If You Can’t Come Back, You Weren’t Initiated Subscribe to Substack Sign-up for the newsletter “Eroticism, may be said, is assenting to life up to the point of death.” — Georges Bataille I am reading Georges Bataille’s English translation of Erotism: Death and Sensuality, in which erotic desire is revealed not simply as pleasure or indulgence, but as a willingness to engage life with passion and risk, where the self loosens, taboos give way, and we skim the edge of death. Erotic authority is knowing how close to the edge you can go and having the Somatic intelligence to find your way back. There is a part of you that is not interested in being well-adjusted.It doesn’t want balance.It doesn’t want approval.It wants to feel more—even if that means flirting with the edge of annihilation. That part knows the truth most people spend their lives avoiding: the erotic isn’t polite. It isn’t safe. It doesn’t care about your spiritual vocabulary or your relationship agreements. It presses. It pulls. It asks whether you’re willing to loosen your grip on who you think you are. This is why people keep throwing themselves at peak experiences. Psychedelics. Tantra weekends. Kink and BDSM scenes that promise transformation. Religious devotion dressed up as transcendence. Extreme sports. Relationships that swear they’re about freedom. All of them whisper: Come here. Come closer. Dissolve. And, it works. You disappear just enough to feel alive. Then it’s over. The room empties. The drug wears off. The rope comes off. The altar is dismantled. And you’re back in your body, alone with a nervous system that has no idea what to do with what just happened. So you chase it again. This is where the erotic gets misunderstood. Not as sex, but as escape. Not as intimacy, but as transcendence without consequence. Without preparation. Without return.

My recording platform just sent this to me. Lot's of work was done. 25 episodes recorded. Several in the schedule and many just waiting to be scheduled. 2026 will be an amazing year (again). Let me know if there are any specific people you would like me to try and interview.

Good morning everyone. I'm coming to you from Managua, Nicaragua and reminding you that at 10:30 PDT the Somatic Pleasure Podcast premier will begin. This week features my original Massage and Bodywork teacher, mentor and friend, Fred Mitouer. Fred will be watching the premiere with us and available on the live chat during the show. Description: What happens when two men meet at the edge of body and soul? In this unforgettable episode of The Somatic Pleasure Podcast, James Humecky sits down with his very first massage teacher and long-time friend, Fred Mitouer, Ph.D.—the legendary bodyworker, philosopher, and creator of Somatic Agency™. Their relationship spans two decades of reverence, friction, individuation, and full-circle respect. Together, they dive into the realness of transformation through the body: from rage to tears, from ancestral wounding to ecstatic artistry. Fred shares stories of building his Mendocino sanctuary on land laced with fault lines and iron deposits—a place he calls a vortex. He opens up about navigating shadow realms, metabolizing trauma through sculpture and sweat, and why touch is still the most radical act of healing. They explore the somatic roots of intimacy, how to "sculpt away the excess," and what it means to make love possible in a traumatized world. This conversation is a masterclass in embodied wisdom, touching on: The evolution from Transformational Bodywork to Somatic Agency™ How the body carries ancestral and cultural trauma. The art of collaborative healing and informed not-knowing. Movement, ritual, and shadow work as integration. Making touch sacred again in a disembodied age. Whether you’re a practitioner, seeker, or simply human, this episode will stir your cells. Watch Fred’s mini-documentary, "Grounding Light" at https://www.somaticagency.net/

This weeks Somatic Pleasure Newsletter - This will be posted tomorrow but I wanted to share it with you now because I am pretty excited about it! I talk about the Somatic Pleasure podcast, it's development, my reason for creating it and what yoiu can expect in the Future! Enjoy and let me know your thoughts, questions or comments. Love you!

The Invitation Every year, the holidays arrive like a tidal wave of light, sugar, noise, and obligation. We sprint toward December with full calendars and empty bodies, mistaking exhaustion for joy. But what if we stopped running? What if we treated this descent into darkness not as something to escape—but as an initiation into deeper presence? Across cultures, the season before solstice was never meant for indulgence. It was a time to prepare: to simplify, to fast, to clear space for renewal. Early Christians observed St. Martin’s Lent, a six‑week fast leading up to Christmas. The Eastern Orthodox Nativity Fast still invites abstinence from meat, dairy, and excess beginning mid‑November. In Asia, Ōsōji, the great year‑end cleaning, purifies homes before the New Year. In China and India, winter rituals emphasize conservation—less outward energy, more inward cultivation. The body already knows this rhythm. The nervous system craves it. It’s our culture that forgot. Read more on Substack When would be a good time for a check in? Feel free to suggest other days/times.