Our Mission
Nawi helps individuals and couples deepen intimacy with themselves, others, and life. We define sexual wellness by presence, authenticity, and connection—not performance or shame. Through coaching, education, and transformative experiences, we create spaces to reconnect with the body, speak honestly, and build relationships grounded in curiosity, compassion, and consent. Our approach blends evidence-informed methods with somatic awareness, honoring the body's wisdom as people explore their path to wholeness, pleasure, and connection.
We center decolonized approaches that acknowledge how histories of colonization, patriarchy, racism, and cultural erasure shape beliefs about bodies, desire, and worth. By naming and undoing oppressive narratives—about gender, pleasure, ability, race, and class—we make room for diverse ways of knowing, feeling, and relating. Decolonizing our work means privileging lived experience, community wisdom, and culturally responsive practices alongside scientific knowledge, and creating inclusive spaces where identities are respected and power dynamics are addressed with care.
Transforming shame into pleasure is a core thread of our practice. Shame lives in silence, secrecy, and the body’s tightening; pleasure arrives through permission, curiosity, and safe attunement. With somatic techniques, relational protocols, and compassionate inquiry, we help people trace shame’s origins, interrupt its habitual patterns, and re-sensitize toward pleasure as a healing force. Rather than pathologizing desire or presenting pleasure as a goal to achieve, we cultivate ongoing practices that invite embodied consent, curiosity, and delight—allowing pleasure to become a radical, restorative counterpoint to shame.
Together, these commitments create a practice that is anti-oppressive, trauma-informed, and pleasure-forward—supporting people to reclaim agency, expand intimacy, and live from fuller, more truthful experiences of their bodies and relationships.
Our Vision
We envision a world where conversations about sexuality, intimacy, and relationships are met with openness instead of shame, curiosity instead of fear, and connection instead of isolation. Nawi strives to become a global home for sexual wellness and relational growth—a trusted ecosystem where people from diverse backgrounds can access education, coaching, community, and transformative experiences that honor the full complexity of being human. Our vision is to foster a culture where intimacy is recognized not as a luxury, but as an essential part of individual well‑being, healthy relationships, and collective flourishing.
This vision is deeply tied to decolonization and the expansion of collective consciousness. Decolonization for us means dismantling inherited systems of shame, control, and binary thinking about bodies, desire, and relationships—systems rooted in colonial histories that erased ancestral wisdom, policed gender and sexuality, and imposed narrow norms of worth and belonging. By centering embodied knowledge, ancestral practices, and culturally diverse modalities of care, Nawi actively resists those legacies and cultivates more equitable, inclusive ways of relating.
When sexual education and healing honor multiple epistemologies—indigenous somatic traditions, queer and feminist knowledges, Afro-diasporic relational practices, and grassroots community wisdom—they open pathways for deeper self-knowledge and relational intelligence. That expansion of personal and shared consciousness ripples outward: people who reclaim agency over their bodies and stories are better able to resist oppressive narratives, to build compassionate communities, and to participate in collective healing initiatives that restore dignity across lines of race, class, gender, and culture.
Practically, this means designing programs that prioritize accessibility, cultural humility, and community leadership; integrating ritual, somatic practice, and storytelling as tools of reclamation; and creating spaces where marginalized voices are not only heard but center the learning. Through these commitments, Nawi aims to contribute to a larger movement in which intimacy becomes a site of liberation—where healed relationships and embodied presence support social transformation, expanded consciousness, and the restoration of interconnected well-being for individuals and communities alike.
Meet the Founders
Brenda Gil Lopez
Holistic Sex & Intimacy Coach
For as long as she can remember, Brenda Gil has been fascinated by what allows people to feel truly alive, deeply connected, and fully themselves. As a therapist, she spent years helping individuals and couples heal emotional wounds, strengthen relationships, and navigate the complexities of intimacy. While this work was deeply meaningful, she began to recognize that many people were longing for something beyond healing—they wanted permission to experience joy, pleasure, authenticity, and a deeper connection with themselves and those they love.
That realization became the seed for Nawi. Brenda envisioned a space that wasn't centered on fixing what is broken, but on cultivating what is possible. Drawing from her background in relationship therapy, sexual wellness, somatic practices, mindfulness, and holistic approaches to personal growth, she created Nawi as a place where people can reconnect with their bodies, explore intimacy without shame, and develop relationships rooted in honesty, curiosity, and compassion. She believes that sexuality is not separate from wellness, but an essential expression of our humanity—one that deserves to be explored with intention, respect, and openness.
Today, Nawi represents a growing vision that extends beyond coaching. It is a community dedicated to helping people reconnect with themselves, their partners, and the wisdom of their own bodies through education, coaching, workshops, immersive experiences, and collaborations with other wellness practitioners. Brenda's hope is that every person who encounters Nawi leaves feeling more empowered to live authentically, love courageously, and embrace the fullness of who they are. At its heart, Nawi exists to remind people that healing is only the beginning—true transformation happens when we reclaim our capacity for connection, pleasure, and wholehearted living.
Akin Bardó
Sound Engineer & Massage Therapist
Carlos has devoted much of his life to exploring the relationship between sound, consciousness, and the human experience. His journey has taken him through the study of sound engineering and design, the rich musical traditions of Northern Indian classical music, and years of composing original works and participating in live performances. For Carlos, music is more than an art form—it is a language capable of shifting awareness, creating connection, and inviting people into deeper relationship with themselves and the world around them.
His curiosity extends beyond music into the exploration of consciousness, embodiment, and the ways human beings cultivate meaning. Through years of personal study and experience, Carlos has explored the intersections of plant medicine, sound, meditation, sexuality, and contemplative practices as pathways toward greater presence and self-understanding. At the heart of his philosophy is the belief that many of our deepest struggles stem from disconnection—from our bodies, our instincts, each other, and the living world. He is passionate about helping people release shame, reconnect with their authentic nature, and cultivate a deeper reverence for life in all its forms.
Carlos believes that humans are not separate from nature but are animals who flourish when they honor their innate capacity for pleasure, play, connection, and expression. He views pleasure not as something to be earned or feared, but as a birthright and a gateway to vitality, creativity, and expanded consciousness. Through his work with sound and immersive experiences, he hopes to create spaces that invite people to slow down, listen deeply, reconnect with themselves, and remember the profound intelligence that emerges when we return to our most authentic way of being.