Enrollment for Pleasure Filled Year closes tomorrow at midnight. If you've been dreaming about what this offering can transform and nurture in you, know that you're already beginning to cast a pleasure spell for your life.

Dreaming into the possibility of desire, sensuality, embodiment, community, beauty, and deep, nutritive pleasure is what this program is all about — and I'm here to support you the whole way through. I asked Christie McNabb, a past Pleasure Filled Year participant to share her reflections on the program with you, and this amazing human brought tears to my eyes. I watched Christie go from tentative and nervous about living pleasurably to being a complete magical, juicy BADDY! I saw the rituals clicking into place, the boundaries set, the desires named- and I feel so lucky to have been a part of this transformational journey! 

This is from her:

"To say that Pleasure Filled Year changed my life feels a bit cliched, but nonetheless, it did. I actually didn’t think I needed it when applications opened. I thought I was good, solid on my self-care strategy. Then just hours before applications closed, something jolted me to action and I got my application just under the deadline. Looking back, I don’t think I had a firm idea of what pleasure was prior to PFY, or how to get it. I don’t think I was convinced it even mattered…but ultimately I think I stayed away because I wasn’t sure I even deserved it. That didn’t change all at once, I wasn’t some overnight miracle. But as I immersed myself in Maria’s teachings, I noticed the shift. Subtle at first, starting with shyly purchasing a romance novel at the bookstore, evolving into listening to erotic storytelling while grocery-shopping, leading up to painting nude self-portraits. Choosing pleasure became second-nature. I relished in the moments I could both share and learn from my accountability buddy, as well as our cohort. I felt so alive in those moments, seen and celebrated. 
 

Now, less than 2 years later, I’m a new mom and a full time med student…I don’t have the time I used to. But thanks to the skills I gained with PFY, I am still able to nurture a practice of pleasure. It’s like muscle memory; more often than not I find myself choosing the pleasurable option, even in the most mundane moments of my day. Savor the bit of chocolate. Choose the soft blanket. Stay a few minutes longer on the soft bed. Hold that squirmy baby, feel their heartbeat against mine. Massage achy muscles with oil following a bath. 

And always, always take the bath. No matter how exhausted. Pleasure, I have learned in my time since PFY, is not a luxury but a necessity, and it can literally save your life. It’s all these moments, of choosing to let my pleasure guide the way, that keep me showing up for some of the hardest things I’ve ever done: parenting, partnership and patient care. I’m beyond grateful I made that last minute decision to apply, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat."

-Christie McNabb