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Radical Intimacy: Cultivate the Deeply Connected Relationships You Desire and Deserve
A narrative guide and practical methodology for nurturing and sustaining our relationships with ourselves, others, and the world.
“With intimacy as the foundational principle of our existence, we can build a life based on what we truly need, not what we think we need or have been told we need. By embracing the practice of radical intimacy, I can confidently promise my readers a personal revolution of self-acceptance, appreciation, vitality, and confidence. And without fail, mind-blowing, soul-stirring, earth-shattering sex follows.”—Zoë KorsPart practical guide, part client stories, part personal narrative, Zoë Kors draws on her experience as a sex and intimacy coach, thought leader, and relationship writer in sharing her powerful and practical methodology for nurturing and sustaining our intimate relationships over time. She addresses the essential truth that is almost universally missed in discussions of sex and We can meet each other only to the extent that we can meet ourselves. Kors guides the reader on a five‑part journey through nine areas of opportunity for deepening intimacy with themselves, their partner, and their world, inviting them to embrace emotional, physical, and energetic self‑mastery, which is required to skillfully relate with others. At the conclusion of each part, there are a collection of experiential exercises which support the reader in embodying the concepts they’ve just read. Voice-driven, accessible, and with the right amount of tough love, Radical Intimacy takes the mystery out of human connection. From academia and science to mysticism and self-development, Kors delivers a rich and varied understanding of human sexuality and intimacy through the lens of the body, brain, heart, spirit, and culture.
“With intimacy as the foundational principle of our existence, we can build a life based on what we truly need, not what we think we need or have been told we need. By embracing the practice of radical intimacy, I can confidently promise my readers a personal revolution of self-acceptance, appreciation, vitality, and confidence. And without fail, mind-blowing, soul-stirring, earth-shattering sex follows.”—Zoë KorsPart practical guide, part client stories, part personal narrative, Zoë Kors draws on her experience as a sex and intimacy coach, thought leader, and relationship writer in sharing her powerful and practical methodology for nurturing and sustaining our intimate relationships over time. She addresses the essential truth that is almost universally missed in discussions of sex and We can meet each other only to the extent that we can meet ourselves. Kors guides the reader on a five‑part journey through nine areas of opportunity for deepening intimacy with themselves, their partner, and their world, inviting them to embrace emotional, physical, and energetic self‑mastery, which is required to skillfully relate with others. At the conclusion of each part, there are a collection of experiential exercises which support the reader in embodying the concepts they’ve just read. Voice-driven, accessible, and with the right amount of tough love, Radical Intimacy takes the mystery out of human connection. From academia and science to mysticism and self-development, Kors delivers a rich and varied understanding of human sexuality and intimacy through the lens of the body, brain, heart, spirit, and culture.
263 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 12, 2022
45 people are currently reading
380 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 27, 2022
This book changed my life. I have been able to find myself so much more deeply since starting this book and I plan to annotate it the next time I read it. It is full of physical and mental exercises and practices to incorporate into your life and I can't recommend it enough.
April 15, 2022
“Intimacy is the antidote to shame.”
Topics that interested me most:
🌺 Trifecta of anti-intimacy: denial, deflection, distraction
🌺 Sex as a symptom of a more fundamental issue
🌺 Info on female sexual anatomy and East African sexual practices
🌺 Holding space skillfully
🌺 The idea of “city Sunday”
What I didn’t like:
🌺 I didn’t really realize there was a lot of very sexual (and graphic) content and personal stories
🌺 Some paragraphs were way too long-more than a page
🌺 There were some tips/ideas I couldn’t imagine being comfortable doing (but maybe that’s the point)
I don’t really think I’m the target reader for this but I think if you feel like you are personally in an emotional rut or are in a physical rut with your partner, this would be a great read for you! It might be something I refer back to later.
My sister is a therapist wanting to specialize in working with couples regarding relationship/sex/intimacy issues so this seems like a perfect read for her. Will report back what she thinks!
“Desire originates in the mind and arousal in the body.”
⚠️: pet death, sex/sexuality
Thank you @hachettego @hachettebooks for the arc and finished copy.
Topics that interested me most:
🌺 Trifecta of anti-intimacy: denial, deflection, distraction
🌺 Sex as a symptom of a more fundamental issue
🌺 Info on female sexual anatomy and East African sexual practices
🌺 Holding space skillfully
🌺 The idea of “city Sunday”
What I didn’t like:
🌺 I didn’t really realize there was a lot of very sexual (and graphic) content and personal stories
🌺 Some paragraphs were way too long-more than a page
🌺 There were some tips/ideas I couldn’t imagine being comfortable doing (but maybe that’s the point)
I don’t really think I’m the target reader for this but I think if you feel like you are personally in an emotional rut or are in a physical rut with your partner, this would be a great read for you! It might be something I refer back to later.
My sister is a therapist wanting to specialize in working with couples regarding relationship/sex/intimacy issues so this seems like a perfect read for her. Will report back what she thinks!
“Desire originates in the mind and arousal in the body.”
⚠️: pet death, sex/sexuality
Thank you @hachettego @hachettebooks for the arc and finished copy.
June 10, 2022
Kors takes a deep dive into intimacy in three forms that she uses to build out a matrix.: emotional, physical, and energetic. The other part of the matrix is how each of these are experienced with self, with others, and with the world. The energetic intimacy was a new concept to me, but one I enjoyed learning about. Kors uses stories of people experiencing issues in these areas to illustrate the concepts, possible issues or things holding someone back, and how they're able to work through them. Each section was informative and included detailed exercises or activities to grow in intimacy in each area. The examples used featured diverse sexualities and some of the exercises certainly pushed my own comfort boundaries, so as with any nonfiction I took all of the book in and filtered what I could use through my own values and beliefs. I appreciated the inclusion of tangible ways to improve each of the areas of intimacy rather than just including information on each area so that the reader could implement strategies for increased intimacy straight away.
June 22, 2022
Everything you thought you knew about intimacy is wrong. Or at best, limited. But Zoe Kors sets the record straight. This book is eye opening no matter what kind of relationship you are in or wish you were in. Kors not only lays out a helpful guide to the different kinds of intimacy, (it isn’t just about sex) but also makes it personal with stories of her own struggles and those of her clients. I saw myself in many of those clients and you will, too. If you want stronger deeper connections with yourself, friends, partners, and the world then this book is for you!
June 10, 2023
A great read that focuses on a lot of different factors that inhibit us from exploring who we are.
“It’s not that feeling less than comfortable is the goal, but with growth as the goal, it’s a necessary part of the process. And it’s easy to fall into the resistance of feeling less than comfortable, especially in the techno-industrial era, when there are a myriad of ways to distract ourselves.”
“It’s not that feeling less than comfortable is the goal, but with growth as the goal, it’s a necessary part of the process. And it’s easy to fall into the resistance of feeling less than comfortable, especially in the techno-industrial era, when there are a myriad of ways to distract ourselves.”
October 30, 2022
Six stars! It’s about intimacy with yourself, with partner and the world. I really liked the suggested exercises.
April 22, 2023
Definitely need to buy this book so I can bookmark and highlight all the juicy bites of practical information
June 10, 2022
Kors takes a deep dive into intimacy in three forms that she uses to build out a matrix.: emotional, physical, and energetic. The other part of the matrix is how each of these are experienced with self, with others, and with the world. The energetic intimacy was a new concept to me, but one I enjoyed learning about. Kors uses stories of people experiencing issues in these areas to illustrate the concepts, possible issues or things holding someone back, and how they're able to work through them. Each section was informative and included detailed exercises or activities to grow in intimacy in each area. The examples used featured diverse sexualities and some of the exercises certainly pushed my own comfort boundaries, so as with any nonfiction I took all of the book in and filtered what I could use through my own values and beliefs. I appreciated the inclusion of tangible ways to improve each of the areas of intimacy rather than just including information on each area so that the reader could implement strategies for increased intimacy straight away.
April 4, 2022
Thanks to Hachette Books for sending me this one!
I feel like this book did what it set out to do, which is to inform its readers of the matrix of different types of intimacy we can cultivate with ourselves and others. But it did so in a pretty bare bones way. I feel like it just scratched the surface of intimacy and would’ve liked to read about more types of intimacy (eg between friends, connection with family, etc).
With that said, I did enjoy the connections the author made to other practices and cultural beliefs. Again, I feel like there could’ve been more said about different cultures and their ideas of intimacy, but I do appreciate overall what the book had to offer. It also features helpful and details ways of exploring intimacy in our everyday lives, which I liked.
I feel like this book did what it set out to do, which is to inform its readers of the matrix of different types of intimacy we can cultivate with ourselves and others. But it did so in a pretty bare bones way. I feel like it just scratched the surface of intimacy and would’ve liked to read about more types of intimacy (eg between friends, connection with family, etc).
With that said, I did enjoy the connections the author made to other practices and cultural beliefs. Again, I feel like there could’ve been more said about different cultures and their ideas of intimacy, but I do appreciate overall what the book had to offer. It also features helpful and details ways of exploring intimacy in our everyday lives, which I liked.
April 14, 2022
This is very interesting reading, with a lot of useful things to think about. I'd never really considered the various spheres of intimacy (with self, others, and the world) and it's a worthwhile concept to ponder. This is organized well and a lot of different methods and examples are used to explain each concept, so hopefully there are ideas everyone can connect to. There are helpful exercises for each section that will help reinforce the ideas and help readers build skills for emotional intelligence and various kinds of intimacy. This would be a great read for anyone looking to know themselves, and connect with others, better.
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!
August 21, 2022
The thing I enjoyed most about this book was the structure, breaking down intimacy into categories of the emotional, the physical, and the energetic as well as delineating these types to the self, others, and the world. It gives readers many avenues for them to explore and work with intimacy, since everyone is unique in which area they are most or least confident of being intimate.
This roadmap really laid a solid foundation for the rest of the book, which was filled with enlightening anecdotes from Kors's own clients and personal experiences. I also really appreciated the researched psychological perspective and insights blended into these case studies, as this helped me understand and appreciate the advice from this book in both an emotional and intellectual way.
The book was rich, intriguing, and comforting, and I enjoyed!
This roadmap really laid a solid foundation for the rest of the book, which was filled with enlightening anecdotes from Kors's own clients and personal experiences. I also really appreciated the researched psychological perspective and insights blended into these case studies, as this helped me understand and appreciate the advice from this book in both an emotional and intellectual way.
The book was rich, intriguing, and comforting, and I enjoyed!
February 19, 2025
a really enjoyable read! Definitely one I’ll return to for different concepts when i need them. I appreciate the framework through which she examines intimacy, and I found the concrete examples from her own coaching work to be really validating reassuring.
I thought some of her exercise modifications for differently-abled/trans/queer people were kind of lacking. Perhaps she recognizes her own limitations in creating exercises that were adapted to these groups, but i think “take what you can and leave what doesn’t work” can be a little bit of a cop out.
overall though, i think it can be a really good resource for people at any point of their own journey with their self and others 🙂↕️ 💓
I thought some of her exercise modifications for differently-abled/trans/queer people were kind of lacking. Perhaps she recognizes her own limitations in creating exercises that were adapted to these groups, but i think “take what you can and leave what doesn’t work” can be a little bit of a cop out.
overall though, i think it can be a really good resource for people at any point of their own journey with their self and others 🙂↕️ 💓
November 4, 2023
Some of it was a bit too esoteric, woo-woo, whatever you want to call it, for my liking. Some of it made me uncomfortable, and some of it made me uncomfortable but think, if I could get myself to feel this kind of discomfort it would probably be good for me to
December 31, 2024
Zoe has a very down-to-earth approach that helps one over the hurdles of discomfort at opening up-- to oneself, to others. Highly recommended if you are on a lifelong journey to understanding yourself and others and what makes us humans tick.
September 24, 2022
I picked this up at the library thinking it would be something different >.<
October 17, 2022
Good pointers
This book has good tips and reminders for developing and maintaining intimacy. The couples who didn't make it were a bummer. But I suppose realism is important.
This book has good tips and reminders for developing and maintaining intimacy. The couples who didn't make it were a bummer. But I suppose realism is important.
November 9, 2023
I'm still reading this. Very perplexed on the casual comment "I've been masterbating since I was 3" - im sorry what? Am I the only one who finds this strange?
September 10, 2024
Life affirming. I didn't want it to end. Thank you, Zoe Kors, for cracking me open.
December 13, 2024
i want to gift this to several people i know lol
November 29, 2023
I am now questioning my own issues with intimacy and want to dig deeper. There are parts that are graphic, which I don’t mind. But I don’t care abt male anatomy, so I skip those parts.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews