🪩 PLEASURE MEDICINE 🪩
A Gathering For Connection, Community & Disco Dance
Got Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer & Questioning Men
If you've ever left a gay space feeling more alone than when you arrived, this is for you…
If you're bored of apps, tired of performing and wondering where real community and belonging is, this is for you…
If you just want to be in a room full of gay men with a sense of real connection, joy, fun and delight, where all ages, body types, cultures and backgrounds come together, then this is for you…
What is it?
Pleasure Medicine is a fortnightly Saturday afternoon event in East London for gay, bi, trans, queer and questioning men. It's part connection workshop, part disco dance with a DJ, part community gathering.
Alcohol free, welcoming, warm and unlike anything else in London right now for GBTQ+ men.
You show up. You meet everyone in the room through some warm, playful facilitated exercises that foster connection, platonic intimacy and opening.
Then you dance for an hour and a half to a DJ set spanning disco, soul, deep house, tribal and everything in between. Then we gather in the park or a nearby cafe for the social afters.
Why do men keep coming back?
Because most gay spaces don't support the kind of deeper connection, vulnerability, intimacy, warmth, kindness, fun, joy and delight you're actually looking for as a gay man.
Pleasure Medicine is the opposite.
Nobody here is trying to be the hottest or the coolest or the most confident in the room. We practise being real. That may mean you feel nervous or awkward your first few times. Or it may mean you let your inner showgirl out and spin around the room liberated!
Or both. Who knows? But here you get to practise being your authentic self whatever that looks like. It's all welcome here.
A lot of men come alone the first time, nervous, not sure what to expect. Most of them are back the following fortnight. Some of them have been coming since the very beginning, a year and a half ago.
What happens?
- The opening circle: We all sit down together and your facilitator walks you through how the afternoon works. The guidelines, the agreements, what's okay and what isn't, what to expect and what not to. By the end of it you know exactly where you are, what the room has agreed to and that someone is holding you through it all. Most men say this is the moment they relax.
- The connection workshop: An hour of light and fun exercises, games and practices designed to get you actually meeting the other men in the room. Not awkward small talk. Not standing next to someone hoping they'll speak first. Real, warm, human contact with other men. You are guided with clear instruction on what to do. And you don't have to do anything you don't want to
- The Pleasure Medicine dance: A 90 minute live DJ set of disco, soul, deep house, ambient, funk and tribal music. No choreography to follow, no moves to learn, no right way to do it. You can throw yourself around or barely move. You can explore new ways of moving your body. Everything is welcome.
- The closing circle: Everyone sits down together to close out the time we've shared. Some men share their experience and how they're feeling. Some men say nothing and just sit with it. No pressure. Just a gentle closing of a magical afternoon.
The social hangout: Many guys carry on after the session in the park or a nearby cafe to eat, grab coffee and meet each other properly. This is where friendships, collaborations and community start building
What the guys are saying:
"I've been avoiding coming for months. I'm so glad I finally came because it has been one of the most moving and beautiful experiences being here with you all. I wish I'd broken through and come sooner."
"I found a part of myself I thought I'd lost."
“I didn't give a fuck what anyone thought of me, and yet I cared so much about everyone there.”
A few things you might be wondering
- I'm not a dancer. Neither are most of the men who come. There are no moves, no choreography, no judgement. You can stand still, sway gently, or lose yourself completely. All of it is fine.
- I'd be coming alone. Most men do the first time. The connection workshop means that by the time the dancing starts, you've already met many of the men in the room. You won't feel alone for long.
- I'm not sure it's my kind of thing. If you're gay and you've ever felt like there should be more to community than bars, apps and clubs, it probably is your kind of thing. You just haven't tried this yet.
- I'm shy, anxious, or not sure I'm cool, young or hot enough. The men who come to Pleasure Medicine range from their twenties to their eighties, every body type, every background. The only thing they have in common is that they showed up and dived into the experience. You being you is exactly enough.
- What's the music like? Disco, soul, deep house, ambient, afrobeat, tribal and techno. Eclectic but always on fire.
The Details
📅 Every other Saturday, 1:30pm to 5pm. Every two weeks. Without fail.
📍 Waking Dreams, Broadway Market, East London E8
Alcohol free event.
All gay, bi, trans, queer and questioning men welcome. Every age, every body, every background.
Your host
Gary Albert works with gay men as a therapist, hypnotherapist and somatic bodyworker. He created Pleasure Medicine because he couldn't find what he was looking for anywhere else, a space for gay men that was genuinely about connection rather than performance. He facilitates every session himself, and the community that's grown around it is something he's proud of and genuinely excited by.
Join the community
There's a WhatsApp group of over 300 gay and queer men where early bird tickets get announced first, community hangouts get organised, and the conversation keeps going between events.
→ Join here: https://chat.whatsapp.com/IVRR7Q773VB6Vix42V84t5