How are you at waiting calmly or allowing things to unfold as they will? Sometimes the pace of patience is excruciatingly slow and sometimes we lose our cool when stressors get high.

In this episode Bryan and I dive into the last of our three P’s: Patience. We talk about what patience really is (hint: it’s not passive), why it’s both a virtue and a skill, and how it shows up in messy, real-life moments — like the pressure cooker of event planning, parenting while under the weather, and the long, cyclical work of grief. We share stories about losing our cool (been there), learning to trust others and ourselves, and finding the balance between steady waiting and necessary action.

We also explore the shadow side of patience — when it becomes complacency — and how modern life, with its obsession for speed and instant gratification, is quietly eroding our ability to sit with uncertainty. Along the way we pull in references to nature, spiritual perspectives, and even walking-for-peace monks to remind you that patience can be practiced one step at a time.

If you’ve ever wanted to be kinder to yourself during hard seasons, learn to regulate your emotions under stress, or simply stop letting the external world dictate your internal weather, this chat is for you. Stay curious, be gentle with yourself, and remember: patience is not about inaction — it’s about steady presence, trust, and loving the unfolding.

Connect with Us:

• Sarah Koch: @radintimacy | radintimacy.com
• Bryan Russell: @sadhanayogaschool | sadhanayoga.com
• Yoga Earth & Soul: @yoga_earth_soul | Facebook | Youtube
• Suggest a topic: DM us or email podcast@radintimacy.com

Subscribe & Share: If this episode moved you, subscribe wherever you listen and share it with someone who might love it too. Let’s grow this beautiful, curious, intimate community—together. 💛

When is the last time you really played, just for play sake? Play isn’t just a childhood luxury but a grown-up practice that sparks creativity, calms the nervous system, and opens us to deeper connection.

Sarah and Bryan talk about the difference between unstructured play (think: a bucket and some balls, making up a game as you go) versus structured play (pickleball, salsa, a choreographed dance). The magic often happens when you’re invited to invent and improvise: the brain lights up, time flies, and you remember how to be delightfully ridiculous.

Play asks for willingness and a little bravery. There are stories — handstands in the middle of town, plunges into cold water, truth-or-dare over drinks — that show how risking a little silliness can build trust, spark attraction, and make someone feel like a keeper. Play is a social risk that pays off in deeper intimacy.

There’s real science here too: play raises endorphins, lowers cortisol, lifts mood, boosts resilience and creativity, and is linked to better emotional stability and healthier aging. With anxiety and depression up worldwide, rediscovering play is literally good medicine.

Of course, play needs consent and attunement — jokes, sarcasm, or pranks only land when everyone’s in. Use curiosity to check in: is this playful for both of us? If not, pause. When consent is present, play becomes a kinder, braver form of connection.

They also widen the lens: playing with nature (wandering without agenda, climbing a tree, delighting in small discoveries) and seeing life as divine play — lila — turns routine struggle into playful curiosity. Even spiritual practice, flirting, and foreplay can be reclaimed as sacred, joyful play.

Practical tips: play a little every day — try a silly morning movement, invent a game while cooking, bring a playful prompt to a date, play with your kids, or add a lighthearted ritual at work. Start small, practice when you’re safe, and expand into public as your comfort grows. Journal, improvise, dance, or just throw rocks in a pond — permission to be childlike is a practice, not a costume.

If this episode made you smile, try one tiny playful experiment today and notice how your mood and connections shift. We’re rooting for you — let curiosity lead, laugh loudly, and remember play isn’t frivolous: it’s fundamental.

Connect with Us:

• Sarah Koch: @radintimacy | radintimacy.com
• Bryan Russell: @sadhanayogaschool | sadhanayoga.com
• Yoga Earth & Soul: @yoga_earth_soul | Facebook | Youtube
• Suggest a topic: DM us or email podcast@radintimacy.com

Subscribe & Share: If this episode moved you, subscribe wherever you listen and share it with someone who might love it too. Let’s grow this beautiful, curious, intimate community—together. 💛

What does it really mean to be present?

What would change if you treated your attention as the rare, unrepeatable gift it actually is?

In this episode of That’s So Intimate, Sarah and Bryan slow things down and explore presence as more than paying attention. Presence is the ability to stay with what’s here — even when it’s uncomfortable, uncertain, or intense.

Together, they unpack how presence shows up in:

• Moments of crisis and calm

• Relationships and conflict

• Parenting, partnership, and leadership

• The body’s wisdom and nervous system responses

They talk about how clarity in a crisis can actually be a sign of deep presence — when we’re regulated enough to respond instead of react. Presence isn’t about being perfect or peaceful all the time. It’s about staying connected to yourself, your body, and the moment in front of you.

You’ll hear reflections on:

• The difference between reacting and responding

• Why presence starts in the body, not the mind

• How grounding and regulation create choice

• What it looks like to “show up” for yourself and others

• Why presence is a practice, not a personality trait

This episode is an invitation to pause, breathe, and remember: You don’t have to do more to be present — you just have to be here.

A great listen if you’re navigating stress, change, relationships, or simply wanting to feel more alive in your daily life.

Connect with Us:

• Sarah Koch: @radintimacy | radintimacy.com
• Bryan Russell: @sadhanayogaschool | sadhanayoga.com
• Yoga Earth & Soul: @yoga_earth_soul | Facebook | Youtube
• Suggest a topic: DM us or email podcast@radintimacy.com

Subscribe & Share: If this episode moved you, subscribe wherever you listen and share it with someone who might love it too. Let’s grow this beautiful, curious, intimate community—together. 💛

Drum roll please....today we finally announce our new project — Yoga, Earth, & Soul (or YES for short)!

This conversation is part origin story, part love letter, and part invitation.

Sarah & Bryan share how YES was born from a deep longing many of us feel — to live in harmony with ourselves, each other, the natural world, and spirit. Not as a trend. Not as a performance. But as a way of life.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• What YES (Yoga, Earth, & Soul) really is — and what it’s not

• Sarah’s journey from living “in her head” to learning how to listen to her body and soul

• Bryan’s lifelong connection to yoga and nature — and his growth edge around belonging and community

• Why so many people crave deep connection after yoga teacher trainings (and what’s been missing)

• The idea of a “modern spiritual home” — without dogma, hierarchy, or pressure

• What harmony actually means (hint: it’s not people-pleasing or pretending everything’s fine)

• The Celtic concept of anam cara — soul friends — and why true belonging changes everything

This episode explores big questions in a grounded, human way:

• What does it mean to live in alignment?

• How do we stay connected in a busy, consumer-driven world?

• What if community wasn’t something you visited once — but something you practiced over time?

YES is an invitation To slow down. To listen more deeply. To remember that you belong — to yourself, to the earth, and to each other.

If you’ve ever wished for a place to gather regularly… If you crave soulful conversation, embodied practice, and real connection… If you’re seeking harmony instead of hustle…

This episode is for you.

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Reach us, join us, and follow along on the YES journey:

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

In this episode we sink into a single beautiful word: harmony. We riff off Gandhi’s line about thoughts, words, and actions lining up, and then open into four directions of harmony: with yourself, with others, with nature, and with spirit. We talk real-life examples — not enough sleep, the loud inner critic, family dynamics, and what happens when ecosystems lose balance — to show how disharmony shows up in body, mind, and community.

We also get practical. Harmony isn’t about people-pleasing or pretending everything’s fine — it’s a skill set. We explore listening and presence as the foundation for repair, small rituals that actually help (hello, cacao by the fire and a morning check-in), and movement practices like yoga, hiking, and other “super connectors” that combine body, mind, and nature for more bang-for-your-time.

Along the way we share cross-cultural threads — like Fa'a Samoa’s reverence for balance — and the surprising idea that predators in an ecosystem can actually create harmony. We talk about creating containers where difference is honored, how to reframe objectives (competition vs. connection), and why skill-building — emotional regulation, active listening, and repair — matters so much.

This episode is warm and practical: we give examples you can try (checking in with how much sleep you actually need, experimenting with a daily ritual, getting outside, or choosing practices that give you multiple forms of connection at once). We also tease a new project grounded in harmony and joy — designed for seekers, people who love nature, yoga, deep conversations, and creative expression — and invite you to join the community if any of that lights you up.

If you want more ease, more aliveness, and a practical path toward feeling more whole, tune in and let this conversation be a gentle map: listen, practice, repair, and create harmony in the directions that matter to you. Hit subscribe, share with someone you care about, and drop us a note if there’s a word you want us to explore next.

Do you identify a seeker? Or maybe you're pursuing a path of personal development? If there's a curious flame that lives inside you yearning for something more then take a listen to this episode. We lean into that yearning — the endless why that pushes some of us to question, wander, and learn. Sarah and Bryan unpack how seeking shows up in childhood, schooling, relationships, parenting, and spiritual practice, and they talk honestly about the light and shadow of always wanting more. We compare curiosity to seeking, explore how structure and grounding can balance restless longing, and imagine how seekers and mentors can support each other on the path.

If you’re tired of the status quo and feel pulled toward more meaning — or if you’re someone who loves the comfort of being but is curious about growth — this episode offers compassionate, practical conversation and small steps to begin (or pause) your seeking. We also tease a new offering for folks who want community, practice, and guidance as they explore.

Grab a warm drink, get cozy, and join us as we dig in the dark — together.

Connect with Us:

• Sarah Koch: @radintimacy | radintimacy.com
• Bryan Russell: @sadhanayogaschool | sadhanayoga.com
• Suggest a topic: DM us or email podcast@radintimacy.com

'No' is a complete sentence. But for many of us saying a calm, but confident 'no' can be a challenge.

Today we’re digging into the small and empowering word: no. We talk about how no can be a boundary, a protection, a practice, and even the first step toward a truer, freer yes.

We unpack what it means when a yes isn’t really a yes (you’re choosing the lesser of two bad options), and why real consent only shows up when people feel safe enough to say no. From kids who learn that no equals punishment to adults navigating jobs, power dynamics, and romance, we explore how context shapes our ability to share an honest 'no'.

We get practical: how to be the kind of person who invites authenticity (curiosity > agenda), how to honor a simple 'no' in the moment, and how redirecting a no into a specific yes can preserve intimacy instead of shutting it down. We also talk about the masculine/feminine energy balance — how grounded steadiness creates the container that lets someone safely say yes or no.

Saying no builds trust both ways. If someone can say no to you and you receive it without judgment, you can go deeper. If you can say no and the world doesn’t fall apart, you learn to trust yourself more.

Connect with Us:

• Sarah Koch: @radintimacy | radintimacy.com
• Bryan Russell: @sadhanayogaschool | sadhanayoga.com
• Suggest a topic: DM us or email podcast@radintimacy.com

Subscribe & Share: If this episode moved you, subscribe wherever you listen and share it with someone who might love it too. Let’s grow this beautiful, curious, intimate community—together. 💛

Have you said 'yes' when you didn't mean it or said 'yes' before you had the chance to really think about what it means for your life?

'Yes' is a deceptively simple word, yet more complex than it appears. Turns out there's different flavors of 'yes': clean/uncomplicated, polite, fear-based, hopeful, and exhausted. So how can you slow down, listen to your body, and consult your values before deciding?

We talk about small, joyful yeses (like stepping into sunlight), big life yeses (kids, jobs, relationships), and the cost-benefit scales and second- and third-order consequences that shape our choices. You’ll hear practical guidance on how to ask for time to decide, how to create safer spaces for others to answer honestly, and ways to bring more wholehearted yeses into your everyday (from music during laundry to savoring morning rituals).

If you’re wrestling with obligations, family dynamics, or fear-based decisions, this episode offers compassionate insights on self-trust, consent, and reclaiming agency — plus a reminder that you get to choose again and again. Tune in and find out how saying yes (or no) can be a radical act of presence.

Connect with Us:

• Sarah Koch: @radintimacy | radintimacy.com
• Bryan Russell: @sadhanayogaschool | sadhanayoga.com
• Suggest a topic: DM us or email podcast@radintimacy.com

Subscribe & Share: If this episode moved you, subscribe wherever you listen and share it with someone who might love it too. Let’s grow this beautiful, curious, intimate community—together. 💛