Permission for Pleasure

Join me for a conversation with Abby, a devoted volunteer for our podcast and member of our community. We dive into the challenging waters of unlearning body shame, dismantling beliefs around our bodies and reclaiming sexual health education. Abby shares her experiences of how the pandemic era has shaped new perspectives on bodily autonomy and navigating consent. Learn more about what consent is, what it isn't and how to cultivate discussions around it.

More on this topic:
Dating Your Body
Learning to LIsten to Your Body
Coming Home to Yourself
Evolving Out of Purity Culture
Less Shame - More Sex Ed
Why Sex Ed Really Matters
Reclaim Your Arousal Mindset
My Letter to Young Woman
Exploring Your Perspective of Pleasure
10 Ways to Be Sexual Without Masturbating

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Do you feel at home in your body? I had the pleasure of talking about our relationship to our bodies with the multitalented Arielle Estoria, an artist, poet, writer, and actor. Her journey of self-discovery and spirituality is beautifully chronicled in her book, 'The Unfolding: An Invitation to Come Home to Yourself. ' Her story is a testament to the transformative impact of embracing one's body for ultimate liberation.  Arielle shares the practices that allowed her to release years of self-condemnation and reconnect with her body on her own terms. Tune in and let Arielle inspire you to find home within yourself.

Find out more about Arielle Estoria

More on these topics
Learning to listen to your body
Practices to live a more embodied life
Evolving out of purity culture
My letter to young women
Book review: The Body Is Not An Apology
Book review: Mother's, Daughter's and Body Image
Connecting with your body and nervous system
Reconnecting to yourself and your body

ORDER my Book: Permission for Pleasure: Tending Your Sexual Garden
JOIN my Newsletter: Good Education for Good Sex
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Dabbling with hot and cold sensations can be a tantalizing way to explore erotic sensuality alone or with a partner. Our bodies have so many sensitive erogenous zones that can respond to temperature changes. Play with these simple ideas to create exciting and sexy anticipation for your body and brain as you bring the heat or cool things down.

More on these topics:
Temperature Play Blog
Using Your Senses for Pleasure
Foreplay 101
Maude massage candles (code CINDY10)
Pleasurable Touch Exercise

ORDER my Book: Permission for Pleasure: Tending Your Sexual Garden
JOIN my Newsletter: Good Education for Good Sex
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Leah Fischer and Cass Redding, founders of Intimate Wellbeing, join me to share their individual journeys of self-discovery and finding sexual pleasure in midlife. Their paths of growth empowered them to team up and create an e-commerce platform for women. They are on a mission to provide tools and resources for enhancing intimacy and pleasure for the midlife woman, all while ending sexual health stigma.

Learn more about Intimate Wellbeing
Use discount code CINDY15 

Learn more on these topics:
Why vibrators work for women and how to choose one
Guide to lube
Midlife & Menopause with Heather
Toys,  Fantasy and Play in the Bedroom
Vibrators, Edging and Anal Sex

ORDER my Book: Permission for Pleasure: Tending Your Sexual Garden
JOIN my Newsletter: Good Education for Good Sex
FOLLOW on Instagram @cindyscharkey
VISIT my website and blog

Play in the bedroom is highly underrated! Psychologist and sex therapist Carolin Klein joins me to offer tips and answer questions about toys, vibrators, and fantasy. Learn about some common fantasies and less intimidating ways to share what makes your heart race. We talk through a helpful list of dos and don’ts for choosing toys and how to introduce the idea with a partner.  Create memorable sexual experiences by bringing more play into the bedroom.

Visit our episode sponsor Intimate Wellbeing and use code CINDY15

Dr. Carolin Klein is a sex therapist and a Registered Psychologist. She is co-founder and co-director of the West Coast Centre for Sex Therapy in Vancouver, BC.

Learn more about these topics:
Why vibrators work for women and how to choose one
Why don’t I want sex as much as my partner?
Partner Desire Discrepancies 
Want better sex? Ask these questions
Vibrators, Edging and Anal Sex
Talking about sex with a partner
When your partner wants to try something new

ORDER my Book: Permission for Pleasure: Tending Your Sexual Garden
JOIN my Newsletter: Good Education for Good Sex
FOLLOW on Instagram @cindyscharkey
VISIT my website and blog

All people, regardless of abilities, are sexual beings, and deserve access to sexual health education. Mad Hatter Wellness creates comprehensive sex ed and health curriculum primarily for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Educator Anna Hayek, their heart of operations, joins me to discuss tools, language and strategies for parents and caregivers.

Learn more about Mad Hatter Wellness

Free resources from Mad Hatter Wellness
People in My Life and Relationship Circle
Heart of Relationships with Healthy & Unhealthy chart
Anna’s Recommended Disability Educators and Activists
Eva Sweeney
Andrew Gurza
Judy Heumann

ORDER my Book: Permission for Pleasure: Tending Your Sexual Garden
JOIN my Newsletter: Good Education for Good Sex
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If you want to become a more attentive lover, start with foreplay and pre-foreplay! Meygan Caston of Marriage365 joins me to bring some sweet and spicy ways to cultivate better intimacy in and out of the bedroom. Use these ideas to create sexual tension and excitement as well as emotional safety with your partner. Learn how get out of your foreplay routine, and level up your sexual connection.

Visit our episode sponsor Intimate Wellbeing and use discount code CINDY15

Learn more about Marriage365

Learn more on these topics
Foreplay Using Your Senses
Oral Sex for Women
Temperature Play
Communication, Couples and Sex
Talking About Sex (when things aren’t great)
Sexify Your Space
Create a Sexy Playlist
Sex and Your Brain
Erogenous Zones Practice
Arousal, Role Play & Condoms

ORDER my Book: Permission for Pleasure: Tending Your Sexual Garden
JOIN my Newsletter: Good Education for Good Sex
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Oral sex is a highly reliable path to orgasm for women. This episode talks about creating anticipation, building arousal toward crescendo and specific tongue techniques to stimulate the clitoris and vulva. Also hear tips on positioning, when to add variety, and when to stick with consistency. Learn the signs of approaching orgasm, to help your partner go over the edge with pleasure.

Visit our episode sponsor Lovability and use code CINDY for 10% off

Learn more about these topics
The Kivin Method -Oral Sideways
Make Some Noise
Temperature Play
The Key to Women’s Pleasure
The Clitoris - it’s a network!
The Clitoris has a hood
Female Anatomy 101
She Comes First Book Review
Using Your Senses for Pleasure
Why Arousal Takes More Than 5 Minutes
Men and Sex
Talking about sex with a partner
Communication, Couples and Sex

ORDER my Book: Permission for Pleasure: Tending Your Sexual Garden
JOIN my Newsletter: Good Education for Good Sex
FOLLOW on Instagram @cindyscharkey
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Sex coach Cam Fraser returns for part two of our conversation about men and sex. We cover erections, ejaculation, and how men can experience multiple orgasms. Find out Cam's communication tip for women partnered with men, and why men need more permission to explore their bodies for pleasure and fulfilling intimacy.

Learn more about Cam's work

Visit our episode sponsor UBERLUBE and use CINDY

More on these topics:
Erectile changes vs erectile dysfunction
What is edging
Vibrators, Edging and Anal Sex

ORDER my Book: Permission for Pleasure: Tending Your Sexual Garden
JOIN my Newsletter: Good Education for Good Sex
FOLLOW on Instagram @cindyscharkey
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Cam Fraser, a therapist and licensed sex coach says the script men learn: “Get it up. Get it in. Get it off.” is ruining sex lives. He shares his story and the ways he learned to reframe his own approach to pleasure. We discuss the sex ed men and their partners need to get out of the box that says sex has to look a certain way and to move toward more fulfilling intimacy. 

Learn more about Cam's work

Visit our episode sponsor UBERLUBE and use CINDY

Learn more about these topics:
Guide to Lube
Desire Styles
Boys & Sex Book Review
Erectile Dissatisfaction vs Erectile Dysfunction

ORDER my Book: Permission for Pleasure: Tending Your Sexual Garden
JOIN my Newsletter: Good Education for Good Sex
FOLLOW on Instagram @cindyscharkey
VISIT my website and blog