250. From Purity Culture To Erotic Expression & Embodied Freedom With Wren Morrow

What happens when the version of spirituality you were handed was never built to hold the fullness of who you are?

In this powerful conversation, I’m joined by Wren Morrow, an outdoor boudoir and erotic adventure photographer who creates deeply embodied, nature-based experiences for women and couples. We talk about the healing power of being witnessed, the way shame gets lodged in women’s bodies, and how reclaiming visibility can become a spiritual act. 

We also go deep into religion, purity culture, sexual shame, and the journey of creating a spiritual path that actually feels true. Wren shares her story of growing up in the Bible Belt, being deeply immersed in church culture, and eventually finding her way back to a more alive, embodied, self-led relationship with the sacred. 

This episode is not about telling you what to believe. It’s about giving you permission to listen to yourself more deeply, question what no longer fits, and remember that your body, your intuition, and your direct experience matter.

In this episode, we explore:

•  Wren’s work as an outdoor boudoir and erotic adventure photographer 
•  Why embodied photography can become a portal back to freedom 
•  The shame women carry around their bodies, sensuality, and visibility 
•  Purity culture, religion, and the suppression of female power 
•  Spiritual deconstruction and rebuilding a path that is truly your own 
•  Why embodied action matters more than endlessly waiting for a perfect sign 
•  A simple grounding practice for coming back to yourself

Links Mentioned:

• Wren Morrow's Website
• Connect With Wren On Instagram
• Grab Your Free Gift (Know Your Hungers Assessment)

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Embodied Writing Warrior, a show for women who refuse white metal wellness and crave food freedom built for real life, where your fire gets fame, not dead. Fall in blessed with your own momentum and enjoy pleasure-like creativity. Because healing was never meant to be a full-time job. I'm Kayla, writer and help coach God Row. Now let's make consistency feel like foreplay. Welcome back to another interview of the Embodied Writing Warrior Podcast. Today's guest is Ren Morrow, an outdoor boudoir and erotic adventure photographer whose work is honestly one of the coolest things I've ever come across. I didn't even know this was a thing until she came into my world. I love this conversation so much. We talk about the healing power of being witnessed. We dive deep into this shame that so many women carry around their bodies, their sexuality, their bigness. And we also talk about the path of reclaiming spirituality in a way that feels alive, embodied, and deeply personal. Before we dive in, I want to offer a gentle heads up that this conversation includes brief mentions of sexual trauma, purity culture, religious shame, and the suppression of women's bodies and sexuality. There's nothing crazy graphic, but I always want you to have the choice to listen with care. This conversation is big, it's layered. And we dive deep into spirituality, religion, embodiment, sensuality, and what it looks like to reclaim your own relationship with the sacred. And I want to name this clearly. This is not an episode telling you what to believe. It's an invitation to listen for what's true for you. Some parts of this conversation may resonate deeply, some may not. And that is beautiful as well. One of the things we explore in this episode is how, as women, especially, it can be deeply powerful to make your spiritual journey your own. To ask the questions and to leave what doesn't truly fit you. To stay open to the mystery without abandoning yourself, to really let your body, your intuition, and your lived experience take you where you're meant to go. So take what serves you, leave what doesn't, and trust yourself as you listen. Let's dive into this beautiful conversation with Ren Morrow. Hello, Ren, and welcome to the Embodied Writing Warrior Podcast. Thanks, Kayla. I'm excited to be here. 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 start by telling us about the work you do in the world?

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Yes, I am an outdoor boudoir and 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.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Or it sounds fun. Like on your website, there's like mirror card pulls and just an entire experience. So I want to 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 if it's a couple's one.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

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 farewell tour kind of thing. So there's lots of ways that we're 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 we're 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. I mean, it's not like most people aren't spending a lot of time in front of a 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 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 when it's 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 frolicking, 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 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 uh it's really just like creating space for the feeling that already exists inside and and like bushwhacking, 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.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

There's something really beautiful about not only the level of experientiality, 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. So I would love to hear what are some of the biggest obstacles the people that you work with come to 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?

SPEAKER_01 9:28

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 cover up 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 experienced. 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 have never noticed that thing, and and just realizing like how we all have just been so tipped 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 closing, I will pose people, but I do a lot more just like using music and movement and just like breath breathing to kind of like settle someone into the space. And I think a lot of sense people at first are like, what do I do with my hands? And I'll and I give some cues and I and I guide, but a lot of it is yeah, just encouraging a lot of movement, I think, and like not getting too stuck in any one place.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

And you mentioned something I want to 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?

SPEAKER_01 11:42

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'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, oh, 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 of the Bible belt. There we had at one point we had more churches per capita than any other city in America. And it yeah, I was with it. 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, and 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 lives rather than taking action and try well, I'm gonna cry because I've been in my own life right now, have been in a very state of question of what's new in 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 she's suggesting me. Yes, yes, I am, and simple. 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 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've and I had 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 this 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 end up marrying the worship pastor. I become the youth pastor of my church. Um, 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, 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, I know you're 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 was just this 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's like, do it, do whatever it is that you're wanting to do and do it with gusto and let me help.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

I uh 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 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 I love your version because it's not this like disciplinarian with a to-do list. It's 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.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

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 want to 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 Christian, 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'll like it. It's like there was 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 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. Sorry, I really am did not intend to go on this tangent, but since we're here, like okay, 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 a 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 throw the baby out with the bathwater 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 them in the woods so deep, like, oh my goodness. I feel it in 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 it's a bit more discompobulated. 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 the way that you need to ritualize it, like nobody knows how to talk a God but you, you know, the way that you have access to it.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

It was really insane because 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 the Bible does all that. The Bible might be a perfectly acceptable book for like a straight white man who just wants kids and it serves his narrative, right? They 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 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 breathwork exercise, something you want them to walk away with after this episode.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

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 oh, 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 want to like touch base with like wow, this thing that like wow, we're here, you know, a little toe wiggle.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

I love that one. Oh, thank you. Yes. So when people want to learn more about you, especially if they're local, where are the best places for them to find you?

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Renmarrow.com is my website, and that's w-r-en- and morrow like tomorrow, M-O-R-R-O-W. And then I'm on Instagram at underscore renmarrow. And there you can find inconsistent postings and musings, and sometimes I post my work as well. But it's a little random there.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Awesome. Well, I'll include links to all of that in the episode description. So thank you again for being here. This was awesome. Thank you, Kayla. Ready to stop outsourcing your inner knowing and crack your own code? Grab my free gift, Know Your Hunger. Discover the five hidden blocks behind your food struggles, and get a customized audio care package based on your results. You're not broken, you're just misdiagnosed. Visit embodiedwriting warrior.comslash gift or click the link in the show notes.