Your unique blueprint for pleasure, connection, presence, and intimacy. Information, interviews and conversations on expanding intimacy + healing with language of body as a guide. Hosted by euni of Self Study.
Professional Cuddling and Authentically Curating Space for Intimacy
Thursday, June 19, 2025 • Duration 55:51
This episode we dip our toes into professional cuddling and the curation of authentic intimacy. We discuss what cuddling is, less known things about intimacy discovered in professional settings, and misconceptions of being a touch therapist.
We had a chat with professional Cuddle Therapist, Keeley Shoup about all things cuddling. This conversation opened up our eyes to what happens behind closed doors during a cuddling session, bravery in vulnerability, safety, and new layers of intimacy that we haven’t explored. Go ahead and give it a listen.
Did this chat hit something for you? Leave a comment on this Substack post to continue the conversation. Share this episode with your friends/lovers/family and let’s find more ways to get our of our heads and drop deeper into our body centered pleasure through intimacy, healing + kink.
Keeley has been a Cuddle Therapist since 2015, she is the co-owner and CEO of Cuddlist and sits ont he board of directors for Cuddle Party. She is a fierce advocate for therapeutic touch professions of all sorts and is a boundaries and consent educator.
How do we live and love when we have never truly existed in deep connection with ourselves? Last night I spent some time reflecting on the versions of who I have been and how they have been dying as I prioritize centering myself in my own life.
Love isn’t a boundless pursuit. It’s an adventure that unfolds when we give and receive from a place of groundedness within our truest self. Not to say that love isn’t available in other places or other forms. But the love I am currently pondering, playing with, practicing, and expanding are the layers of love that don’t come at a sacrifice of self for the sake of potential with another. It’s a love that doesn’t request for us to forget or unknow the weird, wild, and messy parts of ourselves. It’s the type of love that we give to ourselves in the simplicities of every day life and the routines, rituals, practices, and commitments that we dedicate to ourselves for deep nourishment of our body-mind-heart-soul.
Journey with me into and through a little mindspin and reflections on codependency and love and my personal journeying and movement away from self abandonment into discovery of new ways of loving. Enjoyyyyy.
Are you ready to shift the ways you are feeling into and experiencing intimacy, pleasure, play, and love. Drop into 21 days of self guided practices that will help you shape your own unique blueprint for intimacy.
A Place to Become:
We’re charging ahead with the vision to open our physical space this coming summer! We’ve begun the process to make this possible and your help and support will be an intricate part of making this a reality. This studio will be unlike any other place you’ve experienced and will be a place for this work, our collective groups, and greater visions to evolve, become, and belong. Each month we’ll share more about the progress, plans, and sticking points so that you can be involved every step of the way. Profits, donations, and contributions collected through Self Study will go towards the bringing this space from a dream into reality.
Get full access to Sensory Playspace by Self Study at
Healing Sexuality + Sensual Connection with the Body Beyond Trauma
Tuesday, April 15, 2025 • Duration 01:07:38
This episode we dip our toes into they ways the body responds to stress, trauma, and shame show up in the body and impact one's sexuality. We discuss various aspects of women's health, including the impact of trauma, the importance of self-discovery, and the connection between physical and emotional well-being.
This conversation touched on topics such as sexual expression, intimacy, and the significance of building a healthy relationship with one's body, while also addressing common health issues and the need for community support in navigating these areas.
SHOW NOTES:
• Intro: Meet Brittney
• Physical connection to the body
• Pelvic floor issues and sexuality
• Self discovery and body connection
• Pelvic floor issues and understanding connection with the body
• Sexuality and periods
• Emotional safety and physical intimacy
• Hormonal birth control and the impacts on mental health
• Trauma, the bodies response to it
• High desire for sex and self fulfillment
• Understanding one's bodily functions in relation to the bladder and the pelvic floor
• Stress, emotions + energetic stories and the connection to the pelvis
• Learning about the body and navigating shame, grief, sadness, and anger
• Relationship to anger and rage
• Trauma stored in the body
• Pain, infections, irritations, surgery, scars, urgency, hip pain, reproductive issues, and discomforts in the pelvic area and taking care of the body as a preventative method
• Claiming your power and surrendering into self compassion and the reality of what is
Get full access to Sensory Playspace by Self Study at
Unfolding Intimacy, Pleasure + Play
Friday, April 4, 2025 • Duration 36:52
Let's dive into one of our favorite topics: intimacy, pleasure, and play. euni dissects one of her signature classes + workshops and the foundation of what it is all about. Come drop in with us and open space for exploration, self-discovery, and living more intimate, pleasure centered, and playful lives in every possible way.
Let’s dive into how we view, experience, and communicate intimately through reproductive transitions. We had a chat with Christine Devlin Eck, Director + Instructor of the Center for Sacred Window Studies about intimacy after birth.
Have a listen to Episode 8 of The Sensory Playspace Podcast to explore (and expand) how we view intimacy in parenthood and throughout postpartum.
Did this chat hit something for you? Leave a comment on this Substack post to continue the conversation. Share this episode with your friends/lovers/family and let’s find more ways to get our of our heads and drop deeper into our body centered pleasure through intimacy, healing + kink.
• The evolution from birth photography into somatic + sexual healing work and the influence from Sacred Window Studies
• Sex, pregnancy, postpartum, and how the body changes after birth
• Our sexuality and intimacy in postpartum is a highly individualized experience
• Doing the inner work to create what we want to feel
• The letdown of expectations not being matched to what others project the journey would be
Get full access to Sensory Playspace by Self Study at
Intimacy and the Sex Spectrum
Tuesday, November 19, 2024 • Duration 01:05:16
Connecting with intimacy and expanding how we view, experience, and communicate sexually. We had a chat with Michelle Renee, a Platonic Surrogate Partner about the spectrums of sex.
Have a listen to Episode 7 of The Sensory Playspace Podcast to explore (and expand) what the spectrum of sex can mean for you with us. Leave a comment in the Substack post to continue the conversation. Share this episode with your friends/lovers/family and let’s find more ways to get our of our heads and drop deeper into our body centered pleasure through intimacy, healing + kink.
• Creating a nurturing space for a client to do the work that needs to be done
• The repression around the imperfections in sexuality and empowering people to find a safe space within themselves
• Betty Dotson and empowerment in sexuality
• Professional cuddling, platonic touch, and healing unhealthy past relationship attachments
• Betty Martin and The Wheel of Consent
• When to introduce touch and creating a safe container within yourself
• Feeling into a familiar experience in a new way.
Get full access to Sensory Playspace by Self Study at
Reflections + Introducing the Space in Between
Saturday, October 12, 2024 • Duration 17:15
And we’re back live! Whew, the time away this summer was needed. Although I didn’t get the chance to step fully away and hit pause on my whole life - taking space away from intimacy + healing work really expanded both my perspective and my capacity. It gave me a lot of space to think about what I had been doing and what was it that I wanted to experience and expand upon moving forward. I held space for some shedding and healing and am excited to move into the fall + winter seasons ahead with more lightness and inspiration to really refine the ways we explore intimacy, healing + kink together.
There’s so much to tell you about. But what is at the surface today is to introduce + name the space that we all weave in and out of. The space in between. Transitional, liminal space. The place where we surrender to change, grief, shedding, and defeat. It’s the place that lives in the middle of what was and what is becoming. This is what bridges us in growth.
This is what we’ve been doing inside the Self Study Lab since 2019. Transforming over + over again. Leaning into our learnings and letting go of the lessons we have learned. Opening up curiously towards the unknown. Leaning into creating over + over again. We’ve been holding space for all to exist unapologetically and to deepen the ways we connect with ourselves + one another through friendship + romantic love.
Tune into episode 5 of the Sensory Playspace Podcast and wonder into the ponderings stewing as I reflect on the summer and prepare for the fall. Like, share + leave a comment below.
Questions, comments or topic requests/suggestions: email euni at hi@selfstudylab.com
Join the show! Submit a topic + schedule a chat with us:
Get full access to Sensory Playspace by Self Study at
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• Being well, healthy balance, and well cared for creates vitality and sexuality
• Choosing to parent and transitioning your identity and being of service
• Presence in your body and the how we experience and try new things
• Finding new ways to connect and be intimate
• The hardships faced in postpartum while healing
• Lacking trust in the body and the inability to open intimately with your partner
• Choosing the journey, connection, and exploration and sharing our bodies and the ways this evolves with the traumas of the body experienced through pregnancy
• Allowing yourself be with whatever is present, even the hard things
• Communicating about your experience with your partner
• Honoring one another’s needs without words
• Dropping into presence with another, figuring out what they need, and mirroring it back to them to create a sense of safety and vulnerability
• The dance of verbal and non-verbal communication
• Navigating the changes and taking charge of your body in postpartum
• Entering into new phases and the exploration as a sexual person over time and phases of life
• Meeting your partner and supporting their navigation of the postpartum journey to create feelings of intimacy
• Collaboratively meeting needs and holding our own space
• Severing of what was established and inability to create something meaningful after birth in relationship
• The sacred window and intentionality after birth to expand into bringing new opportunities in
• Curiosity of elevating the spiritual aspect of intimacy with a partner
About Christine:
Christine’s passion is in elevating care of self in order to amplify care for others. She is a busy mother to 4 boys and practices her skills daily in support of the divine feminine. Christine is an Ayurvedic Health Consultant, a Birth and Postpartum Doula and the Founder of the Center for Sacred Window Studies, an education platform for Conscious Postpartum Care inspired by Ayurveda and other universal traditions found around the world. She established the Universal Mother Principles as a way of accessing the foundational qualities of giving and receiving effective care for self and others. The Center for Sacred Window Studies certifies caregivers from around the world in the Conscious Postpartum Caregiver Online Certification Program and the Sacred Window Postpartum Training + Embodiment Retreats.
Christine hosts the Sacred Window Podcast and builds awareness and support for postpartum and transitional feminine care via monthly events and continuing education for people passionate about the postpartum window and sustainable caregiving. Christine is featured on many podcasts, publications and summits including USA Today, Orgasmic Birth and Birthing from Within.
We’re charging ahead with the vision to open our physical space this coming summer! We’ve begun the process to make this possible and your help and support will be an intricate part of making this a reality. This studio will be unlike any other place you’ve experienced and will be a place for this work, our collective groups, and greater visions to evolve, become, and belong. Each month we’ll share more about the progress, plans, and sticking points so that you can be involved every step of the way. Profits, donations, and contributions collected through Self Study will go towards the bringing this space from a dream into reality.
Love this work? Help us open our physical space summer 2025!
* Join the Sensory Playspace community on Substack and subscribe to receive posts directly to your inbox.Subscribe here:
Michelle Renee (she/her) based in San Diego, is dedicated to helping clients discover their true Self. From her personal journey, Michelle knows that love heals. Michelle has combined her 8+ years of experience as both a cuddle therapist and a surrogate partner to create a hybrid form somatic relational repair. She affectionately welcomes clients into her Human Connection Lab, where she supports them in relational healing through experiential touch, unconditional positive regard, celebrated agency, and authentic connection. She is also the founder of SoftCockWeek.com and hosts The Intimacy Lab podcast.
