Whole-Body Intimacy

Whole-Body Intimacy allows couples and their therapists to deepen their understanding of the essential components of intimate relationships and create meaningful sexual connection. This book brings somatic sex therapy into the interpersonal realm by applying Walker's Somatic-Concentric Sex Therapy model to the sexual intimacy of couples and those in intimate relationships. Offering a whole-body somatic approach to intimacy, this book embeds cognitive and emotional components within body-to-body sexuality and can be modulated to help individuals navigate common sexual difficulties, such as desire difference or other sexual challenges, as the body changes and encounters medical or health events across the lifespan. The chapters provide full coverage on assumptions about intimacy, desire difference, the sexual response cycle, attachment, bodyful practices, as well as a guide to embodied consent. With experiential guides and reflective questions to help the readers apply the material directly to their relationship, this book takes readers on a whole-person, three-dimensional journey that integrates all aspects of the social-sexual self within an interpersonal connection. Readers will increase knowledge of desires, boundaries, relational patterns, and growth edges in intimate relationships. This book is an essential resource for therapists, clients of sex therapy, relational therapy, couples counseling, and premarital counseling, as well as those looking to deepen their understanding of intimate relationships.

Melissa Walker, LPC, CST, R-DMT, is Licensed Professional Counselor, American Association for Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT) Certified Sex Therapist, and Dance/Movement Therapist, and the director of Embodied Relationships Counseling and Training Center in Colorado. Her first book, Whole-Body Sex, received the 2023 AASECT General Audience Book Award

INTRODUCTION: A Vision of Bodyful Intimacy SECTION 1: Fundamentals Of A Whole-Body Intimacy 1. Embodying Consent As A Practice 2. Embodying Communication 3. Sexual Wiring In Relationships: How Nervous System States Impact Your Arousal Anatomy 4. Introducing The Whole-Person Sexual Response Cycle In Relationship SECTION 2: Navigating Sexuality Challenges Together 5. The Six Stages Of The Whole-Person Sexual Response Cycle 6. Navigating Sexual Challenges 7. Sexuality Challenges Due To Hormone-Related Life Events And Transitions SECTION 3: The Rhythms Of Intimacy 8. Shared Values In Action 9. Finding Somatic Attunement 10. Movement Fundamentals and Attachment Dynamics 11. Attunement Through Contact: Bodyful Touch Practices 12. Your Intimate Dynamic: Erotic Mapping For Resilience AFTERWORD: Practice, Integrate, Transform