Halpern: One day, during the Bush/Kerry campaign, I was working in environmental radio, and I was walking to an event and I passed One Taste. I actually thought it was a hair salon or something, but something inside told me I should come check it out. A little voice inside my head said “GO IN THERE.” And so I did.

SFBG: And you were hooked?

Halpern: Well, I took a yoga course and spent the day laughing and crying and the result was that I felt this freedom in who I am, and in my sex. I had never experienced that before. The teacher, the founder of One Taste, tried to end the course and I started crying, saying “I don’t want this to end!” Then I took more courses, and more, and now I’m here full time.

SFBG: So what exactly do you teach?

Halpern: I teach people that every part of them is OK, even the shadowy parts. Everything is OK.

SFBG: All right, well how is this place different from other places that try to make people feel good about themselves? I mean, it seems like it’s a goal everyone has, to feel good about himself, to accept himself entirely. How does this place allow one to achieve that state of mind better than other places?

Halpern: Well, most places like this ask you to leave sex at the door. There’s a taboo around it that makes our society explore sex in ways that don’t feel connected. Pornography doesn’t feel connected. We all want connection. We’re all obsessed with sex and so at One Taste we just say, “Here, have it however you want and it’s OK.”

SFBG: So sex is the key to happiness?

Halpern: Well, we’ve created a place, a community of people that connect through their genitals. Once you have freedom in your genitals and once you know who you are as a sexual being, your life looks different.

SFBG: How so?

Halpern: Well, because I’m more in touch with myself, I can feel more when you’re really sad or happy, and because I love you and don’t want to hurt you, I can deal with any bad feelings I have about you in a healthier way. I won’t want to hurt you because it will feel like I’m hurting myself.

SFBG:What do you mean?

Halpern: Like, let’s say you go to bar with your girlfriend or boyfriend, and someone else looks at them, and it just ruins your night. Well, that energy actually goes to your genitals. So we have a practice that allows you to feel your genitals more.

SFBG: Okay, so how would you feel if you were at a bar and someone was scoping out your significant other?

Halpern: I would be really turned on!

SFBG: Wow.

Halpern: Well, there are still times when I get jealous, but I'm learning how to live in the moment. It feels like in our society, there's always this goal we're trying to get to. We have to have a husband and a house, for example. I used to really want those things because I used to let my head decide for me. Now I go through my body and my intuition, like really knowing in here [pointing to her naughty region]. Now I know what feels good for my body. Now I can live in the moment. I'm happy and I can truly love others.

SFBG: OK…speaking of other people; does someone have to be a part of One Taste for you to find them attractive?

Halpern: No.

SFBG: Because you guys all live here right?

Halpern: Well, we're like a place for spiritual travelers. It's an ever-evolving system and people come and go. We believe that everything is welcome and that nothing can be shut out. Our classes teach people how to feel connected.

One Taste promo vid:

SFBG: OK … so what’s a good example? What classes do you personally teach?

Halpern: “The Man Course” is my favorite.

SFBG: What’s “The Man Course?”

Halpern: OK, OK, OK! Imagine you’re in a room with over 10 turned-on women who want you to have what you want with women, who are willing to tell you the games that women play with men. They will teach you how to be with women.

SFBG: Is there touching involved?

Halpern: Well, there is some touching. We teach men how we want to be touched. But really we just try to create new relationship dynamics. We’re really just trying to teach men the games women play.

SFBG: Can you give me an example of a game women play?

Halpern: Well, women tend to act in a way that men don’t understand, and it confuses men. Men think in linear terms and women don’t think like that. We think from A to M to Z. So men are always like “what the hell did she did just do? I do not understand this woman.”

SFBG:I’ve felt that before.

Halpern: Yeah … one minute I’ll hate you and the next minute I’ll love you. We teach men how to play with that.

SFBG: How?

Halpern: We use our polishing machine.

SFBG: What’s that?

Halpern: We stand the man in front of us and tell him all the things we like about him and then suggest ways he could change to be more attractive to women. We tell him “we want you to have this. We’re like every woman out there and we want you to understand us. But don’t shoot us. Don’t shoot the messenger.” And also we reveal that you shouldn’t trust everything women say because we’re liars. We are liars.