In this heartfelt episode, Debra Pascali‑Bonaro sits down with birth doula and retired professional women's football champion, Girl Scout, and chef, Tarah Alexis of Nurturing Embrace Doula Services. Tarah shares how a surprising C‑section birth, witnessing her niece and nephew arrive earthside, and a "divine appointment" with a pregnant stranger on a plane all led her to answer her calling as a doula.​

Together, Debra and Tarah explore how partners can move far beyond "just rubbing a back" to become active, loving participants in the birth journey. Tarah offers simple, powerful ways to weave the senses—what you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch—into your birth environment so that labor becomes more intimate, grounded, and even orgasmic. She reminds us that intimacy doesn't depend on grand gestures; it grows in the small daily moments of cuddling on the couch, offering a glass of water, and saying "thank you for being here."​

If you've ever wondered how to keep love and connection alive during pregnancy, birth, and those tender postpartum weeks, this episode offers gentle, doable practices you can begin today.​

Connect with Tarah Alexis
Website: Nurturing Embrace Doula Services
Instagram: @nurturingembracedoulaservices
Facebook: @nurturingembracedoulas

Purchase the PleasureVibe
Pleasure at your fingertips - Finger Vibe for pregnancy, labor, birth and beyond http://orgasmicbirth.com/fin-pleasurevibe

Pleasurable Birth Essentials
Evidence-based childbirth education rooted in pleasure taught by Debra Pascali-Bonaro. https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/pleasurable-birth-essentials/ + bonus access to the film, Orgasmic Birth: The Best-Kept Secret

Connect with Debra!
Website: www.orgasmicbirth.com
Instagram: @orgasmicbirth
X: @orgasmicbirth
Facebook: @obirth
YouTube: @orgasmicbirth1

What if preparing for birth could also prepare you for a lifetime of deeper intimacy, healing, and connection—for you and for your children? In this powerful conversation, Debra talks with Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers, internationally recognized sex and gender feminist psychotherapist, bestselling author of Sex, God, and the Conservative Church and Shameless Parenting, and founder of Inanna Rising. Together, they explore how sexual shame shows up in pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, and how embracing pleasure can transform not just your birth, but your whole family's story.

Dr. Tina shares her own birth story of a fast, "big baby" delivery that made her appreciate just how much birth asks of our bodies and hearts. She then breaks down how early and deep shame takes root—many girls start modifying their diets as young as six—and why pregnancy often brings those old stories to the surface. You'll hear practical, compassionate steps to begin "reparenting" yourself, shedding inherited shame, and raising confident, body‑positive, pleasure‑literate kids, starting from birth.

Along the way, Debra and Tina invite you to honor your unique body, your unique baby, and the profound truth that there has never been a human exactly like either of you.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How pregnancy and birth can surface long‑held stories of body shame and "not enoughness," and why that's actually an invitation to healing.
• Why culture profits from women and birthing people feeling "not good enough," and how that affects how we see our pregnant and postpartum bodies.
• How embracing pleasure and your five senses in pregnancy can positively impact labor, bonding, and the way you welcome your baby.
• The heartbreaking research on how early body shame begins—and how to interrupt that cycle for your children.
• A simple, powerful first step Dr. Tina recommends if you're pregnant and recognizing you've been carrying shame for a long time.
• How to use Shameless Parenting even if you don't have children—to gently reparent yourself, stage by stage, and let shame "drip off."
• Why postpartum is a year‑long physiological and emotional transition, and how to honor your needs alongside your baby's.
• The importance of postpartum support and "wise elder women," from doulas to community, to help normalize your experience.
• How Dr. Tina defines sexuality as sharing connection and pleasure—not just behaviors—and why transactional sex leaves our hearts out of the picture.
• How her books and her work at Inanna Rising are helping people heal religious and cultural sexual shame and reclaim joyful intimacy.

Resources mentioned:

Pleasurable Birth Essentials online childbirth class with Debra: https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/pleasurable-birth-essentials

Shameless Parenting: Everything You Need to Raise Shame‑Free, Confident Kids and Heal Your Shame Too – Tina Schermer Sellers

Sex, God, and the Conservative Church: Erasing Shame from Sexual Intimacy – Tina Schermer Sellers

Dr. Tina's website: https://tinaschermersellers.com

Dr. Tina on Instagram: @drtinashameless​

Inanna Rising (psychedelic‑assisted therapy community): https://inannarising.org

Inanna Rising on Instagram: @inanna_rising_pat​

Dr. Tina also shares that if you cannot afford her books, you can DM her on Instagram to request a promo code for an audio version.

Connect with Debra & Orgasmic Birth:

Learn more and join Pleasurable Birth Essentials: https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/pleasurable-birth-essentials

Website: https://www.orgasmicbirth.com​

Instagram: @orgasmicbirth

Are you ready to transform childbirth into an empowering, pleasurable, joyful experience? My online course, Pleasurable Birth Essentials, gives you the tools and confidence to make labor something to celebrate. You'll learn comfort techniques, embrace your body's natural rhythms, and discover how to invite pleasure—yes, even orgasm—into birth. Join thousands of parents who call this class birth‑ and life‑changing at orgasmicbirth.com/pleasurable-birth-essentials.​

In this episode of Orgasmic Birth: The Podcast, Debra welcomes Maranda Bower, who shares her raw journey through postpartum depression, anxiety, autoimmune challenges, and triumph after four births. Maranda reveals how functional nutrition revolutionized her healing, turning depletion into energy, desire, and joy via her Postpartum Restoration Method—now training providers worldwide.

Together, they unpack hormone-balancing foods, self-care rituals, and why postpartum meals foster community, pleasure, and deep emotional release.

Key Takeaways:

• Postpartum depletion is normal—like pinkless flamingos; nutrient-dense foods rebuild hormones, mood, and libido
• Simple ecosystem: bone broth for repair, organ meats for blood/mood, healthy fats as hormone precursors
• Food as ritual heals isolation, surfaces traumas, and reconnects body to self/partner
• Plan self-care like baby gear: herbal baths, teas, frozen nutrient meals—never too late to start
• Community meal trains echo ancestral wisdom for thriving postpartum

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Orgasmic Birth: The Documentary
• Postpartum University Podcast
• Postpartum University Provider Directory & Courses

Connect with Maranda:

• postpartumu.com
• Instagram: @postpartumuniversity
• Nutrition MASTERCLASS
• Pro Handouts
• Postpartum Nutrition Certification Program
• Perintal Mental Health Training

Purchase the PleasureVibe

Pleasure at your fingertips - for pregnancy, labor, birth and beyond - http://orgasmicbirth.com/fin-pleasurevibe

Connect with Debra!

Website: https://www.orgasmicbirth.com
Instagram: / orgasmicbirth
X: / orgasmicbirth
YouTube / orgasmicbirth1
Tik Tok / orgasmicbirth
LinkedIn: / debra-pascali-bonaro-1093471

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Discover the beauty, power, and pleasure within birth. If this video resonates with you, please like, share, and subscribe for more empowering stories and resources that awaken your body, mind, and spirit.

🔔 Subscribe now: Stay tuned for new videos celebrating connection, healing, and birth wisdom around the world.

Explore Debra's Pleasurable Birth Essentials online course to discover tools for comfort, connection, and reclaiming birth as powerful and pleasurable.​https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/pleasurable-birth-essentials/