A podcast to educate and equip women with the information and confidence they need to express, experience and enjoy their sexuality. Cindy Scharkey RN, BSN, brings her 35+ years of experience as a healthcare professional to open the doors to healthy conversations about sex. This is a community where you can listen and learn to give yourself permission for pleasure. Visit www.cindyscharkey.com for educational blogs and newsletter.
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This season we are going to lean into deeper curiosity about our bodies, sex and pleasure. Through education and conversations with experts, we’ll increase our knowledge, and challenge ourselves to ask the burning questions. Let’s cultivate curiosity, give ourselves permission, and embrace more pleasure in and out of the bedroom. Welcome to Season Six!
ORDER my Book: Permission for Pleasure: Tending Your Sexual Garden JOIN my Newsletter: Good Education for Good Sex FOLLOW on Instagram @cindyscharkey VISIT my website and blog
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Hello everyone and welcome to Permission for Pleasure. I'm Cindy Sharkey, your host. A new year is here, and that means a new season of the podcast. We are starting our sixth year, friends. Sometimes I just shake my head. I cannot believe I've been in your ears for five whole seasons already and going on six. This community is growing like crazy, and it just delights me to see how much you are sharing the podcast. I don't always pay attention to stats, but this year Spotify wrapped, they do it for podcasts, like you do for music. And it came through, and I was overwhelmed with the listeners on Spotify. And according to them, Permission for Pleasure received more shares than 97% of other shows. I have the chills right now because we are one of the most shared shows on Spotify for 2025. And that thrills me. And it's the biggest high five you can give to the show because it brings so many new listeners to the education, to the conversations that we're having here together. So thank you for those of you who listen and share. And if you're not following the show on your listening platform, as we start this new season, please do that. And if you've never shared an episode, now is the time to share your favorite one with friend, or two, or three. As we start a new year and a new season, my energy is moving towards curiosity. And I want to bring that to the podcast as well. I've just finished Brene Brown's newest book, Strong Ground, and I want to share two quotes that I've been pondering and how it relates to this new season together on the podcast. Here's the first one. She says, Curiosity is recognizing a gap in our knowledge about something that interests us, and becoming emotionally and cognitively invested in closing that gap through exploration and learning. Let me read that again. Curiosity is recognizing a gap in our knowledge about something that interests us and becoming emotionally and cognitively invested in closing that gap through exploration and learning. I mean, friends, this is what the podcast is all about education and conversations to increase our knowledge through exploration and learning. I just love it. I want you to know that is where my heart is as we move forward into a new season. But here's the thing about curiosity, and the second quote from Brene Brown. She goes on to say about curiosity, deep curiosity requires courage and humility for the simple reason that choosing to be curious is choosing to be vulnerable. It's a surrender to uncertainty. We have to ask questions, admit to not knowing, risk being told that we shouldn't be asking, and sometimes make discoveries that lead to discomfort. Let me read that one more time. Deep curiosity requires courage and humility for the simple reason that choosing to be curious is choosing to be vulnerable. It's a surrender to uncertainty. We have to ask questions, admit to not knowing, risk being told that we shouldn't be asking, and sometimes make discoveries that lead to discomfort. So what I want to say, friends, and what I want to do, and what I hope you'll do alongside me here on the show in this season is lean into curiosity about our bodies, about sex and pleasure. Risk asking the questions about our bodies, about sex, about pleasure. Admit what we don't know about these topics, and certainly learn to accept some discomfort as we explore these topics. In light of that, coming up in this season are all kinds of expert guests talking about things like erotic resets for long-term couples, curiosity and exploration of kink, awakening your sexuality after addiction and trauma, and the highly requested oral sex for him education. Of course, there's much, much more, but we're gonna lean into being curious. We're gonna lean into the discomfort, and we're gonna lean into learning more about our bodies, sex, and pleasure. I'm delighted you're in community here with me on the podcast. And if you're looking for more, please join me over on my newsletter. Good education for good sex. The link to sign up is in the show notes. And when you do that, you'll also get a free download of me reading the first chapter of my book to you. And if you're new to me in this platform, yes, I wrote a book, a whole book. It has the education I think every woman needs about her body, sex, and pleasure. It's called Permission for Pleasure, Tending Your Sexual Garden, and you can find the link to get your hardcover or ebook copy in the show notes. If you're curious about it, again sign up for my newsletter and you can download the first chapter. I'll even read it to you. Here we are, listeners, on the cusp of a new season, leaning into curiosity. Cheers to giving yourself permission. Permission for pleasure.
