The Brilliant Body Podcast with Ali Mezey

EPISODE SYNOPSIS:

This episode of The Brilliant Body Podcast features host Ali in an in-depth, compassionate conversation with Darshana Avila, a trauma-informed somatic educator, practitioner, and sexological bodyworker known for her appearance on Sex, Love & Goop. Together, they explore the intersections of sexuality, embodiment, grief, and healing, discussing how slowing down, attuning to one’s body, and embracing vulnerability can lead to deeper connection and erotic wholeness. Darshana explains her integrative approach to sexological bodywork—helping clients safely explore pleasure, boundaries, and self-awareness—as well as the broader cultural conditioning that fuels shame, inhibition, and disconnection. Touching on topics from trauma and consent to the cultural devaluation of grief and sensuality, the conversation becomes a profound reflection on how reclaiming our embodied erotic selves is both personal healing and social activism, ultimately a journey toward fuller, freer, and more loving humanity

Darshana Avila is a trauma-informed somatic educator, practitioner and international speaker who helps people reconnect with the most essential aspects of themselves — their truth, their desires, and their capacity for authentic connection. 

Known for her grounded, candid, and relational approach, she bridges the worlds of embodiment, emotional intelligence, and personal agency with depth and accessibility.

Darshana’s work has been featured on Netflix’s Sex, Love & goop, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and numerous leading podcasts including the most downloaded episode of Shameless Sex Podcast in 2024, the goop Podcast and the Sexology Podcast. 

darshanaavila.com (depending on the release date, we might ask that you feature her upcoming retreat darshanaavila.com/radical-rejuvenation)

Betty Martin’s The Brilliant Body Podcast episode: The Receiving and Giving Body with Dr Betty Martin, Creator of The Wheel of Consent

Like A Pro: Training for touch professionals

THE WHEEL OF CONSENT explained

Gwyneth Paltrow’s SEX, LOVE and GOOP

Cis-women definition: a woman whose gender identity aligns with the sex she was assigned at birth, which was female. The term "cisgender" comes from the Latin prefix "cis-" meaning "on the same side as," and is used to distinguish people whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth from transgender people whose gender identity differs.

Amina Peterson: is an erotic healer, sex doula, surrogate partner, sexual revolutionary and activist

Brené Brown’s “We Need to Talk ABout Shame” 

Somatica Method; Celeste Hirschman and Danielle Harrell

The Greek New Testament uses two distinct words for time: Chronos, referring to sequential, measurable, or "clock" time, and Kairos, representing opportune, significant, or "God's" time. The fear of Chronos' time is a metaphor for being enslaved by deadlines and schedules, while Kairos is the critical moment for decisive action or significant change. It represents a fleeting window of opportunity for decisive action, a "light bulb moment" where conditions are perfect for a crucial act, such as an archer taking a perfect shot or a weaver working through a narrow gap in their loom. The concept is used in various fields to describe the importance of timeliness and seizing the right moment, such as in rhetoric, advertising, journalism, and religious contexts. 

Vaginismis: Involuntary spasms of the vaginal muscles that make penetration difficult or impossible.