In this episode of The Better Sex Podcast, I talk with Men's Coach and Co-Founder of The Undaunted Man, Geoff Laughton. We explore what's really happening for men right now when it comes to desire, identity, and connection, and why so many relationships can look fine on the outside while feeling disconnected underneath.

Along the way, we spoke about how Geoff's own journey through burnout, long-term partnership, and decades of working with individuals and couples shaped his perspective. Throughout the conversation, we explore how relationships move through different phases over time, how parenting and life stress impact intimacy, and why many couples find themselves disconnected after years of putting everything else first.

We also get into what he calls the "masculine dilemma," including how men navigate changing expectations, disconnection from purpose, and confusion about what it means to be a healthy man today. Geoff shares what he sees in his work with men around loneliness, people-pleasing, and lack of direction, and we talk about what actually helps—community, self-awareness, and reconnecting with both strength and emotional depth.

If you've found your relationship shifting over time, or you've questioned desire, connection, or how to show up as a partner today, this conversation offers a clear way to understand what's happening and how to move forward.

Connect with Geoff

Website: www.theundauntedman.com

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theundauntedman/

A free e-book called Solving The Masculine Dilemma www.theundauntedman.com/path

Connect with Deborah

Skool: https://www.skool.com/better-sex-9290

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@deborahkat9349

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/deborahtantrakat/

Podcast Feedback DeborahTantraKat@Gmail.com

Book a breakthrough session with Deborah


https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=11737312&appointmentType=60692935

In this episode of The Better Sex Podcast, I talk with intimacy and relationship coach Marga Bardinski. Together, we explore how relationships evolve over time, how identity shifts through major life transitions like marriage and parenthood, and what it really means to create intimacy on your own terms.

Throughout the conversation, Marga shares her journey into motherhood and how it challenged her assumptions about identity, partnership, and autonomy. Along the way, Deborah reflects on her own experience of preparing for marriage after decades in partnership, unpacking the unexpected beliefs and conditioning that surfaced. Together, they examine how roles like "wife," "partner," and "mother" carry inherited meaning and how those meanings can be questioned, reshaped, or released.

In this conversation, Marga speaks to the importance of slowing down, listening to the body, and developing the courage to express desire clearly. She also highlights the role of conscious choice, whether in relationships, parenting, or personal identity, and the power of creating frameworks that support connection, curiosity, and growth.

Marga offers us a grounded approach using embodiment, communication, and the ongoing practice that is required to build intimacy that is honest and alive throughout a long-term relationship so that you can stay connected to yourself while building deeper, more authentic relationships.

Connect with Marga

Website: https://www.turnonnl.com/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/turnon_the_netherlands/

Newsletter: https://turnonnl.activehosted.com/f/93

Connect with Deborah

Skool: https://www.skool.com/better-sex-9290

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@deborahkat9349

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/deborahtantrakat/

Podcast Feedback DeborahTantraKat@Gmail.com

Book a breakthrough session with Deborah


https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=11737312&appointmentType=60692935

In this episode of The Better Sex Podcast, I talk with trauma-informed somatic educator, practitioner, and speaker Darshana Avila. We explore why receiving pleasure can feel so hard—and what begins to shift when you learn how to come back into your body and your truth.

Along the way, we spoke about how her early experiences in marriage, spirituality, and sexuality led her to question the disconnect so many of us feel. Through her journey into tantra, trauma work, and somatic practice, we explore how identity, conditioning, and lived experience shape our capacity to receive, not just give, in intimacy.

We also get into how people-pleasing, self-abandonment, and a lack of felt safety in the body make it difficult to stay present with pleasure. Darshana shares what it actually takes to build that internal sense of safety, and we talk about how receiving is a skill you can learn—not something reserved for a lucky few.

If you've ever found yourself over-giving, disconnecting during intimacy, or unsure how to let yourself fully receive, this conversation offers a grounded and practical way back—to your body, your pleasure, and your power.

Connect with Darshana

Website: https://darshanaavila.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@darshana-avila

Connect with Deborah

Skool: https://www.skool.com/better-sex-9290

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@deborahkat9349

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/deborahtantrakat/

Podcast Feedback DeborahTantraKat@Gmail.com

Book a breakthrough session with Deborah


https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=11737312&appointmentType=60692935


Sex and Relationship tips direct to you Inbox


https://deborahkat.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=428b26a12a8810bb5012792c3&id=ff89fb0d94

In this episode of The Better Sex Podcast, I talk with men's work leader and founder of the Integral Man Institute Mark Platten. Mark shares how his decades of work guiding men through rites of passage—and his lived experience walking alongside his wife through menopause—led him to focus on the often-overlooked transition midlife couples face when bodies, identities, and sexual dynamics begin to shift.

Throughout the conversation, Mark and I explore how menopause and andropause reshape intimacy in long-term relationships, why so many couples feel blindsided by these changes, and how unspoken expectations about sex can quietly erode connection. Along the way, we talk about the archetypal transitions men move through in midlife, the emotional impact of hormonal changes for both partners, and why so many couples find themselves struggling to navigate this phase without guidance.

Mark shares insights from his work with men about upgrading the "tools" we bring into relationship as we age—moving from youthful patterns of fixing, performing, or proving ourselves into deeper connection, communication, and vulnerability. We also discuss how honest conversations about desire, aging bodies, and shifting needs can open the door to a richer and more intimate phase of relationship after menopause.

This conversation offers a grounded and compassionate look at a stage of life that many couples experience but rarely talk about—and how facing it together can deepen intimacy rather than end it.

Connect with Mark

Website: https://integral-man-institute

Gift: 5 Conversations All Midlife Couples Need to have -https://integral-man-institute.mykajabi.com/Conversations-for-Midlife-Couples

Connect with Deborah

Skool: https://www.skool.com/better-sex-9290

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@deborahkat9349

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/deborahtantrakat/

Podcast Feedback DeborahTantraKat@Gmail.com

Book a breakthrough session with Deborah


https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=11737312&appointmentType=60692935


Sex and Relationship tips direct to you Inbox


https://deborahkat.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=428b26a12a8810bb5012792c3&id=ff89fb0d94

Dr. Emma Smith about how trauma, shame, and cultural conditioning can distort intimacy — and what it actually takes to reclaim pleasure, desire, and connection in an embodied, sustainable way.

Throughout the conversation, Dr. Emma shares her journey from trauma therapy into sex therapy, and explains why healing doesn't end when symptoms disappear. Along the way, we explore how the nervous system prioritizes survival over pleasure, why many people lose touch with desire after trauma or chronic stress, and how cultural messages about "good" and "bad" sexuality create deep layers of shame that can disconnect us from our bodies and our relationships.

Dr. Emma also offers powerful insights into what healing really looks like in practice: learning to recognize bodily signals of yes and no, cultivating curiosity instead of judgment, and rebuilding intimacy through small, accessible moments of pleasure. She explains how compassion toward ourselves opens the door to reclaiming desire, and how couples can shift from criticism and defensiveness into deeper connection by reconnecting with their own internal turn-on first.

At its core, this conversation is a reminder that no matter where you're starting from, possibility exists — and reclaiming pleasure is not about fixing what's broken, but about returning to your humanity, your curiosity, and your capacity to experience aliveness.

Better sex is a practice — and you can begin again anytime.

Connect with Dr. Emma Smith

Website: https://soliloquie.co/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/emmasmithphd

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JerseyEJ

Connect with Deborah

Skool: https://www.skool.com/better-sex-9290

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@deborahkat9349

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/deborahtantrakat/

Podcast Feedback DeborahTantraKat@Gmail.com

Book a breakthrough session with Deborah


https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=11737312&appointmentType=60692935


Sex and Relationship tips direct to you Inbox


https://deborahkat.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=428b26a12a8810bb5012792c3&id=ff89fb0d94

In this episode of The Better Sex Podcast, I talk with Open Nesters co-hosts, speaker and consciousness facilitator Tessa and entrepreneur and DJ Amir. Together, they explore what it means to stay open — to each other, to pleasure, and to possibility — through decades of partnership, parenting, and evolving sexual expression.

They share the story of their 37-year relationship, including how they kept their connection alive while raising three children, how their "open nest" mindset emerged, and how their journey into non-monogamy unfolded over time. Along the way, they reflect on the role of playfulness, intentional date time, communication, and honest conversations about desire, as well as the challenges and growth that come with redefining relationship agreements.

Throughout the conversation, they offer a grounded perspective on long-term intimacy: that sexuality is fluid across the lifespan, that knowing your own pleasure is essential, and that thriving relationships require ongoing intention, curiosity, and a willingness to stay engaged even when things feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar.

This episode is an invitation to see long-term love not as something that fades, but as a living practice that can deepen, expand, and remain vibrant well into later chapters of life.

Connect with The Open-Nesters

Website: https://theopennesters.com

Podcast: https://theopennesters.com/episodes/

Email: tessa@theopennesters.com

Connect with Deborah

Skool Community: https://www.skool.com/better-sex-9290/about

Substack: https://substack.com/@deborahkat

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@deborahkat9349

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/deborahtantrakat/

Podcast Feedback DeborahTantraKat@Gmail.com

Book a breakthrough session with Deborah


https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=11737312&appointmentType=60692935


Sex and Relationship tips direct to you Inbox


https://deborahkat.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=428b26a12a8810bb5012792c3&id=ff89fb0d94

If intimacy feels harder than it should, this conversation offers a different way of looking at it.
This episode is about staying connected through real emotions, real differences, and the very human messiness of long-term relationships.

In this episode of The Better Sex Podcast, I talk with men's and relationship coach Bryan Reeves. Bryan shares the winding path that led him here—from Air Force captain and corporate executive to relationship coach—after realizing in his late 30s that, despite being successful and well-intentioned, he had never actually learned how to create emotional safety or intimacy. That reckoning, and the heartbreak that came with it, shaped the work he now does with men and couples.

From that lived experience, our conversation explores what helps relationships work in real life:

• why rigid masculine/feminine roles often fall apart in practice
  
  

• how emotional disconnection shows up for men, often without them realizing it
  
  

• a simple way of bringing awareness into the body instead of shutting down
  
  

We talk about shared leadership in relationships, the difference between tolerating and appreciating one another, and why so many long-term conflicts aren't meant to be resolved—but met with more presence, humor, and care.

This episode is an invitation to let go of the idea that good relationships are neat or conflict-free, and to approach intimacy with curiosity, compassion, and a willingness to stay on each other's side—even when it's uncomfortable.

Connect with Bryan Reeves

Website: www.bryanreeves.com

Book: Choose Her Every Day (Or Leave Her)

Connect with Deborah

Substack: https://substack.com/@deborahkat

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@deborahkat9349

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/deborahtantrakat/

Podcast Feedback DeborahTantraKat@Gmail.com

Book a breakthrough session with Deborah


https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=11737312&appointmentType=60692935


Sex and Relationship tips direct to you Inbox


https://deborahkat.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=428b26a12a8810bb5012792c3&id=ff89fb0d94

In this episode of The Better Sex Podcast, I talk with pleasure advocate and sex educator Melissa Louise. We explore the connection between sexual confidence, creativity, and self-trust, and how owning your sexual energy can change the way you show up in your relationships and your life.

Along the way, Melissa shares her personal journey of growing up in a conservative, patriarchal culture in South Australia and navigating cultural shame, sexual trauma, and rigid gender roles. Together, we unpack how both men and women are constrained by societal expectations, how mistrust between genders is reinforced, and what becomes possible when those narratives begin to loosen.

Melissa also offers practical teachings and frameworks for expanding pleasure and confidence, including her grounded approach to helping men "masturbate well" as a foundation for sexual mastery and relational presence. This episode offers clear insights and actionable tools to help you reconnect with your desire and show up more fully in your sex life and relationships.

Connect with Melissa

Website: https://melissalouise.world

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissa_louise_intimacy/

Substack: https://melissalouise.substack.com/

Man in control: https://melissalouise.world/man-6739?am_id=deborah5221

Connect with Deborah

Substack: https://substack.com/@deborahkat

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@deborahkat9349

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/deborahtantrakat/

Podcast Feedback DeborahTantraKat@Gmail.com

Book a breakthrough session with Deborah


https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=11737312&appointmentType=60692935


Sex and Relationship tips direct to you Inbox


https://deborahkat.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=428b26a12a8810bb5012792c3&id=ff89fb0d94