What Excites Us!

Mythic Love Real Desire with Nishita Rao

Have you ever fallen in love with someone who doesn't exist in your world? A fictional character, an anime figure, a god... what if that's not a phase, and it never was? Researcher and founder of Pillow Talk with Nixi, Nishita Rao, joins Gwyn to explore fictophilia, the experience of romantic or erotic attraction to beings outside of your “reality”. We start with having crushes on cartoon characters, and go back to the 10th century Sufi poets writing love letters to Allah and ancient Tamil Akam poetry that is quite steamy. Nishita and Gwyn also get into how heterosexuality was once the diagnosis, why the Global South has always had a far richer and weirder and more honest map of desire than colonization left us with, and what it actually means that our relationships were never meant to be legible to a state. She also sings. Live. A 15th century Telugu love poem. Beautiful and heady this is an amazing episode! Find Nishita at pillowtalkwithnixi.com [http://pillowtalkwithnixi.com] and on Instagram at @pillowtalkwithnixi [http://instagram.com/pillowtalkwithnixi] Visit Gwyn at WhatExcitesUs.com [http://WhatExcitesUs.com]

Stop Healing and Start Pleasuring with Sharon Marie Scott ep 74

Have you ever pursued something that felt taboo... and wondered if the shame around it was trying to tell you something? Sharon Marie Scott says yes. And that it's pointing you straight to your fastest path to freedom. In this conversation we dig into the pleasure ceiling and what happens when you stop collapsing before you can fully receive... the Jenga tower framework for understanding your core wounds... the dark masculine and feminine as energetic currents moving through all of us... and why Sharon walked away from the healing world entirely to come at all of this through pleasure instead. Her book Forbidden Alchemy: Transmuting Taboo Into Erotic Medicine is the book she wished she had. And Flesh & Flame: Pleasure as the Portal to Divine Mastery is out now too. Find Sharon at sharonmariescott.com [http://sharonmariescott.com] and at linktr.ee/sharonmariescott [http://linktr.ee/sharonmariescott]. Visit Gwyn at WhatExcitesUs.com [http://WhatExcitesUs.com]

Lie Back and Think of England with Jess WIldman - ep 73

Have you ever caught yourself saying "I shouldn't want that" or "I should just be grateful"... and wondered where that voice is even coming from? Jess Wildman is a Personal Power Coach who helps women shed the weight of societal expectations so they can live delicious lives full of pleasure and joy. Her work is rooted in a simple but radical idea: that personal power begins the moment you stop outsourcing your own desires. In this episode we get into all of it... shame, sex, body image, self-trust, diet culture, and why "fine" is not good enough for you. Jess brings warmth, zero judgment, and some genuinely great anecdotes to conversations most women aren't having anywhere else. In this episode: * Why every "should" might be a self-betrayal * How diet culture and shame around sex are running the same con * The moment Jess realized she'd completely outsourced herself * Body image, performance anxiety, and why the lights-off thing has to go * Porn, pleasure, and what we're accidentally teaching ourselves * Why "fine" is actually a cry for help * How to start reclaiming your personal power right now Content note: This episode includes an open conversation about disordered eating and diet culture. Please take care of yourself as you listen. Find Jess: Instagram: @personalpowercoach Email: hello@jesswildman.com [hello@jesswildman.com] Visit What Excites Us! and Gwyn: WhatExcitesUs.com [http://whatexcitesus.com]

Stop Editing Yourself with Elize Simon - ep 72

If you've ever edited yourself down to be more lovable, Elize Simon is here to tell you to stop. As a relationship and communication coach and self-described professional permission granter, Elize helps people build love that actually feels good — without hiding who they are to get it. In this conversation with Gwyn, Elize unpacks why so many people enter relationships for the wrong reasons, what real communication looks like when emotions are high, and how her Sacred Goodbyes ritual helps people move through heartbreak with grace instead of getting pummeled by it. She also completely rewires the way you think about flirting. Grab her free dating profile checklist and the Sacred Goodbyes download — both linked below. This episode originally aired as part of the Reclaiming You Summit. Both Elize and Gwyn are firm believers that Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski should be required reading for every human with a body. Elize also quotes the legendary Regena Thomashauer, better known as Mama Gena, whose several books are equally worth your time. Find them all at bookshop.org/shop/whatexcitesus [/shop/whatexcitesus] Find Elize at linktr.ee/elize.simon [http://linktr.ee/elize.simon] and instagram.com/elize.simon [http://instagram.com/elize.simon]. Visit Gwyn at WhatExcitesUs.com [http://WhatExcitesUs.com].

Kink 101 through How to do it Right with Nyxie Noc

Kink isn't what porn taught you or abuse. Here's what it actually is, and how to do it without being garbage about it. Nyxie Noc is a kink educator, sadist, presenter extraordinaire, and one of the most knowledgeable and genuinely thoughtful people out there teaching. In this episode, they break it all the way down - from what kink actually is to what makes someone an ethical dominant, and why agency is the missing piece of every consent conversation you've ever had. They get into partialism and the possibility that certain kinks are literally inborn. The very real and very serious dangers of breath play that pornography consistently gets wrong. Why voyeurism is not an education, the femdom myth and why you should pay a sex worker if that's what you actually want. They discuss what ethical dominance looks like, including why caregiving and sadism are not opposites. The three negotiation questions Nyxie asks that will change how you think about any kink scene. There's a content note: if you're squeamish around intense language, be aware in the middle s afew lines mught stun you a second, but please stay. This one is absolutely worth it. Nyxie Noc / Viridi Lux Consulting: linktr.ee/viridi_lux_consulting Instagram: @viridi_lux_consulting All the other links listed at WhatExcitesUs.com