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 Microbiome to Reclaim Your Health in Midlife and Beyond. Cynthia has spent a decade working exclusively with midlife women, and what she keeps seeing is this: women doing all the right things and still not feeling like themselves. Her book offers a fascinating new lens through which to understand why, and what to do about it.

Cynthia Thurlow is a nurse practitioner, two-time TEDx speaker, international speaker, and CEO and founder of the Everyday Wellness Project. With over 25 years of experience in health and wellness, she is a globally recognized expert in perimenopause, menopause, intermittent fasting, and women's metabolic health. Her latest book The Menopause Gut: Balance Your Microbiome to Reclaim Your Health in Midlife and Beyond is available everywhere books are sold.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What the gut microbiome actually is and why it sits at the center of midlife health
• The estrobolome — the part of your gut that processes and eliminates estrogen — and why it matters on HRT
• How the gut and brain are connected through the vagus nerve and what that means for mood, anxiety, and desire
• Why 90% of serotonin is made in the gut and what that means for midlife mood swings
• How trauma history contributes to weight loss resistance and early menopause
• Practical starting points: protein, fiber, sleep rituals, strength training, and the power of saying no
• Why supporting your gut ripples out into energy, vitality, mood, and pleasure

My hope is that this episode helps you see your symptoms as one connected story — and gives you a clear, practical place to begin.

Cynthia says it simply: major in the majors. Before the supplements and the protocols and the testing, it is the basics — how you eat, how you sleep, how you manage stress, and how honestly you honor your own limits — that move the needle most. Your gut is not a separate system. It is the ecosystem everything else depends on.

If this episode resonated, subscribe to Pleasure in the Pause and share it with a woman in your life who has been doing all the right things and still not feeling like herself. And grab Cynthia's book — it is one of the most practical and comprehensive guides to midlife health I have come across.

If you're seeking to reclaim your pleasure and vitality, join Gabriella at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.pleasureinthepause.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for this enlightening journey into the heart of female pleasure and empowerment.

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The information shared on Pleasure in the Pause is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making any decisions about your health or treatment. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or Pleasure in the Pause.

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 relentless pace of everyday life leave us feeling disconnected from ourselves.

In this episode of Pleasure in the Pause, Gabriela welcomes back somatic psychotherapist, sex therapist, and author Carly Mountain for one of the most expansive and thought-provoking conversations this show has ever had. Carly's new book, Untamed Pleasure: Unleash Your True Erotic Nature, is an invitation to examine the invisible cages that have domesticated our pleasure, and to find the keys that live inside us to open them.

Carly Mountain is a somatic psychotherapist, sex therapist, sacred space holder and author of Descent & Rising: Women’s Stories & the Embodiment of the Inanna Myth and Untamed Pleasure: Unleash Your True Erotic Nature. She is passionate about facilitating people to reconnect with their inherent erotic aliveness, power and pleasure. She lives in Sheffield, England with her husband and two daughters.

Highlights from our discussion include:

• What eros and eroticism actually mean and why they are so much bigger than sex
• The cages — cultural and personal — that domesticate women's pleasure and how to start finding the keys
• Why midlife may actually be the most erotic chapter of a woman's life
• How communication is the skeleton key that opens every single cage
• The six bodies framework and why giving the emotional body its own wisdom is so important for women
• Creative transgression as a pathway back to erotic aliveness and what that can look like in practice

When pleasure has gone quiet in your life, Carly says it is not a sign that something is over. It is a compass pointing you toward where you need to go next. The cages are real. And so are the keys. They have been inside you all along.

If you're seeking to reclaim your pleasure and vitality, join Gabriella at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.pleasureinthepause.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for this enlightening journey into the heart of female pleasure and empowerment.

CONNECT WITH CARLY MOUNTAIN:

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Ep 10: Carly Mountain

CONNECT WITH GABRIELLA ESPINOSA:

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Work with Gabriella!

Full episodes on YouTube.

The information shared on Pleasure in the Pause is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making any decisions about your health or treatment. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or Pleasure in the Pause.