Ple^sure Principles

Most of us were taught to whisper about pleasure, or not talk about it at all. And somewhere along the way, many of us learned to chase relief instead of real nourishment. How do you tell the difference between something that fills you up and something that just helps you not feel? In this episode of Pleasure Principles, host Nazish talks with transformational life strategist Tori Jenae about healthy pleasure, numbing, and the quiet disconnection from the body that sits underneath both.Tori shares what it was like to grow up in a home where pleasure was spoken about openly, and how different that felt from the shame many women absorb. She offers a simple check-in, how do you feel before and after, to tell nourishing from numbing. She also talks about her former 100-hour work weeks, why giving from an empty cup breeds resentment, and small daily habits that keep long-term partners emotionally close. She closes with one question worth carrying: am I moving towards myself or away from myself?About the Guest:Tori Jenae is a transformational life strategist and coach who describes herself as a psychology expert. Her website notes multiple psychology degrees and training in Energy Psychology and EFT Tapping. She is the creator of The Reclamation Method™, built around clarity, connection, confidence, and creation, and works with clients through group and one-to-one coaching. Her message is simple: reclaim yourself. Tori shares from her own experience and perspective, and her views here are not medical, sexual health, or clinical advice.Key Takeaways:Shame around pleasure is learned. Tori grew up in a home where it was talked about openly, and she sees how different that is from the silence many women inherit.Healthy pleasure nourishes you. Numbing helps you avoid a difficult feeling, whether through food, sex, shopping, or something else.A simple check-in: how do I feel before, and how do I feel after? The honest answer often tells you which one you were doing.Behind a lot of numbing sits the belief of “not enough.” Naming it is a first step.Many of us live disconnected from the body. Tori suggests a regular check-in, even hourly: am I hungry, tired, thirsty, or upset?Giving from an empty cup tends to turn into resentment. Looking after yourself is part of caring for the people you love.In long-term relationships, emotional connection often drives physical connection. Tori points to a Gottman-inspired habit of about 15 minutes a day: hold hands, make eye contact, and ask how your partner is.Try asking, “How is your heart today?” Add a weekly check-in, a date, and regular appreciation.Modern relationships ask more of us. Small, consistent habits matter more than grand gestures.A compass question for any moment: am I moving towards myself or away from myself?Connect With Tori Jenae:Website: www.torijenae.com Coaching: group coaching and one-to-one coaching by application, through her website Method: The Reclamation Method™Episode Chapters:00:00 Pleasure Without Shame: Where Do We Begin? 00:52 Welcome and Meet Tori Jenae 02:14 Growing Up Talking About Pleasure 04:55 Unlearning the Old Script 07:45 What Blocks Intimacy 09:04 Nourishing vs Numbing 13:51 Reconnecting With Your Body 18:51 Keeping Intimacy Alive Long Term 20:09 Small Daily Habits That Help 22:55 Why Modern Relationships Ask More 23:46 Where to Find Tori🎙️ Want to Be a Guest on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life?Send me a direct message on PodMatch.👉 DM Me Here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/avik🌱 About Healthy Mind By Avik™️Healthy Mind By Avik™️ Global Mental Wellness Podcast Network - focused, credible, no more identity clutter.👉 Subscribe and be part of this healing journey.Refer a GuestKnow someone who would be a great fit for one of our podcast shows? Email us at [email protected] with the subject line “Refer a Guest.” Requests without this subject line cannot be catered to.Support Our Podcast: Support this Podcast📬 Contact & LinksBrand: Healthy Mind By Avik™️Contact UsBased in: India & USA🎧 All Podcast Shows🤝 Be a Guest📩 Newsletter Substack👉 Join the LinkedIn Community📌 Disclaimer - This episode is produced for educational and informational purposes only. All views expressed by the guest are their personal opinions alone and do not represent the views of the host or Healthy Mind by Avik™. The Network does not verify, endorse, or assume responsibility for any guest statements. Nothing in this episode constitutes medical, legal, financial, or professional advice, please consult a qualified professional before making any decisions. Listeners are encouraged to engage critically and independently with all content do not consume blindly. Use this content as a starting point for your own reflection and research, not as a substitute for professional guidance. Third-party content is referenced under fair use for informational purposes only. Guest speakers are solely responsible for their own statements.If you have concerns about any content, please contact us hereBy listening, you acknowledge and accept this disclaimer in full. Read detailed disclaimer here.#PleasurePrinciples #HealthyPleasure #NumbingVsNourishing #MentalHealthMatters #EmotionalIntimacy #BodyConnection #SelfWorth #RelationshipHealth #WomensWellness #ShameFree #ReclaimYourself #BurnoutRecovery #ToriJenae #HealthyMindByAvik #Selfcare

We tend to treat pleasure as something a little embarrassing, indulgent, or separate from serious life. But what if it is one of the quiet organizing principles behind many of our choices, even when we choose restraint or step away entirely? In this episode of Pleasure Principles, host Nazish talks with psychotherapist and author Byron Athene about pleasure, shame, and self-acceptance, openly and with consent and dignity at the centre.Byron shares how a painful breakup led him to a life changing idea about where our feelings come from, and how that opened a long philosophical journey. Together they explore inherited shame, why restraint and abstinence can be a relationship with pleasure too, and how openness to other people's differences makes room for empathy. If you carry old guilt or confusion about your own choices, this conversation offers a gentle place to start.About the Guest:Byron Athene is a counselling psychotherapist, mindset coach, and clinical supervisor based in the UK. He is the author of Find Your Path to Resilience, a book of techniques for building emotional strength. Byron's views in this conversation are his personal perspective and are not medical advice.Key Takeaways:Byron's turning point came from the idea that happiness and unhappiness come from within, which led him to manage his emotions differently after a painful breakup.Many of us inherit a narrow, shame-filled story about pleasure. Silence around the subject can make guilt grow.Restraint, aversion, and abstinence can be a relationship with pleasure too. Choosing a side shows that it matters.Pleasure shows up in ordinary moments: looking at the sky, a tree, a good book, a favourite show.Accepting that everyone experiences pleasure differently makes room for empathy. Understanding does not require shared preferences, only openness.Byron's one word for anyone carrying shame or confusion: self-acceptance. Start with self-compassion.A dignified relationship with pleasure looks like authenticity: being genuine without fear of judgment.Connect With Byron Athene:Website: byronathene.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/byron-athene Book: Find Your Path to Resilience, available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon and Bookshop.org Services: counselling and psychotherapy, mindset coaching, and clinical supervisionEpisode Chapters:00:00 Pleasure Is Not a Side Dish00:49 Welcome and Meet Byron Athene02:34 A Heartbreak That Led to a Big Idea07:19 Inherited Shame Around Pleasure09:00 Pleasure Even in Restraint and Abstinence12:41 Why Byron Calls Us Pleasure Domes13:50 Where Pleasure Shows Up in Ordinary Life17:03 Letting Go of Judgment and Making Room for Empathy19:23 One Word to Hold On To: Self-Acceptance22:12 Where to Find Byron and His Book🎙️ Want to Be a Guest on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life?Send me a direct message on PodMatch.👉 DM Me Here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/avik🌱 About Healthy Mind By Avik™️Healthy Mind By Avik™️ Global Mental Wellness Podcast Network - focused, credible, no more identity clutter.👉 Subscribe and be part of this healing journey.Refer a GuestKnow someone who would be a great fit for one of our podcast shows? Email us at [email protected] with the subject line “Refer a Guest.” Requests without this subject line cannot be catered to.Support Our Podcast: Support this Podcast📬 Contact & LinksBrand: Healthy Mind By Avik™️Contact UsBased in: India & USA🎧 All Podcast Shows🤝 Be a Guest📩 Newsletter Substack👉 Join the LinkedIn Community📌 Disclaimer - This episode is produced for educational and informational purposes only. All views expressed by the guest are their personal opinions alone and do not represent the views of the host or Healthy Mind by Avik™. The Network does not verify, endorse, or assume responsibility for any guest statements. Nothing in this episode constitutes medical, legal, financial, or professional advice, please consult a qualified professional before making any decisions. Listeners are encouraged to engage critically and independently with all content do not consume blindly. Use this content as a starting point for your own reflection and research, not as a substitute for professional guidance. Third-party content is referenced under fair use for informational purposes only. Guest speakers are solely responsible for their own statements.If you have concerns about any content, please contact us hereBy listening, you acknowledge and accept this disclaimer in full. Read detailed disclaimer here.#PleasurePrinciples #SelfAcceptance #SelfCompassion #ShameAndGuilt #MentalHealthMatters #HealthyMindByAvik #EmotionalWellbeing #Resilience #MindsetShift #Authenticity #NonJudgmental #ByronAthene #FindYourPathToResilience #PersonalGrowth #Psychotherapy

In this episode of Pleasure Principles, host Rasmeet talks with Melissa Crook, founder of Embracing Layers and host of the F.E.E.L. Podcast, about why mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, financial, and sexual wellbeing are not separate rooms in a house but one connected structure. Melissa shares her own journey out of a purity-culture upbringing that framed pleasure as something owed to a partner rather than something that belonged to her, and how unprocessed shame from that conditioning showed up physically, as racing heart rate, high blood pressure, and numbness, long before she understood where it came from.The conversation moves into Melissa's practical approach to reconnecting with emotion and pleasure: naming feelings without judging them as good or bad, using tools like an emotions wheel to build vocabulary for what the body is already signaling, and tracing physical reactions back to where a belief about worth or shame first took root. Melissa and Rasmeet talk candidly about consent, safety, and the broader definition of pleasure as anything that lets a person feel fully present and alive, not only its narrowest, most commonly discussed form.About the Guest:Melissa Crook is the founder of Embracing Layers and host of the F.E.E.L. Podcast, which stands for Finding Empowerment Embracing Layers. Her work sits at the intersection of emotional, mental, and intimate wellbeing, helping people unlearn shame-based narratives about worth and pleasure and rebuild a healthier, more integrated relationship with their own bodies and emotions.Key Takeaways:Mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, financial, and sexual wellbeing function as one connected system. Distress in one area reliably shows up in the others, even when no one names the connection out loud.Unprocessed shame and fear do not stay abstract. They can surface physically as a racing heart, high blood pressure, numbness, headaches, or stomach aches long before a person connects the symptom to its source.Emotions are neither good nor bad. They function as clues pointing to what needs to be felt and processed, and tools like an emotions wheel can help build the vocabulary many people were never given.A useful starting practice is writing down every emotion being felt without judgment, then tracing each one back to the first moment it was labeled unacceptable to feel.Pleasure, in its fullest sense, extends far beyond its most commonly discussed form. It includes the comfort of a safe conversation, the taste of a favorite meal, time in nature, or any experience that allows someone to feel fully present without apology.Reconnecting with pleasure after a long disconnection starts small and safe: finding a place that feels secure, writing down what is actually being felt, and tracing those feelings back to their roots, with professional support when it is needed.Connect With Melissa Crook:Website: embracinglayers.comPodcast: The F.E.E.L. Podcast (Finding Empowerment Embracing Layers)Free 30 minute consultation available through the website contact formEpisode Chapters:00:00 - Cold open: the rooms of wellbeing we rarely open in public 00:48 - Welcome to Pleasure Principles and introducing Melissa Crook 02:00 - What Melissa had to learn about her own worth long before this became her work 04:05 - The moment Melissa realized her emotional and intimate life were connected 09:53 - The belief about pleasure and worth Melissa had to lay down 13:21 - Where mental, emotional, and intimate wellbeing tangle most often 21:58 - What shifts when someone finally names the struggle out loud 25:07 - Expanding the definition of pleasure beyond its narrowest meaning 28:11 - The gentlest way to begin reconnecting after a long disconnection 32:16 - How to connect with Melissa Crook and Embracing Layers🎙️ Want to Be a Guest on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life?Send me a direct message on PodMatch.👉 DM Me Here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/avik🌱 About Healthy Mind By Avik™️Healthy Mind By Avik™️ Global Mental Wellness Podcast Network - focused, credible, no more identity clutter.👉 Subscribe and be part of this healing journey.Refer a GuestKnow someone who would be a great fit for one of our podcast shows? Email us at [email protected] with the subject line “Refer a Guest.” Requests without this subject line cannot be catered to.Support Our Podcast: Support this Podcast📬 Contact & LinksBrand: Healthy Mind By Avik™️Contact UsBased in: India & USA🎧 All Podcast Shows🤝 Be a Guest📩 Newsletter Substack👉 Join the LinkedIn Community📌 Disclaimer - This episode is produced for educational and informational purposes only. All views expressed by the guest are their personal opinions alone and do not represent the views of the host or Healthy Mind by Avik™. The Network does not verify, endorse, or assume responsibility for any guest statements. Nothing in this episode constitutes medical, legal, financial, or professional advice, please consult a qualified professional before making any decisions. Listeners are encouraged to engage critically and independently with all content do not consume blindly. Use this content as a starting point for your own reflection and research, not as a substitute for professional guidance. Third-party content is referenced under fair use for informational purposes only. Guest speakers are solely responsible for their own statements.If you have concerns about any content, please contact us hereBy listening, you acknowledge and accept this disclaimer in full. Read detailed disclaimer here.#podmatch #healthymindbyavik #podhub.club #pleasureprinciples #melissacrook #embracinglayers #feelpodcast #emotionalwellness #intimatewellbeing #mentalhealthpodcast #healingjourney #shameresilience #reclaimingpleasure #mindbodyconnection #selfworth

In this episode of Pleasure Principles, host Rasmeet talks with Pete and Kalindi, founders of Living In Love, about why long-term intimacy so often goes quiet, and what it actually takes to keep returning to each other. They challenge the popular picture of romance, candles, date nights, dramatic gestures, and explain that real intimacy grows out of small, conscious moments of connection built throughout an ordinary day, not a single grand gesture saved for the weekend.The conversation moves through practical, doable practices couples can use immediately: synchronized breathing to shift out of fight-or-flight, a simple "I am aware" check-in that builds present-moment honesty, and humming together to soften the nervous system before deeper conversation or intimacy. Pete and Kalindi also talk candidly about criticism as a slow poison in relationships, why curiosity toward a partner matters more than assuming you already know them, and why the way couples treat each other throughout the day, not just in the bedroom, is what actually determines how close they feel.About the Guests: Pete and Kalindi are the founders of Living In Love, offering the Amrita Tantra program for couples, an online course built around connection, communication, and intimacy practices grounded in tantra, breathwork, and conscious presence. Peter's background is rooted in breathwork, while together they work with couples on repairing ruptures and building deeper, more resonant relationships.Key Takeaways:Real intimacy is not an ongoing spark or constant romance. It grows out of consciously attending to your partner through the gritty, ordinary parts of daily life, not just the highlight moments.Synchronized breathing first thing in the morning can shift both partners into a calmer, more connected nervous system state before the day's demands take over.A simple "I am aware" practice, taking turns naming what you notice in your body, surroundings, or feelings, builds present-moment honesty and gradually deepens intimacy.Humming together tones the vagus nerve and helps regulate the nervous system, which supports better conversations and deeper intimacy afterward.Criticism functions like a slow poison in relationships, often masking an underlying feeling of emotional unsafety rather than being about the specific complaint itself.How partners treat each other throughout the day, small smiles, a hand squeeze, real check-ins, builds the closeness that makes deeper intimacy feel natural rather than forced. Connect With Pete and Kalindi:Program: Amrita Tantra Program for couplesWebsite: https://www.livinginlove.co.uk/Facebook: Pete & Kalindi, Living In LoveEpisode Chapters: 00:00 - Cold open: when closeness goes quiet, but not gone 00:31 - Welcome to Pleasure Principles and introducing Pete and Kalindi 01:05 - The small daily practices that keep them present with each other 02:57 - The biggest misconception about intimacy in long relationships 08:00 - A grounded, doable daily practice for returning to each other 11:45 - The one small move that has changed the most for couples they work with 15:42 - The deeper patterns underneath surface complaints and criticism 20:29 - How to connect with Pete and Kalindi and the Amrita Tantra program🎙️ Want to Be a Guest on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life?Send me a direct message on PodMatch.👉 DM Me Here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/avik🌱 About Healthy Mind By Avik™️Healthy Mind By Avik™️ Global Mental Wellness Podcast Network - focused, credible, no more identity clutter.👉 Subscribe and be part of this healing journey.Refer a GuestKnow someone who would be a great fit for one of our podcast shows? Email us at [email protected] with the subject line “Refer a Guest.” Requests without this subject line cannot be catered to.Support Our Podcast: Support this Podcast📬 Contact & LinksBrand: Healthy Mind By Avik™️Contact UsBased in: India & USA🎧 All Podcast Shows🤝 Be a Guest📩 Newsletter Substack👉 Join the LinkedIn Community📌 Disclaimer - This episode is produced for educational and informational purposes only. All views expressed by the guest are their personal opinions alone and do not represent the views of the host or Healthy Mind by Avik™. The Network does not verify, endorse, or assume responsibility for any guest statements. Nothing in this episode constitutes medical, legal, financial, or professional advice, please consult a qualified professional before making any decisions. Listeners are encouraged to engage critically and independently with all content do not consume blindly. Use this content as a starting point for your own reflection and research, not as a substitute for professional guidance. Third-party content is referenced under fair use for informational purposes only. Guest speakers are solely responsible for their own statements.If you have concerns about any content, please contact us hereBy listening, you acknowledge and accept this disclaimer in full. Read detailed disclaimer here.#podmatch #healthymindbyavik #podhub.club #pleasureprinciples #tantraforcouples #intimacyrebuilt #consciousconnection #breathworkforcouples #relationshipadvice #mentalhealthpodcast #healingjourney #couplesconnection #amritatantra #curiosityoverassumption #dailyintimacy

In this episode of Pleasure Principles, host Avik welcomes Christina Simmons, an integrative trauma therapist and Mind-Body Medicine Practitioner, for a tender and necessary conversation about touch, safety, and the body. Christina opens by naming the myth she wants to dismantle: that healing from trauma is only about pain, when pleasure is just as central to the process. From there, the conversation moves into what actually happens in the nervous system when touch has been learned as dangerous, from the quiet bracing and dissociation that show up in daily life to the specific ways trauma survivors keep people at a distance without meaning to reject connection.What makes this conversation land is Christina's insistence on presence over performance. She walks through what it looks like to slowly rebuild trust around touch and intimacy, why radical honesty and going slow are non-negotiable parts of that process, and how co-regulation between two people can become the foundation for real safety. For anyone who has ever wondered why their body does not open the way they wish it would, this episode offers language, validation, and a gentle map forward.About the Guest: Christina Simmons, LCSW-C, LICSW, SEP, is an integrative trauma therapist and Mind-Body Medicine Practitioner who works at the intersection of trauma, somatic experiencing, and intimacy. She is the founder of Revitalizing Inner Self Essence® (RISE MD), where her clinical training in Somatic Experiencing and advanced trauma treatment is grounded in both clinical depth and human softness. Her work centers on helping trauma survivors reconnect with their bodies, rebuild trust around touch, and understand that healing includes the capacity for pleasure, not just the absence of pain.Key Takeaways:Healing from trauma is not only about processing pain. Pleasure is a central, often overlooked, part of the healing process.When the body learns that touch is dangerous, it responds with a cascade of nervous system reactions, including bracing, dissociation, numbness, and physical withdrawal, often without the person consciously noticing.Someone bracing against touch does not mean they do not want connection. It means their nervous system has learned specific conditions are needed before touch can feel safe.Presence and sincerity, not technique or performance, are what first help a trauma survivor's nervous system begin to soften.Repairing trust around touch and intimacy requires compassion, radical honesty, going slow, and mutual co-regulation between both people in the relationship.A person who cannot voice a clear yes or no cannot meaningfully consent, which makes rebuilding the ability to say either one a core part of healing.Connect With Christina Simmons:Website: risemdllc.comEpisode Chapters:00:00 - Cold open: the silence carried by people who learned touch is not safe01:14 - Welcome to Pleasure Principles and introducing Christina Simmons02:19 - Christina's intention: debunking the myth that healing is only about pain03:45 - What happens somatically when the body braces instead of receives touch06:41 - What Christina wants clients to feel from her first: presence over performance08:17 - How touch starts to register as a threat instead of a gift13:12 - The quiet, everyday signs that someone does not feel safe in touch16:34 - Why touch feels unsafe without meaning a person does not want connection20:01 - Repairing trust around touch and intimacy inside an existing relationship25:26 - How to connect with Christina Simmons 🎙️ Want to Be a Guest on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life?Send me a direct message on PodMatch.👉 DM Me Here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/avik🌱 About Healthy Mind By Avik™️Healthy Mind By Avik™️ Global Mental Wellness Podcast Network - focused, credible, no more identity clutter.👉 Subscribe and be part of this healing journey.Refer a GuestKnow someone who would be a great fit for one of our podcast shows? Email us at [email protected] with the subject line “Refer a Guest.” Requests without this subject line cannot be catered to.Support Our Podcast: Support this Podcast📬 Contact & LinksBrand: Healthy Mind By Avik™️Contact UsBased in: India & USA🎧 All Podcast Shows🤝 Be a Guest📩 Newsletter Substack👉 Join the LinkedIn Community📌 Disclaimer - This episode is produced for educational and informational purposes only. All views expressed by the guest are their personal opinions alone and do not represent the views of the host or Healthy Mind by Avik™. The Network does not verify, endorse, or assume responsibility for any guest statements. Nothing in this episode constitutes medical, legal, financial, or professional advice, please consult a qualified professional before making any decisions. Listeners are encouraged to engage critically and independently with all content do not consume blindly. Use this content as a starting point for your own reflection and research, not as a substitute for professional guidance. Third-party content is referenced under fair use for informational purposes only. Guest speakers are solely responsible for their own statements.If you have concerns about any content, please contact us hereBy listening, you acknowledge and accept this disclaimer in full. Read detailed disclaimer here.#podmatch #healthymindbyavik #podhub.club #pleasureprinciples #traumahealing #somatictherapy #touchtrauma #traumainformedtherapy #nervoussystemregulation #consentandintimacy #bodysafety #intimacyhealing #traumarecovery #mentalhealthpodcast #healingjourney