Ep 46 - Vel + Jason

Today's conversation with Maria gets into the weeds on breaking codependencies, rebuilding a relationship after an infidelity, sexual health, loving yours, and so much more. Maria and her husband redefined their relationship a few years back after she cheated on him. Part of that rebuilding was to open their relationship and begin exploring non-monogamy and polyamory. We hope you enjoy this beautiful conversation.   A bit more about Maria from her personal bio: Maria Palumbo has her Master's of Social work. She began as a psychotherapist in community mental health. She studied trauma and its impact on creating an “eat your heart out” life and then took her findings and started her own business. She began creating programs that awaken the sex and heart. She is passionate about people owning the impact of trauma and creating a life of vitality and rich intimacy. Since beginning her business, Maria has helped hundreds of people (both virtually and in-person) realize that their vulnerability and truest turn on, makes them irresistible. She leads workshops in person called Follow Your F*ck and has a luxury retreat coming up in October. Check out all of her work at www.mariapalumbo.com.   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our upcoming Virtual Meet and Greets! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

8 Kesä 20221h 23min

Kate's journey into non-monogamy kicked off almost 20 years ago when she came home from work and her partner at the time proposed the idea of swinging to her. Since then, she has spent two decades figuring out and exploring what works best for her. Like many, a strict label of "swinger" or "polyamorous" doesn't really seem to fit. As Kate shares, the best label she has found for herself is simply "fluid." We hope you enjoy this deep dive into her personal journey.   Kate Loree, LMFT, is a sex-positive licensed marriage and family therapist with a specialty in non-monogamous, kink, LGBTQ, and sex worker communities and the author of Open Deeply: A Guide to Building Conscious, Compassionate Open Relationships.   In addition to her master’s in marriage and family therapy, she also has an MBA and is a registered art therapist (ATR). She is an EDSE certified sex educator and an EMDR certified therapist with additional training in the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM) for the treatment of trauma. She has been practicing psychotherapy since 2003.   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our upcoming Virtual Meet and Greets! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

1 Kesä 20221h 11min

Sunny has always questioned just about everything in their life. They realized they were bisexual by age 15 and by age 17 had started exploring their relationship to gender. Now, at the age of 25, Sunny is a delightful queer, non-binary human who has never had a monogamous relationship and is on a journey to be the happiest version of themselves! We love this wide-ranging conversation that covers so many beautiful topics. Enjoy!   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our upcoming Virtual Meet and Greets! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

25 Touko 20221h 8min

Jessica is a curator of brave spaces for people to own their power and awaken to their most expansive selves. Through her work as a coach and retreat facilitator, she realized it was people’s relationships that needed healing the most. That’s when she decided to launch her podcast, Open Late, a look at relationships through her lens of consensual non-monogamy. She wants to inspire people to create designer relationships filled with truth, vulnerability, intimacy and play.   In this amazing conversation she takes us on the journey of opening up her marriage about seven years ago. We get into so many fantastic topics including strategies around confronting shame, falling in love, evolving relationships, blending casual swinging-ish relationships with polyamory, and even the prospect of having a baby while in a triad. Enjoy!   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our upcoming Virtual Meet and Greets! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

18 Touko 20221h 15min

Jude is a queer, neurodivergent, non-binary, badass. They learned about non-monogamy roughly eight years ago and started exploring is for themselves a bit over a year ago. After much self-discovery, Jude is feeling the pull to move back toward monogamy but wants to bring what they learned along the way with them.   This conversation is fantastic and covers so many topics in a beautiful way. We talk about communal living, life partners, labels, gender identity, self acceptance, Jello wrestling, and living a life that just feels good to you. Jude is definitely doing life their own way and this episode is an inspiration in doing the same. Enjoy!   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our upcoming Virtual Meet and Greets! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

11 Touko 20221h 7min

William's first conversations and exposure to non-monogamy happened around 2003 while he was living in Louisiana. A few years later he and his partner moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and by 2014 the San Francisco Chronicle named William Winters the "de facto king of the East Bay polyamory scene."   In this wonderful conversation, William brings us along with him on the full journey from discovering and beginning to explore ethical non-monogamy (ENM) to founding the Bonobo Network and building an incredible sex-positive community, We love this conversation and the work the Bonobo team are doing! We hope you do as well!   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our upcoming Virtual Meet and Greets! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

4 Touko 20221h 22min

Meshai and her husband have been married for 17 years but only in the last few years have they explored non-monogamy. For them, they oscillate between more of a casual swinging approach and something that looks more like polyamory. We have amazing conversations with her about living life to the fullest, how non-monogamy forces you to see yourself, and how she sort of ended up exploring her sexuality without really recognizing there was anything to explore. At least until everything clicked! Meshai also comes from a very religious background and she talks with us about how she approaches non-monogamy and religion. This is an amazing conversation and we hope you enjoy it!   Meshai is dually licensed and certified in both Trauma Therapy and Sex Therapy. She believes in the power of living as one’s authentic self, and the freedom that comes from changing perspectives. She loves putting the puzzle pieces together of a couple's sexual energy and aiding them in positive and explorative movement.   Her coaching work implements creative synergy, openness, self-expression, and the confrontation of challenges through self-determination. She helps individuals from diverse populations move forward with their goals while being fully aware that trauma can play on the whole person. To learn more about how to work with Meshai, head over to Expansive Connection.   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our upcoming Virtual Meet and Greets! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

27 Huhti 20221h 8min

We are so excited about this conversation with Gary that is all about the power of play in life and in relationships! Gary Ware is the Founder of Breakthrough Play, a corporate facilitator, keynote speaker, certified coach, and self-proclaimed Creative Catalyst. Gary has over 14 years of experience in the corporate world holding various leadership positions. Being a multifaceted individual Gary also comes with nearly a decade of experience as a performer in improv theatre. After experiencing burnout in his pursuit for success and happiness, he realized that what was missing was play. Committing to a life of play is what led Gary to discover his passion for facilitating. Gary uses the power of applied improvisation and other playful methods to assist people in unlocking creativity, confidence, and better communication. Gary was recently featured as one of the Top 100 HR influencers of 2021 by the Engagedly HR software platform. When Gary isn't leading workshops or speaking, you can find him learning magic or off on an adventure with his wife Courtney and son Garrett.   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our upcoming Virtual Meet and Greets! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

22 Huhti 20221h 3min