Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About Menopause, Sex & Pleasure
What does it mean to age with pleasure?
Pleasure in the Pause is a podcast for women navigating midlife, menopause and beyond who want to feel more connected to their bodies, their relationships and themselves.
Hosted by women’s health and sexual wellness educator Gabriella Espinosa, the show brings together candid conversations with doctors, researchers, thought leaders and wellness experts exploring what shapes our capacity for pleasure as we age — from hormones and sexual health to body image, nervous system regulation, intimacy, relationships, friendship and community.
Because healthy aging isn’t just about living longer — it’s about feeling alive, connected and at home in our bodies throughout the years ahead.
Pleasure has no age limit or expiration date!
Say YES! to Pleasure at www.pleasureinthepause.com
Episodes
123 episodes
How to Expand Your Orgasmic Potential in Midlife with Mangala Holland
Have you ever wondered if there is more to orgasm than what you have experienced so far?Maybe yours feel muted, harder to reach, or further away than they used to. Maybe you have never been quite sure if what you experience counts. Maybe...
121 | Menopause and Vaginal Health: Your Vagina Isn't Retiring
Feel like your vagina has betrayed you? Dryness, leaking, painful sex, and orgasms that feel far away. Here's what's really happening to your vagina in menopause, and my six pillars of vulva vitality to help you feel comfortable, confident, and...
120 | Friendship in Midlife: Hormones, Connection & Building Community with Nandita Mahadevan
Why can friendship feel so different in midlife?As we change, our friendships change too. Some deepen, some drift, and we may find ourselves craving more meaningful connection with women who understand the season of life we’re in....
119 | Duty Sex: Saying Yes When Part of You Means No with Dr. Holly Richmond
Most women know the feeling. You say yes. Your body shows up. But some part of you is somewhere else entirely — running through tomorrow's to-do list, waiting for it to be over, checking a box so you will not be expected to again for a week.
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118 | Unlocking Sexual Longevity: A Midlife Guide with Dr. Peter Castillo
September is Sexual Health Awareness Month, and this year's World Sexual Health Day theme is Every Body — a reminder that sexual health, pleasure, and intimacy matter at every age and in every body, including our changing midlife bodies....
117 | The September Shift: How to Get Back Into Go Mode With More Ease
Gabriella is back from two weeks in Portugal and sitting at her desk, shoulders already creeping up toward her ears, pelvic floor clenching, inbox blinking. September is here. The calendar is filling. And the vacation version of herself is bein...
116 | How To Take The Vacation Version Of You Home: More Pleasure, Presence & Connection
You know her. She shows up every time you go away.More relaxed. More present. More alive. Laughing more easily, sleeping more deeply, feeling more connected to yourself and to the people you love. And yes, often more open to intimacy too...
115 | Love in Midlife: Navigating Intimacy and Change with Dr. Tina Sogocio
Two women. Both champions in the midlife women's health space. Both celebrating their 25th wedding anniversaries in the same summer. And both deeply committed to changing the conversation around intimacy, pleasure, and connection in midlife.
114 | The Power of Comfort: Rethinking Sexual Wellness in Menopause with Sally Mueller
This one is a little different. For over 100 episodes Gabriella has been the one asking the questions. This time, Sally Mueller, co-founder and CEO of Womaness, turns the tables. And what comes out of that conversation is one of the most practi...
113 | Finding Safety in Your Body: Robyn Parets on Healing through Nervous System Regulation
For more than 20 years, Robyn Parets lived with chronic illness, anxiety, and a body that always seemed to be fighting something. She saw countless practitioners, tried everything she could find, and kept pushing through — the way high-achievin...
112 | Menopause, Work & Your Next Chapter with Dr. Arianna Sholes-Douglas
Have you ever found yourself in a meeting, searching for a word that used to come effortlessly, or suddenly losing your train of thought in front of a room full of people? Have you quietly wondered whether you are losing your edge, your confide...
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111 | The Menopause Conversation Every Couple Needs to Have with Sari Cooper
When was the last time you asked yourself what you actually want?For many women, menopause is the first time that question becomes impossible to ignore. The body is changing. Desire is shifting. And relationships that have been running o...
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110 | How Co-Regulation Deepens Intimacy (No Sex Required)
You know the feeling. You have been going since morning — emails, deadlines, the relentless doing. Your nervous system has been in full output mode for hours. And then evening comes, your partner moves in close wanting to connect, and your body...
109 | The Perimenopause Revolution: What Your Body Is Actually Telling You with Dr. Mariza Snyder
Most women step into perimenopause the same way Gabriela did — in the dark, without language, without a roadmap, and without anyone telling them what was actually happening in their bodies. The anxiety, the brain fog, the rage, the fatigue, the...
108 | Midlife, Sobriety, And Returning To Yourself With Ashley Kelsch
What if the question is not why can't I quit, but what is this doing for me?In this installment of the Return to Her series, Gabriela sits down with Ashley Kelsch, writer, coach, and somatic practitioner who helps midlife women change th...
107 | From Survival Mode To Self-Connection: A Nervous System Reset For Midlife Women
Have you ever lain awake at 3am, heart racing, mind running through a list of worries you cannot seem to turn off? Or maybe it is the opposite — you move through your days flat, numb, going through the motions of a life that looks perfectly fin...
106 | The Menopause Gut: The Missing Link Between Hormones, Mood, Sleep & Energy with Cynthia Thurlow
What if the brain fog, the broken sleep, the mood swings, the weight that won't budge, and the libido that has gone missing are not a collection of separate problems? What if they are one connected story and the missing piece of that story is y...
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105 | Hormone Therapy After Breast Cancer: Breaking Down The Fear, Myths & Research With Dr. Susan Hardwick Smith
Hormone therapy after breast cancer is one of the most nuanced and emotionally charged conversations in women’s health.For decades, many women have been told the answer is simply: no.No discussion.No nuance.No consideratio...
104 | Untamed Pleasure: The Keys To Unlocking Desire In Midlife With Carly Mountain
When you hear the word erotic, what comes up for you?For most of us it immediately conjures images of sex, the taboo, or something forbidden. But eroticism is so much bigger than that. At its core, the erotic is about aliveness. It is ou...
103 | Learning To Trust Your Body Again After Surgical Menopause With Julie Parana
What happens when a healthcare professional goes through surgical menopause at 42 and is handed nothing but a message in her patient portal that says "you are post-menopausal"? No education. No discussion. No next steps. Just a diagnosis and si...
102 | When Mother's Day Hurts, Modern Loss, Grief, and Finding Meaning with Rebecca Soffer
There is a version of Mother's Day we all know. The brunches, the bouquets, the Hallmark cards. And then there is the version so many women carry quietly underneath — the grief of a mother who is gone, of never becoming one, of a child lost, of...
101 | How To Find Your Way Back To Pleasure: Healing Trauma With Brooke Bralove
Have you ever wondered why intimacy feels harder than it should? Why desire feels distant, or why being fully present in your body during sex feels just out of reach — even when everything else in your life seems fine? Most women in midlife ass...
100 | Celebrating 100 Episodes Of Pleasure In The Pause: What These Conversations Have Revealed
This is a milestone episode. Episode 100 of Pleasure in the Pause marks two years of bold, honest conversations about women's bodies, pleasure, and sexual health in midlife — and this one is personal. For the first time, host Gabriela Espinosa ...
99 | Your Body Is Speaking— Here’s How To Listen (A Simple Practice For Midlife Women)
Have you ever struggled to put words to what you're feeling — in your body, in the bedroom, or even in your doctor's office? You're not alone, and it's not your fault. Most of us were never taught the language of our own bodies, and that silenc...
98 | When Longing Becomes Your Lover: Understanding Romantic Obsession And Finding Your Way Back To Authentic Love With Amanda McCracken
Have you ever been so consumed by someone just out of reach that you checked your phone obsessively, fantasized endlessly, and somehow wanted them even more because they weren't fully available? There's actually a name for it — and in this epis...
