Pleasure in the Pause: Midlife Conversations About Menopause, Sex & Pleasure

This is a milestone episode. Episode 100 of Pleasure in the Pause marks two years of bold, honest conversations about women's bodies, pleasure, and sexual health in midlife — and this one is personal. For the first time, host Gabriela Espinosa steps out from behind the microphone and into the hot seat, interviewed by her friend and fellow midlife health advocate Karen Cerezo.
If you have ever felt dismissed by a doctor, confused by the changes in your body, or quietly assumed that pleasure was something you would just have to let go of in this chapter of life — this episode is your reminder that you are not alone, and that assumption is wrong. Gabriela shares the deeply personal story behind why she started this podcast, what she learned from 100 conversations with leading experts in sexual health and intimacy, and where the conversation is headed next. From the surprising gap in women's knowledge about their own anatomy, to cutting-edge medical tools most women have never heard of, to what it really means to step into your sixties with intention — this episode covers it all.
Karen Cerezo is a nationally board-certified health coach, certified personal trainer, menopause expert, TEDx speaker, and founder of Lifestyle Fitness. With over a decade of experience helping women in midlife navigate perimenopause and beyond, Karen blends science-backed education with real-life practicality to help women reclaim strength in their bodies, their choices, and their confidence. Karen specializes in menopause education, hormone health, strength training after 45, and the hidden cost of ignoring midlife health in the workplace. She is the author of Navigating Menopause: A Comprehensive Wellness Tracking Journal and a sought-after speaker who makes complex hormone conversations clear, relatable, and actionable. 
Highlights from our discussion include:
Sexual pleasure in midlife is not over — it just looks different.
Systemic hormones and local hormone therapy are not the same thing — and most women are only doing one when they may need both.
Knowing your own anatomy is the foundation of self-advocacy.
Pelvic floor therapy is one of the most underused and most effective tools available to women in midlife. 
Pleasure is broader than the bedroom.
This podcast started because Gabriela had no language for what was happening in her own body. A hundred episodes later, that conversation has reached women in 106 countries — and it is just getting started.
If this episode resonated, subscribe to Pleasure in the Pause and share it with a woman in your life who needs to hear it. And if you have been part of this community from the beginning, thank you. This milestone belongs to you, too.

CONNECT WITH KAREN CEREZO:
Website: https://www.midlifehealthcoach.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/midlife_health_coach/
CONNECT WITH GABRIELLA ESPINOSA:
Instagram
LinkedIn
Work with Gabriella! 
Full episodes on YouTube.
The information shared on Pleasure in the Pause is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making any decisions about your health or treatment. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or Pleasure in the Pause.

Have you ever struggled to put words to what you're feeling — in your body, in the bedroom, or even in your doctor's office? You're not alone, and it's not your fault. Most of us were never taught the language of our own bodies, and that silence comes at a real cost: disconnection in intimate relationships, unspoken pain, and leaving healthcare appointments feeling dismissed and unheard.
In this solo episode of Pleasure in the Pause, host Gabriela Espinosa explores what intimacy actually requires — not performance, not perfect words, but the ability to sense what's happening inside you and give it a name. Drawing on her work as an intimacy and attraction facilitator and a panel talk she gave at South by Southwest, Gabriela walks you through the neuroscience of body awareness (interoception), the three layers of intimacy practice, and a simple three-word framework — notice, feel, name — you can start using today.
Embodiment Tune-In Guided Audio. Create a practice of connecting to your body, tuning in to what there is to be felt and accessing the pleasure that lives within you.
Highlights from our discussion include:
Intimacy starts with self-connection, not technique. 
Your body is already speaking — learn to hear it.
Disconnection costs you in intimacy and healthcare.
The practice is simple: notice, feel, name.
Build the muscle in ordinary moments.
What would change for you if you could clearly say I need to slow down — or I want more of that? That clarity isn't about confidence. It's vocabulary. Start small: today, pause once and name one sensation in your body. That's where it begins.
CONNECT WITH GABRIELLA ESPINOSA:
Instagram
LinkedIn
Work with Gabriella! 
Full episodes on YouTube.
The information shared on Pleasure in the Pause is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making any decisions about your health or treatment. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or Pleasure in the Pause.

Have you ever been so consumed by someone just out of reach that you checked your phone obsessively, fantasized endlessly, and somehow wanted them even more because they weren't fully available? There's actually a name for it — and in this episode of Pleasure in the Pause, Gabriella sits down with journalist, author, and limerence expert Amanda McCracken to talk about why so many of us get stuck chasing love instead of receiving it.
At the heart of this conversation is a truth so many midlife women are quietly sitting with: we are all longing to be truly seen. But real love only becomes possible when we believe we are worthy of receiving it.
Amanda McCracken is an award-winning journalist passionate about experiences that highlight the intersection of wellness, travel, and relationships. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Vogue, National Geographic, Elle, NPR, Outside, ESPN, SELF, Runner’s World, and many others. She published her first article about longing in 2013, which led to additional articles featuring personal anecdotes and deep research and interviews with the BBC and Katie Couric. She is now considered a “limerence expert” and intimacy advocate. Her 2023 TED Talk, “How Longing Keeps Us From Healthy Relationships,” and her podcast, The Longing Lab, highlight how longing can become self sabotaging and shares how to change our patterns of longing. McCracken is also a part-time university instructor, massage therapist, triathlon coach, and competitive athlete. 
Highlights from our discussion include:
What limerence actually is, how it differs from a crush, and why today's dating culture — apps, social media, hookup culture — makes it more common than ever.
Why the brain gets hooked on the chase: the trigger, the behavior, and the dopamine reward loop that keeps so many of us stuck.
The moment Amanda realized she was more comfortable longing for love than actually having it — and what that revealed about her deeper fear of intimacy.
The practical tools that helped her break the pattern, including cognitive reappraisal, nervous system work, EMDR, and a nightly mantra her therapist gave her.
What healthy, realistic love actually feels like in midlife — and why Amanda says she trusted her husband before she loved him.
CONNECT WITH AMANDA MCCRACKEN:
Website
My book: When Longing Becomes Your Lover
My podcast: The Longing Lab
Watch my TEDx talk
Read my NYT story on limerence
Instagram: @amandajmccracken
TikTok: @thelonginglab

CONNECT WITH GABRIELLA ESPINOSA:
Instagram
LinkedIn
Work with Gabriella! 
Full episodes on YouTube.
The information shared on Pleasure in the Pause is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making any decisions about your health or treatment. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or Pleasure in the Pause.

Are you approaching a milestone birthday and feeling a mix of excitement and that quiet inner voice telling you to slow down, fade back, or play small? You are not alone — and in this special solo episode of Pleasure in the Pause, host Gabriella Espinosa turns 60 and invites you into one of the most honest, tender, and empowering conversations she has ever shared.
This is not a list of anti-aging tips. This is a celebration of what it means to grow into yourself — more rooted, more unapologetic, and more alive than ever — while also being real about the moments when the old stories still creep in.
Highlights from this episode include:
Why turning 60 doesn't feel like fading. It feels like a deepening, and how Gabriella is stepping into this decade with more of herself, not less.
The heavy cloak moment: how even the most grounded women can still be visited by the voice that says you've had your moment, and what to do when it shows up.
How to move through life's transitions from a place of growth and openness rather than fear and uncertainty.
Why “you don't look 60" is a compliment worth questioning, and the words that actually honor a woman at this stage of life.
A powerful reflection prompt to help you ask: Who is the woman I am becoming now?
Midlife is not the beginning of decline. It is a threshold — a moment to shed the roles, the expectations, and the versions of yourself that no longer fit. If something in this episode landed for you, notice where you are already choosing not to shrink. Then share this episode with one woman who needs to hear it. That is how we change the narrative together.

CONNECT WITH GABRIELLA ESPINOSA:
Instagram
LinkedIn
Work with Gabriella! 
Full episodes on YouTube.
The information shared on Pleasure in the Pause is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making any decisions about your health or treatment. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or Pleasure in the Pause.

Have you ever stood in front of your closet full of clothes and thought, what in the world do I wear? Not excited, not inspired, just stuck. In this conversation on Pleasure in the Pause, host Gabriella Espinosa sits down with Christine Morrison, renowned journalist and author of Clothes Minded: Fashionable Essays About Finding Yourself, to explore how clothing becomes intertwined with the moments that shape us, from joy and ambition to grief, motherhood, and reinvention. 
This episode explores what it means to open your closet not with pressure but with curiosity, how to dress for the woman you are becoming instead of the woman you used to be, and why style in midlife is about self-expression, not constraint.
Christine Morrison is a renowned journalist and the creator of writing in black and white, a newsletter and online platform that explores fashion and beauty through the lens of aging. Every day, she challenges conventional narratives about growing older. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and in campaigns for major fashion and beauty brands. A former Calvin Klein Vice President and current member of THE BOARD, Morrison brings sharp insight and personal perspective to Clothes Minded: Fashionable Essays About Finding Yourself, a collection of essays on style, identity and self-discovery.
Highlights from our discussion include:
Fashion is not frivolous
The white crisp shirt as superhero cape
Dismiss the "age appropriate" rules
Certain clothes hold entire chapters of your life
CONNECT WITH CHRISTINE MORRISON:
Instagram
Substack
Buy Clothes Minded on Amazon
CONNECT WITH GABRIELLA ESPINOSA:
Instagram
LinkedIn
Work with Gabriella! 
Full episodes on YouTube.
The information shared on Pleasure in the Pause is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making any decisions about your health or treatment. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or Pleasure in the Pause.