Find your path back to presence, pleasure, and connection.
Somatic sex coaching for individuals and couples online. Move beyond performance and shift from your head back into your body to reclaim presence and pleasure in every season of life.
At Desire Pathways, I believe:
Consent, presence, and pleasure are the start of this work. It is only when we have clear, practised consent that we can begin to feel safe and present in our own bodies and with each other. From that place of safety, pleasure becomes possible.
For many of us (myself included), this wasn't something we were ever taught. This work begins with how we carry ourselves in our daily lives, which naturally extends into our bedrooms and our relationships.
In our sessions, there is no need for performance. Whether I am working with you individually or as a couple, you don’t have to "get it right" or be anyone other than who you are. I believe that mental distractions (like a running shopping list or the pressure to "do it right") are not failures. They are just bits of information that tell us exactly what you need to feel safe and settled in the moment.
Our sessions are slow, fully clothed, and entirely hands-off. My role is to guide you through simple practices using breath, sound, touch, movement, and awareness to help you listen to what your body is telling you. Together, we look at how consent and presence shape your pleasure, helping you find your way back to yourself.
Gentle work.
Practical tools.
Lasting change.
Meet Michaela
Kia ora, I’m Michaela, a certified Somatic Sex Coach and Sexologist with a BA in Psychology. I guide individuals and couples through somatic sex coaching to explore pleasure, intimacy, and connection safely. Using body-based awareness, reflective conversation, and practical tools, I help you reconnect with your body and bring insights into your daily life for lasting sexual wellbeing.
I’m passionate about helping people understand how safety, presence and embodiment shape pleasure and connection. I work with you to explore what feels good, meaningful and lasting in your body and relationships.
I’m registered with the Somatic Sex Educators Association of Australasia (SSEAA) and participate in regular professional supervision to ensure safe and ethical practice.
How Somatic Sex Coaching Supports You
Somatic sex coaching combines body-based awareness with reflective conversation to help you explore desire, intimacy, and connection safely. Sessions are collaborative, clothes-on, and non-touch. The goal is to help you understand the patterns shaping intimacy, reconnect with your body and pleasure, and integrate insights into daily life, whether you’re coming as an individual or as a couple.
01 Set Intention & Explore Experiences
We start with where you are right now. We clarify what you want to explore, reflecting on past patterns that may be acting as internal brakes while envisioning your desired sexual and relational wellbeing.
03 Integration & Ongoing Practice
Receive practical exercises to integrate learning into daily life, fostering lasting improvements in intimacy, communication, and sexual confidence.
We move into the body to explore these insights using a range of somatic skills, including movement, touch, sound, breath, and focused awareness. This is a co-creative process where we tune into sensation and experiment with new ways of being that feel right for your nervous system.
02 Embodiment & Co-Creation
Who this work is for
Individuals
This work may be for you if you want to:
Reconnect with your body, desire and sexual wellbeing
Move through shame, anxiety or confusion around intimacy
Increase self-awareness and confidence in sexual experiences
Feel more present and embodied during sex
Receive the sex education you should have had in school
Explore your sexuality in a safe guided space
Navigating transitions like menopause, changes in libido, or reclaiming personal pleasure after sex work
Couples Coaching
This work may be for you if you and your partner want to:
Reconnect and rebuild closeness when intimacy has faded
Navigate mismatched libido or changes in desire
Communicate more openly about needs, boundaries and pleasure
Explore sexuality together in a safe client-led embodied way
Strengthen emotional and erotic connection
Move past the 'roommate phase' by establishing a shared somatic language.
Long Term Support
And it may not be the right fit at this time if:
You are seeking hands-on tantric bodywork, sexual services, or erotic touch from a practitioner. This work is clothes on and does not include physical touch.
You are currently in a period of acute trauma, crisis, or significant bodily dissociation. In this case, I encourage seeking support from a trauma specialist to establish safety and self-regulation first. You are welcome to return when that foundation is in place.
You are looking for a medical diagnosis or pharmacological treatment for sexual dysfunction (in which case, I can work alongside your GP or specialist
You are looking for quick solutions or directive advice rather than a collaborative, reflective, and embodied process.
Events & Experiences
Based in Taupō
Hens’ parties, bridal showers, couples’ workshops and more. Fun, meaningful gatherings designed to spark connection, curiosity and confidence.
Discover experiences that go beyond the usual…
Professional Referrals
I work collaboratively with GPs, psychologists, and allied health professionals to support clients seeking guidance with sexual wellbeing, intimacy, and relational connection. Sessions are online-only, fully clothed, structured and client-led.
Visit my Referrals page.
Read the blog
FAQs
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A. As a Sexologist, I study the science of human sexuality and the "why" behind desire and arousal. As a Certified Somatic Sex Coach, I provide the "how" through body-based tools and practices that help you actually feel and integrate that knowledge. Together, these roles bridge the gap between understanding sex intellectually and experiencing pleasure physically.
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A: Michaela provides online coaching for individuals and couples throughout New Zealand + Worldwide. However, she hosts in-person workshops and hen’s party events right here in Taupō.
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A: If you are feeling disconnected, navigating low desire, or wanting to expand your intimacy, somatic coaching is for you. Michaela offers a trauma-informed, non-clinical space for adults of all genders and orientations. This service is also sex-worker-friendly.
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To ensure your nervous system feels safe, all sessions are fully clothed and non-touch. We use a structured 50/50 approach: half reflective conversation and half guided somatic practice. We often start with non-erotic somatic practices to build your skills in a low-pressure environment before moving toward intimacy goals.
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Not at all. While many people come to me to navigate transitions like menopause or mismatched libido, others simply want to move out of their heads and experience more presence and pleasure. Whether you are an individual or a couple, this work is about expanding your capacity for connection, not just 'fixing' a struggle
Take the Next Step
Ready to explore your pleasure, connection, and intimacy?
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