Lee Warren is an herbalist, writer, teacher, and food activist with an avid interest in rural wisdom, alternative relationships, sustainable economics, and women's issues. She is the co-founder, designer, and builder of Earthaven Ecovillage, an off-grid, sustainable-built, co-housing neighborhood in Black Mountain, North Carolina. She is the founder and Manager of Imani Farm, a 5-acre pasture-based co-op farm as well as the Managing Partner of S.O.I.L. - the School of Integrated Living - which teaches organic food production, regenerated systems, and community living.

Lee joins me today to discuss the dynamics of monogamous and alternative relationships, why she believes many first-marriages often result in divorce and the importance of being open to experimentation and exploring new possibilities. We discuss the difference between open relationships and polyamory and the qualities that make up healthy, loving, and successful relationships. She explains why she believes there's a lack of abundance regarding love, touch, sexual expression, and sensuality in today's society and culture. She also explains how your intrapersonal relationship impacts your interpersonal relationships and how "emotional foreplay" can improve relational communication and understanding between men and women.

"We need to be experimenting on every level." - Lee Warren

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• Her perspective on monogamous and alternative relationships.
• Divorce statistics involving monogamous marriages.
• Values and qualities of successful relationships.
• The difference between open relationships and polyamory.
• How much of your needs should be met by your primary partner?
• Finding rich, diverse, loving relationships without involving the sexuality factor.
• Why she believes we live in a culture of 'lack' regarding love, touch, sexual expression, and sensuality.
• How the primary partnership relationship model can sometimes contract the feeling of freedom.
• How society, culture, and economics incentivizes being in a nuclear family.
• Intentional communities and how they inspire and encourage experimentation and explore new possibilities.
• How community-life inspires a culture of sharing, openness, and experimentation.
• What are the "Zones of Intimacy" and how they relate to the relationships we develop?
• Skills we need to teach the younger generations to improve the relational evolution.
• Why intrapersonal relationships are critical for developing successful interpersonal relationships.
• Why men and women need to understand how each gender processes thoughts and feelings and how it can improve your relationships.
• What "emotional foreplay" is and how it can impact your relational communication.
• The benefits of having a primary, monogamous relationship without living together and how it affects the relationship dynamics.

Resources:

• How to Be an Adult in Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Loving by David Richo

Connect with Lee Warren:

• Earthaven Ecovillage
• Imani Farm
• O.I.L - School of Integrated Living

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Let's Talk About It!

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Theme music provided by Adi the Monk