The Sacred Prostitute: Sex Work for Healing and Transformation w/ David Wichman

Can sex facilitate transformation and healing? And what role do sex workers play in this dynamic? Join us as we discuss sexuality as a vehicle for personal growth and the role of the sacred intimate in creating safety and acceptance around sexual space.

This week’s guest, David Wichman, is an award winning author, speaker, sex, love & intimacy guide, soundbath practitioner, and lover of all things wild. Driven by his deep compassion for individuals seeking healing and human connection, David found a calling in sex work, and then saw his practice evolve through the integration of ritual and sound healing.

While working with seniors, the differently abled, and those with severe intimacy issues, he discovered the profound transformational power that sex work creates for both client and provider. He joins us for this episode to share stories, insights, and wisdom around sacred sexuality and to discuss how we can leverage our sensual experience toward growth and healing.

"You can have the best diet. You can have all the exercise. You can be as healthy as you want. You can have a lot of money. And you can sit in meditation. And you can do all of the yoga... but if you're not being touched in a way that makes you feel fully and completely accepted, then there is a part that's missing." - David Wichman

Setting up for Sacred Sexuality

• Rachel reads the story of Pass-a-Million, a prostitute and bodhisattva who lived during the Buddha’s lifetime and used sex to heal
• David’s lifelong search for God and his underlying sense of brokenness
• The book that brought David to tears and began a shift in awareness around his wholeness
• Aaron and David discuss the concept of the essential self and “what if nothing needs to be fixed”
• David recounts his tumultuous upbringing and how he used to look for love outside of himself in God and religion

Sex Work and Sacred Intimates

• How David’s preaching on the importance of sex and touch as a basic human need turned to a focus on intimate connection
• Shame, unacceptability, and the pitfalls of expressing a sense of freedom around sexuality
• How sex can be a powerful tool for introspection and how sacred intimates guide people into this space
• David discusses the clients he sees and his role in showing up in complete acceptance
• The importance that touch and feeling accepted play in our whole health

David’s Initiation into Sacred Sex Work

• David teases how ayahuasca caused him to stop looking to be healed or fixed 
• David’s pandemic explorations into meditation, chakras, and sound healing
• David shares the story of his initiation as a sacred intimate and how it made him realize that he was doing the work he was meant to be doing

Combining Sex and Ritual

• How ritual and flow states allow us to channel information for others 
• David describes how introducing crystal bowls and sound healing modalities into his sessions transformed his work
• Rachel gets real about her hesitance representing a podcast about sex drugs and spirit
• Aaron explains why Tantric rituals are performed naked and how Vamachara Tantra differs from Neo-Tantra

Books by David Wichman

• Every Grain of Sand: a memoir