Intimacy in Relationships

Hello, and welcome to this five session mindfulness course on intimacy in relationships. My name is Eve, and I am a meditation and mindfulness teacher here at Headspace. And it is my great pleasure to guide you on this journey. So I've designed this course to look specifically at how mindfulness can support communication and intimacy when it comes to sex and relationships. Whether you've just met someone or you have been in a long term relationship for years, talking about sex and intimacy can feel pretty difficult at times. And there can be a lot of shame and embarrassment around it, but there is nothing to be ashamed about. Having sex and being intimate is a normal part of being human. However, everyone's ability to talk about sex and to be intimate will vary greatly; culture, upbringing and past experiences will all play a role. So please don't give yourself a hard time if you find it difficult or it doesn't come naturally to you. Mindfulness is a skill that helps us to be more present, open-minded and to listen deeply. One of the biggest hurdles when it comes to sex and intimacy is not feeling heard. And as a result, barriers to intimacy can build. Research supports that folks who communicate about sex are genuinely more sexually satisfied. And when you think about it, that makes a lot of sense. When you communicate your needs clearly, calmly, and with kind attention, you tend to get better results in a relationship or otherwise. And a major theme of this course will also be looking at the mind-body connection. When it comes to sex and intimacy, being in tune with your body is really important; Getting to know it, accepting it and befriending it are key factors for a healthy sexual relationship, both with yourself and others. So we're going to practice a body scan technique. And this technique is designed to help you become intimately familiar with your body. And throughout this course, you get to set the pace. We all have different lived experiences and stress is something that we can hold in the body. So, as much as possible, be gentle and kind with yourself, as this is a journey. Let's put this into practice and try the body scan together. And don't worry if you've never done this technique before, I will guide you through each step. And with this technique, we're going to check in and feel into each part of the body by inviting a gentle curiosity for what sensations are present throughout the body. Now you may notice some that feel very pleasant, and others that are perhaps unpleasant and that is completely okay. We're not trying to achieve a certain state or a feeling, instead we're inviting a gentle and kind curiosity to what is happening in the body. And it's really important to go at your own pace. If you need to move past an area, that is completely okay. So...