Of the many Brazilian sex podcasts out there, Yria Tandel's Sexo Sem Culpa (sex without guilt) stands out for giving the health and relationship info people want within a vision of social evolution. In a country deeply divided between religious puritanism on the one hand and liberated sensuality on the other (distinct from hyper-sexual carnival-type imagery for tourists), helping people know, accept, and evolve solo and together is a radical challenge. ~

While I like to keep this podcast upbeat, the picture doesn't look too good right now for women, queer people, and people of colour, whether in terms of Brazil tolerating the world's highest LGBT murder toll or a situation where 55% of women don't orgasm in sex. It's not hard to see how that doesn't benefit anyone so this is a call for all people to stand up and make sure everyone is safe to be free to enjoy life.  So for example one of the organizations Yria works with is the Casa 1 housing network for queer people with no safe family or other home to go to. Their site is here and international donations can be received here. Thank you and much respect to you Yria. ~

This episode is part of Healthy Sex and Relationships inviting you around the world to cultures with hundreds of millions of people and hundreds of years of evolution, to learn some of their amazing practices and attitudes of sex and relationships, and understand some of the challenges that also connect us on a deep human level. ~

Comments on this podcast and suggestions for future episodes? Send a message to [email protected]. Thanks for listening. ~

Thanks to Jette Weiss for the cover art and Youssoupha Sidibe for the music, used under license.

We've all heard about sex addiction. Have you ever thought about what exactly can make it addictive? How much for you is the sensation of pleasure, the joy of moving and being free, the soul and eyes connection, the emotions, an association with security? ~ 

This episode shares a meditation feeling into the neurochemistry of the body and feelings, so that you can explore your own answers to those questions, and from there play with actually changing how you are. This is a simple, personal, non-expert suggestion. ~

For an actual source on the forms of addiction - sex, food, emotional, work, drugs, and so on -as well as amazing healing processes, check out the work of Gabor Mate, whose web site is dr.gabormate.com. ~ 

Comments on this podcast and suggestions for future episodes? Send a message to [email protected]. Thanks for listening. ~

Thanks to Jette Weiss for the cover art and Youssoupha Sidibe for the music, used under license.

Zoya Amirin is a certified sexual psychologist and passionate public speaker based in Jakarta, Indonesia. She takes a stand and challenges society's negative attitudes toward sex, through work in education, counseling and therapy (from her website zoyaamirin.me). ~

Starting with this episode, Healthy Sex and Relationships invites you around the world to cultures with hundreds of millions of people and hundreds of years of evolution, to learn some of their amazing practices and attitudes of sex and relationships, and understand some of the challenges such as inequality and oppression that also connect us on a deep human level. ~

Zoya is able to see things from the perspective of both her native cultures and her time in Europe and North America. One of the many gems from this chat is learning about the Serat Chenthini which includes poetic teachings of sex and love like the kama sutra does, and learning about Javanese, Sundanese, Batak and other traditions of love relationship that, like in many parts of the world, are getting lost to hollywood and other media-inspired attitudes. ~

Thank you Zoya for making these amazing articulate and beautiful connections generously sharing of your time and experience. ~

Comments on this podcast and suggestions for future episodes? Send a message to [email protected]. Thanks for listening. ~

Thanks to Jette Weiss for the cover art and Youssoupha Sidibe for the music, used under license.

Nina Lombardo is a US-based teacher, mentor, and artist who supports women in embodying their most authentic spiritual and sexual expressions (from her website, wayofdevotion.com). Her calling is especially to work with women who want to develop the feminine within, liberate the expression of that life force in all aspects of life, and be met by someone capable of dancing with them in ecstatic polarity, the interplay of feminine and masculine energies, which in many traditions each person is understood to have. ~

We talk about the full radiant capacity that is one's birthright, what can block that fulfillment, and how it can be liberated and grown beyond one's wildest dreams, all in safety and responsibility. ~

Nina also presents the three-stages way of understanding ourselves and each other and choosing to evolve, articulated by the sacred sexuality teacher she works closely with, David Deida. Without David's work this podcast wouldn't exist, not only because of its effect on my own development but also because in asking him for an interview I received this wonderful invitation from Nina. David's site is deida.info. ~

Thank you Nina for sharing the fruits of your years of working with women and people on some of what is absolutely most important to them, and, by their wellbeing, to the wellness of society. ~

Comments on this podcast and suggestions for future episodes? Send a message to [email protected]. Thanks for listening. ~

Thanks to Jette Weiss for the cover art and Youssoupha Sidibe for the music, used under license.

When I visited Ricardo Sierra at Hawk Circle Wilderness Education school in New York, he told me the single most important thing from 30 years of his and Trista Haggerty's work teaching kids and adults how to survive and thrive in the wild was, our society needs coming of age ritual. ~ 

This is a longer interview because he's got a lot of experience on supporting people making great use of the powers we get as adults and the responsibilities that come with them. Ric explains what we can learn from cultures that have been doing this for thousands of years, and how we can make rites of passage that mean something to people today. ~

We come into this life and into adulthood with tremendous power to make life, create abundance to make other people's lives better, completely revolutionize society if we stand up for what we're here for and believe in. ~ 

Comments on this podcast and suggestions for future episodes? Send a message to [email protected]. Thanks for listening. ~

Thanks to Jette Weiss for the cover art and Youssoupha Sidibe for the music, used under license.

Before the Big O... there was the big I. ~ 

From birth, we need care to survive and feel safe and happy, and as adults in adult relationships that part of us is still there, much more has developed through our nature and experiences, and even more is possible through our choices. It is often said most humans use a small fraction of their brain power. This can also be true of our emotional power, letting our lives be ruled by a few recurring, often unspoken fears - for example, I don't want to be alone, but I don't actually totally want to know and be with this person, or I want to feel pleasure and happiness but I don't want to be hurt. ~ 

You know best what your greatest desires and fears are. The suggestion here is that no matter what joys we've known and how we've been burned, looking at it plain is a great way to not be ruled by it and go for who we are and what we want. ~

The Teal Swan video I mention is here. ~ 

Comments on this podcast and suggestions for future episodes? Send a message to [email protected]! Thanks for listening. ~

Thanks to Jette Weiss for the cover art and Youssoupha Sidibe for the music, used under license.

To re-find our original nature, to discover what we're capable of, what better way than to be in raw nature?

This episode suggests that, without even trying to be ourselves or be better or any of that, simply being in nature realigns us. A forest to walk in, a lake to swim in, emotions to bathe in, bodies to move in, these are all forces of nature. Whether your belief system puts humans at the top or says humans are of the same energy/matter flow as plants, rocks, water and sky, no one can deny everyone has a body and feelings that exist in an environment. So why not choose environments - natural, social, and so on - that are good for us? And why not accept and understand everything we're made instead of teaching each other to hide from and lie to ourselves and others? ~

This chat also suggests that when you're experiencing strong emotions, being in nature has a way of calming and giving perspective so we can be our best to ourselves and others. ~

Recorded in the Fairy Creek old growth temperate rainforest, one of the last places in one of the most rare kinds of ecosystems on earth, a temple and teaching ground for nature that only exists once. You can help protect this at gofund.me/2b337bc5. ~

Comments on this podcast and suggestions for future episodes? Send a message to [email protected]! Thanks for listening. ~

Thanks to Jette Weiss for the cover art and Youssoupha Sidibe for the music, used under license.

Now that we have created a foundation together of knowing who we are, what's good for us, where we want to go, and what we never dreamed of but one day just might desire... let's look around the world and see what some really inspiring people are saying about healthy sex and relationships. ~ 

First up, Naomi Prema Devi, tantra facilitator and relationship and intimacy coach from New Zealand/Aotearoa. Growing up under conventional religious influence where sex and spirit were seen as separate if not opposed, Naomi began traveling to India and other countries to study the union of sensuality and spirituality through tantra. 20 years later, she offers high-quality services to individuals and couples, plus community events, to help bring us back to our true desires and abilities. Her message is useful to beginners and long-time practitioners of tantra, and can connect with other practices you may have for solo and relationship wellness. ~

Her website is www.naomipremadevi.com and includes a straightforward presentation of what tantra is - with exercises of self-awareness, breathing, eye contact, energy circulation within the body, physical-energetic connection with a beloved, and more. Thank you Naomi your sharing precious time and perspectives. ~

Comments on this podcast and suggestions for future episodes? Send a message to [email protected]! Thanks for listening. ~

Thanks to Jette Weiss for the cover art and Youssoupha Sidibe for the music, used under license.

The world's most longstanding and populous health traditions recognize that we are born with a certain nature, partly inherited from our ancestors and culture and partly a unique and spontaneous invention, and from there we are influenced by the environments and people we hang out with, including the food we eat and the experiences we choose or encounter. ~ 

Whether in the Indian Ayurvedic system of water, fire, and air constitutions or the Traditional Chinese Medicine five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, humans are part of a continuous field of energy and matter with all of nature. The better we get to know our ourselves and make good choices, the more fully we achieve our potential for happiness and to make the world a better place. ~ 

Spiritual sexuality teacher David Deida takes this so far as to say, pay close attention to how you feel with someone energetically when choosing a partner. There may be times we need someone to be like us and reinforce our nature, meanwhile for sexual vitality and teamwork difference may be not only interesting but necessary. A person can have it all, we may need one more than the other, and of course we don't have to get everything from one relationship. ~ 

A half-million-copy-selling resource on how to think in traditional Indian and Chinese medicine terms and find your own answers is Paul Pitchford's Healing With Whole Foods. ~ 

Comments on this podcast and suggestions for future episodes? Send a message to [email protected]! Thanks for listening. ~ 

Thanks to Jette Weiss for the cover art and Youssoupha Sidibe for the music, used under license.

Can I see a show of hands out there? how many of you have wanted to be able to last longer in lovemaking without coming? How many have wanted to taste hours of lovemaking coming over and over on an energetic level without losing physical presence? ~ 

This is often thought of as a thing for men only but I believe it is also valuable for women and people of other genders. It is about maintaining presence to self and other for greatest experience and growth. ~ 

People such as Mantak Chia and David Deida have devoted their lives to spiritually-emotionally-physically-mentally connected sex and relationships in continuity with our place in all of nature. They have developed exercises using the breath, movement, visualization, prayer/trance states, and other holistic tools. ~ 

And, somewhere in each of us is a secret key to our complete sexual liberation - the awareness and use of our sex drive as a reflection of our life's purpose, and in there the complete devotion to self, beloved, society, nature, and worlds beyond Earth, as all one. This podcast gives just one example of a meditation you can do to tap into that and be a part of fulfilling the human potential for magic creation. ~ 

Comments on this podcast and suggestions for future episodes? Send a message to [email protected]. Thanks for listening. ~ 

Thanks to Jette Weiss for the cover art and Youssoupha Sidibe for the music, used under license.