Book a session with Dr. Liz Ray at Body as Home, and you can expect 1 to 1.5 hours built around breathwork, grounding, and consent-based bodywork, the goal being a real reconnection with your body, not just a conversation about it. Sessions happen either in person at her practice in Lisbon or online over video call, and the shape of each one depends entirely on what you’re working toward. Some people come in curious about vulva mapping or prostate massage. Others just want a space to talk about shame and desire without being judged for either. Either way, sessions move through the same basic rhythm: check in, settle into the body, do the work, then reflect on it.
Here’s what that actually looks like in practice, who tends to seek this kind of coaching out, and how Dr. Liz Ray ended up doing this work in the first place.
What Is Somatic Sex Coaching?
Somatic sex coaching works with the body first. It’s a hands-on, education-based approach to sexual health that pairs conversation with breathwork and, when it’s called for, consent-based touch. Certified Somatic Sexologists like Dr. Liz Ray train specifically to address anatomy, arousal, desire, dysfunction, and sexual trauma directly with clients, not from behind a desk, but through the body itself.
That training covers genital anatomy, masturbation coaching, and how to work with erotic energy in a way that’s grounded and safe. In person, this can mean touch. Online, it means visual and verbal guidance instead. Either way, the aim is the same: give people the sex education most of us never got, delivered through the body rather than a textbook.
One thing worth being clear about upfront: this isn’t psychotherapy. Dr. Liz Ray isn’t a licensed social worker or marriage and family therapist, and she doesn’t offer therapy or medical advice. What she offers is coaching and education, and that distinction matters to how sessions are run.
How Dr. Liz Ray Became a Somatic Sexologist
Dr. Liz Ray didn’t start out in sex education; she started in movement. For years she worked as a professional dancer, eventually launching and running her own dance company. From there she trained as a master yoga teacher and expressive arts therapist and spent a decade teaching at the university level. So long before she ever coached anyone on pleasure or intimacy, she’d already spent a career studying how the body holds and releases what the mind can’t always name.
The shift toward sexology came out of her own life, not a career plan. After her marriage of several decades ended, she found herself on an unplanned path of sexual healing, and that path is what eventually led her to sexological bodywork and intimacy coaching. Body as Home grew out of what she learned doing that work on herself first.
She now lives in Lisbon as an American expat, serves as Vice President of the Association of Certified Sexological Bodyworkers, and stays active in the global Ecstatic Dance community, the same movement world that shaped how she teaches today.
Her training includes:
- Certified Breathwork Facilitator, Level 1 (Rio Otoya, 2025)
- Certified Somatic Sex Educator & Coach (Katie Sarra & Dr. Phoebe Garland, Institute for Relational Harmony Studies, 2024)
- Certificate in Working with Vaginismus (Dr. Martha Lee, 2024)
- Prostatic Portal Training (Stine Krage & Assim Sacred Fire, 2023)
- Somatic Shadow and Circle Work Facilitator Training (Christian Pankhurst, Heart IQ, 2023)
- Genital De-Armoring Training (Rahi Chun, 2023)
- Certified Sexological Bodyworker (Kian de la Cour & Katie Sarra, Sea School of Embodiment, 2022)
- Certified Embodied Sex Coach (Kian de la Cour & Katie Sarra, Sea School of Embodiment, 2022)
- Certified Consent Facilitator (Monica Baczynski & Erika Scott, 2022)
- Doctorate in Education, University of Rochester (2011)
Her own path through divorce and sexual healing is a big part of why the coaching feels less like a fix-it program and more like reclamation; she’s taught from having walked it herself, not just studied it.
What Happens During a Session
Sessions at Body as Home follow the same general arc whether you’re sitting across from Dr. Liz Ray in Lisbon or logging in from home. That consistency is deliberate; it’s what lets each session build on the last one.
- Check in. You start by naming what’s come up since the last session and what you want to focus on today.
- Ground. Before any bodywork begins, breath and internal awareness bring you into your body.
- Do the work. This is where the specific technique happens, whether that’s vulva mapping, prostate massage, scar treatment, masturbation coaching, or guided conversation for online sessions.
- Reflect. The session closes by connecting what happened back to any homework or practices you’re carrying into the next week.
From there, the two of you build a plan together; sometimes that includes role-play or breathwork, and sometimes it’s pure discussion with no touch at all. One session can genuinely shift something. But the work tends to land deepest across a series, since each session builds on what the last one uncovered.
Techniques Offered, In-Person and Online
Not every technique is available in every format. Here’s how it breaks down.
| Technique | Format | What It’s For |
| Vulva Mapping | In-person | Identifying what touch feels pleasurable, neutral, or numb |
| Prostate Massage | In-person | Anatomy education and pelvic awareness |
| Scar Treatment | In-person | Easing pain or numbness left by surgery |
| Masturbation Coaching | Online or in-person | Building a personal pleasure practice |
| Intimacy Coaching | Online | Honest communication and connection with a partner |
| Pleasure Coaching | Online | Expanding awareness of arousal and desire |
| Premature Ejaculation Support | Online | Learning to work with timing rather than fight it |
| Vaginismus Treatment | Online | Working through pain associated with penetration |
Every technique on that list runs on consent; nothing happens without agreement, checked at each step, not assumed at the start.
Who Tends to Seek This Kind of Coaching
There’s no single reason people book a first session. But a few patterns come up again and again:
- Feeling disconnected from your own body
- Carrying shame or negative self-talk around sex
- Sex that’s become painful, or just plain boring
- A libido or confidence that’s quietly disappeared
- Wanting to understand your own erotic body better
- Recovering from surgery and dealing with scar-related pain or numbness
- Healing as a survivor of sexual trauma
- Wanting a clearer handle on consent and boundaries
- Wanting to build a pleasure practice from scratch
If two or three of those sound familiar, that’s usually enough reason to have a conversation about it.
How This Differs From Tantra
People ask about this a lot, and the distinction is worth spelling out. Sexological bodywork is structured and educational; it’s built for people working through sexual dysfunction, learning about sensation and boundaries, or wanting a professional, safe container to do that in.
Tantric massage tends to be looser and more intuitive, often leaning into spiritual connection or a sense of transcendence rather than a defined curriculum. It suits people more interested in exploring sexuality and energy work without a formal structure around it.
And to be direct about something that comes up often: no sexual exchange happens between client and practitioner, ever. Sessions stay focused on your learning and your own integration of it; that’s the whole point.
Choosing Between In-Person and Online
Both formats follow the same underlying rhythm, but they’re not interchangeable.
Anything involving direct touch, vulva mapping, prostate massage, or scar treatment only happens through in-person coaching, at the Lisbon practice on Costa do Castelo. Online coaching covers everything that doesn’t need hands-on work: intimacy coaching, pleasure coaching, and support around premature ejaculation or vaginismus. A lot of clients find the online format just as effective, with the bonus of doing the work from a space that already feels safe to them.
If you’re looking for a somatic sexologist in Lisbon specifically for hands-on sessions, that’s where the in-person work comes in. If travel isn’t realistic, online coaching gives you the same foundation minus the touch-based techniques.
A Few Questions People Usually Ask
- How do I know if this is right for me?
Honestly, the easiest way to find out is a free discovery call. You ask questions, get a feel for how Dr. Liz Ray works, and decide from there; there’s no pressure to commit before you’re ready. - How many sessions do people typically need?
It depends on what you’re working toward. One session can be meaningful on its own, but if you’re trying to shift a habit or build a new skill, four or five sessions give the learning room to actually stick. - Do I have to tell my partner I’m doing this?
Solo sessions come with the same confidentiality you’d expect from any professional relationship. Some clients keep it private at first, but the work tends to ripple into a partnership over time, so open communication usually ends up being encouraged. Partners are welcome to join a session only when the client asks for it, on their timeline. - Is it okay if I orgasm during a session?
Yes, if it happens naturally as part of the work. But orgasm isn’t the goal sessions are built around; the focus stays on tracking what’s happening in the body and building agency, not chasing a specific outcome. - Is any of this legal and ethical?
Yes. Sexological Bodyworkers train professionally and follow a strict code of ethics, with clear boundaries built into the work. Respect, safety, and consent aren’t add-ons here; they’re the structure the whole thing runs on.
The Short Version
- Sessions run 1–1.5 hours and move through a consistent rhythm: check in, ground, do the work, reflect.
- Dr. Liz Ray’s approach draws on 30+ years across dance, yoga, and expressive arts therapy, not just sexology training.
- Touch-based techniques, vulva mapping, prostate massage, and scar treatment are only offered in person in Lisbon.
- This is coaching and education, not therapy, and there’s never sexual exchange between client and practitioner.
- A free discovery call is the low-pressure way to find out if it’s a fit.
About the Author
Dr. Liz Ray is a certified somatic sex educator, intimacy coach, and Certified Sexological Bodyworker based in Lisbon, Portugal. She holds a Doctorate in Education from the University of Rochester and serves as Vice President of the Association of Certified Sexological Bodyworkers. She’s the founder of Body as Home, offering somatic sex coaching in person in Lisbon and online. Follow her work on Instagram and TikTok.
