Fifteen years ago, Lucia Paxton was exhausted. She had a toddler and, like many of us, wore multiple hats. By the time she finished her to-do list for the day and even thought about making time for pleasure, both she and her husband were too tired to even communicate, let alone do something about it. Her sex life was virtually nonexistent, and she wondered what had happened to that free, wild woman who’d traveled across the country from upstate New York in an old station wagon with her cat.
Since moving to Santa Cruz, Lucia was deeply involved in the community. When she had her daughter, she wanted to have a natural birth. But after hours of labor, she ended up getting pushed into having a cesarean—an incredibly traumatic experience, and unfortunately all too common. She was already doing birth photography, and ended up starting a local chapter of the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) here to support and advocate for women who shared her experience.
Through ICAN, Lucia met a woman with sensuality training and was invited over for an evening of communication games. She got her husband involved, and together they began exploring Deliberate Orgasm (female orgasm). Her entire life began to change.
Lucia had met her husband, Trevor shortly after moving cross-country. She was working in a Turkish coffee house at the Renaissance Faire, bent over in her Daisy Dukes while washing out bins, when a old, blue Datsun pickup pulled up. A tall man got out, wearing a black beret, a cut-off shirt and combat boots. She thought, “Who are you?” Immediately followed by, “Oh, you’re my boss!”
You know the feeling. That feeling. Well, that feeling was back after a long hiatus, and Lucia and her husband embraced their new lifestyle of “living in pleasure.” She quit her day job as a Spanish teacher and they moved to San Francisco to live in an intentional community that researched communication and sensuality.
Together, Lucia and Trevor founded Luscious L.O.V.E. Life to teach sensuality classes, as well as the Meetup group JUMPSTART Santa Cruz. L.O.V.E. stands for Lighted Orgasmic Validated Evolving, the goal being to share the communication tools for women and men to have the pleasurable relationships they desire. Lucia also runs a monthly event called the Sensual Salon at Body and Soul Yoga, which can be joined through the Meetup group Sensual Women of Santa Cruz. She says there’s something for everyone, whether you’re single or partnered and seeking more fun in your life—even if you just want to learn how to communicate better. “Everyone has their own flavor.”
The point is to get in touch with your sensuality: learn how to embrace and communicate what you see, smell, taste and feel. She says, “In order to feel, you have to be willing to slow down and notice. Ask yourself, where is pleasure on your list? The potential lies within slowing down and making pleasure a priority… making pleasure your way of living.”
Committed to leading from a place of abundance, Lucia started a grassroots organization called Free Lives of Women (FLOW), collecting organic feminine products and supplies for homeless women. Sensual Salon is donation-based and those for FLOW are encouraged.
Lucia has been featured on Bustle and our very own Discover HER radio. Tune in to her weekly livestream, Luscious Love Hour, Mondays at 7 p.m. on O.school. This Valentine’s Day she will be debuting the Million Mirrors Movement, a livestream on how to view your vulva with a hand mirror. The intent is to have a million women taking part in embracing their sensuality at once (no nudity will be shown, she will simply be guiding you in the comfort and privacy of your own home). And look for a discoverHER event with sensuality tastings coming soon.
WOW Lucia, you are one sensual woman! Thanks for showing us how to OWN it!
Visit her website for more information: http://www.lusciouslovelife.us/
Here’s the link to discoverHER Radio: Episode #2 with Lucia Paxton
Written by our discoverHER blogger: Liz Hodges
