for the adventure that lies ahead.
The workshop was amazing. Any couple that wants to connect deeper should come. It will be the most impactful 2 days of your relationship.
I was rather skeptical on how this workshop was going to improve my relationship with my same sex partner. To my amazement it has helped me to better understand where she’s coming from, and listen closer to the meaning and context of what she is sharing. Dalia and Owen worked together perfectly to engender this transformation in our relationship.
I have a lot more hope for my marriage. We are going to have a new way to try to work out of the painful places our dynamic takes us both to.
I signed my husband and myself up for this workshop feeling like it was our last resort. Instead I feel like it opened doors and broke down walls that we had up for years. I now have so much hope for our future!
Owen and Dalia created a setting where we as couples felt safe and encouraged to open up our partners in new and deeper ways that I did not think could happen at a retreat with other couples. It was very real and very much a relationship change that was much needed.
I want all my friends, family to attend the next available workshop – Dalia and Owen are the best at presenting, getting couples to the place of being able to understand what is really behind all the pain…bringing relationships back to a place of feeling safe and not avoiding the difficult – loving that you get to share life with your partner.
I will be recommending this workshop to all of my friends. Everyone needs these skills for every relationship in life.
If you’re thinking about taking the workshop and you’re willing to invest in your relationship, then this workshop is just what you need.
2018 Workshops
I was able to learn new tools to communicate with my spouse and make more emotional connections.
"...I wanted to reach out and thank you both for holding the workshop with us this past weekend. It really changed the way in which I view and interact with my partner and I couldn't be more grateful ... It means a lot that you're willing to learn and grow together with us, not in a power-over dynamic, but in an interactive way... Thank you for doing what you do, from holding the space for us to be vulnerable with each other, to treating us to the opportunity to laugh and learn and grow and grieve.
I wanted to share something of a synchronicity I experienced in my own life. I went home last weekend to visit my parents for Memorial Day, and was able to apply aspects of what I had learned to my own relationships with them, listening to their struggles and allowing myself to be vulnerable. I thought it would be hokie, but the results were spectacular. Here is a text message my father sent me this morning:
`Again i want to thank you for taking the time to come and visit with us.
Hope your stay was pleasant and comfortable.
We enjoyed your company more than you can imagine.
You're a very special person and you light up a room with your presence.
People are drawn to you and you only need to look in the mirror to see how wonderful you are.
I may seem like an angry bird but inside I'm just looking to make things better for those around me.
Sometimes more difficult than you might think.
Please focus on the positive and look to the things that give you the joy we need to continue moving forward. Job/Partner /Family/Future
Love,
Dad`
Never in my life has my father been so candid with me. Never before has he opened up like that. I was shocked. It sounds like a different person. All because I allowed myself to be present with him. To thank him for noticing and accepting my partner. To be me with all my own fears and insecurities. He could have closed up and backed off, but he didn't. When I opened up and let myself be grateful, vulnerable, and human, he did the same.
It's almost miraculous."
Though this two day workshop was intense and filled with helpful tools for communication within couples it was offered in such a warm and nurturing way that I left feeling that I learned many useful skills for continuing to grow as a couple.
We decided to try save our relationship and took the Hold Me Tight couple workshop with Dalia, after hearing from friends how successful Emotional Focused Therapy and the Hold Me Tight workshop was for some friends of ours.
Thank you for a life changing experience!
My husband and I attended your last workshop….WONDERFUL experience. 36 years and back in love!!! We always have had a strong committed relationship but this workshop rekindled the magic. Thank you.
The seminar is definitely worth experiencing. Dalia and Owen are 2 people who are dedicated to helping couples take a different approach to improving a relationship. I believe every couple leaves with a positive outlook on improving their lives.
I liked that it took an emotional approach, not the intellectual we hear about so much, placed a big emphasis on giving hope and trust in the relationship itself and how to create that.
We were co-existing in a sexless, flat, hopeless marriage, where we couldn’t get out of that stuck place. We did not know how to connect and how to get unstuck. Lots of years of buildup resentments and rejections. We decided to try the Hold Me Tight workshop after reading the book. Maybe we can get help figuring it out. It was truly an amazing experience. We began to understand that our cycle of disconnect goes way back and that we stop being open to each other about our fears and our longings. We are like newly weds. seriously.
Cultivating intimacy is never easy or comfortable, but after moving through the challenging moments during the workshop I was reminded of it’s rewards. Dalia’s and Owen’s grounded presence is infectious and penetrates those parts of us that want to stay hidden and tucked away. Once those parts are revealed, they can be healed!
I am grateful to Dalia and Owen for creating a safe workshop to process some very difficult challenges in relationships. I am grateful to have learned a way out and into our heart. I am grateful for everyone that showed up here and attempting to be vulnerable. Thank you.
I would highly recommend to couples who have felt stuck in their communication and want to find another way of connecting with, and understanding their partner better. Going beyond behavioral interventions, and supporting couples to be vulnerable with one another.
Very helpful in having partners communicate in a beneficial and safe way.
Please go! It can change your life. Keep an open mind and heart. And please listen with both. You will not be disappointed.
Thank you Dalia and Owen, you pushed us to go deep, we trusted, and we gained so much understanding of one another that will greatly benefit and enhance the growth of our relationship and love.
We were mind blown how one weekend could changes our relationship. It’s not that it was a magic cure or a miraculous transformation, but it allowed us to look inward, rather then point fingers, we were able to become vulnerable, reach into out soft and raw spots and then reach to each other. We felt that we have found our intimacy again, (As Dalia kept pointing out… INTIMACY = In To Me You See).
Our relationship was flat and going nowhere… we were not fighting, but we were not flowing, and it was not good… We almost stopped having sex, and when we did, it was the same old unsatisfying sex.
After so many years of marriage, it is easy to stay in a rut, keep it normal. Dalia and Owen were great in helping to break the cycle by sharing loving and kind ways to communicate without blaming and shaming each other. Thank you for all that you do and all the tools you have provided us.
2017 Workshops
This workshop was a positive and beautiful experience for me and my spouse. It gave us the opportunity to open up and be vulnerable and have deep conversations. Dalia and Figs were fantastic facilitators. This workshop would benefit any relationship, at whatever stage they are in.
This is a great opportunity to learn about yourself, your partner, and your relationship. The workshop provides tools to set you up with a framework to continue important, difficult conversations at home, and in a safe place.
Hold Me Tight workshop is an opportunity to be held in a safe space to do the deeper work a relationship needs. We all know this work is hard-and avoid it as long as possible- but when both partners are ready the work is totally trans-formative. Thank you Owen and Dalia! Great teachers and role models.
The Hold Me Tight Workshop taught me how to feel safe. It gave me the tools to work on my marriage and I do believe my marriage will thrive because of it. I feel more confident in myself and my partner that we can conquer the rough times.
I recommend anyone to attend this workshop. The amount of information and connections between me and my husband is beyond explainable.
Couples therapists are the special forces of therapy. Dalia embraces the commitment any élite soldier has to completing his mission and protecting his brothers.
I experience firsthand her compassion and brilliance in co-leading couples workshops with her.
Dalia and Owen did a wonderful job of heading by their own example, I would highly recommend the ….to anyone regardless of where they are in their relationship.
It was difficult for me to put myself out there, to be vulnerable. It turned out to be a beautiful experience.
We learned how to dance, together we can trust our partner to lead and we will feel safe to follow. That’s a beautiful thing.
My husband and I are so grateful that we attended this amazing workshop. As newlyweds this weekend gave us a wealth of knowledge about how to be open and honest and vulnerable, and how to communicate and understand each other, and go under the surface to deep and serious issues. Wow!
Her workshop was excellent! I highly recommend them!
I'm a doctor of psychology, with over two decades of experience; Dalia is warm, caring, generous, transparent, enthusiastic, and committed in both her workshops and couples' counseling sessions. Her passion and dedication reveal that helping people is truly her heart and soul's work. I'm fortunate that a friend connected us and I was able to attend her "Hold Me Tight" workshop.
We learned how to dance, together we can trust our partner to lead and we will feel safe to follow. That’s a beautiful thing.
A wonderful exercise to get a new perspective of our personal trials and a map to work our way through.
Thank you so much for all your hard work , open hearted sharing and willingness to give of your time and talents to help others.
I have a fear of being in groups. Especially when about feelings and sensitivities. This workshop helped me work through that in a delicate way, and at the same time gave my wife and I a chance to share the mapping to ourselves. It was a wonderful, scary, enlightening, and strengthening weekend.
The Hold Me Tight Workshop with Dalia and Figs taught me how to feel safe. It gave me the tools to work on my marriage and I do believe my marriage will thrive because of it. I feel more confident in myself and my partner that we can conquer the rough times.
We enjoyed and got so much out of the weekend and it has taken our relationship to a much deeper place and we are both feeling grounded and loved!!!
This class has taught me that it’s ok to open up & to share & to be vulnerable and to share my feelings with my …& let her know my hurts & pain.
The structure allowed us to explore areas we have a hard time articulating by ourselves. It lead us to where we need to be.
Dalia’s style is bar none. As a therapist attending the workshop I felt completely safe to take off my own therapist hat and just be a partner in my relationship. She augments the workshop materials with amazing insights. Most of all she models authenticity and vulnerability. The safety one feels makes it easy to do the work.
Enjoyed the workshop, made significant improvements in the quality of our relationship.
2016 Workshops
Taking this workshop will not be easy or even necessarily pleasant, but it is the most important thing I have done for my relationship and myself in twenty years and it has made me excited about the future of my relationship.
I love Dalia’s enthusiasm and guidance through the HMT …. which allowed us as partner to know what triggers each other and how to instead respond in ways that maintain mutual safety, support, and an expansive flow of love.
After the workshop was over, my partner and I felt more connected and left with a deeper understating of the inner processes within each of us. We also noticed that we had more compassion for each other and the struggles we each go through to love one another.
I did not think we needed this workshop. I was so wrong. It gave me the tools to work on our issues and also provided the tools for us to continue to enhance what we do right.
This is a great opportunity to learn about yourself, your partner, and your relationship. The workshop provides tools to set you up with a framework to continue important, difficult conversations at home, and in a safe place.
Dalia and Figs could not possibly have done a better job with the program. Both are highly intelligent, deeply insightful, and well-matched professionals who performed expertly throughout.
I feel blessed to have this experience with my love Katie. It is a turning point for me. A stepping towards us.
This seminar simply moved to the heart of relationship challenges and offers a usable clear guide to assist couples toward a loving safe relationship by helping us to understand the dynamics that pull us together or drive us apart. For those willing to give their all, this can be the beginning of a new, richer life together.
Anyone who really wants to be better connected to their partner will benefit for this workshop. Whether young, old, in a happy relationship or a troubled one, this workshop is of huge value to your loving connection.
A mentally exhausting, serious exercise in fun.
This workshop is extremely helpful and very beneficial to any couples going through a rough time in their relationship. The counselors are wonderful and incredibly experienced and understanding of your situation and do the best to help give you tools to make your relationship better. 5 stars!
Thank you Dalia for helping me to get off the treadmill of life for a weekend and for helping me see my wife again for the loving, caring person she is.
The Hold Me Tight workshop was a great experience and gave us some new insight on our relationship.
The workshop provided a structured way to visit hard topics, and touch upon places within each of us that were sore spots and wounded areas in a conscious way. The environment was well supported and contained, and I felt that when my partner and I hit bumps in our communication that either Dalia or her assistant were able to hold space and guide us through it. Cultivating intimacy is never easy or comfortable, but after moving through the challenging moments during the workshop I was reminded of it’s rewards. Dalia’s grounded presence is infectious and penetrates those parts of us that want to stay hidden and tucked away. Once those parts are revealed, they can be healed!
This is one of the most intense things we have attempted in 46 years together. It gave us a system for attaining the emotional intimacy that we were lacking.
I highly recommend taking Dalia’s workshop and learning how EFT can assist you and your partner to develop a deeper bond and more awareness of how to love and hold each other wounded parts. This work is invaluable! Thank you for the beautiful, deep work you do for your community!
This workshop had a positive effect on our relationship. I think we have a couple more tools in the toolbox to help advance the closeness and meaningfulness of our relationship.
We drew closer and were forced to talk in a way that facilitated a revamping of our fight-or-flight patterns.
It was an emotionally difficult weekend that I believe made me a stronger person and made our relationship stronger. Dalia offered great tools and insights. She also offered lots of refreshments in a pleasant comfortable venue which made it about as comfortable can possibly be.
Hold Me Tight® provides a great way to learn about patterns in our relationship with tools to unpack the issues and find common ground. Investing in happiness and the love I have for the people I care for. A great experience to share with the love of your life.
Delightful! So respectful and positive, hopeful, insightful…
Dalia does everything she says! Loving, gentle, yet, direct coaching/counseling!
I am very Blessed to have attended her 'Hold Me Tight' workshop, Sue Johnson inspired. But she's made it her own. I look forward to seeing her again. I highly recommend her. Love & Miss you already Dalia!
I felt true connection with my husband for the first time in years by the end of the first day. It surprised me.
Dalia and Figs are awesome. If you are in a bad spot in your marriage or relationship and are looking for help, take this workshop. It is amazing. Thank you guys.
Dalia and Owen create a safe environment to explore the dark corners of your relationship and to celebrate the bonds you already have.
My partner and I attended Dalia’s EFT Couple’s workshop a few months ago.
We went to the workshop in order to find ways to better communicate, and get past the “challenging moments” that continued to cycle around in our relationship.
Dalia and Owen really held a solid container for my partner and I to dive into our most vulnerable work. Through modeling and experiences this workshop stands out as a safe way for couples to stop painful patterns and find connections back to love and intimacy. I highly recommend this retreat. Wonderful, wonderful experience. Thank you for the depth and attentiveness – excellent job!
A great and safe environment to have gentle breakthroughs that bring us closer together and make us stronger as a couple.
Brilliant! What a great way to open up conversation and connect.
2015 Workshops
This is an excellent workshop that will bring you closer as a couple. Dalia’s knowledge and experience helped us feel close, and be so much more vulnerable then I could imagined! You wont regret it! It will make your relationship so much better.
I’m really happy that we, as a couple, decided to devote a weekend to this workshop. I feel closer and more connected to my spouse than I have in years. I feel more prepared to deal with future conflicts with compassion and empathy.
It was a very delightful and very productive workshop, and it was also so much fun!!
Thank you both for the great class this past weekend. Thank you for your intervention. We both felt that neither of us was all in and it was blocking us from the true love that we both feel for each other. My eyes were opened when you said the word sacred about our bond that we have.. Thank you again! I look forward to a long, healthy life with her!
Having been married for over 20 years, and even with that mostly being a good marriage, there remains room to grow and things to learn about ourselves and each other. Thank you and Owen for facilitating our growth.
You are an incredible team. I love how you keep it real and seeing that we all have ‘issues’. This is by far the best program we have ever attended, and we are going to recommend it to every couple we know, even if you feel your marriage is great.
Thank you both for the great class this past weekend. Thank you for your intervention. We both felt that neither of us was all in and it was blocking us from the true love that we both feel for each other. My eyes were opened when you said the word sacred about our bond that we have. Thank you again! I look forward to a long, healthy life with her!
You are an incredible team. I love how you keep it real and seeing that we all have ‘issues’. This is by far the best program we have ever attended, and we are going to recommend it to every couple we know, even if you feel your marriage is great.
My partner and I were beginning to lose hope, and were going to just give up, when we decided to just give it another chance.. In the Hold Me Tight® workshop, we were able to look at each others deep insecurities and realize how fear had taken over our relationship.. We realized we had work to do, but that we didn’t need to lose each other… WOW.. Thanks to you!..
The Hold Me Tight® workshop” was worth the investment. a safe place to open up to my partner on a deeper level. I am so grateful for this opportunity. I am grateful to this space and I know that it was an important step in taking our marriage from good to great.
Even after reading the book, twice!, it was Dalia who presented and explained the important conversations that open the door for me to understand how, where to break through to a new way of understanding and hearing my wife without feeling blamed by her.
It really helped us open up and share feelings and fears and forced us to work together as a couple.
Dalia and Owen are an incredible team. I love how they keep it real and seeing that we all have issues. This is by far the best program we have ever attended. We highly recommend this to every couple even if you think your marriage is perfect.
We learned that being vulnerable is the best thing we can do for each other.
Thank you for a weekend full of hard work, difficult conversations, growth and tools to move forward. Your work is valued and made a difference for us & so many others!
Useful information for couples in all stages of their relationship.
Thank you both from the bottom of my heart! what a powerful weekend and I also was so touched with the beautiful sacred ritual to end our time together… It was fun to watch the body language of the participants from when they first showed up – many so distanced from each other and at the end everyone was holding hands, leaning into their partners and so many tears of love!!
Powerful and profound work- thank you!!
Superb workshop. Helped us learn new skills and connect on a deeper level. Highly recommended.
Very glad that I took the courage and phoned you! My family noticed immediately a change in my emotional state right after coming the first time from you office in Sacramento. Thank you Dalia!
Give your selves the gift of this workshop. Do your self the favor and go for it. It will change your life.
I liked opening up and feeling vulnerable. I liked learning from others who are as imperfect as I am. I liked having clearly defined conversations that all built on each other, and got harder and harder. I especially liked being surprised. I was dreading this weekend, but I loved every minute. Divorce is expensive and this was an incredible investment. You and Owen are incredible facilitators – warm and approachable.
We learned that being vulnerable is the best thing we can do for each other. It was a very delightful and very productive workshop, and it was also so much fun!!. This is an excellent workshop that will bring you closer as a couple. Dalia’s knowledge and experience helped us feel close, and be so much more vulnerable then I could imagined! You wont regret it! It will make your relationship so much better.
Stuck in the same old patterns? This workshop will help you learn how to safely break those patterns and feel great about your relationship. Give your selves the gift of this workshop. Do your self the favor and go for it. It will change your life.
This workshop is an amazing and fun opportunity to gain new insight and tools to making a relationship better. Wherever your relationship is currently – it will be better after spending time with HMT workshop.