Your Diagnonsense: How to Break the Avoidance Cycle & Set Your Own Relationship Goals
Therapist Todd Baratz joins Jess to discuss the costs and potential benefits of avoidance behaviours. He shares his thoughts on:
- The ways in which avoidance can be functional
- The stress and anxiety associated with sexual avoidance
- How to manage conflict avoidance
- The importance of conflict in relationships
- Specific strategies to break the avoidance cycle
Follow Todd on Instagram here. Check out his podcast, Your Diagnonsense.
If you’ve got questions or topic suggestions for the podcast, submit them here. As well, you can now record your messages for us! Please record your message/question in a quiet room and use your phone’s headphones with a built-in mic if possible.
And be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music & Stitcher!
Rough Transcript:
This is a computer-generated rough transcript, so please excuse any typos. This podcast is an informational conversation and is not a substitute for...
Why We All Seek Attention & Feel Insecure: The Ayesha & Steph Curry Case
Do you have a partner who craves attention? Do you love getting attention? How do you feel when your partner gets attention from outside sources? Jess and Brandon discuss the Ayesha and Steph Curry case and share their experience with managing insecurity, neediness, attention-seeking and more.
This podcast is brought to you by Desire Resorts.
If you’ve got questions or topic suggestions for the podcast, submit them here. As well, you can now record your messages for us! Please record your message/question in a quiet room and use your phone’s headphones with a built-in mic if possible.
And be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music & Stitcher!
Rough Transcript:
This is a computer-generated rough transcript, so please excuse any typos. This podcast is an informational conversation and is not a substitute for medical, health or other professional advice, diagnosis or...
How to Overcome Sexual Shame
Messages related to sexual shame are ingrained from a young age and they affect how we feel about our bodies, how we interact with sexual partners and how we experience sexual pleasure. This week, we discuss a range of approaches to relinquishing sexual shame. Consent educator, survivor-turned-thriver and founder of CONSENTParenting, Rosalia Rivera joins Jess and Brandon to share her story and insights. They discuss:
- Rosalia’s personal path to recovery after assault
- Pleasure as a route to relinquishing sexual shame
- How partners can support survivors when they disclose past trauma/abuse
- The importance of your inner compass in recognizing sources of shame
Prompt questions to help you examine shame-based beliefs including:
- What messages did you receive about sex from your parents?
- What did your parents tell you about sex with their words?
- What did your parents tell you about sex with their actions?
- How did your parents react to sexual depictions...
Pelvic Floor Health: Perineal Massage, Postpartum, Peeing & De-Stressing Your Vagina
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Pelvic floor physiotherapist, Kate Roddy, joins Jess to answer questions and share advice for keeping your pelvic floor as healthy as possible. They discuss:
- How to destress your vagina
- How to protect your pelvic floor while lifting weights and working out
- The forms of incontinence and how to manage them
- Why you don’t have to settle for peeing when you laugh
- How to do a proper kegel
- How to differentiate between pain and discomfort
- The Power of the Kegel Release Curve
- How to find the back end of the clitoris
- Safe vaginal & perineal massage (especially postpartum)
- Symptoms of an unhealthy pelvic floor
- The 4th trimester
Follow Kate on Instagram. To learn more about the Kegel Release Curve, check out their Instagram and website.
If you’ve got questions or topic suggestions for the podcast, submit them here. As well, you can now record your messages for us! Please...
A Conversation for Lovers
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Jess & Brandon try one of the “Lovers Inquiries” from her new book, The Ultimate Guide to Seduction and Foreplay co-authored by Marla Renee Stewart. They discuss ways to eroticize daily interactions within the context of a busy lifestyle and work through the prompts in the “Why do I love you again?” activity. Have a listen and try it out yourself using these prompts to guide you:
- What was the first thing you noticed about your lover?
- What first attracted you to your lover?
- On your first date, what excited you most?
- On your first date, what made you nervous?
- Do you remember the first time you kissed? What was it like?
- Do you remember the first time you had sex? What was it like?
- What is one awkward intimate moment you wouldn’t want to relive, but are able to laugh about now?
- Can you remember the wildest/hottest sex you ever had? What made it so...
The Good Sex Diet
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Let’s talk about food and sex and dismantle diet culture. Food and sex have so much in common and so many of us (Jess included) consider food an important component of our core love languages. Lisa Davis, author of Clean Eating, Dirty Sex: Sensual Superfoods and Aphrodisiac Practices for Ultimate Sexual Health and Connection, joins Jess and Brandon to discuss the ways in which the foods we eat affect our sex lives. We discuss:
- What foods have been shown to benefit sexual health?
- Why you may not want to “ditch” foods, but rather focus on new additions
- How diet affects metabolism
- How to rice cauliflower
- How diet can affect erectile dys(function)
- The power of flavonoids
- The concept of “cheat days"
Follow Lisa on Instagram. If you want to learn more about her book or podcast, click here. Listen to Lisa's Podcast, Talk Healthy Today, here.
If you’ve got...
Can Conflict Save Your Relationship?
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Do you avoid or lean into conflict? Do you fight to win or fight to understand? Do you speak up when you’re unhappy? This week, CrisMarie Campbell and Susan Clarke of Thrive! Inc. join Jess and Brandon to talk about the upside of conflict. They discuss:
- How to start difficult conversations
- Three questions to ask yourself when you’re fighting (or about to engage in conflict)
- How to cultivate better listening skills
- Why you don’t always need to arrive at compromise or a resolution
- The challenge of emotional differentiation
- The connection between conflict and passion
- The 5-5-5 approach to tackling tough topics
Follow CrisMarie & Susan on Instagram and Facebook. Check out their books, The Beauty of Conflict for Couples & The Beauty of Conflict: Harnessing Your Team's Competitive Advantage.
If you’ve got questions or topic...
How to Get in the Mood for Sex
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In this quickie episode, we chat about the fact that our interest in sex has declined since the onset of social isolation. We discuss strategies for creating “responsive” sexual desire and managing distractions that detract from pleasure.
If you’ve got questions or topic suggestions for the podcast, submit them here. As well, you can now record your messages for us! Please record your message/question in a quiet room and use your phone’s headphones with a built-in mic if possible.
And be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music & Stitcher!
Rough Transcript:
This is a computer-generated rough transcript, so please excuse any typos. This podcast is an informational conversation and is not a substitute for medical, health or other professional advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the...
Top Tips for Digital Dating
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Dating coach and matchmaker, Carmelia Ray joins Jess and Brandon to discuss:
- What holds most people back from finding a great match
- How dating has changed since we’ve been instructed to shelter in place
- Virtual speed dating
- How to ease into digital dating whether you’re a new couple or living long-distance
- How to manage the awkwardness of digital dates
As mentioned on the podcast, check out Carmelia's online dating programs on FirstDate.co. Follow Carmelia on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter.
If you’ve got questions or topic suggestions for the podcast, submit them here. As well, you can now record your messages for us! Please record your message/question in a quiet room and use your phone’s headphones with a built-in mic if possible.
And be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music...
Do You Get a Say in Your Partnerā€™s Porn Habits?
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Since we’re trapped at home in isolation, we decided to record an extra episode this week. We talk about a fight we had yesterday and how stress levels are affecting the way we interact. We also spend some time discussing an unrelated user question: “Do I get a say in my partner’s porn use?”. We explore the difference between setting boundaries and dictating behaviour as well as specific communication prompts you can use to talk to your partner about porn. We also consider whether or not you should change your habits to meet your partner’s needs and concerns.
Please see below for a rough transcript of this podcast.
Listener Question: "Do you get a say in your partner's porn habits?"
You have a say in terms of having the right to speak up about how you feel. You don’t have a right to dictate how they behave. And why would you want to? If they have a...
