The SmartSex Podcast

From addiction and trauma to healing, self-mastery and freedom.

In this deeply vulnerable episode, I sit down with my dear friend, Cindy Van Arnam, to talk about a part of her story that is rarely told without shame or judgment.

Cindy takes us through her journey from trauma, grief and self-destruction into healing, self-awareness and a life she never could have imagined for herself.

After losing her father at a young age, Cindy found herself spiralling into drug and alcohol addiction, destructive relationships and choices that took her further and further away from herself. But even in the darkest seasons, her mother's unwavering love became an anchor.

One sentence from her mom stayed with her: "I love you, but I don't love your actions." Cindy's story is not about pretending the past didn't happen. It's about looking directly at the pain, owning the choices, finding forgiveness, and discovering that our hardest chapters don't have to define the rest of our story.

🎧 Listen in for a raw, honest and ultimately hopeful conversation about addiction, trauma, healing, forgiveness and the power of becoming the woman you were always meant to be. Cindy's story of addiction, trauma, and healing is also documented in her earlier work Bullshit 2 Bliss, which describes her journey through three years of addiction and recovery.

And just released... Cindy's award-winning film about her life, "Yellowbird" now available on Squirrel Vision Network TV.

Thank you for listening. Your subscriptions, shares, and continued support help keep this podcast reaching hearts around the world.

For products and programs designed to help you grow, enhance, and transform your life, relationships, and intimacy, visit LeslieGustafson.com/shop.

Connect with Leslie on Instagram: @LeslieGustafson1

Moving from survival into pleasure, sensuality and self-connection. Movement and Raw Emotion! These three words resound loudly in this episode with my dear friend, Cindy Scharkey, RN, BSN. Cindy lost the love of her life, her husband, suddenly. She shares how she moved from survival to connecting with herself through rage, movement and the permission to grieve. You will be moved as you listen to us talk:

• What does it look like to grieve publicly?
• How does movement and dance connect us to ourselves, our body, our pleasure?
• What does it look like to give yourself permission for grief? For pleasure?

The Freedom to Be!

Cindy, author of the book and host of the podcast, Permission for Pleasure, is passionate about educating and equipping women with the information and confidence they need to express, experience and enjoy their sexuality.

🎧 Listen in for a rich conversation about intimacy, embodiment, and bringing more joy, connection, and aliveness into your life and relationships. Thank you for listening. Your subscriptions, shares, and continued support help keep this podcast reaching hearts around the world.

For products and programs designed to help you grow, enhance, and transform your life, relationships, and intimacy, visit www.lesliegustafson.com/shop. Connect with Leslie on Instagram: @LeslieGustafson1

You can change your story and become uniquely You! In this episode, I am joined by Kathleen Pitt, The Quantum Psychic, who is a Quantum Success Coach and Energetic Advisor.

Join me as we talk through Kathleen's story of breaking free from being suppressed and developing her truth and soul. We dive into: - What it means to live in alignment and the frequency of who you are - How this transition affected our relationships, especially our marriage - How do we support each other and still choose our partner while being true to our passion - Dealing with scepticism online - Parenting and intimacy in the trenches

Kathleen Pitt is a Quantum Psychic to executives, celebrities, and entrepreneurs. She helps high achievers gain clarity, align with their purpose, and navigate life and business through intuitive insight and quantum principles, empowering them to create meaningful, lasting success and fulfilment.

Blending intuitive insight with a quantum-based approach to personal and professional transformation, Kathleen helps high-performing individuals navigate pivotal decisions, unlock hidden opportunities, and overcome energetic blocks that can limit growth.

🎧 Listen in for a rich conversation about intimacy, embodiment, and bringing more joy, connection, and aliveness into your life and relationships. Thank you for listening. Your subscriptions, shares, and continued support help keep this podcast reaching hearts around the world.

For products and programs designed to help you grow, enhance, and transform your life, relationships, and intimacy, visit www.lesliegustafson.com/shop. Connect with Leslie on Instagram: @LeslieGustafson1

Are you on your to-do list?

This interview with Amberly Lago was truly inspiring. I'm eager for you to hear Amberly's solid advice for actually putting ourSELVES on our "to-do" list. She talks about how to impact the world around us, how to give ourselves grace through struggle, how to attract good things, and the daily practice of living in gratitude.

Amberly is an internationally renowned speaker on grit, resilience, and human connection, inspiring others to find joy through life's challenges.

She will inspire you to:

• Discover your personal worth
• Find yourself sexy within the struggle
• Find your support system and POWERFUL community
• Shift your perspective on life!

🎧 Listen in for a rich conversation about intimacy, embodiment, and bringing more joy, connection, and aliveness into your life and relationships.

Thank you for listening. Your subscriptions, shares, and continued support help keep this podcast reaching hearts around the world.

For products and programs designed to help you grow, enhance, and transform your life, relationships, and intimacy, visit www.lesliegustafson.com/shop.

Connect with Leslie on Instagram: @LeslieGustafson1

The Scrumptious Woman… a woman who lives with gratitude, generosity of spirit, pleasure, and deep connection.

In this episode, I had the absolute delight of sitting down with Juliette Karaman, intimacy and embodiment expert, to explore what it means to deepen intimacy in our relationships. We talk about how to relax into each other, dance with your partner, and create the kind of connection that allows both people to fully flourish.

We also celebrate the beauty of living in a world where women deeply support one another. And I'm thrilled to share that Juliette will be joining the Amazing You women in Paris in August 2026!

Juliette has the kind of laugh you hear before she enters the room, and she knows Paris the way only someone who has truly lived there can: the hidden streets, the neighborhood boulangeries, and the cafés where time seems to stand still.

Featured in Forbes, The Times, ITV, and Marie Claire, Juliette is the host of The Scrumptious Woman podcast, ranked in the top 2.5% globally. Through her work with more than 650 couples and nearly 1,000 clients across 20+ countries, she teaches one powerful truth: the relationship you have with your own body influences everything else.

🎧 Listen in for a rich conversation about intimacy, embodiment, and bringing more joy, connection, and aliveness into your life and relationships.

Thank you for listening. Your subscriptions, shares, and continued support help keep this podcast reaching hearts around the world.

For products and programs designed to help you grow, enhance, and transform your life, relationships, and intimacy, visit www.lesliegustafson.com/shop.

Connect with Leslie on Instagram: @LeslieGustafson1

"Why do I have a sex drive difference from my partner and what can I do about it? " "Why does my wife never seem to initiate sex?" "What can I do about my anger and frustration around being sexually rejected?" "How come I can't always tell if my wife has had an orgasm, and what can I do?"

If you've asked one of these questions, you're not alone! Men are curious and want to have deep, intimate relationships, but sometimes can't find the answers. Doug interviews Leslie in this episode to get to the bottom of some of these questions.

There's more!!!

Many other topics and questions arose during the talk including: - The difference between men's and women's sexual fantasies and sexual desire. - What is underneath men's sexual frustration and the personal and relational "fix" for it? - The role of fear of not getting sexual needs met and men's sex "drive". - "Does pornography work as an antidote to a difference in sexual desire?" - How couples can work through and negotiate their sexual life in all its nuances. - Why men's pursuit of their partners often fails. - The truth about "sexual incompatibility" and what to do.

The episode takes an unexpected turn in the latter part of the episode when Doug asks about why affairs happen and if men (and women) can get the passion back after the affair.

This is a lively discussion that will help the listener become Better, Smarter & Sexier!

Thank you for listening. Your SUBSCRIBING, sharing and continued listening helps keep this podcast alive all over the world.

For products and programs to grow, enhance and transform your life, relationships and intimacy visit www.leslieGustafson.com/shop

Leslie Gustafson can be found on Instagram @LeslieGustafson1

It's Doug's turn to put Leslie in the hot seat and interviews Leslie.

Doug asks the daring questions that YOU want to know the answers to:

• Does size really matter?
• Do clients take their clothes off in sex therapy?
• What exactly is a sex therapist and what do you do?
• Who comes to sex therapy and why?
• What is great sex anyway?
• How are men and women different when it comes to sex? Or are they?
• How does one become a sex therapist?
• Are some people just not sexual at all?

He also presents numerous real life couple examples for Leslie to "solve". Leslie answers these questions with the real truth using her experience as a Master Sex, Love and Relationship Coach, licensed Individual and couples therapist and AASECT Sex Therapist. This is a lively discussion that will help the listener become Better, Smarter & Sexier!

Thank you for listening. Your SUBSCRIBING, sharing and continued listening helps keep this podcast alive all over the world.

For products and programs to grow, enhance and transform your life, relationships and intimacy visit www.leslieGustafson.com/shop

Leslie Gustafson can be found on Instagram @LeslieGustafson1

Leslie has the joy of interviewing Doug in the second episode of Men and Sex.

The conversation is deep and rich. We uncover what healthy sexuality is for men and what is underneath men's desires. "Most men want to be better men" but don't necessarily know the path in the intimate, sexual, interpersonal and relational arenas. Men are lovers and leaders but need to unearth and explore identity, emotions, the heart of a man, the role of porn and becoming whole as a man. Doug emphasizes the critical importance of men understanding their own complexity so they can live fully, powerfully and confidently in and out of the bedroom. Many men lean on sex as their primary avenue for the management of their emotions, releasing stress and feeling alive and connected, but must reconcile what sex is about for them, what it really can be and who they are as men.

Lastly, the "GREAT WANT" for men (that both men and women hold) is highlighted.

PLEASE Subscribe, Enjoy! And Become, Better, Smarter and Sexier!

For products and programs to grow, enhance and transform your life, relationships and intimacy visit www.leslieGustafson.com/shop

Leslie Gustafson can be found on Instagram @LeslieGustafson1

Leslie and Doug discuss male sexuality in a date-like set-up over a nice glass of red wine. They have a very real and at times raw conversation about men, sex, and what it's all about and cover topics including:

• male sexual development,
• the importance of sex,
• what is addiction,
• out-of-control sexual behavior,
• men's feelings and desires,
• pornography and much more

THIS is a must listen to podcast!

Insights, stories, wisdom about men, and at times contrary opinions gained from the real-life work and experience of joining personally with men as their mentor, coach, therapist are shared.

This conversation is full of information and understanding that every man and the women who love them can grow from and become "Better, Smarter & Sexier."

PLEASE Subscribe, Enjoy! And Become, Better, Smarter and Sexier!

For products and programs to grow, enhance and transform your life, relationships and intimacy visit www.leslieGustafson.com/shop

Leslie Gustafson can be found on Instagram @LeslieGustafson1

In this playful episode, I'm excited to have a special guest, who is also my partner, my lover, and my best friend in life, Doug Gustafson. We talk about a timely topic - "Play" in and out of the bedroom. Play is critical to our well-being, relationships, and our marriages. Doug and I discuss play in general, play individually, and as a couple. We want to inspire you to create a playful lifestyle with your partner! Join us as we talk about all this and more, and encourage you to become smarter, healthier, and sexier!

PLEASE Subscribe, Enjoy! And Become, Better, Smarter and Sexier!

For products and programs to grow, enhance and transform your life, relationships and intimacy visit www.leslieGustafson.com/shop

Leslie Gustafson can be found on Instagram @LeslieGustafson1