144. Why Isn't Everyone Using Pleasure to Reclaim Their Power? with Regena Tomashauer

What if the darkest season of your life isn't a punishment, but an initiation? In this episode, Emily Fletcher sits down with her friend and former roommate Regena Thomashauer, known around the world as Mama Gena, for a conversation about her new book, On Our Knees. Regena is the New York Times bestselling author of Pussy: A Reclamation and the founder of the School of Womanly Arts, and this book was written by hand, one card and one page at a time, over years of 5am mornings. Regena walks through the myth of Inanna's descent into the underworld, why she believes hell is a patriarchal invention built to keep women small while the underworld exists to make them whole, and what it costs a woman to keep playing “fine” instead of the full range of who she is. She also shares her own story: a goddess who visited her bedside at five years old, an acting class that told her she had no sensuality, and the years at what she calls “the Vatican of orgasm” that taught her pleasure is a biological miracle, not a luxury. The conversation closes with Regena reading live from the book's chapter on Kali, the goddess who arrives precisely when a life has grown too small to hold who you're becoming. Get the book: On Our Knees by Regena Thomashauer, available now → https://mamagenas.com/onourknees/ In this episode, Regena explores: Why hell is a patriarchal invention, and why the underworld belongs to the feminine instead The myth of Inanna, and why a throne can get a woman adored but never whole Her own childhood visits from an unnamed goddess, and years spent searching for her The acting class that sent her looking for orgasm instead of a callback Life inside what she calls “the Vatican of orgasm,” and the neurochemistry that let her heal Why pleasure regulates the nervous system in ways therapy and to-do lists cannot A live reading from On Our Knees: the Kali chapter Raising sons inside a goddess-centered household, without leaving them out of the story Key Moments: 00:00 – Welcome back Regena Thomashauer, and the poetry behind On Our Knees 03:11 – Why she's proudest of how vulnerable this book is: “Broken is the new shiny” 04:48 – The erotic as the doorway that opens both radiance and rupture 08:49 – Hell versus the underworld: two very different stories about the dark 12:02 – The myth of Inanna, and why the goddess runs an initiation, not a prison 14:45 – The 88 keys: why “I'm fine” is the smallest note women are allowed to play 19:47 – What the goddess says instead of “you're failing”: “You're mid initiation” 21:38 – Isis and her twin sister Nephthys, and Emily's own discovery of the unmanifest 22:45 – The goddess who visited Regena's bedside at five years old 25:02 – The acting class that sent her looking for orgasm instead of a callback 28:15 – Inside Lafayette Morehouse, “the Vatican of orgasm” 30:01 – The neurochemistry of pleasure: oxytocin, dopamine, endorphins, and prolactin 32:15 – For the exhausted single mother who thinks pleasure is a luxury she can't afford 38:02 – Why pleasure regulates the nervous system in ways nothing else does 41:56 – Live reading from On Our Knees: the chapter on Kali 46:35 – Why she wrote the book for every gender, but chooses to lead with the feminine 48:08 – Raising sons inside a goddess-centered household without leaving them out 53:59 – Regena's deepest hope for what this book changes About Regena Thomashauer Regena Thomashauer, known to millions as Mama Gena, is the New York Times bestselling author of Pussy: A Reclamation and the founder of the School of Womanly Arts, where she has spent almost three decades helping women reclaim their pleasure, power, and erotic aliveness. Her new book, On Our Knees: Loving Your Life Even When You Hate What's Happening, is available now. Website: mamagenas.com Instagram: @mamagena 🔗 MORE FROM EMILY & ZIVA: Learn Ziva Meditation: preview.zivameditation.com Free masterclass: learn.zivameditation.com Get 15% off with promo code WHYTHIS: whythis.zivameditation.com Follow us on Instagram: @zivameditation