Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our full disclosure for more info. Evita is back after almost 100 episodes and we're so excited! She's been exploring non-monogamy for over a decade and brings so many different experiences and perspectives to this interview. Evita originally got into non-monogamy while swinging with her former husband. One of the main themes of this conversation is around how her approach to non-monogamy and relationships has shifted as a solo person without an anchor partner. She speaks vulnerably about the tenderness and care she needs to give herself on this journey to protect herself physically and emotionally. She also speaks to the power that comes from advocating for yourself and how hard it often is to do. Evita has also just released a new book! A Polyamory Devotional: 365 Daily Reflections for the Consensually Nonmonogamous is available now! Please grab yourself a copy and check out all of Evita's work and coaching on her LinkTree. A Polyamory Devotional: 365 Daily Reflections for the Consensually Nonmonogamous Evita's LinkTree Instagram | @lavitaloca34 Join our incredible community! and Get your very own Normalizing Non-Monogamy shirt here! Don't forget to... Ask Us Anything! Partners Online STI Testing | STD Check.com Resources Mentioned in this Episode Episode 229 - Evita Our Recommended Resources Music Attribution Monkeys Spinning Monkeys by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Attribution 3.0 International License.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our full disclosure for more info. Sarah and George are back after more than two years! The first time they came on was on episode 169 under the pseudonyms Alice and Sam. But, never fear... You don't HAVE to go listen to that episode in order to get a ton out of this powerful conversation. They've been living together for over seven years and their relationship was open from the beginning. Non-monogamy was new to George when Sarah introduced him to it on one of their first dates. Since then, the journey of non-monogamy has taken many forms over the years. Today, they've arrived in a place where they're both exploring polyamory in their own way. This conversation digs into the really powerful work they have done to deepen their connection, while at the same time, fostering and supporting autonomy for one another. We absolutely love this conversation and hope you do as well. Ep 169 - Sarah + George (Alice + Sam): Round 1 Instagram | @thebunsnextdoor Join our incredible community! and Get your very own Normalizing Non-Monogamy shirt here! Don't forget to... Ask Us Anything! Partners Online STI Testing | STD Check.com Resources Mentioned in this Episode Episode 39 - Fight Boring Marriages (Danielle + Clayton) Episode 229 - Evita Our Recommended Resources Music Attribution Monkeys Spinning Monkeys by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Attribution 3.0 International License.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our full disclosure for more info. Jo and her husband have been together for 18 years and have been exploring swinging for 17 of those years. They initially opened their relationship as a way for Jo to explore her bisexuality and things evolved from there. They're primarily exploring the swinging lifestyle and yet, swinging has always been about way more than just sex for them. We love this conversation for a few reasons... The first is that we get a really incredible look at the early days of what getting into swinging looked like for Jo and her husband. At the same time, we get to see what the evolution has looked like for them over nearly two decades. And, lucky us, we also get to have an incredible discussion about the shifts and growth they're both in the middle of right now. Jo is also the host of The Confident Swinger podcast and she's a confidence and lifestyle coach who loves helping people turn their dreams into a reality. Please check out her podcast and work over at www.theconfidentswinger.com. www.theconfidentswinger.com Join our incredible community! and Get your very own Normalizing Non-Monogamy shirt here! Don't forget to... Ask Us Anything! Partners Online STI Testing | STD Check.com Resources Mentioned in this Episode Club Fore Play Our Recommended Resources Music Attribution Monkeys Spinning Monkeys by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Attribution 3.0 International License.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our full disclosure for more info. This interview with Beth and Mark is such a delight! They met in college on a blind date and have now been married for over 30 years! They decided to open their marriage about five years ago, but it wasn't a fast or easy process. During our conversation they take us inside their process in a really vulnerable way. They share openly about what they wish they had done different and how they worked together to heal and repair their relationship, and themselves, along the way. Today, they primarily spend their time exploring the swinging lifestyle, but as you will hear, life is a journey of exploring growth edges for these two. What it looked like five years ago is much different than today, and tomorrow is a new day full of possibilities. Mark is also a relationship coach who works with couples and individuals to help them explore what they need in their partnerships and to find their own path to opening up, if that's the path they choose. You can learn more about Mark and his work at www.openingus.com. www.openingus.com Join our incredible community! and Get your very own Normalizing Non-Monogamy shirt here! Don't forget to... Ask Us Anything! Partners Online STI Testing | STD Check.com Resources Mentioned in this Episode Desire Resort Club Princeton Playboy Swing Secrets Hideaway Resort and Spa Multiamory - RADAR Our Recommended Resources Music Attribution Monkeys Spinning Monkeys by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Attribution 3.0 International License.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our full disclosure for more info. Meshai and Fin team up together to answer amazing listener questions every fourth Friday of each month! Today's questions are about advice for someone who's transitioning from only exploring non-monogamy within couple to exploring as a solo person after ending a partnership AND what do we do when our metamours aren't treating our partners the way we think they should be. If YOU have a question, we'd love to hear it! Please, ask us anything by clicking here! You likely know me (Fin) from over 300 episodes of Normalizing Non-Monogamy. Just in case you don't, I cohost the podcast with my partner Emma and we have been in an open relationship together for over 15 years. I am also working towards completing a sex and relationship coaching program through the Somatica Institute and will be finished in late spring 2024. We are super excited to be partnering with Meshai for the Ask Us Anything episodes! She first appeared on the podcast on Episode 233 and we're honored to have her back! Meshai is relationship coach with the team at Expansive Connection. She believes in the power of living as one’s authentic self, and the freedom that comes from changing perspectives. She loves putting the puzzle pieces of a couple's sexual energy together and aiding them in positive and explorative movement. Her coaching work implements creative synergy, openness, self-expression, and the confrontation of challenges through self-determination. She helps individuals from diverse populations move forward with their goals while being fully aware that trauma can play on the whole person. Meshai is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and is certified in both Trauma Therapy and Sex Therapy, and she is trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Join our incredible community! and Get your very own Normalizing Non-Monogamy shirt here! Don't forget to... Ask Us Anything! Partners Online STI Testing | STD Check.com Resources Mentioned in this Episode Our Recommended Resources

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our full disclosure for more info. Today's interview with Adam is best summarized as an unforgettable, powerful, and transformative adventure. He describes it better than we ever could on the website for his new book "Seek The Risk" and so, we got permission to adapt his description slightly: Adam has spent most of his life pursuing adventure—climbing some of the world’s steepest mountains, snowboarding dangerous backcountry terrain, and BASE jumping off of cliffs. Then he met Jane... Jane was a sex educator with a PhD in psychology, a female sexuality empowerment activist—and a self-described slut, who rejected monogamy and the societal norms of what a sexually well-behaved woman should be. No stranger to extreme living and taking risks, Adam thought he could handle whatever his relationship with Jane threw at him. But the very publicly open relationship was more than his strong male persona could bear. Rather than walk away and protect his ego, Adam applied the lessons he had learned about fear while free soloing high up on rock faces and free diving a hundred feet below the surface of the sea to navigate an even more terrifying situation—the woman he loved having lots of sex with lots of other men. ​ Neither a celebration of non-monogamy, nor a cautionary tale, Seek the Risk is a firsthand account of what one extreme sports competitor went through after falling in love with the “wrong girl.” His journey forced him to reevaluate his ideals about relationships, female sexuality, and his own masculinity. It was also the wildest ride of his life. Enjoy! Seek The Risk Join our incredible community! and Get your very own Normalizing Non-Monogamy shirt here! Don't forget to... Ask Us Anything! Partners Online STI Testing | STD Check.com Resources Mentioned in this Episode Brad Wetzler Our Recommended Resources Music Attribution Monkeys Spinning Monkeys by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Attribution 3.0 International License.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our full disclosure for more info. Tasha and David have been married for about five years and have been together for about a decade. They've had variations of an open relationship (primarily swinging) from the beginning and have done a lot of work to learn and grow together. Tasha and David dive into how the 26 year age difference between them has impacted their relationship and how they view love and sex. David came out of a long-term monogamous marriage just before he met Tasha. For him, sex equals love. Or at least it used to. This wasn't exactly the case for Tasha. Tasha and David are also in the middle of a beautiful and common transition in their non-monogamous partnership... They are exploring what opening up their partnership to connection beyond swinging and sex with others might look like. They have found themselves answering a very common question... What happens when swingers catch feelings? Tasha is a Doctoral student who is studying relationship satisfaction across all relational dynamics. She would love if you would help her collect data to finish her thesis and dissertation. Here is a link to the confidential survey which takes about 10 minutes to complete. Thank you for helping her and for helping to normalize non-monogamy! Link to Tasha's Research Survey (Note: Tasha is a pseudonym. The survey and her research is published under her legal name.) Tasha's Instagram | @sea_gyp_sea David's Instagram | @daves_daze Join our incredible community! and Get your very own Normalizing Non-Monogamy shirt here! Don't forget to... Ask Us Anything! Partners Online STI Testing | STD Check.com Resources Mentioned in this Episode Kasidie Desire Our Recommended Resources Music Attribution Monkeys Spinning Monkeys by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Attribution 3.0 International License.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our full disclosure for more info. Mariana is a wonderful 31 year old polyamorous woman in Portugal who is in a mono-poly dynamic with her partner of five years and an additional partner of about a year. Consensual non-monogamy is a relatively new concept in her life but she has been pushing back against societal norms and scripts since she was a teenager. She shares with us her beautiful and powerful journey of hitting rock-bottom in an abusive partnership before digging deep into who she is and what she really wants out of life and relationships. She takes us through the work she did for herself and with her partner to design the relationship she wants... And, it's everchanging. Speaking of designing relationships... Mariana is a designer and worked with her therapist to adapt the tools she used with her partner into a stunning game. You can find The Relationship Design Game here on her website and you can save 10% when you use the code "EMMA" at checkout! The Relationship Design Game Mariana's Instagram | @the_relationship_design_game Join our incredible community! and Get your very own Normalizing Non-Monogamy shirt here! Don't forget to... Ask Us Anything! Partners Online STI Testing | STD Check.com Resources Mentioned in this Episode Multiamory Podcast Our Recommended Resources Music Attribution Monkeys Spinning Monkeys by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Attribution 3.0 International License.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our full disclosure for more info. Jessica and David have been in many different iterations of relationship together for over twenty years... They were friends, they dated, they were friends again, they dated again, they got married, they had a child, they divorced, they became friends again, and now they're nesting co-parents who refer to themselves as "poly intimates" and life partners. This interview is a beautiful and vulnerable look inside what that journey was like for them together and as individuals, and how they arrived here. And, where "here" even is. Jessica Fern is the author of the wildly popular book Polysecure. From her website: Polysecure is both a trailblazing theoretical treatise and a practical guide. It provides nonmonogamous people with a new set of tools to navigate the complexities of multiple loving relationships and offers radical new concepts that are sure to influence the conversation about attachment theory. She and David Cooley recently released their new book, Polywise. From her website: Using a grounded theory approach, they explore the underlying challenges that nonmonogamous individuals and partners can experience after their first steps, offering practical strategies for transforming them into opportunities for new levels of clarity and intimacy. Polywise provides both the conceptual framework to better understand the shift from monogamy to nonmonogamy and the tools to navigate the next steps. To learn more about Jessica's work, please visit her website. Similarly, to learn more about David's work as a restorative justice facilitator, please visit his website. Jessica's Website David's Website PolySecure Polywise Join our incredible community! and Get your very own Normalizing Non-Monogamy shirt here! Don't forget to... Ask Us Anything! Partners Online STI Testing | STD Check.com Resources Mentioned in this Episode Focus Fridays 2.1 - The Enneagram Experience Pt. 1 Our Recommended Resources Music Attribution Monkeys Spinning Monkeys by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Attribution 3.0 International License.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our full disclosure for more info. Meshai and Fin team up together to answer amazing listener questions every fourth Friday of each month! Today's questions are about how to determine the difference between a personal boundary and an opportunity for growth AND two questions about group play. If YOU have a question, we'd love to hear it! Please, ask us anything by clicking here! You likely know me (Fin) from over 300 episodes of Normalizing Non-Monogamy. Just in case you don't, I cohost the podcast with my partner Emma and we have been in an open relationship together for over 15 years. I am also working towards completing a sex and relationship coaching program through the Somatica Institute and will be finished in late spring 2024. We are super excited to be partnering with Meshai for the Ask Us Anything episodes! She first appeared on the podcast on Episode 233 and we're honored to have her back! Meshai is relationship coach with the team at Expansive Connection. She believes in the power of living as one’s authentic self, and the freedom that comes from changing perspectives. She loves putting the puzzle pieces of a couple's sexual energy together and aiding them in positive and explorative movement. Her coaching work implements creative synergy, openness, self-expression, and the confrontation of challenges through self-determination. She helps individuals from diverse populations move forward with their goals while being fully aware that trauma can play on the whole person. Meshai is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and is certified in both Trauma Therapy and Sex Therapy, and she is trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Join our incredible community! and Get your very own Normalizing Non-Monogamy shirt here! Don't forget to... Ask Us Anything! Partners Online STI Testing | STD Check.com Resources Mentioned in this Episode Meshai's GIVE and DEAR Worksheet Reid Mihalko's Safer Sex Elevator Pitch Evalene Dacker's STARS Framework Episode 193 - Sonia + Gabriel Episode 310 - Anna + Andy + J Marsha Linehan Our Recommended Resources

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our full disclosure for more info. Rachel's first appearance on the podcast was over 300 episodes, and five years ago. She originally shared her story on episode 8 with her partner and used a pseudonym. A lot has changed since then. Rachel has been exploring non-monogamy for close to a decade. Initially, she and her partner were in a hierarchical relationship where they explored swinging, dating as a couple, and a bit of polyamory. As time went on, their dynamic shifted and they eventually found themselves in a pseudo-quad dynamic where there was much less hierarchy. More recently, she has embraced the concept of being her own primary partner, while investing in a committed relationship. Rachel is incredibly eloquent and vulnerable in this interview. We have amazing conversations about maintaining friendship after transitioning a romantic partnership, rekindling romantic partnerships after a breakup, processing the grief and loss of a relationship, the power and vulnerability in asking for help and leaning on your support system, and we dig into capacity and healing around commitments and expectations. There is so much that is wonderful about this conversation. If that wasn't enough... Rachel is also a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW-C) and an AASECT certified sex therapist (CST). She is kink, poly, and LGBTQ friendly with a wide range of experience working with individuals and couples on a myriad of treatment issues, including sexuality, communication, conflict, life transitions, lack of emotional or physical intimacy, depression, anxiety, trauma, and more. Please learn more at aliveintimacy.com. Alive Intimacy Episode 8 - Samantha + Aaron Join our incredible community! and Get your very own Normalizing Non-Monogamy shirt here! Don't forget to... Ask Us Anything! Partners Online STI Testing | STD Check.com Resources Mentioned in this Episode Dan Savage Michael Franti - Life Is Amazing AASECT Episode 19 - Catherine + EJ Episode 271 - Cat + EJ | Round 2 Our Recommended Resources Music Attribution Monkeys Spinning Monkeys by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Attribution 3.0 International License.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our full disclosure for more info. This conversation is beyond powerful. We say that often and we always mean it. This is no exception to the rule. About a year ago Anna and Andy opened up their relationship after being together for over 30 years. They'd talked about it for a long time, and finally did it. They even had a plan and lots of agreements. And then, the first person they met was J! J has been exploring non-monogamy for about a decade in a wide range of configurations and now he, Anna, and Andy are in a V together with Anna as the hinge. The power in this conversation comes from how these three vulnerably dig into the really beautiful work they've all have had to do to get here. Anna has ADHD and is Autistic, Andy has ADHD, and J is Autistic. Learning to navigate a hinge relationship while meshing multiple neurodivergencies has been revolutionary for all three of them. We talk a lot about the relief that comes from not having to mask anymore and at the same time, the challenges that come with it as well. We also dig into healing from intense religious upbringings (Anna and Andy were both raised by parents who were pastors), deconstructing the patriarchy and ownership, and forming relationships with metamours. Again, this conversation is beautiful, powerful, and even full of laughs. Enjoy! Join our incredible community! and Get your very own Normalizing Non-Monogamy shirt here! Don't forget to... Ask Us Anything! Partners Online STI Testing | STD Check.com Resources Mentioned in this Episode Southwest Love Fest Oakland Non-Monogamous Speed Dating/Friending Bloom Community App Ep 8 - Samantha + Aaron Episode 283 - Alyssa Our Recommended Resources Music Attribution Monkeys Spinning Monkeys by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Attribution 3.0 International License.