250. From Purity Culture To Erotic Expression & Embodied Freedom With Wren Morrow
250. From Purity Culture To Erotic Expression & Embodied Freedom With Wren Morrow
There are some conversations that feel less like content and more like a match being struck.
This was one of them.
In this episode of the Embodied Writing Warrior Podcast, I sat down with Wren Morrow, an outdoor boudoir and erotic adventure photographer whose work lives at the crossroads of embodiment, sensuality, nature, and liberation. At first glance, her work sounds wildly beautiful, and it is. She creates customized, nature-based photography experiences that invite people into freedom, play, visibility, and self-expression. But beneath the beautiful visuals is something even deeper: remembrance.
Wren describes her sessions as experience-based photography. They’re not just about getting gorgeous photos. They’re about creating a moment in the body that someone can return to again and again. The images become proof. A portal. A breadcrumb trail back to the version of themselves that felt alive, free, playful, and fully seen.
And for women, that matters.
Because so many of us have been chipped away by beauty standards, shame, self-consciousness, and the relentless pressure to be desirable but not too sexual, visible but not too much, powerful but still palatable. Wren spoke so beautifully about how often the biggest obstacle isn’t posing or nerves. It’s the sheer weight of insecurity women have been trained to carry.
That alone would have made this an important conversation.
But then we went deeper.
When Religion and Shame Get Tangled Together
We talked about the specific kind of suppression so many women experience when religion gets layered on top of body shame and sexual shame. Wren shared what it was like growing up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, deeply immersed in church culture, wearing a purity ring, and sincerely believing in the framework she had been given. She wasn’t casually adjacent to religion. She was in it. She believed it. She built a life inside of it.
And yet over time, the cracks became harder to ignore.
One of the most powerful threads in this episode is Wren’s reflection that religion can separate people from their own power by teaching them to constantly question whether they are following God’s exact will instead of taking embodied action and trusting that the sacred can meet them there. That reframe hit like thunder. Not because it tells anyone what to believe, but because it opens the door to a more mature, personal, lived spirituality.
For women, this conversation gets even sharper.
Because historically, many of us were not just taught to submit to God. We were also taught to submit to male authority, regulate how we dressed and moved, and carry responsibility for male desire. That does a number on the nervous system. It does a number on a woman’s relationship with her body. And it can make sensuality feel dangerous, confusing, or shameful, even when it’s one of the most natural energies in the world.
You Do Not Need Someone Else’s Script for the Sacred
One of my favorite parts of this conversation was the deeper invitation underneath all of it:
You do not have to throw away your connection to mystery just because old structures failed you.
That’s the gold.
This episode is not a takedown for the sake of being edgy. It’s a reclamation. A remembering. A conversation about how something sacred may still exist even if the form you inherited was distorted, restrictive, or deeply misaligned for you. Wren speaks about the spiritual potency she feels in nature, in the woods, in embodied presence, and in direct connection with the unseen. She makes the case that nobody else can tell you exactly how to access that. Your way of speaking to the divine may need to be your own.
And honestly, especially as women, I think that matters.
Because a spiritual path that requires you to abandon your body, silence your instincts, and contort yourself into someone else’s template is probably not a path toward wholeness.
Embodied Action Over Endless Permission-Seeking
Another major theme in this episode is action.
Not frantic action. Not hustle for the sake of hustle. Embodied action.
Wren shares how her life began to open when she stopped waiting for a perfect sign, stopped trying to hear a flawless cosmic itinerary, and started making choices. Divorce. Travel. Reinvention. Photography. A whole new life built not from rigid obedience but from aliveness, curiosity, desire, and trust.
That piece matters for women in healing too.
So many of us have been trained to distrust ourselves, second-guess ourselves, or wait for permission before we move. This conversation reminds us that self-trust is not built by endless overthinking. It is built by listening, moving, noticing, adjusting, and allowing life to meet us in motion.
A Tiny Embodied Practice to Come Back to Yourself
At the end of the episode, Wren offers the sweetest little embodied challenge: wiggle your toes.
Truly. Wiggle them.
It’s simple, sneaky, grounding, and kind of adorable. A tiny way to come back into the body whether you’re anxious, blissed out, dissociated, overwhelmed, or just needing to touch base with yourself again.
Sometimes the way back isn’t dramatic.
Sometimes it begins with a breath, a toe wiggle, and the willingness to listen to what feels true.
Final Thoughts
This episode is for the woman who knows there is something bigger than her but no longer wants that relationship filtered through shame, fear, obedience, or someone else’s rules.
It’s for the woman reclaiming her body.
Her sensuality.
Her spiritual authority.
Her right to decide what is true for her.
And it’s for the woman who is ready to stop asking for a map and start becoming the portal.
Links Mentioned
Transcript
Kayla: Hello Wren and welcome to the Embodied Writing Warrior Podcast.
Wren: Thanks, Kayla. I'm excited to be here.
Kayla: I'm excited to have you because not only do you have a really powerful story, but you have one of the coolest jobs I've ever heard of. So why don't you just start by telling us about the work you do in the world.
Wren: Yes, I am, an outdoor boudoir, an erotic adventure photographer. So basically I lead couples and individuals through deeply embodied experiences out in nature. And we take beautiful photos and they're usually wearing very little clothing. And it's, yeah, it's so fun.
Kayla: Well, it sounds fun, like on your website there's like.
Tarot card pulls and just entire experience. So I wanna geek out on that a little bit and then come back to your story of how you got here. But walk through what one of these adventures would potentially look like for a person and how it might change their sense of self or their relationship Fits a couple's one.
Wren: So, they're really customized for the person, I would say. It starts with just like a conversation of, what sort of elements you connect with, where you see your, like fantasy version of yourself, whether that's in the woods or near the ocean, or. Maybe it's, near a waterfall, you know, just like really understanding where elementally, you deeply connect with nature and feel very much yourself.
And then just any sort of specific energy that we're trying to embody or work through. Like some people are, using it as a celebration or more of a ritual to, you know, transmute some grief around like, I had one girl who. Was, gonna lose a breast to breast cancer and it was like a, a, a farewell tour kind of thing.
So there's lots of ways that were shaping the container based on the needs of the client, the desires of the client. And then, from that we pick a place. Sometimes we're traveling a lot, sometimes we're just traveling a little. I'm based in Seattle, so within two hours are just some of the most epic landscapes, that I've ever found.
From there we were gonna meet up. And then get some snacks and kind of, go on a hike. I've normally scouted a lot of the places beforehand. And one of the things is that I'm really working in collaboration with nature. And no matter how much you scout a place beforehand, there might be people, the light might be different, the clouds, like there's so many factors that we're kind of like dancing with.
And so just being open to, go with the flow. And because of that, the process is typically, two to four hours just depending on how long we're walking and then how long it takes for my clients to kind of relax into it. And it's not, like most people aren't spending a lot of time in front of the camera.
And so like to feel comfortable, to feel yourself to really, unravel it, it just takes time and everyone is different. And so I've never liked to put a, a time constraint on it. It's, it's more of a feeling that I know when we've arrived to. And so yes, I do bring my tarot cards for those who are interested or, or an Oracle deck.
I do, spend a lot of time just like kind of sinking into the space, doing some breathing and, embodiment practices of just like really grounding into the space. And then, it's honestly, it's just like a lot of fun. Like, we're just like, I feel like we've spent a lot of time just giggling,
I really think of them as. Experience. It's experience based photography. So it's really about this whole like, oh my goodness. Like I went on this adventure and I, I was dancing and broing and I was outside and it was playful and I was sexy, and I was fun and I was free.
And then these photos become just like a portal to re-access that feeling. So I think that everyone inside of themselves remembers what it feels like to, to be free, to not care, to just like take up space to be seen. But it can take some time to to, to get there again. And so, it's really just like creating space for the feeling that already exists inside and, and, hmm.
Like bush whacking, like through like a pathway to like get to that feeling and like once you've done a trail one time, it's easier to find it again. So it's like, is it shifting anything? No, but we're like, we're trailblazing away into that feeling that's already inside of you and then hopefully you can navigate there with more ease without me moving forward.
Kayla: There's something really beautiful about not only the level of. If that's a word that you bring to this container between, you know, customizing it to the elements that work for them, and then the breathing and the embodiment exercises and. Giving the spaciousness for people who might take a little bit longer to warm up to the camera.
And then, like you said, it's creating this thing that they're deeply feeling in their body. And then they have these visual artifacts of that, which is such a powerful thing to draw on going forward. So it's a one-time experience that they can reaccess visually, which is so powerful.
Wren: So.
Kayla: I would love to hear, what are some of the biggest obstacles the people that you work with come to you with?
Is it like self-consciousness? Is it not quite feeling right in their bodies? Is it just overall nervousness? Is it worrying that there's gonna be people nearby? Like what are some of the challenges that come up and how do you help navigate those?
Wren: Worrying about people showing up is definitely one of them.
And for me, I just say that's a little bit of part of the excitement, you know, like, we definitely are not aiming for that, but just knowing that that's a potentiality. And I always bring like blanket, like coverup quickly if you need. But I honestly, I just think that the, the. Biggest challenge is just the oppressive amount of insecurity that every woman I know experiences.
Yeah, it, it's interesting, like I came out to Australia and I did a bunch of photos out here and, it was like my first time doing like miniature shoots, so I didn't like, spend quite as much time with people. I, I spent very little time with people comparatively. And then, yeah, just to hear the feedback sometimes is just like, wow, I would've never noticed.
That thing and, and just realizing like how we all have just been so chipped away. So I think that that's like, I think the, the biggest challenge is I definitely like feeling comfortable in your body. Like, I don't do a ton of posing. I will pose people, but I do a lot more just like using music and movement and.
Just like breathing to kind of like settle someone into the space. And, I think a lot of times people at first are like, what do I do with my hands? And I, and I give some cues and I, and I guide, but a lot of it is, yeah, just encouraging a lot of movements, I think. Like not getting too stuck in any one place.
Kayla: And you mentioned something I wanna circle back to, and that's the level of oppression that every single woman has. And that's, as a woman, that's about our bodies, about our sexualities.
We get shame dumped on us from so many different directions. And when you add like. A religious component on top of that. It just amplifies everything. And I know that was part of your story, so would you be able to share a little bit about where you came from and how it brought you to the work you do now?
Wren: Yeah, absolutely. I wanna, before we leave that that other note though, I feel like the people who come to me that have the best time are the people who are not like, okay, can you like help show me? How to be confident and more are like, fuck these beauty standards, fuck, never feeling good enough. Like I, I'm not dealing with it anymore.
I'm gonna. Have a good time. I'm going to embody myself. I'm going to be seen and be visible and like use me as a, as a catalyst to that and a and a documentarian of a moment that you're already experiencing. So sometimes I think people will come to me with more like, okay, so you're gonna show me how to do this rather than like.
I see it. I see what you're up to. I can do that too. Let's do this together. I think that that's when, that's when it really can take off. So as far as my background, I was raised in the south, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is known as like the buckle, the Bible belt. They, we had at one point we had more churches per capita, than any other city in America.
And it, yeah, I, I was with it. I. I wasn't one of those kids that was like, church doesn't make sense to me. Like my mom just makes me go. I was like, church makes perfect sense. I'm with Jesus now. Jesus is my boyfriend. Like literally I would say Jesus was my boyfriend. And I had a purity ring and I was very, bought into this idea that I was saving myself till marriage.
I didn't fully understand all the like, subconscious ways that I was being suppressed. And I think one of the things religion does most insidiously, is disenfranchise us from our power by separating us from God and. Putting us in a constant state of questioning God's will for our lives rather than taking action and try.
Well, I'm gonna cry 'cause I've been in my own life right now, have been in a very state of question of what to do with my life. And like it's not about constantly questioning and as if you could get it wrong and that God has this like really specific plan for you, but more that when you take embodied action and decide what you want for your life, God will come and meet you and like come alongside you.
And God, the universe, the mystic, the magic, the unseen, the forces, like whatever you want to call that. It's taken me a long time to even be like kind of okay with using the word God there. So, but so that is the main thing that happens in religion, period. And then as a woman specifically, it's like tripled and.
You not only lose your connection to God, but then you're also supposed to be in a submissive state to your husband, and you're also supposed to be, responsible for how every man interacts with you and making sure to keep his mind pure and making sure to. Be dressed in a way, talk in a way, carry yourself in a way that would never cause your brothers to stumble.
And so I spent a lot of time very confused because I am a very sexual person. I have trauma that activated me sexually at a very young age. I had. And just in general, like I'm a quadruple Scorpio. Like I'm very, I'm very with it. You can look at my work. Even if I'm photographing cocktails, it's like, is she seducing me?
Yes. Yes I am. And so, so the confusion around feeling this like sensual sexual urge and like wanting to play with this energy while simultaneously being told like from 12 years old that I was not allowed to. And that me in particular like. I'm so beautiful that I could wear a potato sack and I would cause men to stumble.
So I would have to be especially careful. And so, yeah, so that's just kind of like the background of what's like living there. And I, and I, I some really profound encounters, like miracle things that happened at, when I was like around 16, that really made me believe in God. And so kept me anchored in the church because I was like, I've seen miracles, like I've been a part of miracles.
So like I know that God thing is real. So, and it's apparently through this lens of Christianity, so I'll just kind of like agree with everything else. And so I ended up marrying the worship pastor. I become the youth pastor of my church. I have a great time with the kids and honestly, no regrets with that.
Most of them are not Christians anymore, and I would take full responsibility for the fact that I encouraged questions. I encouraged them to have their own personal relationship with it and never was like, because of faith, that's why you have to believe. At a certain. Point. I just was so disappointed by my life and being in a constant state of trying to know God's will for my life and hearing crickets, and I just at a certain point was like, enough.
Enough is enough. God, know your real. We're not talking for a little bit. I can't handle needing to hear from you. I need to just make choices for myself and that. Snowballed into just this whole new life. I got a divorce. I moved to Italy. I came back from Italy. Right as Trump got elected, I said, I gotta go.
I went to the west coast, started dating this guy who lived in a van, or he didn't live in a van, but he had a van convinced him that we should start living in a van. We started living in a van. He convinced me to be a photographer. It just, it like. Which just is like, and suddenly I had this entirely different life that felt infused with magic and with the mystery and with God.
And that is why I said that thing earlier where I got all teary, where it was just like, God isn't sitting there with the fucking itinerary asking you to follow his exact guideline. He is like. Do it. Do whatever it is that you're wanting to do and do it with gusto and let me help.
Kayla: I love that so much, and I think that's one of the most powerful things anyone can do is create their own version of spirituality, because at the end of the day, that's what churches do, right?
, And it's not serving a lot of people, especially women, so mm-hmm. This idea of like, yes, there is something bigger than us, and you know, it's the god of our understanding as like all the alcoholics anonymous, overeaters anonymous, like to say, and mm-hmm. I love your version because it's not this like disciplinarian with a to-do list.
Mm-hmm. Like this is the version that's pulling you forward and actually has helped you build the life that does have the magic and the fulfillment and the work you're doing is so powerful and so needed for women everywhere.
So that just really excites me.
Wren: I think that, it's important to like historically understand religion. These characters that activated like super superhuman type thing, like Jesus or Buddha, that that activated. Human capacity, like this is a human thing to be able to be in connection with source in, in a miraculous and incredible way.
And, and the, the government saw that it was a wildfire that people were getting, that people were turning on, people were waking up. People were activating their God molecules or whatever you wanna call it, and they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What do we do? What do we do? Because if all these people are moving in their sovereignty, like we're not gonna be able to control them anymore, they're not gonna like listen to us.
So what do we do? Okay, well everyone is just rushing to Rome, like trying to figure out, you know, where is Jesus? Where is Christ? Where is this Christ? And they were like, okay, well let's just like funnel them. To this building. Okay. And we'll make the building look really good and we'll, like, we'll ask for some money to help support everything and we'll just, and we will like it.
It's like there was a, a gold rush. Type thing. And they went, oh, the gold's right in here. And actually, we're the only ones who have full access to it. But if you pay us, we'll tell you about the thing. And it created this, this disconnect because they knew they couldn't stop it, right? Like they couldn't stop the power of what Jesus of Nazareth was doing.
And they couldn't stop. And whether or not that's a real character or not, I don't know. I'm not gonna, I won't be the one to debate that. But they knew that they couldn't stop the infatuation with this movement because too many people had seen the miracles, had felt the spirit had encountered the thing, and so they hijacked it and turned it into.
A, a suppressant, a a way to suppress people. And they edited the Bible to take out anything that didn't fit their narrative, including, but not limited to any books Referencing Mary Magdalene and her association with, I, sorry, I really am, did not intend to go on this tangent, but since we're here, like, like.
Like this, this powerful woman who like came alongside Jesus and was like a part of his whole thing. Let's turn her into a whore and then we can just completely discredit everything that she says. And so it's just so fascinating when you like start to understand the history of these things and it's like, look, the reason that Christianity has such a stronghold.
Around here. And Catholicism has such a stronghold is not because there was nothing there. It's, but it was really twisted. And that's like, that is the most effective lie is to take something that's like almost the thing. Because if it's a total lie, you're never gonna believe it. But if it's like almost a lie, almost the truth, rather, then it's gonna be a lot.
It's gonna have a lot more hooks to it. And so anyway, I think that one of the most, yeah, one of the most powerful things I ever did. And one of the most powerful things anyone can do is like, not, not, throw the baby out with the bath water as far as any sort of connection to spirit goes like. We've, we have felt the mysteries.
We've all like, felt the mysteries at some point. And I feel 'em in the woods so deep, like, oh my goodness, I feel it. And when I am outdoors, like you really, the animism of it all. Like I'm, I'm really connecting with something potent when I'm there. And I can feel it in the city too, but it's a, it's a bit more discombobulated.
You are the portal, you are the access to the mysteries, like you have it within yourself. And so finding your way and naming it what you need to name it and ritualizing it in a way that you need to ritualize it. Like nobody knows how to talk to God but you, you know, the way that you have access to it.
Kayla: It was really insightful 'cause I haven't heard some of that stuff and it's really sad to hear about this beautiful, powerful force that can. Help a lot of people. Free a lot of people. And then it got contained in such a specific way, and that's why I love this conversation, because it's not necessarily being like a Bible does all bad.
The Bible might be a perfectly acceptable book for like a. Straight white man who just wants kids and it serves his narrative, right? It could. And then there are so many other people who still know there's something bigger than them and they need to create that narrative on their terms because they know that.
The traditional stuff doesn't necessarily fit so.
Wren: Mm-hmm.
Kayla: Oh my goodness. I have loved this conversation so much, Ren. So I always get all of my guests to give the listeners some kind of an embodied challenge. So it can be to go get sexy photos themselves taken. It can be a breath work, exercise, something you want them to walk away with after this episode.
Wren: I'm a big fan of wiggling your toes on a regular basis. Anytime I feel myself, like where have I gone? What's going on? A good little toe wiggle is something that will always just bring me back and it's so sneaky and it's like you don't have to, nobody has to know. What you're up to. But yes, I would just encourage a little toe, even right now, just the wiggle your little toes and like, ah, how cute they are, you know?
And use that whenever, if you find yourself in a panic, if you find yourself in like total bliss, if you find yourself just anytime you wanna like touch base with like, wow, this thing that like, wow, we're here, you know, a little toe wiggle.
Kayla: I love that one.
Wren: Aren't they cute?
Kayla: Yes. So when people wanna learn more about you, especially if they're local, where are the best places for them to find you?
Wren: wrenmorrow.com is my website, and that's WREN and Morrow like tomorrow. M-O-R-R-O-W.
and then I'm on Instagram at underscore ren morrow. And there you can find. Inconsistent postings and musings, and sometimes I post my work as well, but it's a little random there.
Kayla: Awesome. Well, I'll include links to all of that in the episode description. So thank you again for being here. This was awesome.
Wren: Thank you, Kayla.
