Practicing Polyamory Podcast

I get a chance to chat with sex therapist Anna Baxter today, whose journey through BDSM, polyam, and gender identity gives them a unique perspective that they're able to share with our audience. We talk about the importance of labels and words (like skoliosexual), finding community, and how having the right words to describe ourselves and find community helps us make decisions in our lives that best fit us and helps us be the best version of ourselves. We get into the topic of neuroscience, and how with time and practice we can rewrite our neuropathways and rewrite our autonomy to be more aligned with our authentic selves. Tune in to learn more, and find out about our guest's project by following on IG: @Atlanta_Polyamory.

I'm so excited to host one of the top polyam educators and creators on social media today, Jessica Levity Daylover of @RemodeledLove and @HomeSliceProductions fame.  Jessica isn't just hilariously creative, relatable, and smart as a whip, she's also on a mission to expand the cultural narrative on healthy relationships and normalize polyamory and ethical non-monogamy on a grand scale. In other words, she wants to change society's semiology! We talk about her mission, her recent podcast episode where she discusses her recent discovery of her demisexuality, how she's navigating that realization in comparison to our sex-negative culture, and why she is anti-capitalist. I'm so happy to have a chance to get to know Jes on an even deeper level, and hope you all enjoy it as well! Be sure to look up and learn about solidarity economy, and learn more about Jes at www.remodeledlove.com, follow on IG: @remodeledlove / @homesliceproductions, and on TikTok: @homesliceproductions. 

Therapy is hard work, but in this episode we learn from our awesomely nerdy guest, Matt Fahy, how he's made the hard work of therapy FUN by incorporating game theory into his work. We learned about three types of communication and how therapy can be gamified to teach these concepts and integrate them into relationships. This was a particularly fun episode where Matt brought out my inner geek, with a ton of great nuggets of wisdom sprinkles throughout. Learn more about Matt and his practice at www.heroichealthgroup.com and follow on IG: @heroichealthgroup

I'm joined today by two awesome, poly-friendly therapists who, as trauma-informed therapists, view polyamory as a centerpiece for healing past traumas. We cover how polyamory helps folx with wounded attachments and we touch on how we can recognize our attachment styles to recognize Codependency, Counterdependency, and Interdependency. We further dive into how the populace of polyam folks is largely independent women/femmes and how that may affect the data that researchers have gathered over the years. Learn more about our guests at www.makingspacepsychotherapy.com and www.createhealthysynergy.com and follow on IG: @dr.sophiamurphy

Michelle Vaughan, Ph.D., co-author of a research project about compersion, joins the podcast to discuss the concept and its different types. They explore measuring compersion, its relationship with jealousy, and how it can be cultivated. The podcast also delves into the types of comparison in relationships and challenges stereotypes. The overall goal of the study is to expand knowledge, develop a quantitative measure, and explore implications in therapy settings.

TW: Sexual Assault & R*pe Our guest today has an incredible and remarkable story. From home school to college, from psychology and business degrees to marketing and office management, from drug and alcohol addictions to sobriety and work as a high end escort, and now as a therapist, relationship coach and certified sexologist, her life experience has taught her one thing above all…there is no need for a life filled with shame. This amazing guest has a knack for making people feel safe to explore their shame without feeling judged. Her personal experience in moving past THAT crippling emotion, and realizing her full potential as a joyful being, is a powerful gift that she is able to share with her clients so that they, too, can live happy and shame-free lives. Whether we experience shame about gender, race, sexual orientation, fantasies, socio-economic status, or anything else the results are the same: lower self esteem and distrust in ourselves and our relationships. Our guest today can help us overcome that. Joining us today from the Shame-Free Zone out of Grass Valley, CA, welcome to the show Veronica Monet! Learn more at www.theshamefreezone.com and follow her @the_shame_free_zone

Therapist Stephanie M. Sullivan joins the show today and shares her story of finding polyamory through the lens of writing her grad school thesis. After a quick run-in with her cat, we talk about ambiamory and then dive right into ways to make mono-poly relationships successful. We talk about attachment styles and how they apply specifically to mono-poly relationships, including how introducing polyamory to a previously monogamous relationship can cause an attachment injury. So how should we approach the subject when just approaching it could cause damage to your relationship? Tune in to find out, and learn more about Stephanie at www.coloryournamecoaching.com and www.attune-ment.com, and follow her on FB/IG: @SMSullivanMFT and @coloryournamecoaching.

This episode got real deep and left me speechless at the end! Christine and I start by chatting about what her children have seen and gone through being raised by polyam parents. She shares a close call story when one of her children asked a school counselor about jealousy in a polyam relationship, which may give listeners a good insight on how to approach similar situations. And of course, Christine and I get to explore human sexuality and development from two corollary viewpoints: that of Chakra and Eastern culture, and Western Pyschology through the eyes of Erikson. This was an incredible conversation that highlighted how a 5000 year old practice (Chakra) is validated by more modern psychological teachings, and how trauma is carried in the body through both of these lenses. And seriously...I'm speechless by the end, so check it out! Learn more about Christine Laplante at www.becomeintegrated.com and follow her on FB/IG: @christinelaplantelmhc and @sacrednotsecret

In this episode, I get to chat with Certified Financial Planner Mike Golosovker who gives us some insight into some of the specific nuances relating to polyam folx when it comes to financial planning. While many of the financial foundations are the same across the board no matter your relationship orientation (for example, who are you, what are you trying to accomplish, what are your goals and resources, what's your psychology, and how do we put it all together?), there are some things that make financial planning for polycules a little bit tricker. We cover some of those topics, some things you should be thinking about as a polycule, and also what stops a lot of poly folx from taking the important steps of planning for their future. If you want to set yourself up for financial success, be sure to tune in and learn more about Mike by going to www.champion-strategies.com and follow on FB: @ChampionFinancialStrategies

In this episode I get a chance to chat with Kitty Chambliss, #1 best-selling author of The Jealousy Survival Guide and Host of the Loving Without Boundaries podcast. We tackle a listener request about how to tell your monogamous partner that you may be polyamorous, and she gives some incredible insights on the subject. Being clear about your identity, for example, and being undoubtedly certain that you are polyamorous is an important first step to take before sharing the idea with your partner. If this resonates with you, be sure to tune in for a deep dive into coming out to our monogamous partners! Kitty offers relationship coaching services and you can learn more at www.lovingwithoutboundaries.com, and follow them on IG: @lovingwithoutboundaries and Twitter @PolyTalkByKitty.