Sovereign Self

Megan Phippen, MA LPC
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Sexuality
  • Weekly

Sovereign Self is a podcast about erotic embodiment, relational sovereignty, and intimacy as a lived practice. Hosted by Megan Phippen, a licensed sex and relationship therapist, the show explores the relationship between sex, love, and spirit through a grounded, body-based lens. Sovereign Self invites you to unlearn inherited shame, question conditioned relationship norms, and cultivate a deeper relationship with desire, sensation, and truth. Liberation begins inside your own skin.

  1. Sep 4

    Ep 16: You're Not Broken, You're Descending: On The Feminine Journey of Down and In

    I have been quiet lately. And the reason I have been quiet is exactly what this episode is about. Life has been asking me to turn towards myself, to conserve, to grieve, to tend more carefully to my own heart. And I am not interested in performing some perfectly regulated, endlessly resourced version of myself so that you believe I am qualified. That place does not exist for any of us. Here's what we get into: What the descent actually is, that pull down and in towards the body, towards the self, towards the unlit places, and why our entire culture has forgotten how to honor it The myth of Inanna and the heroine's journey, down and in rather than up and out, and what gets stripped at every gate on the way down The everyday signature of the descent, exhaustion, lost libido, disconnection, the feeling that nothing that used to work is working anymore, and why your nervous system is not malfunctioning, it is initiating something Why the armor that keeps you from feeling your grief is the exact same armor that keeps you from feeling your pleasure, and why you cannot be selectively embodied The difference between the hero's journey and the heroine's journey, and why almost all of us know how to build a life the outside world approves of but very few of us know how to meet the self that is actually here What erotic sovereignty actually asks of us in a season of descent, and why this is not the interruption of your erotic life but the deepening of it The descent is not the opposite of aliveness. It is what restores your capacity to feel. And your capacity to feel is the whole ground of your desire. You are not broken. You are not behind. You are exactly on time for this deeply sacred journey. Follow me on Instagram: ⁠⁠@sovereignself.love⁠⁠ Join my email list: ⁠⁠Join my email list — Sovereignself.love⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠www.sovereignself.lovev

  2. Jul 28

    Ep 15: Eros & Thanatos: What Grief Reveals About Desire

    I lost my cat Pumpkin last week. Completely unexpectedly. And I almost didn't record this because I am still in it, still dissociated, still catching myself tracking the door waiting for him to scratch at it. But grief takes the whole conversation about optimization and perfection and just scraps it. And there is something so magnetic about that realness. So here we are. Here's what we get into: The difference between surprise and shock, why shutdown, numbness, and dissociation after loss are not signs that something is wrong but your autonomic nervous system doing exactly what it is here to do Eros and Thanatos as the inhale and exhale of the same pulse, opposing and complementary forces that neither of us can fully live without, and what happens when we try Why grief and ecstasy speak the exact same language in the body, waves that build, crest, break, trembling, sound, tears, altered states, and what that reveals about your capacity to feel both The structure of longing and how death makes the mechanics of desire suddenly, brutally clear, the bond that outlasts the form, the reaching that keeps going when there is nowhere for it to land Why the same armor that guards you from being devastated is the exact same armor that guards you from being deeply touched How death when you actually let it in burns off borrowed scripts and hands you back the authorship of your own life Grief doesn't tie things in a bow. And neither does desire. But what I know is this: grief is the voltage of love that is trying to find a place to go. Eros says I love you. Thanatos says you cannot keep me. And grief asks “Okay, then what will your love become?” Follow me on Instagram: ⁠@sovereignself.love⁠ Join my email list: ⁠Join my email list — Sovereignself.love⁠ Website: ⁠www.sovereignself.love

  3. Jul 6

    Ep 14: You've Been Lied to About Sensuality

    I recorded this one recovering from surgery, hot, itchy, sticky, and in pain. Not exactly the soft-lit, silk-and-candles version of sensuality we've all been sold. And that's the whole point. We've branded sensuality as an aesthetic, coded it as feminine, and turned it into something you curate rather than something you already are. This episode is me pulling that apart in real time, from inside a body that isn't performing the way I'd want it to. Here's what we get into: Why sensuality has been collectively branded as softness, beauty, and an elevated version of being in a body, and what that costs us The difference between sensuality as a feeling and sensuality as a capacity to gather data through the senses Why pain, grief, shame, and discomfort are just as sensual as pleasure and what happens when we only count the good stuff The industry built on the gap between the body you have and the body you think you're supposed to have Why resistance and numbness aren't things to bypass, but places to meet yourself What it actually looks like to stay present with a body that's changing, aging, bracing, and sometimes deeply uncomfortable Follow me on Instagram: ⁠⁠@sovereignself.love⁠⁠ Join my email list: ⁠⁠Join my email list — Sovereignself.love⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠www.sovereignself.love⁠

  4. Jun 9

    Ep 13: How to Assess for Relationship Compatibility

    Most people say they are looking for compatibility. What they are actually doing is running everyone they meet through a filtered checklist built on surface optics, appearance, lifestyle, politics, preferences, and calling it discernment. Megan is here to push on that hard. This episode is a precise, unflinching breakdown of what compatibility actually is, what most people are confusing it with, and the one question that has shaped how she relates and what she looks for in a partner. Here's what we get into: Why we have imported the dopamine architecture of social media directly onto how we evaluate potential partners, and what that is actually costing us The three layers of compatibility most people collapse into one: preferences, values, and capacity, and why only one of them actually predicts whether a relationship lasts The Gottman research that stopped Megan cold: 69% of conflict in successful long-term relationships is perpetual, recurring, and never fully resolves, and what that actually means for how we choose partners Why dating for sameness and frictionless fit is not only shallow but completely unrelated to relational longevity The one question Megan brings to her own relationships and her clients: can I trust this person to turn towards when it is easier to turn away What conscious partnership actually asks of us over time, and why the relationship you can hold is the one your nervous system can match The couples that go the distance are not the ones who resolved everything. They are the ones who stopped trying to win and learned how to stay relational inside of inevitable difference. Follow me on Instagram: ⁠⁠@sovereignself.love⁠⁠ Join my email list: ⁠⁠Join my email list — Sovereignself.love⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠www.sovereignself.love⁠

  5. Jun 2

    Ep 12: Shame and the Threshold of Desire

    Most of us are not afraid of desire. We are afraid of what happens when we actually follow it. This episode sits right at that edge. The moment you arrive at what you want and then collapse, not because the desire wasn't real, but because something old and protective shows up first. Shame is sneaky. It doesn't look the way you expect it to. And this episode is about learning to see it. Here's what we get into: Why desire and fear expand together, and what it actually means to grow your capacity to hold both The wall people hit when they arrive at the threshold of something they want, and why it almost always has nothing to do with the desire itself How shame hides in the relational moves we make after, not in the thing we did, and why it is so hard to catch in the moment The difference between caring about impact and needing approval, and why one is contact and the other is extraction What it looks like to bring something forward in relationship from a place of genuine connection rather than a reaching for absolution Why the real initiation of desire is not whether you can have the thing, but whether you can become the person who can hold it This episode is dedicated to everyone who is stepping into new territory right now. Who is following something true and alive and necessary, and also interfacing with the fear that comes along with it. You are not doing it wrong. This is what the practice actually looks like. Follow me on Instagram: ⁠⁠@sovereignself.love⁠⁠ Join my email list: ⁠⁠Join my email list — Sovereignself.love⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠www.sovereignself.love⁠

  6. May 22

    Ep 11: Your Liberation Is Inside of Your Anger

    Anger has been alive in the field lately. My clients are feeling it, the collective is feeling it, and I woke up this morning feeling it too. So instead of waiting for it to settle, I recorded from inside it. What follows is me making the case for why anger is not the thing to get past and why your relationship with it is actually the path to liberation. Here's what we get into: Why anger and arousal run on the same current, and what that means for your capacity to feel pleasure, desire, and aliveness in the body The difference between clean anger and reactive rage, and how suppressing the first one leads directly to the second Subtle self-abandonment: the small moments of sweeping frustration under the rug to keep the peace, and how that quietly erodes both the relationship and yourself What actually happens in the sympathetic nervous system when anger moves through you, and why embodiment is not a meditation posture A lion's breath practice to move heat through the body when the charge is high The question I bring myself and my clients: what standard is your anger holding you to? Anger is a compass. It doesn't arise around things that don't matter. It arises around something you are not willing to betray. Follow me on Instagram: ⁠⁠@sovereignself.love⁠⁠ Join my email list: ⁠⁠Join my email list — Sovereignself.love⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠www.sovereignself.love⁠

  7. May 18

    Ep 10: Erotic Embodiment in the Age of Sexual Fragmentation with Sureya Part 2

    In this episode, Sureya and I explore the nuance of what people often call “leaky” sexual energy and why these conversations around sexuality, desire, and intimacy are rarely as black and white as the internet makes them seem. Together, we unpack how unconscious relational patterns, nervous system responses, and cultural conditioning shape the way we express, suppress, or outsource our erotic energy. This conversation weaves through themes of conscious relationships, sexual embodiment, attachment styles, and nervous system regulation in relationships, while inviting a more honest and compassionate relationship with desire itself. At its core, this episode is about learning how to stay connected to yourself inside intimacy, rather than abandoning yourself for validation, performance, or control. Here, we explore: The difference between authentic erotic expression vs. unconscious, “leaky” sexual dynamics A nuanced conversation around repression, overexpression, shame, validation, and the complexity of modern sexuality How attachment wounds, trauma responses, and conditioning shape intimacy and relational behavior The role of embodiment, self awareness, and emotional responsibility in creating healthier relationships Why reclaiming your sexuality and learning to trust your own body changes the way you relate to love, desire, and connection Sureya Leonara is a Holistic Sex & Relationship Coach and Writer with a kink for sucking the marrow from each moment. Her work collapses outdated identities, expands capacity to stay with discomfort, and lives at the wild edge where fear and desire make eye contact and learn to breathe together. Free “Making Love with Life” Practice: blue-block-67264.myflodesk.com/nxsyaw1wyh Substack: open.substack.com/pub/alchemyoferos Follow me on Instagram: ⁠⁠@sovereignself.love⁠⁠ Join my email list: ⁠⁠Join my email list — Sovereignself.love⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠www.sovereignself.love⁠

  8. May 8

    Ep 9: Erotic Embodiment in the Age of Sexual Fragmentation with Sureya Leonara Part 1

    This episode felt like dropping into the living edge between sexuality, embodiment, desire, and truth. Sureya and I explore what it means to relate to erotic energy as life force itself, not something confined to the bedroom, but something woven through creativity, connection, intimacy, and the way we inhabit our bodies. We talk about nervous system regulation in relationships, somatic healing, conscious relationships, and the ways conditioning disconnects us from our authentic self and sexual embodiment. This conversation is raw, relational, deeply alive, and an invitation to reclaim your sexuality without shame or fragmentation. In this episode, we explore: Why erotic energy is not separate from creativity, spirituality, or embodied intimacy How nervous system regulation and emotional regulation impact desire, attraction, and connection The link between somatic healing, attachment style, and sexual expression in relationships What happens when we suppress desire, disconnect from sensation, or abandon our authentic self How conscious relationships require vulnerability, self trust, and the capacity to stay present with fear, intimacy, and uncertainty Sureya Leonara is a Holistic Sex & Relationship Coach and Writer with a kink for sucking the marrow from each moment. Her work collapses outdated identities, expands capacity to stay with discomfort, and lives at the wild edge where fear and desire make eye contact and learn to breathe together. Free “Making Love with Life” Practice: blue-block-67264.myflodesk.com/nxsyaw1wyh Substack: open.substack.com/pub/alchemyoferos Follow Sureya on Instagram: ⁠@‌alchemy.of.eros⁠ ⁠Holistic Sex & Relationship Coach | Sureya Leonara Follow me on Instagram: ⁠⁠@sovereignself.love⁠⁠ Join my email list: ⁠⁠Join my email list — Sovereignself.love⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠www.sovereignself.love⁠

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5
out of 5
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About

Sovereign Self is a podcast about erotic embodiment, relational sovereignty, and intimacy as a lived practice. Hosted by Megan Phippen, a licensed sex and relationship therapist, the show explores the relationship between sex, love, and spirit through a grounded, body-based lens. Sovereign Self invites you to unlearn inherited shame, question conditioned relationship norms, and cultivate a deeper relationship with desire, sensation, and truth. Liberation begins inside your own skin.

Information

  • Creator
    Megan Phippen, MA LPC
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Megan Phippen, MA LPC
  • Show Website
    Sovereign Self