Orgasmic Birth, Miscarriage & Pelvic Healing (with Katie Spataro)
Share this episode:
In This Episode
Rahi speaks with Katie Spataro, a somatic sex educator, holistic pelvic care provider and full spectrum doula who serves as core faculty at the Institute for the Study of Somatic Sex Education and adjunct faculty in Antioch University’s Sex Therapy Certificate Program. Katie left a career in engineering after two initiations in her own body: a miscarriage she moved through largely without support, and, two years later, an orgasmic birth she had not planned that changed her relationship to her sexual self.
Listeners learn why Katie believes birth and sexuality cannot be separated, why she sees birth as inherently orgasmic even though support for birthing people varies so widely, and why she speaks of roughly three years of integration after pregnancy, whether it ends in loss or a living baby. She describes healing her own birth injuries through pelvic work, a decade of internal pelvic fascial release, and a ten-year touch exchange with a colleague held within the Wheel of Consent. The conversation also explores miscarriage grief and ritual, a healing retreat for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and how grief and pleasure can each open the door to the other. It is a tender listen for anyone navigating pregnancy loss, birth recovery or pelvic floor healing.
Today’s Guest:
Katie Spataro (she/her) is a somatic sex educator, holistic pelvic care provider and full spectrum doula informed by the intersections of birth work and sex work to support healing of the personal and collective cultural bodies.
Katie blends various modalities of somatic practice, bodywork and skilled coaching in her private practice, and facilitates classes on sexual and reproductive wellness, embodied consent, grief and loss, pregnancy and birth, and erotic education through a trauma-informed and healing-centered lens.
She currently serves as core faculty at the Institute for the Study of Somatic Sex Education and as adjunct faculty at Antioch University’s Sex Therapy Certificate Program.
Over the last 25 years, Katie also studied and practiced various forms of dance and yoga, exploring ways in which the body is a channel for the divine – including deep dives into the ecstatic realms through breathwork, plant medicines, and erotic practice.
What You’ll Learn About Birth, Loss & Pelvic Healing
Pivotal embodied initiations – Katie’s journey from engineering to somatic sex work was catalyzed by two profound experiences: a miscarriage that required spontaneous ritual and an orgasmic birth that forever changed her relationship to her sexual body
Birth and sexuality are inseparable – Katie explores how pregnancy, birth, loss, and sexuality are all deeply intertwined expressions of our sexual bodies that cannot be separated
The three-year integration window – Both physically and spiritually, major life transitions like birth and loss require years of integration, not just immediate postpartum healing
Early embodied connection as foundation – Katie traces her sexual intelligence back to early masturbation and a mother who consciously worked to raise her without sexual shame despite their Catholic upbringing
Grief and pleasure as portals – These two states function as gateways into each other—pleasure can open us to grief, and grief work can become profoundly erotic when we fully embody it
The pervasiveness of childhood sexual trauma – Katie reveals that the majority of her clients are survivors of childhood sexual trauma, yet this remains deeply taboo even within conversations about sexual abuse
Survivors healing retreat as medicine – For eight years, Katie has co-facilitated retreats creating brave space for survivors to do grief work and tend to resilience and joy in community
Intergenerational healing through lineage work – Katie emphasizes how our healing work impacts not only our own bodies but breaks cycles across generations, both ancestrally and for future lineages
Training as personal healing – The journey of becoming a somatic sex educator or sexological bodyworker requires practitioners to face and heal their own sexual histories before holding space for others
Embodiment as access to the divine – Through 25 years of yoga, dance, breathwork, plant medicines, and erotic practice, Katie explores the body as a channel for the sacred and the ecstatic
Go Deeper: Related Articles
Common Questions About This Episode
Can childbirth be orgasmic?
Katie Spataro experienced an unplanned orgasmic birth and, from attending births in hospitals, homes and surgical settings, has come to see birth as inherently orgasmic. She links this to hormones shared between sex and birth and to a pleasure-filled pregnancy. She also notes that whether people can access this depends greatly on how they are supported.
How long does it take to heal emotionally after a miscarriage or birth?
In this episode Katie Spataro describes a window of roughly three years for integrating a major pregnancy transition, whether it ends in loss or with a living baby. She encourages gentleness with that timeline and shares how creating her own rituals helped her honor a miscarriage that received little acknowledgment from those around her.
What is internal pelvic fascial release?
Katie Spataro has offered internal pelvic fascial release for about a decade, mainly with people who have a uterus. She describes it as slow, present work that can help the pelvic floor return to a relaxed sling and help the nervous system settle. She values referral networks with urologists and other specialists and welcomes pleasure rather than fearing arousal.
How are grief and pleasure connected?
Katie Spataro sees grief and pleasure as portals to one another. Pleasure can relax the body enough for held grief to surface, and grief that is fully embodied through breath, sound and movement can itself become erotic. This understanding shapes her survivors’ retreat, which now holds both grief work and joy and resilience work.
Go Deeper Into This Work
If you’re ready to go to the root of genital numbness, pain, or disconnection, Rahi’s The 3 Keys to Genital De-Armoring guides you through the principles and hands-on practices of this work.
Learn the foundational principles and somatic practices to restore sensitivity, circulation, and pleasure in the genitals.
Explore More On Genital De-armoring
This conversation is part of a
deeper body of work on
Related Episodes on Genital De-armoring:
- → The Body Doesn’t Forget: Soft De-Armoring, the Psoas, and the Hidden Roots of Sexual Healing
- → Genital De-armoring: Somatic Sexual Healing & Trauma Release
- → Genital Health & Pleasure: Understanding the Body
- → Cervical Orgasm & Deep Sexual Healing
- → Pleasure as Medicine: Pelvic Healing & Sexual Recovery
Featured Episodes
With Some of the Wisest Somatic Sexologists in the Field
Dr. Aline LaPierre
Creator of Neuroaffective Touch Therapy and author of Healing Developmental Trauma
Susanne Roursgaard
Devi Ward Erickson
Dr. Liam Snowdon
Kimberly Ann Johnson
Dr. Ellen Heed
Keli Garza
Kris Gonzalez, L.Ac.
"Coocky" Tassanee Boonsom
Dr. Betty Martin
About This Podcast & Your Host
We explore the restoration of pleasure, the reclamation of sexual sovereignty, and the realization of our organic sexual wholeness. We engage with leading somatic therapists, sexologists & sexological bodyworkers, and holistic practitioners worldwide who provide practical wisdom from hands-on experiences of working with clients and their embodied sexuality. We invite a deep listening to the organic nature of the body, its sexual essence, and the bounty of wisdom embodied in its life force.
Rahi Chun
Certified Somatic Sex Educator & Sexological Bodyworker
Rahi is fascinated by the intersection of sexuality, psychology, spirituality and their authentic embodiment. Based in Los Angeles, he is an avid traveler and loves exploring cultures, practices of embodiment, and healing modalities around the world.
