LaidOPEN Podcast

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 receiving and learning to cope with the changes around connection while in isolation.

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 embracing being a woman, getting in touch with her sexuality, and embodied ways to pick dates on tinder.

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 modes. Plus, Charna assigns a simple practice for shame you can do daily, within minutes.

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 developing rituals around self-care can help anyone thrive, even in isolation, during the pandemic.

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 what it's like when you have a parent who refuses your reality. We end with an exercise on forgiveness.

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 connection between spirituality and sexuality, how to heal, surrender and have more connected sex with self and other. Olivia guides us through an exercise in discovering your cervix and gaining pelvic presence.

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 how to come back to the present moment. Amy MacClain is a social storyteller and healer, committed to building a more resilient, equitable and accountable world. She trains, consults and designs to help others create change that lasts and is relevant in real life – raising consciousness, building community and bringing justice into unstoppable action. She does this by narrating the healing journey in song, coaching white folx to dismantle systemic oppression and offering engaging interactive experiences within which we can heal and explore.

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 drastically different upbringing, growing up in hippy, addict culture.