Embodiment Isn’t a Performance: Ailey Jolie on the Body, Pleasure, and Healing

In this episode, Vanessa sits down with Ailey Jolie, Chartered Psychologist, somatic psychologist, certified sex therapist, and creator of INBODY, for a conversation about what embodiment actually means beyond the performance of being calm, sensual, regulated, or healed. Together they explore why disembodiment and dissociation can be intelligent survival strategies, how food and sexuality both ask us to reconnect with hunger, desire, permission, disgust, control, pleasure, and shame, and why the body cannot be separated from the larger cultural systems that taught us to leave it. This conversation moves through eating disorder recovery, sexual trauma, chronic illness, pleasure, sensuality, intergenerational stories, and the body as a doorway into the unconscious. The invitation is not to force yourself back into the body, but to bring mind and body back into relationship with more consciousness, safety, and truth. Applications are now open to the public for Cohort 4 of Inner Compass Academy. ICA is Vanessa’s 10-week depth psychology training for therapists, coaches, space holders, creatives, seekers, and anyone who wants to go beyond surface-level self-help and learn how to work more deeply with shadow, the unconscious, embodiment, relational patterns, dreams, archetypes, and the symbolic life. This is not a program promising quick formulas or coaching scripts. It is a certificate training rooted in depth, Jungian theory, relationship, liberation psychology, and the kind of inner work that changes how we hold ourselves and others. Cohort 4 begins September 13. Learn more and apply here: https://www.vanessabennett.com/inner-compass-academy For educational purposes only. This isn’t therapy. **Resources & References** **Ailey Jolie** Website: https://www.aileyjolie.com/ **INBODY Method** Learn more about Ailey’s body-based healing work and 14-week INBODY program: https://www.inbodymethod.com/ **About Ailey Jolie & INBODY** https://www.inbodymethod.com/about **Apple Podcasts:** https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-this-body/id1749208603 **Instagram:** https://www.instagram.com/aileyjolie/ **Substack:** https://aileyjolie.substack.com/ **In This Body Podcast** https://in-this-body.com/ Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-this-body/id1749208603 **Gabor Maté** https://drgabormate.com/ **Marion Woodman — *Addiction to Perfection*** https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/330307/addiction-to-perfection-by-marion-woodman/ **C. G. Jung / Jungian Analysis** International Association for Analytical Psychology: https://iaap.org/jung-analytical-psychology/ **Pacifica Graduate Institute** https://www.pacifica.edu/ If you want to go deeper, check out the written companion on Substack and explore community + training at https://www.vanessaBennett.com. **Additional Resources** **Explore:** VanessaBennett.com **Book:** The Motherhood Myth **Community:** Inner Compass Collective **Training:** Inner Compass Academy **Connect with Inner Compass** Follow on Instagram **Connect with Vanessa Bennett:** Follow on Instagram Follow on TikTok Learn more on Substack Connect with Vanessa Bennett on LinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.