In This Body

What if pleasure is not about learning new techniques, but learning how to feel safe in your body?
In this episode, Ailey sits down with sex therapist and sexologist Aleksandra Trkulja to explore the connection between body image, nervous system regulation, and intimacy. Together, they unpack why shame, self criticism, and disconnection from the body can create real barriers to pleasure, arousal, and desire.
Aleks shares insights from her work in eating disorder recovery and explains how control can begin to feel like safety. The conversation also explores the fawn response in sex, the difference between compliance and consent, and why learning your body’s subtle signals can transform the way you relate to intimacy.
From there, Ailey and Aleks move into practical ways to reconnect with desire, beginning outside the bedroom through everyday experiences of pleasure, sensation, and preference. They also discuss co regulation, trauma informed pacing, and the role the nervous system plays in connection and sexuality.
If you have ever felt disconnected from your body or unsure how to access pleasure in an embodied way, this conversation offers a compassionate and grounded place to begin.
In this episode:
4:41 Why Body Hate Blocks Pleasure
11:01Eating Disorders And False Control
17:08 Body Image Patterns In Sex
20:53 Shame Based Messages About Sex
28:03 Desire As A Relearned Skill
34:15 Trauma Informed Safety And Pace
40:22 Co Regulation In Intimacy
45:19 Curiosity Over Shame
You can read the full transcript here
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What if your body is not betraying you, but asking for a different kind of relationship?
In this episode, Ailey sits down with Dr. Ann Saffi Biasetti, psychotherapist, yoga therapist, and mindfulness teacher, to explore what it means to stay connected to the body through chronic illness, pain, and uncertainty. Together, they unpack the grief of living in a culture that treats the body like a machine to fix rather than something to listen to.
Ann shares why the phrase “your body never meant you any harm” can become a doorway back to embodiment. The conversation explores body forgiveness, the power of language, and how certain narratives can either deepen connection or create more fear and distance from ourselves.
Ailey and Ann also discuss medical gaslighting, self advocacy, and the harm of reducing complex illness to trauma alone. Throughout the episode, Anne offers a gentler and more compassionate approach to healing rooted in consistency, relationship, and care.
If you are navigating illness, exhaustion, or a changing relationship with your body, this conversation offers a softer way back to yourself.
In this episode:
4:05 What Being In Your Body Means
9:29 The Phrase That Softened A Room 
15:28 What Body Forgiveness Really Is
20:52 Union With Body During Illness
38:39 Trauma Talk Without Self-Blame
53:27 Self-Compassion And The Trembling Heart
1:00:42 Language, Interoception And Closing
You can read the full transcript here
Learn more about Ailey Jolie:
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What if somatic work is not failing you, but simply not the right approach for your body?
In this solo episode, Ailey explores how somatics has become a catch all term for healing, and why that can lead to harm when practices are used without context. As a somatic psychologist, Ailey has seen how well meaning embodiment work can overwhelm the nervous system instead of supporting it.
Ailey offers a clear map of different somatic therapy approaches so you can better understand what you have tried and why it may or may not have worked. We look at expression based methods, as well as slower, more regulated approaches that prioritize safety, awareness, and integration.
The takeaway is simple and relieving. If somatic work has not helped, you are not broken. You may have been given the wrong tool for your history.
If you are navigating healing or trying to understand your nervous system, this conversation offers a more informed and compassionate path forward.
In this episode:
0:00 Welcome And Why A Somatics Map
3:48 When Somatic Work Makes You Worse
8:38 Lineage: The Missing Context
13:28 Soma Definition And Western Scope
19:38 Catharsis Lineage And Its Risks
32:03 Feldenkrais And Hakomi Slower Work
40:38 Woodman And The Body’s Story
46:38 Levine And Somatic Experiencing
51:38 Choosing Tools

Learn more about Ailey Jolie:
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What if psychedelic healing is not just about the experience, but about what your body can actually integrate?
In this episode, Ailey sits down with Valeria, a counselling psychologist and depth practitioner, to explore the realities of psychedelic assisted therapy beyond the hype. We name the parts often left out of the conversation, including harm, power, and the complexity of what comes after.
We talk about harm reduction in a practical way, from dose and physiology to the importance of the guide’s worldview in shaping the experience. We also explore the gaps in training that continue to surface, especially around consent, somatics, and relational dynamics.
Ailey shares her own experience with MDMA assisted therapy, including the question of whether we can fully consent to something that may fundamentally change us.
We also look at integration as the real work, and why the period after a journey can be one of deep vulnerability without the right support.
If you are curious about psychedelic work, or navigating a meaningful experience, this conversation offers a more grounded and honest perspective.
In this episode:
0:00 Safety Notice And Show Premise
7:58 Psychedelics Can Heal And Harm
16:08 Sexuality Consent And Guide Vetting
20:53 Why Ritual Changes The Journey
29:32 The Consent Paradox In Practice
40:15 Power Individualism And The Guru Trap
52:57 Integration Takeaways Book And Closing
You can read the full transcript here.
A note: Ailey shares this conversation not as a recommendation but as information. Psychedelics carry real risks, psychological, physical, legal, and aren’t appropriate for everyone. If this is a path you’re interested in, please approach it with care, do your research, and seek appropriate support. This isn’t medical advice or advocating for psychedelic usage. These substances remain illegal in most countries; this is just one perspective in a much larger conversation.
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What if understanding your patterns is not the same as changing them?
In this episode, I’m joined by Rebekah Ballagh, a counsellor, somatic and nervous system coach, and author, to explore the gap between insight and real change. The place where the mind understands, but the body does not yet feel safe enough to follow.
Rebekah shares her experience with panic and illness, and how it revealed the limits of purely cognitive tools. We talk about intellectualising as a form of protection, and explore parts work through the lens of Internal Family Systems, especially the tension between the part that wants to heal and the part that resists.
We also look at the swing between anxiety and freeze, and how patterns that look like avoidance or laziness are often rooted in survival. From there, we unpack somatic practices, what actually works, and why regulation is not about being calm, but about building capacity to stay with what is real.
If you have ever felt stuck despite doing all the work, this conversation offers a more compassionate and embodied way forward.
In this episode:
3:53 What Being In Your Body Means 
9:45 When Therapy Training Helps And Hurts
16:17 Working With The Intellectualiser
21:00 Parts Work And IFS Made Simple
29:50 Somatics Online And Lost Nuance
39:41 Pendulation Titration And Minimum Dose 
47:23 Nothing Is Broken In You
49:16 Closing Reflections And Inbody Invitation
You can read the full transcript here.
Learn more about Ailey Jolie:
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Experience: Insight Timer
Sign up: InBodyMethod
Email: [email protected]
To follow along with the In This Body podcast:
Follow: Instagram
Find: Website
Email: [email protected]