IntimacyMoons Couples Therapy & Retreats

IntimacyMoons Couples Therapy & Retreats IntimacyMoon is the premier couples therapy experience, voted Best Couples Retreat by Women’s Health, LiveStrong, Bustle & Black Enterprise. Stay tuned!

We empower couples to achieve something money can’t buy: feeling joyfully alive and passionately connected. Escape the hustle and pressures of everyday life, to enhance your connection and emotional intimacy. IntimacyMoons™ Private Practice & Couples Retreats provide you with the essential tools to deepen intimacy on every level possible. The result is rapid, life-changing transformation and clari

ty that you can keep. Sometimes you need a getaway to come together - even if its in the comfort and privacy of your own home. We’re really good at helping you do just that. Couples Therapy: Marissa Nelson LMFT CST CSE is accepting new clients so take advantage of this unique opportunity! Private Intensive Retreats: A guided six-hour, one-on-one immersion experience with Marissa Nelson to help dive in and indulge your curiosity about yourself, and each other. The result - renewal of your emotional, physical and spiritual connection. On-Demand E-Courses: Coming soon, on-demand educational courses will be launched on topics such as pre-marital counseling, restoring emotional intimacy, and s*xual communication and desire.

One of the most common misunderstandings I see in my work with couples around desire is the belief that if you don’t spo...
09/04/2026

One of the most common misunderstandings I see in my work with couples around desire is the belief that if you don’t spontaneously want s*x, something must be wrong.

But desire doesn’t always begin the same way for everyone.

For some people, desire arrives first. You might find yourself thinking about s*x, feeling turned on, or wanting your partner before anything has happened.

For others, desire is more responsive. You may not be thinking about s*x at all, but as you feel connected, relaxed, touched, or engaged with your partner, desire begins to emerge.

Neither experience is more “s*xual.” Neither means you love your partner more or less. And neither is inherently a problem.

What can become a problem is when we interpret the difference as rejection. Now you’re no longer talking about desire. You’re talking about worth, rejection, pressure, and whether you feel wanted.

Understanding how desire works can interrupt that cycle ❤️‍🔥

You don’t have to desire the same way to desire each other. Sometimes the path to greater intimacy isn’t getting your partner to experience desire like you do. It’s learning how their desire works and creating the conditions where both of you can feel safe, connected, and wanted.

So the next time you’re wondering, “Why am I not in the mood?” try getting curious before getting critical.

There may be nothing wrong with your desire. You may just need a different pathway into it ✨

Save this for the next time you and your partner need a little reminder that different doesn’t mean disconnected.

POV: you picked the honeymoon destination you’ll still be dreaming about 15 years later. 🇮🇹💖5-star wellness experiences....
09/04/2026

POV: you picked the honeymoon destination you’ll still be dreaming about 15 years later. 🇮🇹

💖5-star wellness experiences.
⛵ Boat days along the coast.
🍝 Long dinners with nowhere else to be.
🥂 Champagne because… you’re newlyweds.
🌅 Sunsets you’ll swear you’ll never forget.

And maybe that’s what makes a honeymoon destination truly special.

You don’t just want somewhere beautiful.

You want somewhere that becomes part of your love story.

Save this for your honeymoon, proposal, or anniversary board. 🇮🇹

And if Italy is calling your name, let Intimacy Moons help you turn the dream into a trip you’ll be talking about for years.

Not every relationship crisis is dramatic. As a licensed marriage and family therapist, some couples come to me when thi...
09/02/2026

Not every relationship crisis is dramatic.

As a licensed marriage and family therapist, some couples come to me when things are loud — when they’re fighting constantly, considering separation, or no longer know how to reach each other.

But in my line of work, I also encounter couples who are experiencing something more subtle and can kill a marriage silently if it’s never addressed.

The couple still love each other. They still have a beautiful life together. They still show up for the birthdays, the vacations, the family dinners, the anniversaries.

And yet, somewhere along the way, they stopped feeling as connected as they used to. They share a life, but somehow it all feels so surface.

That kind of pain can be harder to prioritize because there’s no obvious emergency. Nothing is “wrong enough” to force you to address it.

But you don’t have to wait for your relationship to be in crisis before you care for it ❤️

Marriage needs maintenance, and sometimes the most important work happens when you can still say, “We love each other. We just don’t want to keep feeling like this.”

That’s part of why I created IntimacyMoons Retreats. I wanted to give couples intentional space to step outside the routines and responsibilities of everyday life, reconnect, and tend to the relationship underneath the life they’ve built together. Link in bio to learn more about our offerings and current retreat openings.

Your relationship deserves care before it gets to a breaking point ✨

If this sounds familiar, save this post 📌 and consider what your relationship might need before the loneliness becomes too loud to ignore.

❤️

Date night, upgraded. 🎾🥂The Waldorf Astoria is leaning into the world of luxury racquet experiences, bringing together t...
09/02/2026

Date night, upgraded. 🎾🥂

The Waldorf Astoria is leaning into the world of luxury racquet experiences, bringing together tennis, exceptional hospitality, and unforgettable destinations. ✨

And honestly? We love the idea of couples building a trip around something they can experience together, not just somewhere they can sleep. 💤

Because the best couples getaways aren’t always about escaping your routine.

Sometimes they’re about creating a brand-new one. ❤️

Would you and your partner plan a getaway around tennis? 🎾

08/31/2026

Ever notice how one person wants to talk it out immediately while the other seems to need… a LOT more time?

This is a classic tell in a maximizer/minimizer dynamic.

Neither person is necessarily wrong about the way they process. Often, both are trying to find safety in conflict—but they’re looking for it in very different ways.

🗣️ The Maximizer
- Processes out loud
- Wants to problem-solve in real time
- Wants to get the emotions and ideas out
- May experience silence or disconnection as especially uncomfortable
- Can sometimes seek agreement as a way of feeling loved, seen, and reassured

🤐 The Minimizer
- May need more time to process internally
- Can become quiet when there’s a lot of emotional energy in the room
- May worry about saying the wrong thing or making the conflict worse
- Can have a deep emotional world without having immediate language for it

The challenge is that each person’s attempt to feel safe can make the other person feel less safe.

The maximizer may think, “Why won’t you talk to me?” While the minimizer may be thinking, “I need a moment so I can figure out what I actually feel.”

And underneath both thoughts is often the same need:

“I need to know that we’re still connected, even when we disagree.” ❤️

Doing the work in conflict repair isn’t about making one person communicate exactly like the other.

It’s about learning to regulate, offer reassurance, make room for different perspectives, and understand that your partner doesn’t have to agree with you to love you.

Sometimes what we’re asking for in conflict isn’t 100% agreement. It’s the reassurance that the connection is still there 🫶🏾

Desire doesn’t begin in the bedroom.It begins in all the moments that come before it: how you greet each other, how curi...
08/28/2026

Desire doesn’t begin in the bedroom.

It begins in all the moments that come before it: how you greet each other, how curious you remain about one another, how often you make your partner feel seen and appreciated.

When life gets busy, connection can easily become something we assume will happen “when we have more time.”

But intimacy is built in the small, everyday moments.

A meaningful goodbye.
A question you genuinely want to know the answer to.
A thank you that lets your partner know their effort didn’t go unnoticed.
Ten uninterrupted minutes with the phones down and your attention fully on each other.

You don’t need a grand romantic gesture to start rebuilding connection.

Sometimes, you just need to start noticing each other again.

Save this for the days when your relationship feels like it’s gotten lost in the routine. 🤍

POV: the soft launch finally became a hard launch. 👀❤️Kendall Jenner & Jacob Elordi just gave us their first major PDA m...
08/27/2026

POV: the soft launch finally became a hard launch. 👀❤️

Kendall Jenner & Jacob Elordi just gave us their first major PDA moment and suddenly we’re all romanticizing holding hands again. 🤭

Because maybe intimacy isn’t always about grand gestures.

Sometimes it’s the little things:
holding hands. ✨
choosing each other. ✨
getting away from everyone else. ✨
having a place where it’s just the two of you. ✨

And honestly? We’re here for the honeymoon era. 🌙

Take the trip. Disconnect from the world. Reconnect with each other.

Where would you disappear to with your person? ✈️💕

❤️

We’re seeing a shift in the way we talk about s*xual wellness: Less emphasis on performance. More conversation about pre...
08/26/2026

We’re seeing a shift in the way we talk about s*xual wellness: Less emphasis on performance. More conversation about presence ✨

And as a licensed marriage and family therapist and award-winning s*x therapist, I think that’s an important shift. Because pleasure doesn’t exist separately from the rest of our lives ❤️

When you’re chronically stressed, disconnected from your body, exhausted, or constantly operating from a state of urgency, it can be difficult to access desire. If you can relate, there is nothing wrong with you. Your body is just responding to the conditions it’s living in. Which makes presence seem unattainable.

This is why I’m interested in the rise of “mindful intimacy.”

It’s an invitation for us to think about s*xuality through a much wider lens. Through the lens of nervous system regulation, sleep, stress, embodiment, emotional safety, and connection 🌿

Desire isn’t simply something we have or don’t have. Sometimes it’s a response we have to create the conditions for 💅🏾

And this is part of what inspires the work we do through IntimacyMoons: creating intentional spaces where couples can slow down, reconnect, and experience intimacy beyond the routines and responsibilities of everyday life.

Because sometimes creating more space for pleasure starts with creating more space to just be together ✨

Sometimes, couples don’t book a getaway because it’s their anniversary. ✈️A change of scenery.A break from the routines....
08/26/2026

Sometimes, couples don’t book a getaway because it’s their anniversary. ✈️

A change of scenery.
A break from the routines.
A few days without the endless to-do list.
Space to actually talk, laugh, touch, sleep in, and remember what it feels like to be us.

I believe couples take “Hail Mary” trips to recapture their closeness and reset their relationships. ✨

And there’s something powerful about getting far enough away from your everyday life that you can finally see your relationship differently.

The trip doesn’t have to fix everything.

But it can create the space to start again. ❤️

Maybe your next vacation shouldn’t be about where you’re going. Maybe it should be about finding your way back to each other. 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨

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