The Open Nesters

[Tessa] 82 episodes in. It’s time.

We have had many episodes that face our sexual selves honestly and openly. But none like this one. But before you race to the audio file to play the podcast, let’s review our path to now.

Take a browse through a selection, a smattering, of our sexual podcasts below. We’re sure you will find something interesting. And if you want to review ALL of our aging and sex podcasts click here: SEX, LOVE AND ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLES

Now that we’re good and (possibly) overstimulated. Let’s dive in to this special podcast with Amir and me. Our journey (just like your journey) into our sexuality, sensuality & aging has many lessons. We’re so pleased that we are here together on this journey as podcast creators and listeners. Listen to our gift to you as we begin our celebration of Sexual Health Month, 2022.

We want to provide you with support and many many resources for your own Open Nesting Journey. Our resource page has so much to offer as does our private discussion group on Facebook about queerness and other topics of interest:

Open Nesters Resource Page

The Open Nesters Private Facebook Group

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 in 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. 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…

[Tessa] I met Jaye on my wanderings on Facebook. Little did I know that Jaye and Joe would share such intimate details about their relationship crisis and how they managed it. It was an affair that had been going on for two years. It shook their relationship to its core. Like a wildfire sweeping through everything. It was devastating. Yet it became a catalyst for their future together.

And a quick comment about Joe. He and Jaye work with groups/couples in which they see inside each other’s relationships. And he makes such a good point. It is so rare that one can learn so much from others in a safe way like in the groups they have created. And another way is, indeed, this podcast.

Working across mediums, from radio, film, print, and interactive media, Sue Jaye Johnson has investigated the US criminal justice system, women in sports, the legacy of apartheid, and girls in South Africa. As a TED Resident, she is examining our current relationship with pleasure and sex through intimate interviews with people from all walks of life asking what they believe about sex and why. She is working on a book about rethinking how we talk about sexuality and sensuality fostered by this series of interviews. Her TED Talk, What We Don’t Teach Kids About Sex, has been viewed more than 3 million times and translated into 27 languages.

Jaye is a two-time Peabody-winner and recipient of a Creative Capital award for her pioneering interactive documentary about US prisons. Her first feature film, T-Rex (PBS, Netflix) followed 17-year-old boxer, Claressa Shields, from Flint, Michigan to the gold medal at the London Olympics. Her work has been broadcast on PBS, NPR, WNY and published in the New York Times and The Washington Post.

She studied Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University and Interactive Telecommunications at New York University. She lives in New York City with radio producer and frequent collaborator Joe Richman and their two daughters.

THE PLEASURE REPORT, created by writer, journalist, and filmmaker Sue Jaye Johnson, is a publication and community dedicated to investigating our relationship to pleasure. We are defining pleasure in an infinitely broad sense. We interrogate our pleasure in grief, in rage, in pain, in culture, in politics, and in our longing for a better world. Each month we have a theme.

We can experience pleasure passively, or, we can MAKE our pleasure.

Together, we will explore the tenants of pleasure: attention, awareness, sensation, and acceptance. You will learn tools, be exposed to new ways of thinking, and being in your body, in this world. We are an engaged community of pleasure researchers. I invite you to join us.

We want to provide you with support and many many resources for your own Open Nesting Journey. Our resource page has so much to offer as does our private discussion group on Facebook about queerness and other topics of interest:

Open Nesters Resource Page

The Open Nesters Private Facebook Group

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 in 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. 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…

[Amir] This couple is authentic, simple and really easy to understand.

[Tessa] Absolutely. She’s an expert in sexuality and he came into it with such innocence.

Casaundra – “We met on the app Bumble, in our empty nest space. I was really coming into myself in the new phase I was entering. I am a Tantric Shamanic Sacred Sexuality Coach. When my children moved out I was so ready to express! I started dating again. When I was talking to Chris about my work in the very beginning (on a first date) he was completely enamored. He was so nervous but we were able to be super-honest about where we were in life. I wanted to enter into a relationship in the most authentic way that I could imagine. And I was able to do it… I was so surprised.”

Chris went through a (very!) traumatic experience as a young person. He describes this extremely difficult situation in detail in the podcast. You will have to listen to grasp the nature of this experience, but it is to Chris’ credit that he was able to stay so open-minded as he progressed in life. And then he met the best possible individual (Casaundra) as you will hear in this interview.

Casaundra has a lot for us upcoming. You can reach her at Casaundrahope.com.

We want to provide you with support and many many resources for your own Open Nesting Journey. Our resource page has so much to offer as does our private discussion group on Facebook about queerness and other topics of interest:

Open Nesters Resource Page

The Open Nesters Private Facebook Group

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 in 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. 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…

Sondra – “I listened to a couple of your episodes and I became very intimidated because I felt like I was 22 again out of college. And I thought holy crap these people have their third act all together and I don’t even know what I am gonna do. Everyone seems to have it all planned out. And I don’t know….”

Tessa – Sondra and Victor are a delightful couple that are so authentic. I am so excited for you to hear this particular interview because it is just very real. I met Sondra at a networking event. She was doing some incredible work with charities. Then I learned that she and Victor are Open Nesters. Their kids have left the nest and the opportunities are wide open for these vital people.

Their kids left and came back… like ping pong balls. It was revolving. It was disturbing to Sondra but not to Victor. She wanted a clean cut. She wanted to be done with the child raising. And so It was very confusing trying to deal with adult kids with social lives, sex lives… yet still living in their parents’ home.

The non-profit. This is work that Sondra has been doing for 30 years. She works with nonprofit organizations with their business operations. Helping them with their business models, strategy, leadership, financial, HR, funding and program development. It is good work. Yet she finds herself daydreaming about doing something else.

Sondra got involved on her own first with a school in the D.R. And then Victor spent time helping, doing a lot of work for a school there.

However – the question at hand, really, is are the anchors in the U.S. enough of a priority to stop them from actually moving to the Dominican Republic. They disagree on the kids being enough of an anchor… however aging parents… yes – they do hold these two back from diving into an ACT III fully abroad.

We want to provide you with support and many many resources for your own Open Nesting Journey. Our resource page has so much to offer as does our private discussion group on Facebook about queerness and other topics of interest:

Open Nesters Resource Page

The Open Nesters Private Facebook Group

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 in 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. 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…

Do you remember that fabulous episode with Jahaira and Marvin near the beginning of The Open Nesters Podcast? No? Click below to visit that – one of our most popular episodes. It is not required but might be fun to start there before listening to this one.

Jahaira and Marvin

What is particularly amazing about this episode is the honest conversation, the truth, the logistics, the jealousies over big and little things. Guess what… our poly quad is made up of… wait for it… people. People with desires and issues and complications. And what is truly inspiring about this group of people is how they work on anything that separates them together. Head on.

Is a very special kind of polyamory. It exists only if four people can meet in the middle on enough lifestyle questions that the mechanics and scheduling and occasional hurt feelings are more than made up for by the larger family that is the four-way relationship. You see the phrase “it’s complicated” on so many public profiles on dating apps. In this case… IT’S COMPLICATED!!

Yet… it can really work for some special people And our poly quad, Jahaira, Marvin, Michael, and Monique, is such a good example of that.

We want to provide you with support and many many resources for your own Open Nesting Journey. Our resource page has so much to offer as does our private discussion group on Facebook about queerness and other topics of interest:

Open Nesters Resource Page

The Open Nesters Private Facebook Group

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 in 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. 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…

There is so much to communicate about this remarkable family… I almost (almost… ) just want you to listen to the podcast. But – there are some othere media assets for you to consume to get to know what these ‘people of the light’ are up to. One of which is the video about their upcoming Calling in Love Retreat in Columbia.

CALLING IN LOVE: We lead trips that empower people to rediscover and reconnect with their most authentic selves using ancient plant medicines and techniques of our ancestors. We guide and help integrate these ancient wisdoms into our day-to-day, so that we may all live healthier and happier lives.

CLICK TO LEARN MORE

The Russell’s are dear friends of mine! I have been friends with Esther through thick and thin and have watched her incredible children grow up and become the highly impressive people they are today. And now Yehuda, Malka, and their mother, Esther, work together. And what work it is!!! These inspired people enlighten and enrich so many individuals through their work as sound healers, readers of the Akashic Record, and now through Calling in Love Retreats.

As a sound artist, sound healer, singer-songwriter, and Ecstatic Dance DJ, I synthesize vibrational frequency, voice, and soulful sound from various musical instruments, to allow for spontaneous healing to occur, drawing you back to the truth of your heart.

My Sound Baths transport you out of the chaos of life and into the magical energy of sound and healing vibration.

With the use of sound, vibrational frequency, and vocal resonance, my sound healing sessions combine various techniques and instruments including voice, Tibetan bowls, crystal bowls, drums, and bells, to create frequencies that entrain your brainwaves and slow down your nervous system.

This promotes a deep state of relaxation, restoration, and healing for your body and mind. To listen to an interview with Malka and to hear her description of the healing power of music, click here.

We want to provide you with support and many many resources for your own Open Nesting Journey. Our resource page has so much to offer as does our private discussion group on Facebook about queerness and other topics of interest:

Open Nesters Resource Page

The Open Nesters Private Facebook Group

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 in 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. 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…

The 5Elements

Malaika was a mother, wife, business partner, conscious dance movement leader… And in one moment – it all was taken from her. When she found out that her partner was cheating on her and the relationship ended, a completely new chapter of life was born.

In the middle of the interview I joined Malaika in dance – it was just the thing to do. You can hear her vibe at the links below.

SoundCloud Playlists

Woman by Lighthouse

IN MY ELEMENTS is all about embodiment. Taking the tantric approach to life, which means embracing the Goddess and both our light and shadow sides.

It is my highest goal to facilitate the awakening of humanity to remember who and what we are, to be true stewards of the earth, so that we, as a collective, re-connect with our divinity. As awakened beings, we can restore this unique and beautiful planet to the Garden of Eden she has always been. Together, we can create a sustainable culture based on love and respect for all sentient beings.

My tools of activation are ancient earth wisdom ceremonies, dance, connection and music. Education that is based on the wisdom of those before us; those that knew how to live in and build communities that are harmony with the earth and the ocean and living in our human bodies.

Whether it is for a personal healing, Sacred Shiva Shakti cacao ceremony, the blessing of a new baby, the opening of a gala event or an initiation ceremony to acknowledge the coming of age of a teenage girl or boy, I have ceremonies based on ancient wisdom adapted to address contemporary times to bring people into a more open heart and therefore connected space.

All of my efforts are to assist people to see what they already are, to love and honor what they already have, and to lift the veil of darkness that has been keeping them in the illusion of separation from our sacred earth and from the Beloved which is always right here NOW! Embodiment means to live in your body as a temple and claim your birth right of full Abundance in all areas of your life!

~Malaika MaVeena Darville

Across the globe, she is known for her ability to re-connect individuals with their inner body spirituality, helping all who practice with her to access to higher realms of consciousness,  authenticity, and Self Love.

She has traveled and lived with indigenous cultures and facilitated groups in Australia, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka, Spain, Holland, Egypt, China, USA, Costa Rica, Holland, Portugal and Bali with over 30 years of experience.

She has taught at the world’s top events including Burning Man, Symbiosis, Festival of Bliss, Tantra Festival Thailand, Woodford Folk Festival, Bellingen Global Carnival, Peats Ridge Festival, Ibiza Tantra Festival, Bali Spirit Festival, BOOM Festival and numerous private events.

Malaika’s accreditations include being a qualified ISHTA yoga teacher, Qualified Water Dance Practitioner, Hawaiian Body Worker, Permaculturist, African Dance performer and teacher, Ecstatic Dance Dj, Ceremonialist, and Creatrix of 5Elements Dance Activation™ – a shamanic dynamic meditation dance journey embodying the five cardinal elements, earth, water, fire, air, and spirit. She is a Wisdom Keeper and inspirational facilitator who has been at the forefront of the global consciousness movement.

Malaika is dedicated to creating sacred space through ritual, ceremony and embodiment to bring personal and planetary awakening, restoring balance to our distorted, over-civilized culture.

We want to provide you with support and many many resources for your own Open Nesting Journey. Our resource page has so much to offer as does our private discussion group on Facebook about queerness and other topics of interest:

Open Nesters Resource Page

The Open Nesters Private Facebook Group

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 in 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. 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…

Really. Yes. You Do. 

For our devoted listeners, you will remember one of our most popular episodes, Eroticize Your Jealousy. At the time they used pseudonyms, Thea and Curt. The content they shared sizzled just a bit too much for them to use their real names. A good idea: go back and listen to this sexy episode then come back here to see where this fascinating relationship has moved to a year + later. What a trip we are on with Josh and Tammy. Life has changed so much for them since the last episode, yet their careful and smart (and highly intellectual) approach to relationships still shines through.

As open and intimate as this second episode with these remarkable people is, maybe the biggest joy for Amir and I is that we are all along for the ride on the emotions, changes and now, the new term relationship anarchy, that fills the lives of these two. Yes, there are children who now know about Josh and Tammy’s polyamory. Yes, there are other partners involved. If anarchy sounds bad, scary, or painful… think again. Relationship Anarchy defines what it is that Josh and Tammy “do for a living.”

We want to provide you with support and many many resources for your own Open Nesting Journey. Our resource page has so much to offer as does our private discussion group on Facebook about queerness and other topics of interest:

Open Nesters Resource Page

The Open Nesters Private Facebook Group

Rock The Boat. Resmaa Menakem: “Clean pain vs. dirty pain”  “Grind on the hook” “The only way out is through”.

DARE – Barry McDonagh

Becoming Safely Embodied – Deirdre Fay

Pleasure Activism – Adrienne Marie Brown

Polysecure – Jessica Fern: attachment theory applied to CNM

Big Friendship – Aminatou Sow and Anne Friedman

Relationship smorgasbord

Andie Nordgren – the 9 points of Relationship Anarchy

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 in 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. 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…

Karen is an “end-of-life Doula.”

There are many parallels between birth and death. We celebrate birth, but we fear death. As an end-of-life worker, Karen sees her role as one of helping and demystifying death. So we can bring our best and most authentic selves to our own death, and to be present for those who we love who are dying.

As a filmmaker, Karen has found that her visual art could be used as a tool to help many have a better death.

She says in this interview that once you start looking at death, you start to see death as a completion. And a gateway to something that we do not understand. I am certain that you will get a lot out of this interview with a truly remarkable woman.

Karen Bellone, MFA, is a Certified End-of-Life Doula and Death Educator. She has a private practice, in NY’s Hudson Valley, where she is an integral part of a worldwide community that is reigniting the wisdom of death within our modern lives. Prior to embracing her passion for end-of-life work, Karen has had a long career as an award-winning filmmaker and internationally collected photographer.

VISIT KAREN BELLONE, THE SEVENTH SENSE

Karen received a BFA in Film Production from New York University, and did graduate work with the world-renowned Actors Studio, through their inaugural program at the New School for Social Research. After training and becoming certified with INELDA (International End of Life Doula Association), Karen worked with an innovative hospice in Los Angeles where her skills as a death doula were developed and broadened. In addition to working with patients in various stages of their life journeys, she was responsible for training the volunteer staff, nurses and other hospice and medical professionals to bring more understanding, humanity and compassion into their work with the dying.

Karen spoke regularly with groups, such as the Alzheimer’s Project, about the role of the doula at end-of-life, and the space that can be held to bring about ‘a good death’. She believes strongly in the ability to demystify and assuage the fear that surrounds death in our culture and to foster safe passage for the dying, as well as to aid the families and loved ones through grief and bereavement.

As a visual artist and storyteller, Karen acquired a multitude of skills throughout her career that unlocked a deep passion for the healing power of visual and auditory perception on human consciousness. She integrated these strengths and resources into tools to bring aid and comfort for those imminently facing their mortality. Working with somatic and sensory awareness, Karen utilizes visual, sound and meditation therapy, personalized guided imagery, and commemoration of the sacred in the form of ritual, legacy and memory work, in order to bring comfort – physically, emotionally, spiritually to celebrate and commemorate the life of the individual. In addition to her ongoing private practice, Karen is currently directing a feature film about living American artist Michelle Stuart, whose work also engages with the elemental and ineffable nature of existence.

We want to provide you with support and many many resources for your own Open Nesting Journey. Our resource page has so much to offer as does our private discussion group on Facebook about queerness and other topics of interest:

Open Nesters Resource Page

The Open Nesters Private Facebook Group

Brian separated from his partner of eight years at the beginning of the pandemic. Just then Luke, Brian’s son, hit graduation. Luke decided to take a gap year, did some backpacking on the AT, then went to work to save money for college. Now attending Emerson College in Boston, more mature, and prepared for the next phase of his education and development.

Brian was trying to change a long-standing family attitude, to in his own words, “sever a generational trauma.” He sought to disrupt a negative method of raising children set by his own father. He “did not want to repeat the sins of his father.”

And in this he feels like he has succeeded, Luke is on a much more advanced trajectory than Brian was at the same age.

Luke was a 2020 high school senior. And that meant he had a lot of decisions to make just as we all hit the pandemic. First, it was a unanimous decision for Luke to take that year after high school off. 2020 was a tough year overall for the family, particularly when they were cooped up in a home in Maine. Luke ended up moving from Maine to NYC to be on his own.

And then setting up communication long-distance was a thing to sort out. An additional challenge was that Brian’s father died when he was 51 years old. So Brian really does not have a role model on what being a dad at this stage actually means.

You may be surprised at what Luke has to say in the podcast when posed with the question: “What do you want out of a dad at this age?”

We hope you enjoy this intimate and warm conversation with Tessa, Amir, Brian, and Luke – this week on The Open Nesters Podcast.

We want to provide you with support and many many resources for your own Open Nesting Journey. Our resource page has so much to offer as does our private discussion group on Facebook about queerness and other topics of interest:

Open Nesters Resource Page

The Open Nesters Private Facebook Group