Why I'm no longer calling myself a Certified Sexological Bodyworker in Portland…

I’m Moving Away from the Title “Sexological Bodyworker” and This Blog Explains Why and What I'm Changing to Instead

Woman giving herself a compassionate hug on a massage table

The Evolution of My Practice

The term "Sexological Bodywork" was coined by Joseph Kramer. He developed this modality as a bridge between sexual health education and ecstatic states of being, especially in response to the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Over the years, this approach has evolved into a structured, consent-based, and trauma-informed way to heal and integrate sexual trauma and shame. It helps individuals connect more deeply with their bodies and expand their capacity to experience pleasure.

Why Am I Changing My Title?

I've found that the term "Sexological Bodyworker" can be confusing. It carries stigma and misunderstanding, making it hard to describe the work I do. Social media bots often react negatively to it, and many people aren't familiar with the modality. For the past five years, I've explored different titles, including embodied sex and intimacy coach, somatic sexologist, and pleasure coach. Recently, after joining The Institute of Relational Harmony Studies for a two-year training program, I've decided to adopt the title Somatic Intimacy Coach & Bodyworker.

This writing is part of my evolution. It's a work in progress, inspired by The Art of Somatic Coaching by Richard Strozzi-Heckler. I’m sharing this in the messy middle rather than a polished version. If you feel called to share your reflections or feedback, I welcome your thoughts. This blog is not a sales pitch; it’s more of a brain and heart storm.

What Does a Somatic Intimacy Coach & Bodyworker Actually Mean?

TL;DR

So, what is it that I really do?

I help you have the best sex of your life.

Somatic

The word "somatic" comes from the Greek word somatikos, meaning the living, aware, bodily person, distinct from the mind and spirit. "Soma" means "of the body" and refers to bodily sensations. I use the term somatic to indicate that we are a living field. This work offers an opportunity to integrate all parts of us into our being.

Intimacy

I like to translate intimacy as: “in-to-me-see.” When we share intimacy with someone, we consciously and consensually reveal the gifts of our being. This allows us to be seen and felt by ourselves and others. Intimacy is a cyclical, regenerative exchange between people. Perhaps you are seeing yourself for the first time, or maybe you feel brave enough to show me parts of you. This can include your physical, emotional, and energetic selves.

Coach

I view a coach as a sensei—someone who has gone before, not in a superior way, but as someone with education and experience in areas you may not yet have explored. I hold a map and a lantern to illuminate what you might not see or know yet. I have paths you haven't traveled and a gentle light to shine on the parts you can't yet see. Together, we co-create a shared reality. I believe you are doing your work and have the capacity to change. I support you in developing self-awareness, self-compassion, self-acceptance, and self-responsibility.

I can be your cheerleader, your consensual shadow stalker, your big sister, and sometimes I channel my fierce, loving ancestors. I meet you with the understanding that you carry infinite wisdom within you. You are the expert of your own body. Together, we create a container of courage where you learn what safety feels like in your body, allowing you to step into a new way of being.

Bodyworker

While I deeply value conversational coaching or therapy, I’ve found that it can only take me so far. We can talk about sex, intimacy, and our bodies endlessly, but to create meaningful, lasting change, we need to work on, in, with, and through the body. Touch and bodywork can be part of our sessions, including genital touch, if it serves you. I follow the Institute of Relational Harmony and Association of Certified Sexological Bodyworkers Code of Ethics. This includes using gloves with touch and remaining clothed. The bodywork I offer is one-way touch, except for Betty Martin’s Wheel of Consent practices, where two-way touch is in service to your learning.

Working on the Body

I am trained to work on your body to help you realize what is stored within. Unlike therapy, Somatic Intimacy Coaching is not a treatment model. I do not diagnose or treat conditions, and I refer out when necessary.

Working with the Body

I work with the body by considering emotional, social, and cultural influences, power dynamics, past experiences, trauma, and conditioning. These factors may block or support your access to your felt sense, emotional, and sexual energy. I teach you how to notice, trust, value, voice, accept, and sometimes adjust your physical, emotional, relational, and energetic self. This allows you to access your voice, choice, agency, and pleasure.

Working Through the Body

When we work through the body, we tap into your fundamental life force. Learning to tune into your intuition, emotional and physical sense of self, and your eros connects you to a vast reservoir of wisdom, compassion, and intelligence that has often been neglected.

As we know, the body keeps the score. It holds memories on a cellular level, in our DNA, and in our ancestral lines. It reveals our embodied strategies for survival, belonging, love, safety, and acceptance.

By working through the body, we can access billions of years of embodied experience. We connect to our patterns of being and expression, illuminating and integrating unthought knowns into our awareness and everyday lives. This is what I call embodied shadow work.

How Do We Do This?

We work through intention, breath, sound, movement, placement of attention, touch, attunement, and noticing sensation. Learning micro skills of touch, allowing, being with, and moving through emotions are also part of this process. You will be met with radical acceptance, and we will recognize limits and resilient edges of resistance. Experiencing pleasure and ecstatic states are key components of this work. I encourage you to develop tools of self-compassion, self-acceptance, and self-responsibility. Together, we create a structure of support that helps you root, grow, blossom, fruit, wither, decompose, and unveil yourself again and again.

Why Is This Important?

adrienne marie brown believes that pleasure activism helps us feel psychologically whole. It enables us to rebuild trust in ourselves and each other, fostering collaboration for broader social change. Dismantling shame and embracing pleasure is powerful for your sense of self.

Some of my clients have reflected these benefits:

"I feel like an entirely new person who is on an amazing journey."

"I feel like my work with Emerald has helped me become the person I was always meant to be."

"I feel like myself but more realized."

"I would describe my journey as a plant that is getting stronger roots and more flowering flowers that are opening up."

More specifically, they share:

"I know what I want in sex, intimacy & relationships. I have the confidence to ask for what I want. I have less shame and self-judgment. I have increased self-awareness and self-compassion. I have a better relationship with my body. I have stronger boundaries (i.e., I now have boundaries!). I feel more sensation, more pleasure. I feel more trusting in my body and my partner. I feel more connected to my partner. I have more capacity to feel. I have a wetter pussy, a harder cock, and I don't need to watch porn anymore. I have stronger orgasms, and I am starting to have sex I actually enjoy (after 40 years!)."

When we embody and integrate our felt sense, we develop a feeling of wholeness. This capacity allows us to feel more—more pleasure, more rage, more joy, more everything. When we can feel and express our F*ck Yes and our sacred no (without apology), we begin to make decisions that are right for us and beneficial for our partners. Anything else just feels off. As we learn to sit in discomfort, we start to question: why would I choose to stay here?

When we have the confidence to speak our embodied truth in sex—at our most vulnerable and naked (physically, emotionally, and energetically)—we gain the confidence to express our truth in other areas of our lives. This includes challenging power structures.

Pleasure is healing.

Pleasure is wholing.

Pleasure is activism.

Pleasure is a practice.

Intersectionality in Somatic Intimacy Coaching

This work doesn’t happen in isolation. It is shaped by who we are, where we come from, and the systems we live within. My own lens includes being kinky, poly, queer, (recently diagnosed) ADHD, white, AFAB woman, and a young solo parent. These identities give me both privilege and challenge, reminding me to stay curious, humble, and accountable in my work. This work is political. In a world that tries to suppress our feelings and box us into what is deemed "acceptable," feeling pleasure can challenge these oppressive systems, especially for marginalized communities.

In practice, I’ve supported gender-expanding individuals, queer clients untangling religious shame, couples who’ve been together for decades and feel stuck in habitual sex, people with chronic illness finding their way back to intimacy, neurodiverse clients learning new communication tools, and those who’ve never spoken the words “cock” or “pussy” out loud before. Every body and every story arrives with its own history. I adapt language, pacing, and approach so the work meets each person where they are.

To me, intersectionality means recognizing how trauma, privilege, oppression, and resilience live in the body. It involves naming power dynamics, holding awareness of differences, and repairing when needed (drawing on Cedar Barstow’s Right Use of Power). It looks like choosing accessibility (yes, even down to a larger massage table), gathering historical context to better understand what shaped you, and weaving trauma-informed principles into every interaction.

And it’s never finished. Intersectionality is an ongoing practice of listening, unlearning, continuing my education, seeking supervision from diverse practitioners, and creating spaces where the fullness of each client is welcomed and honored. Pleasure and intimacy are deeply personal, yet they are also political. This work is about both: tending to the uniqueness of your body and story while remembering that liberation is always collective.

For me, stepping into the title of Somatic Intimacy Coach & Bodyworker is about alignment. It reflects my commitment to hold the complexity of our intersecting identities and to keep learning how to meet you in the fullness of your being. I encourage you to live in that fullness too.

What else do you want to know? Drop me an email at hello@rootedpleasure.com or comment below, and I'll do my best to answer your questions.