Pleasurable Birth Begins Within: How Embodiment, Rest, and Self-Pleasure Transform Birth and Life with Lisa Strohdach
Release Date: 12/17/2025
Deepening Intimacy, Partner Support, and Everyday Pleasure with Tarah Alexis
Orgasmic Birth
In this heartfelt episode, Debra Pascali‑Bonaro sits down with birth doula and retired professional women’s football champion, Girl Scout, and chef, Tarah Alexis of Nurturing Embrace Doula Services. Tarah shares how a surprising C‑section birth, witnessing her niece and nephew arrive earthside, and a “divine appointment” with a pregnant stranger on a plane all led her to answer her calling as a doula. Together, Debra and Tarah explore how partners can move far beyond “just rubbing a back” to become active, loving participants in the birth journey. Tarah offers simple, powerful...
info_outline
Raising Shame‑Free, Pleasure‑Positive Children Begins at Birth with Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers
Orgasmic Birth
What if preparing for birth could also prepare you for a lifetime of deeper intimacy, healing, and connection—for you and for your children? In this powerful conversation, Debra talks with Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers, internationally recognized sex and gender feminist psychotherapist, bestselling author of Sex, God, and the Conservative Church and Shameless Parenting, and founder of Inanna Rising. Together, they explore how sexual shame shows up in pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, and how embracing pleasure can transform not just your birth, but your whole family’s story. Dr. Tina shares...
info_outline
Spicing Up Postpartum with Maranda Bower - Episode 177
Orgasmic Birth
In this episode of Orgasmic Birth: The Podcast, Debra welcomes Maranda Bower, who shares her raw journey through postpartum depression, anxiety, autoimmune challenges, and triumph after four births. Maranda reveals how functional nutrition revolutionized her healing, turning depletion into energy, desire, and joy via her Postpartum Restoration Method—now training providers worldwide. Together, they unpack hormone-balancing foods, self-care rituals, and why postpartum meals foster community, pleasure, and deep emotional release. Key Takeaways: Postpartum depletion is normal—like pinkless...
info_outline
A Vibrator as a “Natural Epidural”? Thabata Devecchi on Pleasure, Intuition, and Birth Connection - Ep 176
Orgasmic Birth
In this enlightening episode of Orgasmic Birth: The Podcast, Debra meets Thabata Devecchi, a prenatal educator and founder of Feeling Moms, who shares her powerful home birth story and how pleasure practices helped her turn pain into power. Thabata reveals how self-pleasure, embodied movement, sound, and safety transformed her birth experience. She describes using a vibrator during labor to soften the peak of contractions — calling it her “natural epidural” — and shares how deep preparation, somatic awareness, and tantra shaped her pregnancy, birth, and sense of empowerment. Together,...
info_outline
Pain to Bliss: Liya’s Orgasmic Birth and Radical Reproductive Health - Episode 175
Orgasmic Birth
In this powerful episode, Debra Pascali-Bonaro sits down with reproductive health coach and mom of three, Liya Teplitsky, to explore how mindset, nutrition, and intentional pleasure turned birth from excruciating pain into ecstatic orgasmic bliss. Liya shares her three home birth stories—from a long, painful first labor on a yoga mat to a painless second birth and finally an intentional orgasmic birth supported by a vibrator, midwife, and an unshakable belief that birth can be pleasurable. You’ll hear how Liya: -Discovered the concept of home and orgasmic birth from a chance...
info_outline
Maternal Health Awareness Day - Holding Ground on Maternal Health: From Survival to Thrival
Orgasmic Birth
What if maternal health goals expanded beyond “alive and healthy”? In honor of Maternal Health Awareness Day, Debra Pascali-Bonaro invites us to imagine a world where pregnancy, birth, and postpartum care are not only safe but also deeply respectful, emotionally whole, and infused with comfort and pleasure. In this moving solo episode, Debra shares her personal connection to the origins of Maternal Health Awareness Day—beginning in her home state of New Jersey—and explores how far the movement has come, and how far we still must go. With maternal mortality rates rising across the U.S....
info_outline
The Pleasure Practice: Rekindling Desire After Baby with Dr. Diane Mueller - Ep. 173
Orgasmic Birth
In this episode of the Orgasmic Birth Podcast, Debra Pascali-Bonaro sits down with Dr. Diane Mueller—board-certified sexologist, naturopathic doctor, acupuncturist, and host of The Libido Lounge—to explore how pleasure can become your most powerful mindfulness practice and a lifeline for intimacy after baby. Dr. Diane shares how slowing down, savoring sensation, and weaving pleasure into everyday moments can reset stress hormones, support mental health, and rebuild connection in long-term relationships. Together, Debra and Dr. Diane unpack why passion often fades over time (and especially...
info_outline
Kali Rising: Pleasure, Power & Birth in NYC with Genevieve - Ep. 172
Orgasmic Birth
In this transformative episode of Orgasmic Birth: The Podcast, Debra Pascali‑Bonaro is joined by bestselling author and pleasure mentor Genevieve for a fierce, tender, and wildly honest story of birthing a 10‑pound baby at home in New York City. Genevieve entered pregnancy expecting soft, sensual, “bliss‑in‑the‑birth‑pool” vibes—only to meet a very different expression of pleasure: the raw, fiery power of Kali. She shares how her labor moved from serenity and sensual touch into full‑bodied rage, speaking in tongues, drumming, dancing, and primal vocalization, and how...
info_outline
The Great Birth Rebellion: Reclaiming Joy, Courage, and Choice in Birth with Midwife Melanie Jackson
Orgasmic Birth
Get ready to challenge the dominant narrative around birth in this deeply inspiring conversation with Australian midwife, researcher, and rebel, Dr. Melanie Jackson — host of The Great Birth Rebellion podcast. Melanie joins Debra Pascali‑Bonaro for a heartfelt and provocative exploration of what happens when we choose to birth outside the system — and within our power. Together, they unpack why more families are stepping away from institutional birth, how true midwifery care transforms outcomes, and how bliss, laughter, and joy can ripple through even the most intense moments of labor....
info_outline
Pleasurable Birth Begins Within: How Embodiment, Rest, and Self-Pleasure Transform Birth and Life with Lisa Strohdach
Orgasmic Birth
Orgasmic Birth Story Ep 170 Description: "Embodiment only happens if you have a body, so if you have a physical shell, and that physical shell is showing you signs. That physical shell can be sore, it can be tender, it can ache, it can also feel good and nurtured and soft and warm." —Lisa Strohdach What if the secret to a more joyful birth and life isn’t about pushing harder, but about tuning in, letting go, and giving yourself permission to feel good? If you’ve ever felt disconnected from your body or doubted that pleasure belongs in pregnancy and parenting, you’re not...
info_outlineOrgasmic Birth Story
Ep 170 Description:
"Embodiment only happens if you have a body, so if you have a physical shell, and that physical shell is showing you signs. That physical shell can be sore, it can be tender, it can ache, it can also feel good and nurtured and soft and warm." —Lisa Strohdach
What if the secret to a more joyful birth and life isn’t about pushing harder, but about tuning in, letting go, and giving yourself permission to feel good? If you’ve ever felt disconnected from your body or doubted that pleasure belongs in pregnancy and parenting, you’re not alone—there’s a gentler, more powerful way forward. Consider this: your body already knows how to connect pleasure, rest, and birth, and it’s time to trust that wisdom.
This week, Debra sits with Lisa Strohdach, whose journey began with her own craving for self-pleasure and embodiment during pregnancy, which she later realized was key to her smooth breech home birth. This personal awakening inspired her to become a doula, yoga teacher, and retreat leader, now guiding others to cut through shame and confusion so that they can reconnect with their body and mind.
Hear real talk on embodiment, oxytocin, masturbation, radical rest, simple breathwork, and how to create a supportive community—plus, get tips you can use right now to make pleasure and rest part of your everyday routine in this episode. Tune in!
**
Connect with Debra!
Website: https://www.orgasmicbirth.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orgasmicbirth
X: https://twitter.com/OrgasmicBirth
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/OrgasmicBirth1
Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@orgasmicbirth
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debra-pascali-bonaro-1093471
Episode Highlights:
00:50 Meet Lisa: From Breech Birth to Doula and Retreat Host
03:18 How Pleasure and Birth Physically, Hormonally, and Mentally Linked
10:02 Tools for Pleasure: Vibrator, Oxytocin, and Real Talk
16:13 What is Embodiment?
21:46 Easy Embodiment Practices for Pregnancy and Life
25:26 Radical Rest: Why It’s Revolutionary, Not Lazy
31:18 Wild Bloom Retreats
35:13 Reclaiming Pleasure and Power
Resources:
💗We have some special gifts for you, visit: https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/more/
💗If you are already a doula, nurse, midwife, or birth worker and in need of continuing education units, join Debra’s Orgasmic Birth Practitioner Training. Birthworkers gather from around the world to learn together and create an Orgasmic Community. Learn more at https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/orgasmic-birth-practitioner-training
💗 Fin Pleasure VIBE, a wearable finger vibrator that can be used in pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum for pleasure, oxytocin enhancement, pain reduction, and healing: https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/fin-pleasurevibe/
Listen to Lisa’s Breech Birth Story: https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/ep-85-journey-to-a-harmonious-breech-homebirth/
Connect with Lisa:
Lisa Strohdach is a dedicated doula, prenatal and postnatal yoga instructor, and embodiment coach passionate about supporting women and families through pregnancy, birth, and beyond. As an orgasmic birth practitioner, Lisa integrates pleasure, radical rest, and holistic self-care into her work, empowering clients to reclaim intimacy and connection during the transformative journey of birth. She is the founder of “wild&bloom” retreats, offering restorative experiences focused on movement, rest, and community. Lisa provides both in-person and online sessions from her Aroha Studio, and is committed to creating safe, open spaces for conversations about sexuality, self-care, and personal growth.