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PODCAST

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About Menopause, Sex & Pleasure

Gabriella Espinosa

What does it mean to age with pleasure?Pleasure in the Pause is a podcast for women navigating midlife, menopause and beyond who want to feel more connected to their bodies, their relationships and themselves.Hosted by women’s health and sexual wellness educator Gabriella Espinosa, the show brings together candid conversations with doctors, researchers, thought leaders and wellness experts exploring what shapes our capacity for pleasure as we age — from hormones and sexual health to body image,

health & fitness sexuality

All Episodes

28:35

121 | Menopause and Vaginal Health: Your Vagina Isn't...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/09/30

Feel like your vagina has betrayed you? Dryness, leaking, painful sex, and orgasms that feel far away. Here's what's really happening to your vagina in menopause, and my six pillars of vulva vitality to help you feel comfortable, confident, and connected to pleasure again. I'm kicking off World Menopause Month with a little lighthearted humor. Last week, I took the stage at a comedy club in my hometown of Houston for Dr. Susan Hardwick-Smith's The Gathering: Midlife After Dark, and talked abo...

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47:46

120 | Friendship in Midlife: Hormones, Connection &...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/09/23

Pleasure is relational. It is shaped not only by our relationship with our own bodies but by the friendships, communities, and spaces that hold us through seasons of change. For generations, women have gathered to share stories, ask questions, exchange wisdom, and remind each other they are not alone. Somewhere along the way, many of us lost some of that. Our lives became busier and more individual, and the spaces where women could simply sit together, speak honestly, and feel seen became har...

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48:44

119 | Duty Sex: Saying Yes When Part of You Means No...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/09/16

Most women know the feeling. You say yes. Your body shows up. But some part of you is somewhere else entirely — running through tomorrow's to-do list, waiting for it to be over, checking a box so you will not be expected to again for a week. It is called duty sex. And it is one of the most common and least talked-about dynamics in long-term relationships. In this episode for Sexual Health Awareness Month, Gabriella sits down with Dr. Holly Richmond, somatic psychologist, certified sex therapi...

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54:59

118 | Unlocking Sexual Longevity: A Midlife Guide...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/09/09

September is Sexual Health Awareness Month, and this year's World Sexual Health Day theme is Every Body — a reminder that sexual health, pleasure, and intimacy matter at every age and in every body, including our changing midlife bodies. To kick off the month, Gabriella welcomes Dr. Peter Castillo, a double board-certified urogynecologist and founder of Swan Medical Intimate Wellness in Los Gatos, California. Dr. Castillo is one of the rare physicians who treats pelvic and sexual health not a...

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23:50

117 | The September Shift: How to Get Back Into Go...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/09/02

Gabriella is back from two weeks in Portugal and sitting at her desk, shoulders already creeping up toward her ears, pelvic floor clenching, inbox blinking. September is here. The calendar is filling. And the vacation version of herself is being tested in real time. But instead of pushing through the tension the way she always has, she pauses. Takes a breath. Softens. And asks herself a question she wants to explore with every woman listening: do I actually need all this tension in order to d...

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21:30

116 | How To Take The Vacation Version Of You Home:...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/08/12

You know her. She shows up every time you go away. More relaxed. More present. More alive. Laughing more easily, sleeping more deeply, feeling more connected to yourself and to the people you love. And yes, often more open to intimacy too. She is your vacation self. And the moment you land back home and the suitcase opens, she disappears — absorbed back into the inbox, the to-do list, and the doing mode that swallows everything else. But here is what Gabriella wants you to know. The vacation ...

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46:10

115 | Love in Midlife: Navigating Intimacy and Change...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/08/05

Two women. Both champions in the midlife women's health space. Both celebrating their 25th wedding anniversaries in the same summer. And both deeply committed to changing the conversation around intimacy, pleasure, and connection in midlife. In this episode Gabriella sits in the interviewee seat again, joining Dr. Tina Sogocio, physician and menopause educator, for an Instagram Live conversation about what it actually takes to keep love alive through one of the most destabilizing transitions ...

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34:12

114 | The Power of Comfort: Rethinking Sexual...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/07/29

This one is a little different. For over 100 episodes Gabriella has been the one asking the questions. This time, Sally Mueller, co-founder and CEO of Womaness, turns the tables. And what comes out of that conversation is one of the most practical and honest discussions this show has ever had about intimate wellness, comfort, and what it actually means to take care of this part of your body. Womaness is a brand that has been modernizing the conversation around menopause and intimate wellness ...

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46:44

113 | Finding Safety in Your Body: Robyn Parets on...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/07/22

For more than 20 years, Robyn Parets lived with chronic illness, anxiety, and a body that always seemed to be fighting something. She saw countless practitioners, tried everything she could find, and kept pushing through — the way high-achieving women do. What she did not understand was that underneath every diagnosis, every symptom, and every exhausting flare was a nervous system that had simply lost its way home. It was not until she discovered nervous system regulation and somatic breathwo...

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57:18

112 | Menopause, Work & Your Next Chapter with Dr....

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/07/15

Have you ever found yourself in a meeting, searching for a word that used to come effortlessly, or suddenly losing your train of thought in front of a room full of people? Have you quietly wondered whether you are losing your edge, your confidence, or your ambition — without ever connecting it to what is actually happening in your body? Menopause does not wait until our careers wind down. It arrives right in the middle of them, when women are leading teams, growing businesses, mentoring other...

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53:07

111 | The Menopause Conversation Every Couple Needs...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/07/08

When was the last time you asked yourself what you actually want? For many women, menopause is the first time that question becomes impossible to ignore. The body is changing. Desire is shifting. And relationships that have been running on autopilot for years are suddenly asking to be looked at more honestly. In this episode, Gabriela sits down with Sari Cooper, AASECT-certified sex therapist and founder of the Center for Love and Sex in New York City, for one of the most expansive and shame-...

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21:52

110 | How Co-Regulation Deepens Intimacy (No Sex...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/07/01

You know the feeling. You have been going since morning — emails, deadlines, the relentless doing. Your nervous system has been in full output mode for hours. And then evening comes, your partner moves in close wanting to connect, and your body just shuts down. Not because you don't love them. Simply because you have nothing left to give. If you have ever thought "I want to want, I just can't get there from here" — this episode is for you. In this solo episode, Gabriella introduces one of the...

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56:35

109 | The Perimenopause Revolution: What Your Body Is...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/06/24

Most women step into perimenopause the same way Gabriela did — in the dark, without language, without a roadmap, and without anyone telling them what was actually happening in their bodies. The anxiety, the brain fog, the rage, the fatigue, the loss of libido — they could feel it all, but they could not make sense of it. Dr. Mariza Snyder felt the same way. Even after 17 years of clinical experience supporting women through this transition. In this episode of Pleasure in the Pause, Gabriela s...

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46:50

107 | Midlife, Sobriety, And Returning To Yourself...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/06/17

What if the question is not why can't I quit, but what is this doing for me? In this installment of the Return to Her series, Gabriela sits down with Ashley Kelsch, writer, coach, and somatic practitioner who helps midlife women change their relationship with alcohol and reconnect with themselves. Ashley spent a decade running a sexual wellness shop in Austin, where women quietly confided things in dressing rooms they were not sharing with anyone else — and underneath it all was the same thre...

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31:50

107 | From Survival Mode To Self-Connection: A...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/06/10

Have you ever lain awake at 3am, heart racing, mind running through a list of worries you cannot seem to turn off? Or maybe it is the opposite — you move through your days flat, numb, going through the motions of a life that looks perfectly fine from the outside while feeling strangely absent from it on the inside. Both of those states have a name. And neither of them is a personal failing. In this solo episode, Gabriela shares one of the most foundational concepts in nervous system work — th...

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49:12

106 | The Menopause Gut: The Missing Link Between...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/06/03

What if the brain fog, the broken sleep, the mood swings, the weight that won't budge, and the libido that has gone missing are not a collection of separate problems? What if they are one connected story and the missing piece of that story is your gut? In this episode of Pleasure in the Pause, Gabriela sits down with Cynthia Thurlow, nurse practitioner, bestselling author, and host of the Everyday Wellness podcast, to explore her groundbreaking new book The Menopause Gut: Balance Your Microbi...

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47:27

105 | Hormone Therapy After Breast Cancer: Breaking...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/05/27

Hormone therapy after breast cancer is one of the most nuanced and emotionally charged conversations in women’s health. For decades, many women have been told the answer is simply: no. No discussion. No nuance. No consideration of quality of life, sexual health, bone health, brain health, or the individual woman sitting in the exam room. But what does the research actually say? In this episode of Pleasure in the Pause, I welcome back Dr. Susan Hardwick-Smith, board-certified gynecologist and ...

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62:40

104 | Untamed Pleasure: The Keys To Unlocking Desire...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/05/20

When you hear the word erotic, what comes up for you? For most of us it immediately conjures images of sex, the taboo, or something forbidden. But eroticism is so much bigger than that. At its core, the erotic is about aliveness. It is our capacity to feel present, connected, awake to beauty, pleasure, desire, creativity, and the experience of being fully in our bodies. And it is something so many women lose touch with, especially in midlife, when stress, caregiving, hormonal shifts, and the ...

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39:07

103 | Learning To Trust Your Body Again After...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/05/13

What happens when a healthcare professional goes through surgical menopause at 42 and is handed nothing but a message in her patient portal that says "you are post-menopausal"? No education. No discussion. No next steps. Just a diagnosis and silence. That is exactly what happened to Julie Parana. And even as an occupational therapist who spent her days supporting patients through major health challenges, she found herself doing what so many women do — minimizing her symptoms, pushing through ...

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61:31

102 | When Mother's Day Hurts, Modern Loss, Grief,...

Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About... ·

2026/05/06

There is a version of Mother's Day we all know. The brunches, the bouquets, the Hallmark cards. And then there is the version so many women carry quietly underneath — the grief of a mother who is gone, of never becoming one, of a child lost, of the mother we needed and never had, and the grief of a mother who is still here but already somehow leaving. This episode of Pleasure in the Pause makes space for that fuller truth. Host Gabriela Espinosa sits down with Rebecca Soffer, co-founder of Mo...

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