My Delight with Sarah Bartel

"It's a marvel how resilient we are." This episode cannot take the place of individual therapy, but it CAN educate and encourage you about the possibilities for healing from past sexual trauma in order to enjoy lovemaking in marriage in this conversation rooted in hope and resilience. 

Suppose a wife cringes when her husband touches her shoulder in a certain way and suggests they go to bed early that night. She wants to run away. She definitely does NOT want to head upstairs and engage in intimacy, even though she loves her husband. When she was younger, s...

As we mourn the death of Pope Francis and reflect on his gifts to the church during his papacy, this is a great moment to recall his (surprisingly traditional!) teachings on sex in marriage from Amoris Laetitia, The Joy of Love. 

In this post-synodol apostolic exhortation from 2015 that capped the Synod on the Family, Pope Francis makes four main points about married sex:

1. The church teaches that sex is meant to be a good! It is a gift from God enriching joy in marriage, not just a "necessary evil" to be tolerated because it is t...

Opening with "birthday cake" analogy, this episode focuses on different ways to heal from sexual wounds, abuse, regrets, and harmful messages that a woman may have suffered. These harms can bind her up and keep her from experiencing the fullness of freedom, connection, joy, and delight the the Lord intends for her in marital intimacy. During Holy Week is the perfect time to bring all these wounds to Jesus, to lay at the foot of his Cross. 

Therapies that can help heal emotional wounds from past sexual abuse:

Catholic pelvic floor specialist Veronica Stephens returns to discuss how pelvic floor issues can show up in married life. So many challenges can be addressed through pelvic floor work, including painful intercourse, incontinence, constipation, and possibly even erectile dysfunction (ED). (Yes, men can get pelvic floor help as well!) A healthy functioning pelvic floor also prepares a mother for better birth, and postpartum recovery for issues like diastasis rectii can be helped with pelvic floor work. 

Sarah and Veronica discuss how tension throughout the whole body can affect the pelvic floor, as well as how our breathing i...

Before you can effectively to anything else to improve your love life in marriage, you have to get the porn out. 

Sarah shares 10 resources, programs, and tips to help husbands get free, to help wives heal from betrayal trauma, and to help married couples rebuild their intimate life.

If you wanted to redecorate your living room, but there was a fire in it, you'd have to put out the fire before you start thinking about paint colors and rearranging the furniture. Afterwards, you'd also have to clean up the scorch marks and care for burns. I...

What do newlywed and engaged women need to know about their pelvic floor as they enter into marital intimacy? Sarah is joined by Catholic pelvic floor specialist Veronica Stephens of RenewedResilience.net. They cover the basics of what a healthy, functioning pelvic floor should be able to do, as well as a few of the problems that can arise when the pelvic floor doesn't function properly--problems such as incontinence, pain during intercourse, and constipation. Veronica shares her unique path to her profession, from her beginnings as a theology major at Christendom College to finding her way to physical training...

Sarah and her amazing friend Ellen Holloway of the Charting Towards Intimacy podcast share 7 tips for engaged women preparing for their first time after the wedding. They chat about setting expectations for yourself and with your husband-to-be, what essential items you are going to want to have on hand, butterflies in the stomach, the supreme importance of FOREPLAY, being like a flower, lingerie, and having fun. 

Ellen Holloway's Free Foreplay Guide for Catholic Women

Ellen Holloway's Charting Towards Intimacy podcast

Ginger and Peach Catholic-owned model-free lingerie boutique

Mentionables M...

Sarah speaks with My Delight alum Kristen, mother of eight, who shares her story of her and her husband's conversion, as well as how she grew through the My Delight course. Kristen felt pretty good about their love life before, but experienced insights, growth, learning, and increased connection with her husband. She shares what new evening routine they've developed that's been a game-changer and why there's a bottle of whipped cream in the fridge that she and her husband won't let the kids have. She also shares what some of the highlights were for her among the guest experts...

Sarah and Denise talk about self-care and body image. Denise a Catholic weight loss coach who helps women turn to God instead of food through her Weight Loss with the Holy Spirit program, 63 Surrendered program, and Restored Lent Challenge.  Restored helps women surrender to God, not the scale.

Denise shares about how authentic self-care is not about expense and luxury--it's a sacred activity given to us by the Lord. She also shares about how we can change our negative thoughts about our body.

Fast from the scale and experience the freedom and p...

What is it like to go through My Delight as a happily married newlywed with a good love life? Is there still more to learn? Sarah chats with Dr. Jessica Whelan, a naturopath specializing in hormone health who is also a certified Creighton model FertiliCare NFP instructor and NaPro providor. They discuss being the higher-desire spouse, enjoying lovemaking while struggling with infertility and trying to conceive, and communicating about intimacy with your husband. Dr. Jessica shares what it is like to be in the sisterhood of Catholic women who go through My Delight together. 

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