[TESSA] In this episode, we speak with Chandra Kantor about community, aging, and the way relationships can become more mutual over time. Chandra shares that she is entering her 50th year, teaches yoga, works as a life coach, and is a mother of three boys. She describes her family structure, including co-parenting with her first husband and being in a committed open relationship with her current husband.

We talk about the shift that happens as children become adults, especially how a parent-child relationship can move toward mutuality. Chandra describes setting clear expectations around responsibility, gratitude, and communication, including family dinners where everyone shares appreciations.

A major part of the conversation focuses on community. Chandra explains that she first experienced deep community through her father’s circle in Santa Barbara and later found it in contact improvisation and women’s circles. She describes how community grows through inviting people in, showing up during hard times, and asking for help. She says that trust deepens when people can receive support as well as offer it.

We also discuss open relationships, polyamory, jealousy, and compersion. Chandra shares that she had no framework for open relating in her first marriage, but later learned about it through dating a polyamorous partner. She explains that she and her current husband moved slowly, used therapy and group support, and repeatedly adjusted their agreements when needed. For her, compersion means feeling joy in a partner’s joy, and she connects that to self-trust and self-worth.

Finally, Chandra talks about her work leading yoga classes, retreats, and workshops that emphasize vulnerability, self-expression, and appreciation. She says she wants people to bring those practices back into their families and communities. She closes by reflecting on perimenopause as a stage that can bring clearer boundaries, less people-pleasing, and more unapologetic self-expression.

Tessa Krone is the engine behind and the face of The Open Nesters.

Tessa holds an MA in Consciousness Studies and is a speaker, coach, program, and journey facilitator & leader, author, and, of course, Podcaster.

Her offerings are based on her mission to help people open to their most self-expressed, loving selves. Tessa’s specialties include embodiment from all the senses and elements of our inner and outer lives, ranging from mindfulness, dance, play, and sensory exploration in nature. If she had one superpower, it would be to help people, especially as they age, to live more open-hearted lives.

Please email Tessa to make a connection. And visit her page here on the Open Nesters Website. If you like, please answer the question:

What do you need to OPEN your NEST? In your LIFE. In your BODY. In your SPIRIT. Do you need MORE…