“Home is not an address. Home is where you feel safe. And your body is aching to be your home.”
How you view your body and your sexuality is informed and strengthened by spiritual practices, but how many of us can say that religion has drawn us closer to our bodies? That’s because worship spaces that are intended to be spiritual safe houses have not historically been welcoming to our bodies, forcing us to leave our flesh at the door. This ideological amputation is at best a disservice and at worst a sin. The remedy? Radical self-hospitality.
In Sensual Faith, Lyvonne Briggs charts a path for us to practice spiritual wellness that aligns and harmonizes our bodies with pleasure and sexuality. By centering the rich traditions of ancient West African spirituality, Sensual Faith offers a radically inclusive model of companioning one’s self. Filled with wellness rituals, journal prompts, affirmations, and practices, Sensual Faith shows us how to celebrate our bodies as our very homes.
“Pleasure is your birthright,” writes Briggs, so whether it’s accepting your flesh, nurturing your intuition, learning the language of consent, or sumptuous self-care, let radical self-hospitality guide you to healthy sexuality.
Contents
Foreword by Briana Boyd, PhD
Author’s Note
Chapter 1: Aching for Home:
Learning to Ease Spiritual Homesickness
Chapter 2: “Body” Is Not a Four-Letter Word:
Renewing Your Mind About Your Flesh
Chapter 3: “I Had a Feeling”:
Trusting Your Gut and Nurturing Your Intuition
Chapter 4: “But the Bible Says…”:
Acknowledging What Church and Society Got Wrong
Chapter 5: #MeToo, Sis:
Healing Sexual Trauma and Fostering Resiliency
Chapter 6: Feel the Feels
Honoring Your Body’s Truth
Chapter 7: Pleasure Is Your Birthright:
Curating a Lavish Life of Flow and Ease
Chapter 8: Masturbation Is a Gift from God:
Getting Acquainted with Desire
Chapter 9: Beautiful Scars:
Re-membering to Love Yourself Unapologetically
Acknowledgments
Resources
Notes
“Lyvonne Briggs is fearless, fabulous, and unflinchingly talking taboo. Sensual Faith is a groundbreaking work of spiritual decolonization and a powerful reclamation of the body.”—Linda Kay Klein, author of Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free
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