Meet Erin Ryan of Erin Ryan – The Intimacy Artist

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Ryan.

Hi Erin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Since I was a little girl I was always curious about the world. I experienced a couple life-altering moments at an early age which I believe shaped the way I operated and saw the world. I had existential questions about life and was a deep thinker early on. Because of this, I felt like I never truly fit into the mold that was expected by society (no matter how hard I tried).

In 2016, I was living in San Francisco attending fashion school when I suddenly felt disconnected from this path I had chosen for myself. I loved the creativity and individuality fashion can warrant, but I had this sinking feeling that this was not “it”. Almost immediately, I decided to drop out of school and follow my dream of traveling the world. I knew I needed to experience the world in order for me to discover what my true passions were and what I wanted out of life. My travels took me all over Southeast Asia, Europe, The United Kingdom, and then I ended up moving to Australia for three years. I was exposed to all different walks of life around the world which expanded my perception of what was possible. This laid the groundwork for me to discover what my values were outside of what was expected. When I moved to Australia, I began to practice and learn about yoga. This opened me up in a way I had not experienced before; I began to feel connected to the part of myself beyond human, my spiritual self.

My newfound passion drove me to study yoga in India and Australia. Throughout my trainings, as I dove deep into self practice and these ancient teachings, naturally some buried trauma within began to surface. I started to confront limiting beliefs and stories I carried around my relationship to my body, shame around disempowering sexual experiences, my sexuality and pleasure, and my impulses to escape and disconnect from myself. I wanted to heal and feel more connected to myself, my body, and my sexuality.

Again, my curiosities were leading me at this point and I decided to receive a therapeutic yoni massage (therapeutic yoni massage is a trauma-informed alternative modality that consists of mapping and massage of the vulva and vagina with the intention of addressing any stagnation, pain, numbness, or tension that could be present and educating clients on their anatomy in a non-sexual context for deeper healing) after being recommended this from a dear friend in 2018. After this deeply ceremonial and profound therapeutic yoni massage session I felt connected to my body in a completely new way. This was the first time I could somatically experience myself. This planted a seed in me. I wanted every woman to experience this and felt overwhelmed with how much all women could benefit from this practice. If only all of us women had safe spaces to explore our bodies to actually feel connected to this part of ourselves!

I felt compelled to follow this inspiration and in 2023 I completed my certifications in trauma-informed somatic sex coaching and therapeutic yoni massage. I finally felt like I had discovered my purpose and truest heart-felt passion. In this process, I found solace in my body and sexuality. A quiet freedom I had sought for most of my life externally, which only arrived when I looked within and loved all parts of me. Since 2021, I have been devoted to honoring and supporting the female body and creating safe spaces where women can discover their authentic sexual expression, alchemize internalized shame and stigma around their sexuality and body, feel educated in their female anatomy and physiology, and overall live a somatically embodied life that is true to them.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely has not been a smooth road! Since 2016 it felt like I was always searching for something. Searching to feel whole, searching for freedom, searching for inspiration, searching to find stability and always searching outside of myself. In all my searching, I came to realize that it was another way for me to escape myself because I felt that I was not enough just as I was. Externally searching for validation and meaning resulted in me searching for my worth.

When I was confronted to sit with what I was escaping, true liberation and wholeness was felt. And this is life. there will always be a hunger for more or a discontent at some point. The practice is to accept and honor all of it as the human experience and ride the wave. To search within in the moments we feel compelled to search outside of ourselves.

In addition, in my journey in the career path I chose I have been confronted with deeper layers of internalized shame and fears of being judged or misunderstood. These have been intense at times and continue to come up in layers. However, a huge part of my work is addressing the collective shame our culture carries around sexuality in general. So, of course this comes up for me as an individual. I believe the shadows or darkness there is around sexuality is largely because there is a lack of comprehensive sex education that is available to us as a whole culture. If sexuality is not spoken about and sexual education is near to non-existent, this naturally breeds a culture uneducated and disconnected from this very natural part of themselves. People then seek to learn about their bodies and sex through porn or assumption of how it is “supposed to be”. Which is damaging in and of itself because of how unrealistic and narrow porn portrays sex to be. Sexuality is diverse and dynamic. There are so many factors that contribute to a person’s sexual expression.

So, as an individual in the field of somatic sexology I remind myself that I’m up against thousands of years of conditioning and shame at times. I continue to come back to my deep knowing that this work is essential for humanity! When you choose a niche or taboo path, it always comes with its challenges. It’s part of the territory.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Erin Ryan – The Intimacy Artist?
My business, The Intimacy Artist, was birthed out of a deep calling and desire to support women in coming home to themselves, their eroticism, their passions, and their agency. I am a trauma-informed certified somatic sexologist and bodyworker specializing in female sexuality and somatics for the female nervous system. I work with over-functioning women who are successful on paper yet feel like they are living on auto-pilot and crave to feel more connected to their bodies, partners, pleasure, and creativity. Much of the basis of my work is ultimately creating safe spaces for individuals to slow down and re-sensitize to their embodied experience. My bodywork exploration began in 2019 from my own healing journey and since then was inspired to make this accessible for all women. I have been practicing therapeutic bodywork / yoni mapping and somatic sex coaching professionally for over three years now. For those who may not know, therapeutic yoni massage and mapping is an ethical trauma-informed alternative body-focused modality that consists of mapping and massage of the vulva and vagina with the intention of addressing any stagnation, pain, numbness, or tension that could be present, creating more felt sensation in this area of the body, and educating clients on their anatomy in a non-sexual context for deeper healing. Consent is fundamental to this work. Our tissues and fascia hold memories and our lived story. Our mind and our body may have completely different renditions of our experiences. This is why it’s so important to have safe spaces for our bodies to move and process what’s been perhaps buried within.

I support women who feel disconnected from their bodies and pleasure cultivate a deeper intimacy with themselves through a whole-body holistic approach to sexual healing so they can authentically express from the heart, develop thriving relationships, and find solace in their bodies.

What I’ve found is most women feel somewhat disconnected from their body and pleasure. They struggle in voicing their needs and desires with partners because they are unsure in how to even identify these for themselves at times. They sometimes feel awkward or discomfort in their sexuality because of a lack of education which can then lead to sexual shame and avoidance altogether. They also struggle with feelings of numbness and lack of sensation in their bodies overall.

There is a world where curiosity leads to discover your own unique pleasure blueprint. Through being willing to move through levels of potential cultural, psychological, and societal conditioning around your sexuality, you develop an inner trust that is unshakable in the process.

In the alternative health and wellness industry extreme cathartic healing experiences can tend to be glamorized. There can be an unconscious motive for people to seek these out because of the belief “bigger is better” or they enter these spaces with the unconscious belief that they’re broken and need fixing. I’ve found this to be problematic and unsustainable. A foundational element to my approach is moving slowly and at the body’s pace. This supports individuals to sustainably build resiliency in their body’s and nervous systems’ to then expand their capacity to experience more. The subtle shifts can be the most transformative. You are already whole, there is nothing you need to do or change to become more whole. In slowness there is spaciousness to be with all the shadow and light aspects of the self; this is where inner freedom lives.

In the breadth of my practice, there is a bio-individual client centered approach. Meaning, the shape of sessions are largely centered around a client’s individuals needs and desires. We each are unique individuals with the stories of our lives in our bones, tissues, and body’s. It is fundamental in my practice to take this into account to create a bespoke experience for clients.

I currently offer in-person bodywork sessions in the Los Angeles / Long Beach area and virtual sessions via my 1 on 1 coaching packages. Occasionally, I offer virtual and in-person workshops and facilitate retreats as well. My work is somatic focused which means we work with the body’s experience first and foremost to then get to a place where the body and mind can work collaboratively. The body has its own story that rarely gets told in traditional therapies.

I continue to refine and broaden my skillset by continuing my education and staying current in the ever-unfolding field of somatic sexology so I can evolve with my practice and become a well-rounded practitioner.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The somatic sexology industry is slowly growing! When I entered this field over 5 years ago, I noticed that slowly more people were becoming interested in alternative healing modalities outside of traditional talk therapy. I was living in Australia when I began my discoveries in somatic sexology / bodywork as well so I noticed this industry was way more accepted and sought out over there than here in the USA. Australia is still, in my opinion, ahead of us when it comes to somatic sexology.

From what I have experienced as an individual, this industry is still considered taboo. However, through the conversations I am having with clients, colleagues, and friends it does seem like people are recognizing that our sexuality and sex lives are an integral part of life. We are noticing that the disruption or disconnect we are feeling in our sex lives and relationships, often at the root, comes from a lack of education and encouragement in exploring ourselves as sexual beings.

As a collective, we are all craving more in our relationships, our sex lives, and ourselves. The desire to know one’s own body fully seems to be at the forefront currently. This gives me hope that the somatic sexology industry will continue to grow and be recognized and respected as the professional and ethical industry it is moving forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.the-intimacyartist.com
• Instagram: @theintimacyartist

Image Credits
Aleira Moon
Emily Johnston
Jessica Love
Seneca Shahara Brand