Coach Ellen Melon

To Hump A Pillow with Coach Ellen Melon

Society EN ↓ 72 episodes

To Hump A Pillow is a podcast about the patterns that shape our relationships — with our partners, our children, our desires, and ourselves. Through storytelling and self-discovery, Ellen Melon guides listeners through the deeper work of becoming safer in their bodies, braver in their conversations, and more authentic in their relationships. A podcast for adults who are rewriting the stories they were handed, Ellen blends sex education, relationship coaching, and pattern recognition to help people talk openly about intimacy, desire, conflict, and the parts of themselves they've spent years avo...

Author

Coach Ellen Melon

Episodes

#70: A Guided Meditation for Anxious Mothers: The Overwhelmed Mom Reset 01.04.2026 28:32

This episode is for mothers experiencing anxiety and the mental load that can come with this season of life. I share some of my personal experience with anxiety—how it shows up physically and mentally—and then guide you through a calming, body-based meditation to help regulate your nervous system and slow things down. If you've been feeling overwhelmed, overstimulated, irritable, or disconnected f...

#69: Control Freak Rehab: The Art of Accepting What Is 13.11.2025 49:33

In this episode, Coach Ellen Melon gets real about what happens when our inner control freak takes the wheel — and how to find peace when life refuses to cooperate. At 32 weeks pregnant and freshly unemployed, Ellen shares honest stories from the last few months: hospital visits with her toddler, sleepless nights in an Ice Castle, money talks with her partner Mike, and the humbling realization tha...

#68: Intro to Shadow Work and Deepest Fear Inventory 14.05.2025 31:07

In this solo episode, Ellen dives into the unconscious mind and explores how shadow work might be the missing link between what we say we want and what we actually attract. Drawing from Dr. Carolyn Elliott's book Existential Kink , and referencing the well-known quote from A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson, this episode introduces listeners to a transformative practice: the Deepest Fear Inve...

#67: Embracing Uncertainty & Overcoming Scarcity Mindset 24.03.2025 29:48

In this episode, I explore the deep discomfort of uncertainty, the scarcity mindset, and how they intertwine with faith, trust, and self-worth. Since going part-time at work and navigating new family responsibilities, I've struggled with the fear of the unknown. Inspired by a powerful quote from Conclave and insights from The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist, I discuss how scarcity thinking shapes our...

#66: Reflections & Lessons: Top 10 Things I Learned in 2024 15.02.2025 58:05

Description: In this New Year 2025 episode, I reflect on the biggest lessons I learned over the past year—a tradition that has shaped my personal growth since my late 20s. From the challenges of motherhood and navigating work relationships to the importance of curiosity, holiday traditions, and personal integrity, I share insights that shaped my year and might resonate with you. I also open up abo...

#65: How to talk about sex, before, during, and after pregnancy and post-partum - Relationship Series Part 3 with Mike and Ellen Melon 13.12.2023 1:05:04

Part 3 of 7! This season on To Hump a Pillow, I invite my fiance Mike to the podcast in a 7-Episode Relationship Series to discuss challenging conversations that occur in couple-hood. We'll deep-dive into 7 deliciously uncomfortable topics: How to talk about envious and jealous feelings How to talk about money and finances, spending habits Sex life - how it's changed over our relationship and how...

#64: How to talk about money, finances, spending habits - Relationship Series Part 2 with Mike and Ellen Melon 15.11.2023 50:10

Dear listeners, pardon my absence! After taking a year off of the podcast, being pregnant, buying a house, having a baby, getting engaged, I am back and ready to share some new content on the podcast. This season on To Hump a Pillow, I invite my fiance Mike to the podcast in a 7-Episode Relationship Series to discuss challenging conversations that occur in couple-hood. We'll deep-dive into 7 delic...

#63: How to talk about jealousy and envy - Relationship Series Part 1 with Mike and Ellen Melon 11.10.2023 47:10

#62. How to find a place for grief - with Coach Ellen Melon 26.10.2022 53:32

How do you integrate painful losses into your life while living? Grief is something we in the United States are known to do poorly. Perhaps it's the European decent that curved our culture's inability to feel feelings, perhaps it's industrial era-based where we learned that there's no time in our 40 hour work week to sit with grief, or perhaps our modern day fear machines (the media) have signaled...

#61. What does sex & relationship coaching look like - with former client Addison 28.09.2022 1:09:19

In this episode we get to hear from a former client on his experience working with a sex and relationship coach. Addison and I worked for 4 months together back in January, meeting every 2 weeks via Zoom. Listen to the challenges he overcame in this episode. I'm a coach who specializes in working with people pleasers, codependents, and people with anxious-attachement styles. If you are someone...

#60. The trick to using dating apps - a real convo with my boyfriend Mike 07.09.2022 1:00:59

Welcome back to To Hump A Pillow! We're kicking off Season 4, our 20 episode season with episode #60 — on dating apps. When most of us think about dating apps, we roll our eyes at the thought of what a task that can be. "Dating apps suck" — a common refrain from most of my clients. I've said those word myself! What if the app isn't the problem? What if you're the problem? I've always wanted to d...

#59. How ayahuasca has enhanced our lives - with Hypnotherapist, Kate Bandmann 08.06.2022 1:04:45

Ayahuasca is a powerful medicinal medicine that comes from the Amazon. It has been around for centuries, needs to be taken seriously, and is not for everyone. In this episode, fellow coach and healer, Kate Bandmann and I discuss our ayahuasca experiences — the terror and discomfort to the enhancements and growths. This is the last episode of Season 3! I'll see you in the fall when we kick off Seas...

#58. Childhood emotional neglect, shame, and school shootings - A perspective on self-hate - with Coach Ellen Melon 29.05.2022 1:05:54

In this episode, I fly solo in offering a different perspective on the Texas School Shooting. Yes, maybe it's gun law reform and yes, it's also hurting children in angry bodies. As more people feel disconnected, they grow angrier. Happy, secure children who have a sense of self don't shoot up schools. It's time to teach people how to process their childhood and FEEL THEIR FEELINGS. I will discus...

#57. What is your feeling on porn? - with Coach Jessica Childs 12.05.2022 57:09

What are you thoughts and feelings on porn? How do you use it in your life? In this episode Sex Coach, Jessica Childs and I discuss our own relationship with porn. Episode adopted from Erotic Ed, a YouTube Channel that was deleted. Orignial recording date: 7/8/21 Interested in working with a Somatic Sex & Relationship Coach? Apply for 1on1 or couples coaching with me: www.ellenmelon.com/intimacy-c...

#56. Relationship Tips: Skills for Repair - with Coach Jessica Childs 27.04.2022 50:17

Do you avoid conflict? Does it feel like you're walking on eggshells in your home, in your relationships? Then you need some education around repair. In this episode I pull out the Erotic Ed Archives — a YouTube Channel Show hosted by S x Coaches, Jessica and Ellen Melon – where we discuss the fundamentals of a repair conversation. Repair meaning, a hard conversation after an argument or rupture...

#55. Penis size and satisfying women - with Sex Educator and Author, Kenneth Play 13.04.2022 1:02:48

For those of you who struggle with not being enough — your body type, your penis size, your ethnicity — this is an episode for you. In this episode I interview international sex expert and sex educator, Kenneth Play. Named the "world's greatest sex hacker" by GQ, he has been featured by more than one hundred media outlets, including The New York Times, Men's Health, Cosmopolitan, Huffington Post,...

#54. "Dating Sucks But You Don't" - An authentic conversation with Dating Coach for Men, Connell Barrett 30.03.2022 1:09:59

How do you show up as the genuine YOU in dating? How do you know when you're performing? How can you ensure you're being authentic? In this illuminating episode, I invite Connell Barrett, Men's Dating Coach, to talk about his book, about his journey toward becoming a dating coach, and his own relationship experiences. We talk about confidence and how it relates to trust — the foundation of a sus...

#53. How-to do intimacy and vulnerability in friendships - with best friend Amy Edler - Part 3 of 3 16.03.2022 1:11:20

"We have to belong to ourselves as much as we need to belong to others. Any belonging that asks us to betray ourselves is not true belonging." — Brene Brown, Atlas of the Heart Belonging is the key to intimate friendships. Never once have I felt the need to change myself or be someone else around Amy, Tom, or Hailey. I've always been able to be authentically received by them. Who is your support t...

#52. How-to do intimacy and vulnerability in friendships - with best friend Hailey Hosler - Part 2 of 3 09.03.2022 1:15:08

#51. How-to do intimacy and vulnerability in friendships - with dear friend Tom Wixo - Part 1 of 3 02.03.2022 1:11:43

Who is your support team? Who are the people who know how to hold you (metaphorically and physically) when you're having a tough day? When you're experiencing shame? Not enough-ness? Guilt? Anger? Grief? It took me a long time to find these people and cultivate what we have, but here is a 3 Part Series with my support team and a peek behind the curtain into what our conversations look like (via ph...

#50. "Fawn: When No Looks Like Yes" — Authentic sexuality and receiving pleasure - with Sex-Educator & Researcher, Nischa Phair, Part 2 of 2 23.02.2022 1:14:05

In this episode, I invite Nischa Phair back for a deep dive on receiving pleasure, authentic sexuality and how they are related. Nischa tells us about how pleasure "is relational thing" — it is an outward thing that we share. She talks about how authentic sexuality is a commitment to a process — something we might not always practice well, but try our best next time. She also speaks to some other...

#49. "Fawn: When No Looks Like Yes" — Her new book on the nervous system, ignoring red flags, and fawning - with Sex-Educator & Researcher, Nischa Phair, Part 1 of 2 16.02.2022 1:06:14

Interested in working with a Somatic Sex & Relationship Coach? Apply for 1on1 or couples coaching with me: www.ellenmelon.com/intimacy-coaching ____________________ Links we talked about: https://www.nischaphair.com/site/about https://www.instagram.com/nischaphair/ Buy the book: https://www.nischaphair.com/fawn-book ____________________ Somatic Sex & Relationship Coach and Un-Educator, Ellen Mel...

#48. "The Pleasure is All Yours" - her new book and the importance of somatic work - with Dr Rachel Allyn, Holistic Psychologist 09.02.2022 56:04

Isn't pleasure supposed to be gluttonous? Is too much pleasure a bad thing? Maybe. But not enough pleasure might be worse. "Pleasure" is a word many associate with sexual experiences. But pleasure sits alongside joy, gratitude, and our erotic energy – all the stuff that makes us feel alive. In this episode, Dr Rachel Allyn and I discuss how sex and pleasure were discussed in her home growing up, a...

#47. Informal sex stories - with Erotic Ed Somatic Coaches Jessica Childs and Ellen Melon 06.01.2022 59:36

In this episode, sex coaches Jessica Childs and Ellen Melon compare sexual experiences. Raw, informal, honest, we share insight on what sex and intimacy are...messy, complex, playful, silly, and erotic. Originally recorded for Erotic Ed YouTube Channel on 8/5/21. Interested in working with a Somatic Sex & Relationship Coach? Apply for 1on1 or couples coaching with me: www.ellenmelon.com/intimacy-c...

#46. Self-compassion practice: How to talk to your inner child - with Erotic Ed Somatic Coaches Jessica Childs & Ellen Melon 23.12.2021 1:04:14

Do you know how to talk to yourself nicely during hard or frustrating times? During times of anger or being triggered? Did you know that our level of emotional neglect directly impacts our ability to self-regulate and self soothe (in healthy ways)? Interested in tools and ways to show yourself compassion? In this episode, Somatic coaches, Jessica Childs and Ellen Melon walk through what self compa...