Consent, Race & Sacred Sexuality: Creating Truly Safe Spaces for Pleasure with Amina Peterson

What makes a sexuality space truly safe?

Not just “clothing optional.”
Not just “tantric.”
Not just “trauma-informed.”

But actually safe — in the nervous system.

In this deeply honest and necessary conversation, I’m joined by Amina Peterson, somatic healer, sexologist, founder of the Atlanta Institute of Tantra, and a powerful voice for Black women’s pleasure, embodiment, and liberation.

Together, we explore a question that many sacred sexuality communities avoid:

How can we talk about consent and healing if we don’t acknowledge race, culture, and lived experience in the body?

Because safety isn’t theoretical.
Safety is embodied.

And if someone’s history includes racialized trauma, exclusion, or sexualization of their body, that reality directly impacts their ability to relax, open, feel pleasure, and give authentic consent.

This conversation bridges somatics, tantra, trauma healing, and cultural awareness in a way that feels both grounded and revolutionary.

In this episode, we explore:

• What “somatic consent” really means (beyond yes/no)
• Learning to listen to the body before intimacy
• Reggie Ray’s somatic descent practice and embodied presence
• Why many tantra and sacred sexuality spaces don’t feel safe for people of color
• The nervous system impact of belonging vs. hypervigilance
• Microaggressions and unseen barriers in healing spaces
• Why representation matters in erotic and therapeutic work
• Creating containers that center Black women’s pleasure
• The need for more trained Black male surrogates and practitioners
• Slowing down as a radical act of healing
• How true pleasure only emerges when the body feels safe

Amina shares how her own journey — from massage therapy and sexual surrogacy to founding a nationally recognized tantra institute — grew from one simple truth:

If the body doesn’t feel safe, it cannot open.
And if it cannot open, pleasure is limited.

This episode is an invitation to look deeper — at our bodies, our spaces, and the unconscious systems we carry into intimacy.

Because sacred sexuality without safety isn’t sacred.

Guest:

Amina Peterson
Founder, Atlanta Institute of Tantra
Somatic Sexologist & Embodiment Educator
 atl tantra.com

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