In this rich and deeply human conversation, Darshana sits down with intimacy midwife Elisa Spring to explore the many expressions of erotic aliveness beyond sex alone.

Together, they move through the intersections of play, grief, dance, motherhood, sensuality, and midlife transformation. Elisa shares how her own lived experience—through motherhood, movement, and personal evolution—has shaped her relationship to eros as something that is not separate from life, but woven through it.

They explore how intimacy is not always graceful or polished, but often awkward, messy, and deeply revealing. Through that, they invite a more honest and embodied way of relating—to self, to others, and to the world.

This episode is both grounding and expansive, offering a powerful reframe of eroticism as something that includes joy, sorrow, play, and everything in between.

In this episode, we explore:

• How eroticism extends beyond sex into play, movement, and everyday life
• The connection between grief and pleasure in the body
• Why intimacy includes awkwardness, not just flow and chemistry
• How dance and movement reconnect us to sensual aliveness
• The role of motherhood as a path of transformation and initiation
• Why midlife is a powerful rite of passage for women and female bodies
• How unresolved experiences resurface during midlife for integration
• The relationship between land, nature, and sensual embodiment
• Why modern culture disconnects us from our erotic nature
• The importance of returning to childhood expressions of play and creativity
• How social conditioning shapes our relationship to sensuality
• The courage it takes to reclaim erotic aliveness
• Why pleasure and grief are not opposites, but interconnected
• The role of play in healing and reconnecting to self

About Elisa:

Elisa is a curious student of the mystery whose Mother Tongue has always been dance. She is a Mother to four magnificent humans ages 11, 13, 19, and 25. Elisa is a longtime Mentor and Intimacy Midwife. The intersections of her work include relational energetics, intimacy and communication skills, sexuality, expanded movement and grief tending. She is a Grief Doula, invoker of aliveness, and explorer of creative movement. Elisa creates spaces for humans to courageously connect to the pulse of their lifeforce. She currently facilitates Communal Grief Rituals and Wheel of Consent inspired touch practices that help humans to deepen intimacy with their bodies and expand their range of self-expression. Elisa loves spending her time enjoying communal meals, gathering around a fire, playing with her edges through contact improv, communing with waterfalls, and learning with horse kin. 

Connect with Elisa:

Instagram: www.instagram/spellsoftruth

Website: Webswww.spellsoftruth.com

Connect with Darshana:

• DarshanaAvila.com/offerings

• DarshanaAvila.com/community
• instagram.com/darshana_avila/

• YouTube.com/@darshana_avila