In this solo episode, Sarah Rose Bright makes the case for one of the most resisted ideas in her practice - planning intimacy. Many couples believe that if sex isn't spontaneous, something is wrong - with them, their partner, or the relationship itself. Sarah unpacks why that belief is not only untrue, but very damaging, and shows how intentional time can make real spontaneity possible.

Drawing on Emily Nagoski's work on spontaneous versus responsive desire, Sarah explains why so many women feel ‘broken’ for not experiencing desire instantly, and how understanding your own desire style can transform your intimate life. She shares practical tools for creating intentional intimacy into a relationship - from finding the right time of day to creating anticipation, how to transition from "go mode" into "slow mode," and having honest conversations about what each person needs in the moment.

Sarah also explores how expanding the definition of intimacy beyond penetration can take the pressure off entirely, why practice time cultivates real erotic mastery, and how tracking your personal ‘brakes and accelerators’ can help you understand what supports and hinders your pleasure.

One of the many reasons Graeme and Sarah love facilitating the Making Love Retreat® is that it offers a full week to explore creating intentional intimacy, and to see and experience the gifts and the magic that happen when you commit and devote time to each other.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• How planned intimacy can enhance desire and connection, not kill it
• How spontaneity can grow from intentional intimacy
• The difference between responsive and spontaneous styles and how you are not ‘broken’ if you experience desire responsively
• Communication as the foundation of understanding each other's needs
• How experimenting with timing is key to intentional intimacy
• How and why its important to consciously transition into intimacy time with practices and rituals
• How intimacy can be deeply fulfilling without leading to penetration
• How practice time helps you become a better lover
• How curiosity and exploration are core for evolving your intimate life

The Making Love Retreat for Couples, 12th - 18th October, 2026

For a free e-book, How Relaxed Love Making Can Transform Your Sex Life and to explore Sarah's work - including private coaching, group programmes, courses, retreats and her podcast - visit www.sarahrosebright.com

Your podcast host is Sarah Rose Bright. Sarah Rose Bright is a Love, Sex & Intimacy Coach, an authorised teacher of The Making Love Retreats® and a Gene Keys Guide. She guides women and committed couples who feel stuck and unfulfilled in their intimate lives - and know this is the missing piece. Women return home to their body, awaken their sensuality and discover their true power. Couples transform sex into lovemaking, creating an erotic life filled with depth, passion, and love. Find out more: https://sarahrosebright.com/

MUSIC: Trust and Surrender by Ayla Schafer. You can explore more of her beautiful music here - https://www.aylaschafer.co.uk/

From her years of private practice and teaching, Sarah sees that being in the unknown is one of the most challenging things for people wanting to shift their sex lives, yet rarely talked about.

It is the piece that, when embraced, opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Most of us learned sex as a script: a linear sequence with predictable stops along the way, repeated until it becomes routine.

In this episode, Sarah explores what happens when we step off that script and into the unknown, and why that discomfort might be one of the most generative places in our erotic lives. Stepping off the script takes practise, which is why we host the Making Love Retreat in October to support you to safely lean into that curious exploration.

This is about those micro moments where we don't know what to do, or where we find ourselves repeating the same things on autopilot.

She unpacks how the pressure to perform, please, and follow a predictable path keeps us from noticing what's actually happening in our bodies, and why the same curiosity we'd bring to changing up our diet or exercise routine can transform our sex lives too.

In this episode you'll hear:

• Why the scripts we learn around sex are so limiting, and how to start questioning them
• The role of curiosity, awareness, and practice in expanding pleasure and connection
• How performance pressure shows up in the bedroom and what helps release it
• Why practice time, free from the pressure to "finish" a certain way, changes everything
• Stories from client work showing how the smallest moments create the biggest shifts
• The myth that good sex must end in a particular way, and what becomes possible without it
• Why ‘messy learning’ might be exactly what your erotic life needs

Through stories, Sarah shows how a pause, a breath, or naming a flicker of stress out loud can shift an entire dynamic. As she puts it, your erotic life is ever evolving, and rather than adding more, letting go of conditioning is what allows you to drop in deeper.

RESOURCES FROM SARAH

The Making Love Retreat for Couples, 12th - 18th October, 2026

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Your podcast host is Sarah Rose Bright. Sarah Rose Bright is a Love, Sex & Intimacy Coach, an authorised teacher of The Making Love Retreats® and a Gene Keys Guide. She guides women and committed couples who feel stuck and unfulfilled in their intimate lives - and know this is the missing piece. Women return home to their body, awaken their sensuality and discover their true power. Couples transform sex into lovemaking, creating an erotic life filled with depth, passion, and love. Find out more: https://sarahrosebright.com/

MUSIC: Trust and Surrender by Ayla Schafer. You can explore more of her beautiful music here - https://www.aylaschafer.co.uk/

In this episode of Making Love: A Podcast with Sarah Rose Bright, Sarah sits down with Christiane Pelmas for a rich exploration of power - what it is, how it's misunderstood, and what makes female power distinct.

Here's what we covered:

• Defining power as the neutral capacity to mobilise resources and create impact - and why how we use it is never neutral
• The different "flavours" of power - personal, role, status, systemic, universal, and the power of communication and charisma
• Why most relational damage comes from underestimating our power, not overestimating it
• The biological and evolutionary roots of female power - tending, befriending, and weaving community
• How power shifts (or doesn't) at menopause, and why women's productivity often peaks in their ‘Queen years’
• Erotic and sexual power as forms of power, and how they have been co-opted by dominator culture
• The legacy of Me Too and the recent "Motherless" site controversy - what it reveals about porn, violence, and the erotic
• Female rage as a generative, ecological force, and why it's been pathologised
• Real-world examples from indigenous women-led activism to Mothers Against Drunk Driving
• The role of grandmothers as culture-keepers and agents of social change
• Where to start if you want to reconnect with your own power

Christiane Pelmas is a therapist and mentor, Somatic Sex Educator and Writer working in the intersectional terrain between Belonging, Wellbeing and the Ecology of Ethics.

RESOURCES FROM CHRISTIANE

ChristianePelmas.com

InstituteForEroticIntelligence.com

TheVerdantCollective.com

RESOURCES FROM SARAH

Work With Sarah - Whether you're a woman ready to come home to your body and your desire, or a couple wanting to deepen your erotic life, she offers bespoke private coaching online. The first step is a conversation. Book a call here.

The Making Love Retreat for Couples, 12th - 18th October, 2026

For a free e-book, How Relaxed Love Making Can Transform Your Sex Life and to explore Sarah's work - including private coaching, group programmes, courses, retreats and her podcast - visit www.sarahrosebright.com

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Sarah Rose Bright is an Erotic Embodiment and Intimacy Guide, authorised teacher of The Making Love Retreat®, and host of Making Love, a podcast on the evolution of love, sex, and relationships. She guides women and committed couples who feel stuck and unfulfilled in their intimate lives - and know this is the missing piece. Women come home to their bodies, awaken their desire, and reclaim their power. Couples create an erotic life of depth, passion, and love. Find out more: https://sarahrosebright.com/

MUSIC: Trust and Surrender by Ayla Schafer. You can explore more of her beautiful music here - https://www.aylaschafer.co.uk/