Intelligence: the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.
TLD Intel: a monthly roundup of events, articles, books, videos and podcasts to help you live The Life Delicious!
Hello! If you've been a subscriber for a while, you know that I've only sent a handful of these TLD Intel newsletters since my daughter Bronwyn was born a few years ago.
Last March, after nearly 3 years of mat leave, I resumed work part-time – coaching, speaking and writing – and she started daycare part-time.
10 days into this happy arrangement, WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, we were all back at home, and I spent the next 10 months just focused on our little family (and incredibly grateful that my husband was able to work from home to support us).
Holding onto our current situation lightly – as I know things are always changing – I've found a beautiful balance of being Coach-Catherine a few days a week (while Bronwyn is at her amazing preschool), and Mom-Catherine the rest of the week.
I can't even tell you how much I've enjoyed having time for research and writing again!
I love feeling inspired and am really excited to share what I've been thinking about lately.
Happy reading/listening/watching!
3 Fantastic Books:
1. Good Chemistry by Julie Holland
“Orgasms reduce mortality,” says Holland in her fantastic new book Good Chemistry, in which she covers the science of connection to ourselves, our partner, our family, our community, the earth and the cosmos.
“Pleasurable states of prosocial behaviour reflect positive changes in neurochemistry,” she says, “with spikes in oxytocin, dopamine, endorphins, and endocannabinoids."
”One surefire way to access this checklist of rewarding chemicals is through orgasm, which can catapult us into an altered state in the short term and, with practice, can strengthen and reaffirm deeper social attachments.
“Some orgasms can lead to brief out-of-body experiences (thanks to the intense but short-lived naturally occurring psychedelic compound phenylethylamine). This is a happy occurrence, and of course it feels good, but it’s also good for you, your partner, and even your whole family.
"Orgasms reduce mortality, and they are good for your heart and the rest of your cardiovascular system. I don’t want to reduce the science of connection to sex alone.
“But we also shouldn’t overcomplicate things. It turns out that your own body has all the best drugs already; we just have to learn where they’re hidden: in plain sight, in the stash box of connection.”
2. Why Good Sex Matters by Nan Wise
I’ve been thinking about why good sex matters, especially during tough times – *especially* for parents!! – so this book was an awesome discovery!
Author, sex therapist and cognitive neuroscientist Nan Wise digs into the exciting neuroscience of pleasure – which is the foundation of my newly revamped wellness curriculum!!
💋 Pleasure helps convey safety to our nervous system, so we can rest, digest and connect.
💋 Pleasure is good for us – mind, body and spirit.
💋 Pleasure is vital relationship glue
In Why Good Sex Matters, says Wise, “By looking through the lens of how our brains are wired for pleasure, we will learn how to reclaim our innate, biologically wired capacity and need for joy, fun, exuberance, curiosity, and humour in all aspects of our lives.” #YesPlease!
Here are a few of my favourite takeaways from the book:
✨ Orgasm is “associated with increased blood flow – and therefore more oxygen – to more than 80 regions of the brain”, which improves cognitive function and floods your brain with feel-good chemicals, helping to reduce stress, boost mood, ease pain, and boost body positivity!
✨ “Pleasure is essential and critical to our emotional, physical, and mental well-being” but “the pace of modern life makes it harder to slow down long enough to cultivate pleasure and savour its satisfaction.” *i.e. slow down to heat things up!
✨ “Orgasm may serve as the best possible ‘exercise’ for the brain. It may be just as important to our overall health to work out our sexual brains as it is to work out our physical bodies. At the same time that orgasm is flooding your brain with oxygen –which is critical to healthy brain functioning –it is creating a cascade of nourishing neurotransmitters and neurohormones that bathe the nervous system with potently positive healing molecules.” *schedule accordingly WINK.
3. Skill In Action by Michelle C. Johnson
“None of this is easy and we have to do it anyway,” says Johnson in her new book Skill In Action: Radicalizing your yoga practice to create a just world.
Now more than ever, we have to do the work. It’s not easy and we have to do it anyway. Each and every one of us must work to operate from a place where our nervous system can remain open and curious, flexible and collaborative; where we’re connected to our humanity.
“This book explores liberation for ourselves and others," says Johnsons, "while asking us to engage in our own agency, whether that manifests as activism, volunteer work, or changing our relationship with others and ourselves.”
Through The Life Delicious I’ve always sought to provide liberation for others but realize now that I must do much more.
“Skill in Action asks [us] to take the benefits and lessons that come from a contemplative practice and to use [our] power to influence the world.”
This is what we must do. We must adopt a “fiery discipline” to deepen our own contemplative practices so that we can not only liberate ourselves but USE THAT POWER + PRIVILEGE to liberate others – especially our BIPOC friends – in our community, our country, our world.
Thoughts on wild messy nature, delicious juicy pleasure, and LIBERATION:
On December 31, 2020, Mr. Barr, Bronwyn, Charlie dog and I went for a dip to rinse off 2020. Nature is one of the threads that helped me (barely) keep it together in 2020.
When I felt overwhelmed or hysterical (which was a lot), an immediate antidote was connecting with earth, water, air, fire. I have been doing an icy cold blast at the end of every shower, but nothing beats the real deal – a naked dip in the ocean!!!
In 2021, I’m saying YES to being wild and messy; to more delicious juicy pleasure; and to the best lessons from the pandemic: slow down, simplify, connect and nurture what matters most. I wish wonderful things for you too.
Furthermore, 2021 is about liberation – my own and others.
As a personal trainer, fitness instructor and soon-to-be yoga teacher, I’ve always sought to liberate the physical body by developing and maintaining strength, range of motion, and endurance; and as a neuroscience-based wellness coach to liberate the mind by developing and maintaining constructive, curious, compassionate thinking.
Since becoming a mother 3 years ago, I’ve felt tremendous sensual liberation in not only my physical body (like throwing out all of my bras and running around naked whenever I can) but also my mind and spirit. I’ve created more space for pleasure, I accept more pleasure, I seek more pleasure.
The sensuality of motherhood and parenthood has overflowed into our partnership and I’m grateful for this journey with my husband even though the beginning was deeply challenging (sleep deprivation takes a real crap on the erotic, and life in general).
But I cannot think about all of this delicious juicy mind-body-spirit pleasure without addressing the very stark contrast between the privilege I have to explore this part of my life while so many of our BIPOC friends – mothers, fathers, daughters and sons – experience injustice beyond what I could ever imagine.
I deeply believe that the more whole and healthy we become, the more in touch we are with our humanity, which leads to different forms of activism – using our energy to actively bring about social change – in whatever way we’re presently capable of.
This is why I’m shifting my focus to work with galvanized women who are leaders, lovers and mothers.
The fierce, heart-driven work we’re capable of doing covers an enormous sphere of influence that I hope to radiate around the globe so we can join and continue the work of fixing all this senseless stupid shit that so many fearful disconnected assholes are perpetuating. If you’ve been following me for a while, you may notice a sassier, ragier tone to my voice. This part of me has always been there but liberation demands I turn up the volume.
Upcoming Events:
Registration is NOW OPEN for my next Oak Bay Beach Hotel Wellness Weekend, January 28-31, 2022!
Start 2022 by soaking in everything you need to know to live your best life. Revitalize your life, amidst the inspirational and sophisticated surroundings of Victoria, BC’s Oak Bay Beach Hotel – a luxury boutique resort and seaside spa located in the Pacific Northwest, named one of Canada's Top 10 Hotels.
Enjoy 3 nights’ accommodation, 6 nutritious meals, 4 guided movement sessions, unlimited access to 3 heated Seaside Mineral Pools, a 15% discount at the Boathouse Spa, 15 succinct modules featuring the latest, greatest science across multiple wellness disciplines, The Life Delicious WORKBOOK, and The Life Delicious’ proprietary strategic plan to help you INTEGRATE + ACTIVATE what you learn. Space is limited! Register now at www.thelifedelicious.ca/retreats for super early bird discount.
Registration opens May 18 for my Summer 2021 6-week online Women's Coaching Circle!
The summer program runs from June 22 to July 29 with 3 intimate cohorts of just 7 women. You can expect strong community spirit with 6 x 75-minute group sessions via Zoom; 15 succinct modules featuring the latest, greatest science across multiple wellness disciplines; and The Life Delicious’ proprietary strategic plan to help you INTEGRATE + ACTIVATE what you learn. While we will be meeting virtually, you'll receive the Pleasure Compass WORKBOOK and Goody Box to help you create a cozy, safe and quiet container to facilitate learning and discovery, vulnerability and honesty. PLUS you'll receive personalized support with 2 x 30-minute private one-on-one sessions. Visit www.thelifedelicious.ca/coaching for more information.
I wish you TONS of delicious juicy pleasure!
Best,
Catherine
P.S. Allow me to reintroduce myself! I'm Catherine, the OG wellness coach.
I started my fitness career when mindfulness was absent from the industry and the spotlight was on pain and deprivation – long grueling workouts, bland calorie-restrictive diets, and little attention to the power mindset and mental health play in habit formation and success.
After spending thousands of hours talking with clients about exercise and nutrition, and seeing not only them but myself fail to achieve the goals we aspired to, I became burnt out, frustrated and depleted. I left the fitness industry to become a solitary lifestyle writer, and to work on my own wellness.
Having received a neuroscience degree years prior, I was drawn to the emergent field of mindfulness. Research into contemplative neuroscience, neuroplasticity and stress management completely blew my mind – these were the missing pieces that together with exercise and nutrition were the secret sauce I’d long felt was missing.
Further research into goal setting, habit formation and time management solidified my belief that flexible, subtle shifts paired with strategic repetition were the fast and easy way to create lasting change – to hardwire pleasurable new habits, providing much more time and energy for impact and influence.
Suddenly, after struggling with depression for 15 years, I felt happy & healthy for the first time in forever. I reverse-engineered how I’d got there, and #TheLifeDelicious curriculum was born – ready to be shared!
But what was I? No one was teaching my unique mix of mindfulness, movement, nutrition, sleep and connection.
No available title described the totality of my curriculum, so I made one up: wellness coach.
For more than a decade now, I’ve shared this multifaceted approach with thousands of people through my coaching, writing, speaking, and wellness retreats.
I’m thrilled to present new online offerings in 2021 that expand my teachings on pleasure and connection – from parenthood, community-care and social justice to sensuality, sexuality and nature therapy.
We’re at a pivotal point in history.
The world needs us to rise up, come together and lead the way forward – with pleasure.