In this episode of the Human Intimacy Podcast, Dr. Kevin Skinner and MaryAnn Michaelis explore creative and intellectual intimacy—two often overlooked but deeply powerful ways couples build connection, trust, and shared meaning.

Rather than viewing intimacy as a checklist or a linear process, they describe it as a living, dynamic experience—one that ebbs and flows through shared ideas, curiosity, problem-solving, creativity, play, and growth. Through personal stories—reading books aloud early in marriage, building businesses, learning to dance, creating art, and dreaming about the future—they illustrate how couples grow closer when they think, create, and imagine together.

The conversation also highlights how intellectual intimacy becomes a meaningful trust-builder, especially after betrayal, when partners begin sharing what they are learning, how they are changing, and what is happening in their inner world. When paired with creativity—planning, building, playing, or envisioning something together—these forms of intimacy foster bonding, growth, and renewed joy in the relationship.

Listeners are invited to reflect on a simple but transformative question:

For those who want to deepen these conversations and continue growing together, Dr. Skinner and MaryAnn invite listeners to the Second Annual Human Intimacy Conference (March 13–14). The conference brings together leading voices in healing, intimacy repair, grief, sexual reintegration, and relationship growth—and offers couples a powerful opportunity to learn together, reflect together, and strengthen both intellectual and creative intimacy.

🎟 Register here and receive 40% off for a limited time:

https://humanintimacy.zohobackstage.com/HumanIntimacy2ndAnnualConference#/

In this episode of the Human Intimacy Podcast, Dr. Kevin Skinner and Maryanne Michaelis continue their exploration of intimacy by focusing on verbal and emotional intimacy. They discuss how curiosity, vulnerability, and emotional expression create deeper connection—while assumptions, fear, and unspoken emotions quietly erode it.

Through personal stories, clinical insight, and practical examples, they show how verbal intimacy often opens the door to emotional intimacy—and how safe, intentional communication strengthens relationships with partners, children, and community. The episode also addresses why intimacy can feel unsafe after trauma or betrayal and how to begin rebuilding connection in healthy, realistic ways.

The connection between verbal intimacy and emotional intimacy

Why curiosity (“Tell me more”) deepens connection

How assumptions block intimacy—even in long-term relationships

Using “I feel” statements instead of blame or shame

Emotional safety, boundaries, and timing in disclosure

The role of community in helping people find words after trauma

Applying intimacy skills in parenting and everyday relationships

Understanding inner circles of trust and emotional access

Psychological safety as the foundation for intimacy

Mirror neurons and emotional attunement

Self-disclosure vs. emotional flooding

Differentiation in relationships

Trauma-informed communication

The healing power of shared experience and community

The themes discussed in this episode—connection, vulnerability, emotional safety, and repair—will be explored in depth at the upcoming Human Intimacy Conference.

📅 March 13–14

This two-day conference is designed for individuals and couples seeking healing and deeper connection after betrayal. It includes:

Separate individual and couples tracks

Live and recorded expert presentations

Trauma-informed yoga sessions

On-demand access to all recordings

Bonus access to last year’s full conference recordings

🎟️ Special Discount:

🔗 Register here:

Who in my life feels safe enough for deeper verbal and emotional intimacy?

Where do I assume instead of asking curious, open questions?

What emotions have I been holding inside that may need safe expression?

Verbal and emotional intimacy grow when we show up, stay curious, and speak honestly—without blame or assumption. Intimacy isn’t about perfect words; it’s about presence, safety, and the courage to be seen.

In this episode of the Human Intimacy Podcast, Dr. Kevin Skinner and MaryAnn Michaelis take a deeper dive into the seven types of intimacy, focusing specifically on psychological intimacy as the foundation of all connection. They explore how honesty, trust, loyalty, and commitment are disrupted by betrayal—and why secrecy and deception, more than behaviors alone, create trauma. The discussion highlights how vulnerability, accountability, and repair rebuild safety over time, especially in relationships impacted by betrayal trauma. This episode offers clarity, compassion, and practical insight for couples navigating healing and reconnection.

Relationship Intimacy Test & Intimacy Pyramid

Reclaim: Healing from Pornography and Rebuilding Your Life

Rise: Hope & Healing After Sexual Betrayal

Human Intimacy Conference – March 13–14, 2026

In this milestone 100th episode of the Human Intimacy Podcast, Dr. Kevin Skinner and MaryAnn Michaelis reflect on two years of conversations—and over 50,000 downloads—by returning to the very heart of their work: human intimacy.

This episode introduces Dr. Skinner’s Intimacy Triangle (or Pyramid), a framework he developed more than 20 years ago to help individuals and couples understand that intimacy is far more than sex. Instead, deep, lasting connection is built from the ground up through seven distinct but interconnected forms of intimacy:

Psychological Intimacy – the foundation of safety built on trust, honesty, loyalty, and commitment

Verbal Intimacy – sharing information and everyday experiences

Emotional Intimacy – expressing feelings, fears, hopes, and vulnerabilities

Cognitive / Intellectual Intimacy – engaging ideas, beliefs, and curiosity together

Creative Intimacy – bonding through shared projects and co-creation

Spiritual Intimacy – connection that transcends words, often felt in shared meaning, values, or sacred moments

Physical / Sexual Intimacy – the natural expression that emerges when the other layers are present

Dr. Skinner and MaryAnn explore how modern culture often reverses this order—placing sexual intimacy at the foundation—and how this inversion contributes to loneliness, disconnection, and relational distress. When intimacy is rebuilt from the bottom up, relationships become safer, deeper, and more resilient.

This episode also sets the stage for upcoming conversations that will break down each layer of intimacy in depth, offering listeners practical tools for healing, repair, and growth.

Intimacy is multidimensional, not synonymous with sex

Psychological safety is the cornerstone of all healthy connection

Skipping layers of intimacy leads to counterfeit connection and deeper loneliness

When intimacy is repaired holistically, emotional and physical closeness naturally follow

Strong relationships are foundational to mental health, resilience, and well-being

Free Human Intimacy Podcast Companion Course

The Intimacy Triangle / Pyramid

A self-scoring intimacy reflection tool

The Relationship Intimacy Test

Book: Rebuild Your Relationship After Sexual Betrayal by Dr. Kevin Skinner

Dr. Skinner will be offering an in-depth two-hour training for couples on the Intimacy Repair Method at the upcoming conference:

Dates: March 2025

Expert presentations

Live Q&A

Practical tools for rebuilding intimacy after betrayal

Deep dives into connection, safety, and repair

🔗 Register here:

If you’re beginning a new year with a desire for deeper connection, healing, and meaningful relationships, this episode offers both a powerful framework and a hopeful path forward.

In Episode #99 of the Human Intimacy Podcast, Dr. Kevin Skinner and MaryAnn Michaelis celebrate their 99th episode by sharing nine powerful practices couples can use to strengthen connection, deepen trust, and build meaningful intimacy. Each principle is grounded in years of clinical experience, neuroscience, and relationship research—while remaining practical and accessible for real-life relationships.

Together they explore why emotional safety is the foundation of all connection, the importance of ownership over blame, and how consistent attunement builds emotional closeness. They emphasize spending intentional time together, rebuilding trust through small daily actions, learning to emotionally regulate before communicating, and facing—not avoiding—conflict. They also highlight how positive relational interactions nurture bonding and why dreaming and planning for the future together creates shared hope and purpose.

Listeners are encouraged to start small, picking one area to work on, knowing that meaningful relationships are built one intentional step at a time.

These concepts draw from established research and recognized thought leaders in relationships, trauma, emotional regulation, and neurobiology:

Polyvagal Theory & Safety

Emotional Attunement & Attachment

Trust and Relationship Repair

Ownership vs. Blame / Emotional Responsibility

Conflict Resolution & The Zeigarnik Effect

Hope & Future Orientation

Trauma, Safety & Human Connection

If you’re ready to go deeper in strengthening your relationship, we invite you to join us at the Human Intimacy 2nd Annual Conference.

https://humanintimacy.zohobackstage.com/HumanIntimacy2ndAnnualConference#/

Online Supplemental Course: (It’s Free)

The Human Intimacy Companion Course

In this heartfelt Human Intimacy Podcast episode, Dr. Kevin Skinner and MaryAnn Michaelis explore the powerful impact of truly being present in the lives of the people we love. During a season filled with busyness, distraction, and endless to-do lists, they invite listeners to slow down and consider the deeper message presence communicates: You matter. I see you. I care.

Through meaningful personal stories—celebrations, graduations, family milestones, healing conversations, and everyday moments—Kevin and MaryAnn reflect on how presence fosters connection, emotional safety, belonging, and joy. They also discuss how curiosity, vulnerability, emotional attunement, and reducing distraction can transform relationships, reduce loneliness, and nurture human intimacy.

Listeners are encouraged to offer the gift of presence intentionally this season: celebrate others’ wins, sit with them in pain, express appreciation, forgive where needed, and take time to let people feel seen and “felt.” Because when we show up, we don’t just fill space—we change hearts, regulate nervous systems, strengthen bonds, and remind each other we are not alone.

Human Intimacy Conference — March 13–14, 2026

Human Intimacy Courses & Online Programs

Referenced Concepts / Recommended Reading

Dan Siegel — Feeling Felt & Interpersonal Neurobiology

Irving Yalom — Presence and relational connection

Research on loneliness as a public health concern and the power of human connection

In this episode of the Human Intimacy Podcast, Dr. Kevin Skinner and licensed clinical social worker Marianne Michaelis explore the powerful—and often invisible—stories we tell ourselves about who we are and how others see us. Even when people share the same experience, their interpretations can be radically different, shaped by past wounds, shame, fear, and unmet needs.

Through clinical examples, personal stories, and everyday moments of misunderstanding, they unpack how the brain naturally fills in gaps to create meaning—and how those meanings can quietly dictate our emotions, reactions, and relationships. The conversation highlights common shame-based narratives such as “I’m too much,” “I’m not enough,”or “I don’t matter,” and how these stories become internalized as truth over time.

Dr. Skinner and Marianne emphasize the importance of awareness, fact-checking, emotional ownership, and curiosity—both toward ourselves and others. Healing begins when we slow down, speak our stories in safe places, challenge old assumptions, and allow compassion to replace judgment. The episode closes with an invitation to approach others—and ourselves—with deeper curiosity, asking not “What’s wrong?” but “What’s the story?”

Skinner, K. – Treating Trauma from Sexual Betrayal

Tutu, D. & Tutu, M. – The Book of Forgiveness

Brown, B. – I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t)

Siegel, D. – Mindsight

Human Intimacy Podcast – Episode on Emotional Ownership

Journaling as a tool for emotional processing and self-reflection

Concepts referenced:

Shame narratives

Emotional ownership

Fact-checking internal stories

Fight-or-flight responses and meaning-making

Compassion vs. judgment

In this timely episode, Dr. Kevin Skinner and MaryAnn Michaelis explore one of the most essential—and most avoided—skills in relationships: emotional ownership. As the holiday season intensifies stress, loneliness, old family wounds, and relational tension, the ability to understand and take responsibility for our internal world becomes even more vital.

Together, they break down what emotional ownership looks like and what it does not look like. Using real-life examples, including a vulnerable story from Dr. Skinner, the conversation highlights how quickly couples slip into blame, shame spirals, and reactive “hot” responses. MaryAnn emphasizes the role of tone, kindness, and Gottman’s concept of positive sentiment override, while Dr. Skinner demonstrates how owning one’s emotional experience opens the door to connection rather than conflict.

Listeners will learn:

Why people often don’t know what they feel—and why that’s okay

How holiday dynamics intensify emotional triggers

The difference between owning an emotion and shifting responsibility

How tone and delivery change everything in difficult conversations

How shame, avoidance, and catastrophizing block intimacy

Why slowing down your internal experience leads to deeper connection

How emotional ownership becomes the foundation of relational safety, trust, and maturity

The episode ends with practical guidance on taking responsibility for your own emotions, choosing kindness, and knowing when deeper therapeutic work is needed. Dr. Skinner and MaryAnn invite listeners to reflect honestly on their emotional patterns and make conscious choices that lead to healthier, more intimate relationships.

Desmond Tutu & Mpho Tutu — The Book of Forgiving

John Gottman — Research on Bids for Connection & Positive Sentiment Override

Dr. Kevin Skinner — Treating Trauma from Sexual Betrayal

Emotional Ownership vs. Emotional Shifting

Tone & Delivery in Conflict

Fight–Flight–Freeze–Fawn Responses

Shame Spirals

Betrayal Trauma Responses & Trigger Cycles

Individual Therapy

Couples Therapy

2nd Annual Human Intimacy Conference 2026

https://www.humanintimacy.com/podcast

https://www.humanintimacy.com

In this powerful episode of the Human Intimacy Podcast, Dr. Kevin Skinner and MaryAnn Michaelis, LCSW, explore the essential connection between trauma, physiology, and healing through a somatic lens. Drawing on the work of Peter Levine, Bessel van der Kolk, Deb Dana, and polyvagal theory, they highlight how trauma is not only a psychological experience but a physical one stored in the muscles, nervous system, and internal energy of the body.

Dr. Skinner and MaryAnn discuss why individuals—especially betrayed partners—often disconnect from their bodies after chronic stress, betrayal trauma, or overwhelming life experiences. They examine how fight, flight, and freeze responses affect the nervous system, how chronic cortisol disrupts mood and metabolism, and why many trauma survivors struggle to sense or interpret their own physiological cues.

Through stories, research, and lived experiences, the hosts illustrate how the body keeps the score and how healing requires learning to listen to internal sensations rather than pushing them aside. They offer practical tools such as somatic tracking, Peter Levine’s completion techniques, trauma-informed yoga, breathing exercises that access the vagus nerve, and movement-based approaches for releasing stored energy.

The episode includes a guided somatic check-in where listeners rate their tension level and are invited into a simple three-minute breathing practice designed to lower physiological arousal. Dr. Skinner and MaryAnn also normalize the experience of increased anxiety during quiet moments and suggest alternative vagus nerve–based exercises and sound-based practices (like the “vu” exhale) to support regulation.

They close by emphasizing self-compassion, intentionality, and noticing “glimmers” of safety as signs that the body is returning to calm. Listeners are also invited to deepen their healing journey by attending the 2nd Annual Human Intimacy Conference, where leading experts will share tools for recovering from sexual betrayal, infidelity, and building deeper, safer relationships.

Peter A. Levine, PhD

Bessel van der Kolk, MD

Stephen W. Porges, PhD

Deb Dana, LCSW

Trauma-Informed Yoga

Somatic Experiencing (SE)

Vagus Nerve Stimulation / “Basic Exercise” (Polyvagal-based)

Breathwork for parasympathetic activation

Sound-based regulation (e.g., “vu” exhale with hand on abdomen)

Movement-based release (running in place, shaking, kicking safely, dancing)

Grounding and body-scan exercises

HumanIntimacy.com – Articles, courses, and assessments on betrayal trauma, recovery, and deeper connection.

2nd Annual Human Intimacy Conference – Coupon Code: 50%off —A live event featuring leading experts (including Dr. Kevin Skinner and colleagues) focused on healing from sexual betrayal and infidelity, rebuilding safety and trust, and creating deeper, more connected relationships.

Human Intimacy Intensives – Including betrayal trauma intensives and couples intensives that incorporate trauma-informed yoga and somatic work.

In this Thanksgiving-week episode of the Human Intimacy Podcast, Dr. Kevin Skinner and MaryAnn Michaelis explore the healing power of gratitude—both in everyday life and in relationships. What begins as a simple conversation about what they’re grateful for quickly deepens into an exploration of why certain people, moments, and memories hold meaning. Drawing on the work of Dr. Martin Seligman, Dr. Skinner emphasizes that identifying the “why” behind our gratitude—not just naming the object of it—creates a more emotionally rich and neurologically uplifting experience.

MaryAnn highlights the reality that family can be both a source of deep gratitude and profound pain. For those who lack supportive family relationships, they offer practical ways to find gratitude in mentors, ancestors, teachers, or meaningful communities—the “tribes” we discover along the way. Together, they reflect on how gratitude acts as a natural antidepressant, shifting our emotional state, reducing stress, increasing joy, and strengthening attachment bonds.

Listeners are invited to slow down, reflect on the people who have shaped them, and express gratitude in intentional, meaningful ways—especially during the holiday season. Dr. Skinner closes with a heartfelt message of appreciation for listeners, along with a reminder that practicing gratitude is one of the most powerful tools for healing, connection, and resilience.

Martin Seligman – Flourish; research on gratitude, positive psychology, and well-being

Brené Brown – The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly (concepts of shame, worthiness, and connection)

Thich Nhat Hanh – Teachings on connection, compassion, and human interdependence

John Gottman, PhD – Research on positive sentiment override and gratitude in relationships

Robert Emmons, PhD – Leading researcher on gratitude as a psychological tool

Stephen Porges, PhD – Polyvagal Theory (connection, co-regulation, and emotional safety)

Gratitude journaling

The “why” exercise from Martin Seligman

Gratitude as a natural antidepressant

Finding your tribe / community-based support

Intergenerational resources (ancestral resilience)

Write down what you are grateful for and why it matters

Gratitude lists (daily or weekly)

Expressing gratitude directly to loved ones

Identifying people from past or present who modeled love, stability, or compassion

Using gratitude to shift emotional states and reduce anxiety or depression

Human Intimacy Conference 2026 (Coupon Code: Black-Friday discount mentioned in episode)

HumanIntimacy.com for courses, podcasts, and healing resources

Upcoming episodes focused on healing, connection, and relationship resilience