Foreplay Radio – Couples and Sex Therapy

If you've ever scratched your head and wondered 'why does my partner do that?' this episode is for you. What if you could understand the waves that hit you when you face rejection or failure with your partner? This episode will help you do exactly that. We've talked a lot about pursuers and withdrawers in past episodes. Join us today as we name the five waves that each position experience in a negative cycle. George shares that we need to understand the waves to develop language in these sometimes dark places. It will be hard to communicate what you don't have words for and our hosts want to help you develop the vocabulary to speak openly and honestlyto your love. What better way to start off the new year than learning how to love better. Grab your surfboards listeners and come along with us to learn how to ride the relationship waves with ease! Check out our great sponsors! Addy.com for medical treatment of female low libido RocketMoney.com - to help you eliminate unwanted subscriptions that you started and no longer want. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome listeners to today's episode! A pick six in football is when the opposing team catches an interception and returns in for a touchdown. This can either be the most exhilarating or devastating play of the game depending on which team you are cheering on. Either way, it is an exciting play that can change the outcome of the situation. Join us today as we have a little fun and apply this to relationships. In today's episode you will learn how to salvage a relationship mishap. George and Laurie share several examples of common cycle starters and how we can override the automatic response and respond more relationally. Your partner tries to initiate s*x but you are busy. You see their disappointment and feel yourself getting critical, learn how to slow down and communicate with your partner. In another example, your partner asks for your help and you brush them off because you have SO many more things to be working on. Your partner reacts by shutting down: learn how to re-engage and support them! Intimate relationships are a series or ruptures and repairs and the most successful couples have a solid repair strategy. Gather your favorite teammate and listen to this episode to improve your repair playbook today! Check out our great sponsors! Uberlube.com RocketMoney.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

But, George and Laurie, what is "rizz?" Rizz, selected as Oxford's word of the year for 2023, is defined as a slang term used to describe someone's ability to flirt. The word may be familiar as its origin is the existing word charisma. Join us in this episode as we break down what is rizz and how to apply it to your relationship. Maybe you're already one of those people that has a keen ability to light up a room, draw others to you, be self-confident and also intune with your audience. Some of us may struggle here but learning to rizz better is possible and perhaps something to add to your 2024 resolutions list. Our hosts implore us to do this by: improving active listening skills, eye contact, making conversation more personal, and better attunement as strategies to improve your rizz. They also note that most of us have strongrizz at the start of a relationship because we tend to put in more effort and intentionality when we are pursuing a new partner. However life takes over and thatfocused effort often wanes leading our rizz to drop with our intimate partners. We had a lot of fun on this episode keeping up with what's hip and we hope it's a fun and playful conversation toshare with your partner on increasing intentionality in your communication. Keep it hot y'all! Check out our sponsors and help support our work educating couples! Foria Wellness -- try their excellent sex oils! Their Awaken Arousal and Sex Oil are excellent for enhancing a woman's orgasm! Try it and see! Use the link Foria or use the code 'foreplay' and get 20% off your order! Cozy Earth has the most comfortable, breathable sheets! It is like sleeping on a cloud. Use the code 'foreplay' for 35% off site-wide! Addyi.com for pharmaceutical help with female low libido. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shame is an emotional experience that confirms our biggest insecurities. S*x is a sacred space that requires us to be naked physically, emotionally and spiritually. We don't want to think of shame here, rather we decide that s*x "should" be: passionate, spontaneous, simple yet, s*x with your intimate partner can trigger shame. Join us today as we discuss the reasons why we can feel shame around physical intimacy. George and Laurie lead listenersthrough a valuable conversation on what parts of an individual become exposed in this vulnerable place and how to begin to make sense of those internal messages. George reminds us that the antidote to shame is in connection and humans are not meant to face shame in isolation. We explore the deeper attachment themes present and Laurie highlights the dilemma of shame; sharing shame with a loved one increases safety but we need safety to be able to share shame. If a s*xual experience with your partner has ever felt like rejection or failure this episode is a must listen to help you understand how to address the "relationship ouch" and open up a conversation with your partner that is full of healthy relationship risk taking. Make sure to visit our website www.foreplayrst.com and leave us questions or comments in our mailbag. We want to help you bust shame and keep it hot y'all! Check out our sponsors! (It helps us pay the bills!) Dipsea -- Develop your erotic mind! Designed by women for women! An app with short, sexy stories to help you get in the mood! Go to dipseastories.com/foreplay for an extended 30 day free trial! Uberlube is our favorite lubricant for great sex! Silky, smooth, and safe! Order it today with the coupon code 'foreplay'! Addyi.com/Foreplay -- Ask your gynecologist about this drug that helps women with low libido! Everyplate.com/podcast/49foreplay -- These meals are fantastic! Simple to make, appropriately portioned, delicious! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a relationship when we experience emotional hurt we quickly want to assign meaning to the feeling. Our brains are wired to make sense of the threat and a pang of rejection can send ourthoughts spiraling. Then BAM we are in the cycle with our partner. Join us todayas we help you make better and more accurate meaningto slow down this automatic process and keep you from fallinghead first in the negative cycle. As EFT therapists, we work to make reframes of protective behavior to help individuals expand meaning and perspective. When you can hold more space in your body for the physical sensation of an emotion you keep your brain in a neutral zone. A neutral zone will help you be open minded, think relationally and use communication skills like curiosity, understanding, validation and empathy. You will leave this episode with examples of common inaccuratemeanings, why yourbrain does this, what to do instead and how to talk to your partner better. Head on over to our instagram page and let us know in the comments what meaning you commonly assign to your partner's behavior. We want to help you get out of this trap and love better and have better sex! Check out our sponsors! CozyEarth -- the most fantastic, softest, comfiest sheets you've ever slept on! Use the coupon code 'foreplay' to get 35% off site-wide! Addyi.com/Foreplay -- Ask your gynecologist about this drug that helps women with low libido! Rocket Money - Rocket Money can track down and cancel all those online subscriptions you've made and forgotten about that come out of your bank automatically. Save money with Rocket Money! Use the link and let them know we sent you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You grind so hard all year in hopes to spend quality time during the holiday season with your love but when the time comes you end up getting caught in the cycle. Has this ever happened to you? The holiday season brings out the extremes and primes relationships for the classic blame/attack cycle. Partners locked in tension often scream "you're too much/you're not enough" while putting on cheerful faces for family photoshoots and out of town visitors. We see the challenge and we've been there before! Join our hosts today as we open up a conversation on the many conflicts couples face during the holidays and how to stress less together. George and Laurie discuss the invisible workload and mental labor that goes into making holiday magic, the demands on time and energy and the cycles that couples get locked in. This episode will help each partner expand their perspectives and start a valuable dialogue of ways to support one another better, increase appreciation and create time to step under the mistletoe. We know that making memories isn't easy work and we want to prevent your relationship from taking the hard hits this year! Check out our sponsors! Check out our great sponsors: CozyEarth -- the most fantastic, softest, comfiest sheets you've ever slept on! Use the coupon code 'foreplay' to get 35% off site-wide! Dipsea -- Develop your erotic mind! Designed by women for women! An app with short, sexy stories to help you get in the mood! Go to dipseastories.com/foreplay for an extended 30 day free trial! Uberlube is our favorite lubricant for great sex! Silky, smooth, and safe! Order it today with the coupon code 'foreplay'! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Warning this episode is NSFW and you might want to sit down for this one! Is dirty talk part of your lovemaking repertoire? Dirty talk is defined as talking explicitlyaboutsex with your partner. These explicit words run the gamutand can either be a major turn ON or turn OFF. Join our hosts today as they notonly give us a list of dirty words to use during sex but discuss how to artfully bring up this HOT topic with your love. This is an area that you want to approach thoughtfully. Moving too fast has the potential to ruin the fun that dirty talk could bring to your sex life. Here are some great questions to ask if you want to test the waters in this arena: "How do you want to talk about our sex?" "Is there a specific name or language you want me to use about your body parts, our moves during lovemaking?" "What ways can we create comfort and also turn up the heat?" Find out how your partner wants to hear it and learn what it does or doesn't do for them. Getting to know your partner better is always a good thing! Keep it hot y'all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A fetish is an object or part of the body that turns someone on sexually. How do partners safely discuss fetishes? Join George and Laurie in today's episode as they answer a mailbag question from a listener who discovered that their spouse has a foot fetish. This episode is for you if you have a fetish that you're unsure how to share with your spouse or you have learned about your spouse's fetish. Dr. Laurie shares that rather than shut down the fetish a couple can focus on expansion of sexual worlds.She provides direction on taking the sexual charge the fetish creates and making use of it in a way that supports the sexual relationship between partners. Exploring sexual fetishes may cause conflict between partners and George reminds us that better communication here is key. We reduce the fear of the unknown by having good conversation between lovers and learning how/if this fetish is integratedin the relationship. We want to thank our listener for sending in this question and opening up our audience to the topic of fetishes. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic! Make sure to drop us a line either in our listener mailbag or over on our instagram page@foreplay_sextherapypodcast Thanks as always for helping us keep it hot, y'all! Check out our great sponsors: CozyEarth -- the most fantastic, softest, comfiest sheets you've ever slept on! Use the coupon code 'foreplay' to get 35% off site-wide! Dipsea -- Develop your erotic mind! Designed by women for women! An app with short, sexy stories to help you get in the mood! Go to dipseastories.com/foreplay for an extended 30 day free trial! Uberlube is our favorite lubricant for great sex! Silky, smooth, and safe! Order it today with the coupon code 'foreplay'! Addyi.com/Foreplay -- Ask your gynecologist about this drug that helps women with low libido! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Foreplay listeners, join George and Laurie in this episode and help us celebrate 4 years of podcasting together! It has been quite a ride with our fearless love experts at the helm and we look forward to continuing to help our listeners keep it hot! Today we are breaking down the formula to unlock female desire. Listen as we share the 3 key ingredients that we have found are a common theme among clients, friends and in studies. They are emotional connection before sex, relaxation before sex and wooing/wowing your love. Women need emotional connection to unlock their sexual desire. Tune into the emotional needs of your female partner and focus on high levels of emotional engagement. Ask yourself: Am working to ensure that my lady feels seen, heard and understood? Next, never-ending to-do lists often keep women trapped in a constant state of go, not allowing for the proper amount of relaxation to help prime the body for desire and sexual connection. A spa day a few times a year is great but just won't cut it when it comes to unlocking female desire. Help your love protect her space and focus on relaxation. Lastly, we're talking about wooing and wowing. Getting explicit with compliments, playfulness, flirtations to directly signal how much you want and desire the woman in your life. We'd love to hear your feedback on the episode. Make sure to rate and review us! Check out our sponsors! Foria -- A wonderful sex oils with 20% off your first order. Foriawellness.com/foreplay or use the coupon 'foreplay' at checkout. LifeMD.com --lifemd.com/FOREPLAY todayand see whyLifeMDis America’s most trusted leader in virtual healthcare Addyi.com for women with low sexual desire. Use the code foreplay for a $10 medical consultation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laurie and George answer a mailbag question in this episode. "I think my husband has been faking orgasms...how can I bring this up without increasing the anxiety he may already be feeling?" We want to thank our brave listener for reaching out to us with this question and bringing up a topic that is rarely discussed. Our hosts help provide language for couples and also make more explicit the emotions that end up driving the 'faking behavior'. Learn how to start a difficult conversation with yourpartnerand pay attention to these key takeawaysfrom this episode: the complimentsandwich, reducing unhealthy shame, giving men the permission to not orgasm and taking some of the pressure off. We love helping listeners with questions like this, so make sure you visit our website and drop us a note! Check out our great sponsors: Uberlube.com -- Uberlube is our preferred lubricant for great sex! It's silicone-based and won't stain, is water-soluable, and is all-around fantastic! OMGYes.com -- Great information about women's pleasure. Science-backed information that is tasteful and helpful! A great resource that gives you language to talk about sex. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices