LaidOPEN Podcast

This week's guest is a great one, I'm speaking with sexologist Annie Sprinkle, who has had an epic career as a sex-positive and feminist porn star, a performance artist, filmmaker, eco-sex activist, and most recently the co-author of Assuming the Ecosexual Position—Earth as Lover. With her wife Beth Stephens, she launched an eco-sex movement, in addition to working with the founder of Sexological...

Sexologist and ex-Jesuit , Joseph Kramer, Ph. D. is the founder of Body Electric School for Massage as well as Sexological Bodywork . Over the years, Joseph's ushered in the next wave of Sexological Bodywork practitioners who offer sexual healing, such as Jaiya from Sex, Love, and Goop fame. He also created a variety of educational videos with Annie Sprinkle that teaches the practice of erotic mas...

Welcome back to Season 2 of LaidOPEN Podcast . I am elated to kick off the season with sex and relationship coach, Janel Vitale . Janel specializes in relationship design, which is the concept that you and whoever you're with can build a mutually-fulfilling intimate life around your authentic needs and desires, even if unconventional. She leads an exercise on core erotic themes, that I participate...

This week's episode of LaidOPEN Podcast is the season finale and one of my favorites that I've recorded so far. Please welcome Carvell Wallace, a New York Times Bestselling author , memoirist, and award-winning podcaster who covers race, arts, culture, film, and music for a wide variety of news outlets. During our chat Carvell shared his journey navigating dissociation in a cis-male body, not feel...

I am really excited for you to hear this week's episode of LaidOPEN Podcast. It features the remarkable Lyvonne Briggs, better known as "Pastor Baé," who is an Emmy Award-winning, body and sex-positive womanist spiritualist. She's also a writer, pastor, preacher, spiritual life coach, and highly sought-after transformational speaker and seminar leader. We sit down and talk about her experiences wo...

Sexual and Spiritual paths are often intertwined, which is the case with this week's guest Jessica Graham. They are a mindfulness teacher and author of "Good Sex: Getting Off Without Checking Out." Join us as we discover we're both proponents of somatic therapy and the journey of a spiritual awakening. Additionally, we talk about shifting identity, connecting more in and expressing anger, and usin...

This week on LaidOPEN Podcast Charna welcomes ex-youth pastor, podcaster, and comedian Steve Hernandez. Steve takes us on a journey through his awakening from working in the church to finding the comedy community and the realization that he's poly and queer. We also talk about being an artist, connected sober sex, emotionally connected gay sex, machismo in Mexican culture, and finding the humor in...

In this episode of LaidOPEN Podcast we welcome Darshana Avila, an Erotic Wholeness Coach you may have seen on this past season of Goop. She believes we are erotic by nature and is dedicated to helping people feel truly at home in their bodies. We also talk about what an Erotic Wholeness Coach is and what it entails. You're not gonna want to miss this. Especially, if you're looking to learn more ab...

On the latest episode of LaidOPEN Podcast, Charna invites former Data Scientist & current photographer and Sex and Relationship Coach, Raj Bandyopadhy onto the podcast. Raj defines himself as a straight man in a queer poly marriage with his partner Andy. Together, Charna and Raj discuss a variety of topics related to this experience including: identity, authentic creative expression, the rigidity...

This is part 2 of Amy and Charna's conversation from last week. They left off discussing the value of compassion to transform abuses of power and navigate parental relationships. While exploring how essential denial and dissociation can be, Charna shares how her mom's addiction, birth trauma, and mentally revisiting abuse impacts the physical body long-term. She also answers the question "What doe...

Amy and Charna talk about #Metoo, gender equity, and power dynamics in the workplace. Charna explains the window of capacity to be with, the difference between self and coregulation in relationships, and how learning to track yourself and others benefits your relationships. They dig into what resilience is and how it might be hard to understand, feel or identify with as a trauma survivor. There is...

In today's episode of LaidOPEN Podcast, Charna welcomes a powerhouse guest, Tara Nicholle-Kirke, a globally recognized unrepression expert and former CMO of MyFitnessPal. Together they explore mindful parenting, befriending criticism, and spiritual dating. Plus, they tackle some very big topics including defining trauma, how productivity is rooted in slavery, as well as, Marie Kondoing your whole...

Happy New Year! This week Charna reunites with Amy MacClain to talk about dating during covid and how it's left so many of us starved for physical contact. This includes the fleeting nature of intimacy when you haven't been touched in a really long time, empty nest syndrome, moving through transitions, and ambivalent attachment. Also included is an exercise on attuning to self, the challenge of re...

Andrea Scher and Charna swam in the same circles for years but never met, and LaidOPEN podcast finally brought them together. The two connect on a variety of topics including, Andrea's new book, "Wonder Seeker: 52 Ways To Wake Up Your Creativity And Find Your Joy." They discuss the use of creativity to manage anxiety and access more of what you want. Andrea also shares about her process of embraci...

This week's episode starts with a listener question that leads Amy & Charna to dive into  the somatic shape of shame and how to unwind it. They explore the impact of family conditioning, trauma, and religion. The discussion guides them to sexual abuse, the function of shame, being with shame versus turning away from it, and how remaining curious plays an essential role in overcoming fear-based mod...

Farid Yusof is a student of the world. They speak with Charna about the way culture impacts our freedom of self-expression and how they use their art as a resource to find healing. Farid's travels were a mechanism for finding themselves and they use social media as a tool for coming out as gender nonbinary while quarantining with their conservative family. This conversation highlights how developi...

This episode was recorded before the pandemic. Charna opens this episode talking about grief on the somatic level--regardless if it's the loss of a relationship, a death, a friendship or a pet--the physical sensations of grieving are the same. Charna offers some practices that can be useful in being with loss.

On today's episode, we welcome Laura Davis bestselling author of "The Courage To Heal," her seminal book about healing from sexual trauma. She waxes philosophical on a variety of topics, including her new memoir, "The Burning Light Of Two Stars," (which I cannot recommend enough). We talk about the relationship between reader and author, how life experience changes our perception of the past, and...

This week on LaidOPEN Podcast, Charna speaks with Olivia Bryant, the founder of Self:Cervix. Self:Cervix is a movement dedicated to educating and experiencing the orgasmic cervix. Olivia's mission is to share this information with cervix owners, their partners and people worldwide to aid in shifting and expanding the conversation around female sexuality. They discuss the value of practice, the con...

Amy directs conversation to the topic of Charna's private life. They visit a variety of stories from Charna's past including how much she hates swiping right, kissing tips, hairy chests and finding your Cinderella aka the perfect fit. There's also mention of the elusive Sex Ninja, voicing your desires, and learning to ask for what we want. There's also an exercise for managing dysregulation and ho...

Amy is back for this episode and she has questions for Charna about dating and sex. Together the two of them discuss defining sex in broader terms than Penis In Vagina (PIV), the importance of mindful self-touch within self-care, and why Charna's writing her book. Charna also leads a guided embodiment meditation in length, width, and depth.

In this week's episode Charna talks with Nathan Novero, ex-youth pastor, and the genius behind the seminal work, "Holy Erotica." Together they touch on a variety of topics that intersect between religion, sex and shame. Nate speaks candidly on the topic of expectation versus reality in a relationship that's influenced and guided by the church. Additionally, he interviews Charna about her drastical...

Charna Cassell , a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and Master Somatic Coach talks with her friend Amy McClain, a master facilitator, executive coach, and curriculum developer, about the ways in which her life story has informed her belief that all different kinds of trauma shapes sexuality. Charna also explains how she uses her somatic work to help people discover what sexual freedom means to...