Is Sex Actually Giving You Energy—or Taking It? (w/Manon Masner) [Ep. #31]
In this episode I sit down with Manon Masner, an acupuncturist and tuina practitioner training to become a doctor of Chinese medicine, to talk about how TCM understands sexuality. Whether you're the husband or the wife listening, there's something here. We get into why your sex life is treated as a read on your overall health, how intimacy can either restore you or drain you, and what your body is quietly telling you underneath all of it. It also turned into an honest conversation about our own marriage, warmth, food, and learning to slow down.
Fair warning, we go into some personal territory.
Key points from this episode:
How Chinese medicine reads sexuality as part of the whole-body picture, and the role of "jing," the essence stored in the kidneys
Why sex can nourish or deplete you, and how the spirit (shen) and timing change everything
The heart and kidney "fires," and what happens when they connect during intimacy
Why men and women deplete and recover differently, and what that asks of both partners
Why women tend to warm up more slowly, and the part that puts on the husband
The biggest modern threat to healthy intimacy: a mind that never actually rests, true for men and women alike
Simple daily things that support all of this: warmth, digestion, sleep, and not overriding what your body's telling you
Why cold plunges, smoothies, and cold drinks aren't right for everyone