Ep#22 How to Love Your Sensual Self with Ann Nguyen

In this episode of Your Story Medicine, I welcome Ann Nguyen, a Sexual Empowerment Coach who believes in the revolutionary healing power of pleasure. Her work is in the service of changing the way women relate to pleasure and rewriting the narrative of sexuality in modern times. 

Ann speaks to us about the difference between sensuality and sexuality, how her Vietnamese ancestry has helped her understand herself and her relationship with sex, and what it was like to transition to entrepreneurship from a secure corporate job in the tech industry. She shares her candid thoughts on other people who do similar work but with a different clientele, then offers a beautifully simple practice you can do at any time to enhance your sensuality.

What are you celebrating today?

Myself! I am reaching a new level of entrepreneurship, devotion, and my calling, celebrating the two years of crushing my ego. I also took a cheeky little covid holiday and lived in my values (integrity, rest, pleasure, ease, and love), enjoying myself during a regularly busy season.

How would you describe your medicine?

I reconnect people with the natural abundance of joy, love, sensual aliveness that is their birthright and that pulses and moves through the entire Universe and every single object, moment, and piece of nature that surrounds us. 

What is your ancestral lineage and how has that influenced your medicine today?

My parents are from Vietnam and it’s been a journey for me in terms of how it has informed my work. I got really into spirituality when I was young, I felt a bit weird for it, and I was also disconnected from my lineage. My mom is very much on the assimilation train of being as American as you can. 

It was always a mystery why I was so mystical. Though recently, I’ve been going through a decolonization journey and I realized that my ancestors are the keepers of so many awakening traditions. That’s the core of my practice. Pleasure is part of my lineage, my culture, and my brilliance. I see myself as a continuation of the strong women who didn’t necessarily get to fulfill this part of their lives.  

What is the difference between sensuality and sexuality?

Sensuality has to do with the senses, like sight, taste, touch, sound, and smell. The entire world is sensual because everything has a way that you can engage with it through your senses. Sensuality is about being present and enjoying experiences.

Sexuality is more along the lines of physical act of sex, the energy of creation. I associate sexuality with the pulse of creation, which is also a big part of our lives. Sensuality and sexuality dance with one another. 

How has your family been receiving this path of yours?

It’s actually been really beautiful because of the way I approach and talk about this practice. I’ve been redefining sex out of this objectification, servitude toward others. When you embody a certain type of presence and power in anything, especially sexuality, no one can come for you because you are so in integrity with yourself and who you are. My mom is quite liberal and has been a victim of sexual assault, so she support my work because she sees it as medicine and medicine that many people in our culture didn’t get to have. I’ve recently gotten messages from my family saying they support what I do so I think it’s in the creation of a new vision that you get a different reaction. That’s how to create movements of change.

What was it like to work in the tech industry, seemingly having accomplished the American Dream, yet wanting to make the transition out of that to pursue this medicine?

I was my mom’s trophy daughter. Though, on the side, I was going through all of this spiritual awakening and doing this sexual empowerment work. I felt that I couldn’t not share this with the world. It was my calling. I knew that I was going to quit and I was so scared to tell my mom, but I remembered my lineage was made up of entrepreneurs. Remembering that touched us both in a really deep way. It was a big moment to realize that I’m carrying on our legacy.

How have you navigated this journey of becoming a sexual empowerment coach despite all the other folks who are doing similar work but serving a different clientele?

It was something that really upset me. I expended a lot of energy on it. It brought up anger, confusion, heartbreak, and hopelessness. It brought up remnants of colonization. Being in my lane and creating regardless of what other people are doing is what I have shifted toward and I feel so good. 

What are you doing to stay grounded right now and what are you learning to release?

To stay grounded, I’m been resourcing in pleasure and goodness as much as possible with nature and my own body. My morning work is to turn my grumpiness around using my tools to get back into creation mode because that feeds me.

I’ve released this fantasy that somehow whiteness is going to save me, change to accommodate me, or turn around and be better so that everyone else can be better.

Do you have a ritual or practice that listeners can partake in?

I invite you to notice your next breath. Take your left hand and gently touch your right hand. Let it be slow. Feel this quality of sensuality and being able to touch yourself with love and reverence. This is here with you 24/7. That’s all it takes.

If you could envision yourself as a future ancestor, what would you say to young Ann?

You have no idea the ride you’re about to go on and the amount of power you have within. Your power is so big and it’s always there. Get ready, this is a ride!

Conclusion: The deepest wisdom is in your body. It’s the most ancient part of you that’s been stored in you for millennia. It’s fixing your cuts without you even thinking about it. 

Action Integration: Find small ways to flirt with nature and to flirt with yourself. Make love to the sky, the trees, and the grass.

Learn more about Ann and her offerings:

Visit her website and get on her email list: www.theannnguyen.com 

Follow her on Instagram: www.instagram.com/theannnguyen 

Enroll in the School of Superpleasure: www.theannnguyen.com/school-of-superpleasure