Below is an incomplete list of people I look to as invaluable sources of inspiration, hope and healing. Some of them have touched me personally and others, through their writings and publications. I give thanks to the paths they have forged and for the generous gifts they bestow upon us all.

Somatic Sex Coaches / Practitioners / Cultural Workers / Thinkers / Organizations

Adrienne Maree Brown - Writer, thinker, cultural shifter known for her highly influential book, Emergent Strategy and Pleasure Activism. Both books will change your life.

Afrosexology - A community resource centering Black Sexual Liberation. Check out their guidebooks, workshops, and writing.

Caffyn Jesse - One of my teachers, a leader and now elder in the field of Somatic Sex Education, Caffyn has written numerous books on attachment, the nervous system, trauma, and erotic health.

Holistic Resistance - Training and education for all people working to dismantle oppression on a holistic level to reclaim our humanity.

M’Kali-Haahiki - Sexological bodyworker, breath and energy worker dedicated to helping QTPOC (and aspiring allies) access their erotic energy as fuel for radical transformation.

Pavini Moray - podcast creator, thinker, and cultural shifter who offers sex therapy and ancestral lineage healing.

Tada Hozumi - Writer, thinker, and cultural shifter whose work centers oppression as a form of trauma in the body. They draw on their ancestral lineage, dance, and somatic practice.

Readings / Important Texts / Inspiration

• A Brief History of Somatic Practices and Dance

  • Gives an outline of somatic education history and speaks to how the body-mind thinking of dance professionals continues to shape the training and development of somatic education.

• Resources on Masculinity, Consent, and Accountability

  • A comprehensive, albeit not exhaustive list of readings, videos, and talks on transforming rape culture, understanding consent, and making repairs. Also a good reading list to dive deep into this important work.

• Sex & Pleasure: As Much as You Can Stand by Bret Lyon, PhD

  • An in depth explanation of how the body protects itself and also holds capacity for healing through pleasure.

• The Uses of the Erotic - The Erotic As Power by Audre Lorde

  • Perhaps the most important text ever written on the Erotic. Audre Lorde deepens our understanding of The Erotic as a tool to dismantle oppression within ourselves and the world.

Inspiration: Podcasts, Videos, Music

All My Relations - A podcast led by Matika Wilbur (Swinomish & Tulalip) and Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation) to explore our relationships— relationships to land, to our creatural relatives, and to one another.

Bespoken Bones - A podcast about ancestry, sex, magic, and science by Pavini Moray.