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Couples Course

Rev Up your Relationship

Who doesn’t want an even better relationship with their significant other? You may have a great relationship and simply want it to be deeper, more loving, more honest, more fun. On the other hand, your relationship may be in crisis.

CouplesCourse is a relationship enhancement course like none you’ve ever heard of. This course isn’t a vacation whose benefits end when the trip ends. Nor is it a week to repeat mantras of love to one another that don’t help when you’re actually in an argument. This program gives you very specific tools and lasting strategies that will forever transform how you and your partner relate to each other.

The program is led by The Option Institute Founders, Barry (Bears) Neil Kaufman and Samahria Lyte Kaufman, who have themselves successfully navigated their own relationship of more than 50 years. They, together with other senior teaching staff, will help you and your partner rev up your relationship by making honest communication both safe and exciting, eliminating blame, increasing intimacy, handling disagreements with comfort and dismantling old beliefs and perspectives which get in the way of just being together and enjoying each other.

In CouplesCourse, you will acquire the following tools:

Keys to Closeness: Create a safe space together for truly honest communication

Moving Past the Past: Heal old hurts so you both can enjoy each other now

Intimacy Without Fear: Learn how you can always “plug in” to feelings of deep love, free from any fear or reservation

The No-Blame Game: No longer take what your partner does personally (and vice versa), which eliminates 90% of arguments

The Option Process® Dialogue: Use this vital technique to listen to one another in a whole new way

Principles of Happy Negotiation: Crucial steps to navigate disagreements and achieve real resolution – without anger, hurt or resentment


Couples Course was an incredible week. The tools that I have learned will help me in my quest for a love for myself and my spouse and our relationship. It feels like it will be easy to be successful using the tools of dialogue, negotiation, deep loving and meaningful conversations, authentic commitments and trust of actions. I believe this week has been a life changing experience.
- Jon LaFontaine, Fire Safety Coordinator, NY
My husband and I have learned how to love each other in ways we never thought possible. We had a shut down in our relationship. He went his way, outside of our marriage and I went my way, to shut down emotionally and sexually. We chose not to give up on our marriage and look at our choices as a gift. We have begun anew and with that are all the possibilities we can achieve and have in an authentic and loving partnership.
- Kathleen Corelli Byrne, Mental Health Worker, CT
I came here with a good relationship, so I just thought maybe it could get a bit better. I had no idea how amazing it could be! We have both shared wants and dreams we never even knew before, learned to communicate from an authentic and trusting place. And discovered an intimacy that goes far beyond what I thought possible! This short time has changed us forever. And I am so grateful.
- Lily Hearst, Actress, FL
With our 10th anniversary approaching, my husband suggested we come to CouplesCourse. It has been a beautiful week and I can think of no better way to enhance a relationship. Our relationship has been very loving, but with the complicated lives we were living, it was not as full of the intimate connections we used to have. The tools we were given and the authentic sharing of the couples around us sent us away with a real sense of excitement for the adventure ahead. It was really special to do this course facilitated by such loving teachers who were willing to share their experiences as well as question ours.
- Gail Pettinger, Realtor, Canada
The Option Institute philosophy has been entirely transformative for me. I have tried religion, counseling, self study and anything else I could find-nothing has created such profound and lasting change as the Option Process. My marriage has never been as wonderful as it will be because of the Couples Course Program.
- George Remus, Software Sales Executive, Illinois

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